The Rise Of Australasia-Chapter 919 - 685: Expensive Bread

Chapter 919: Chapter 685: Expensive Bread

The chaos in the United States exploded suddenly like a bomb, covering the entire country and affecting both Caucasian and Black people.

When the government lost that last bit of public trust, the chaos in the United States became unimaginable and uncontrollable by any person or force.

If this were further fueled by others, it would be a heavy blow to a nation established for less than 200 years, and even more so for a country that had just ended its civil war a few decades ago.

Although the end of the Civil War brought peace and stability for several decades, it did not mean the United States was a united and strong nation.

After being emancipated, Black people’s conflicts with the Caucasians became even deeper because they were no longer slaves on manor houses but citizens who wanted more political power.

Unreconcilable contradictions also existed between the eastern and western, northern and southern states of the United States, unless there was a President who could mediate and be trusted by all Americans.

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But clearly, the current President Hoover no longer had the trust of the American people, which was the root cause of the extreme chaos in the United States.

After Californian State announced an upcoming independence referendum, the Western States followed their “big brother” in declaring their own independence referendums.

This rendered the Hoover Dam, which hadn’t even started construction, paralyzed since its location lay in the USA Western Region, and the Western States no longer heeded the federal government’s orders.

Even the Hoover Dam, Hoover’s greatest political achievement, was unable to proceed smoothly. It’s not impolite to say that President Hoover’s political career had no chance of turnabout.

Moreover, the United States’ policy of not banning firearms accelerated the emergence of chaos.

If the state governments were willing, even dark forces that could not be openly acknowledged could obtain weapons through various means. Once armed, civilians were no longer mere common people.

Additionally, President Hoover’s massacre of World War I veterans resulted in almost no American soldiers willing to suppress the rebellion for the government.

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In fact, there were already many soldiers who had expressed dissatisfaction with the government, making a rift between the military and the government seem possible.

While the whole world’s attention was focused on the chaos in the United States, another country equally in turmoil was undergoing significant changes.

If the United States were the country most severely affected by the economic crisis, then Germany was definitely the second most affected.

According to the latest unemployment estimates, the number of unemployed in the United States had exceeded 12 million, and Germany’s unemployment figures were also over 5 million.

These are astonishingly high levels, clearly demonstrating the extent of the economic chaos inside the United States and Germany.

For various reasons, the US dollar still held considerable value, but Germany’s official currency, the Mark, had already significantly depreciated with the official exchange rate plunging to 1355:1.

What does this mean? Even under official exchange rates, the greatly depreciated Pound still managed an exchange rate of 1 to 1355, meaning the value of 1 pound was equivalent to 1355 Marks.

And this was just the official data; the actual conversion was even more exaggerated, reaching a ratio of 1 to over 2000 in most areas of Germany.

Such exchange rates had plummeted by over 100 times compared to before the war, indicating that Germans needed to earn over 100 times their pre-war salary to maintain a similar lifestyle as before World War I.

But the issue was that the average annual income of Germans before World War I was around 2,000 Marks, and now the average income barely broke past 3,000 Marks.

Although average incomes appeared to have increased, purchasing power had plummeted by dozens of times. Taking into account the rising commodity prices, Germans’ incomes had drastically declined over the past decade or so.

Just how exaggerated were Germany’s commodity prices?

First were grain prices, which increased more ridiculously with each year.

Before World War I, most Germans ate delicious-looking white bread, which cost around 1.3 Marks per pound.

Now, white bread had become a luxury for the nobility and capitalists, with common people resorting to coarser coarse grains and black bread, simply because such bread was cheaper to make and sell.

Even the cheapest black bread had skyrocketed to over 60 Marks per pound.

If one desired softer and fluffier white bread, the price per pound could reach around 150 Marks, with such bread being virtually unavailable on the market.

If common people were to purchase white bread regardless of the cost, they would have to spend at least 170 Marks per pound.

This meant that a commoner’s annual wages could afford a maximum of 20 pounds of white bread, roughly enough for about 140 meals.

Such figures were exceedingly staggering, with the hard-earned yearly income of the people insufficient for even the simplest sustenance.

And with a large number of unemployed, as well as the elderly and children who couldn’t work, they too became a burden on the working population.

According to an investigation by some German media, in 1927, Germans spent over 2300 Marks on food, which accounted for 77.8% of the average annual income of German citizens.

How staggering is this concept? Germans worked hard all year only to spend most of their income on food, and still many were in a state of hunger.

If the increasing prices in Germany were left unchecked, not only would the number of unemployed continue to grow, but also the number of people on the brink of hunger and starvation.

Yet, at this time, the German government failed to recognize this problem. Due to Arthur’s reminder, William II had already entered a state of gradually relinquishing power.

Apart from occasional relief to the people by the German Royal Family, offering free food to the citizens, there was almost no news of the royal family in the political scene of Germany.

This allowed President Hindenburg, the ruler of the government, to breathe a sigh of relief because it signaled a temporary end to the struggle for power within the Imperial Government.

Without the oppression of William II, the federal states each made their move. Some federal states were continuously printing Marks, frenziedly increasing their currency reserves.

Some federal states even went as far as to abolish the Mark; Bavaria, for instance, issued its own currency.

While these actions may have been a solution for these states during the economic crisis, for the German government, it was the last straw that broke the Mark.

By 1928, the value of the Mark had plummeted like a torrential river flowing three thousand feet downwards, impossible to block.

Even multiple strategies enacted by Hindenburg couldn’t stop the value of the Mark from plummeting like a cliff-diving drop.

In January of 1928, the exchange rate between the Pound and the Mark was still at 1:1300, but by the time February rolled around, the rate had grown to 1:1500.

It’s worth mentioning that the value of the Pound did not rise during this period, it even saw a slight decrease.

This also meant that the devaluation of the Mark far exceeded the current exchange rate, and the new year was not looking good for the Germans.

As expected, the purchasing power of the Mark experienced another steep decline in March.

This decline not only pushed the exchange rate between the Mark and the Pound to a frightening 1750:1, but it also drove up prices across Germany, with a pound of rye bread reaching 75 Marks.

While this may seem inconceivable, a glance at the amount of Marks printed by each German state made it clear.

The German government had virtually no control over the states, and those with ample power were recklessly printing Marks.

This resulted in the number of Marks in circulation far exceeding market demand, by dozens of times in some cases.

What were all these Marks originally for? Long before the economic crisis erupted, these Marks were used as war reparations by Germany to pay to the Allies.

However, after the outbreak of the economic crisis, the German government announced a temporary halt to the payment of compensations. While this eased Germany’s economy somewhat, the large amounts of Marks printed by the government and the states were rendered useless.

Such enormous quantities of Marks couldn’t just be treated as scrap paper, so it was inevitable for the states to resist the temptation and flood the market with them.

For these states, the continual devaluation of the Mark wasn’t a great concern—they could simply print Marks with higher denominations.

From March of 1928, the denominations of Marks printed by the states all increased to over 100 Marks, with some states even printing 1000 Mark and 10000 Mark notes.

The frenzy of Mark printing across all of Germany naturally made the headlines. Some political parties looking to draw public attention swiftly condemned the German government and the states for their rampant printing of Marks, but it was too late to remedy the situation.

In April of 1928, a large number of German workers demanded a wage increase from their enterprises because their original salaries were losing their purchasing power amidst the wild devaluation of currency.

It’s worth noting that 3000 Marks in January of 1928 were equivalent to 6000 Marks in April, which reveals the rapid pace of the devaluation.

Under pressure from a large number of workers, some German enterprises chose to increase workers’ wages.

This also led to a surge in the average income in Germany; the average quickly went from 3000 Marks to 5000 Marks.

But the problem was that the actual purchasing power of the current 5000 Marks was even lower than the previous 3000 Marks, which was the greatest challenge the German government faced at the time.

As people’s incomes increased, so naturally did the prices of goods. Do not overestimate the conscience of capitalists—in times of such economic crises, their ambition and greed surface.

Common Germans, who could barely make ends meet before, soon found that their incomes couldn’t even afford meat, and they could only buy the cheapest rye bread.

The prices of all kinds of bread continued to rise, with a pound of wheat bread even breaking through to 300 Marks.

And the price of the cheapest rye bread exceeded the expectations of the German people, as all shops listed the minimum price for a pound of rye bread at an astounding 120 Marks.