Chapter 521: Downton Abbey

"Mr. Rothschild said that his American friends just want to accelerate the process of privatizing Britain."
Everyone was shocked when they heard this answer, and at the same time turned their gazes on the thoughtful Mrs. Thatcher.
So the question is, the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, which is one of the most developed capitalist countries on Blue Star, does it have state-owned enterprises?
Well, you guessed right about children's shoes. Right now, in 1982, they not only have state-owned enterprises, but they also have a huge number!
Moreover, not only Britain has it, Gaul also has it, Hans also has it. It can be said that there are a large number of state-owned enterprises in the major developed countries in Europe.
Isn't it a bit ruining the three views? Isn't it weird?
But this is the fact.
Others put it aside first, and just talk about Britain. The reason for its state-owned enterprises has to start with the Second World War.
As we all know, since the outbreak of World War II, Old Europe’s biggest rival is the feud between the Third Reich and Britain, which has almost swept the old continent.
Britannia, with only a few islands, was able to resist for so many years without collapsing, and after the United States joined the war, there was still room to counterattack and won the final victory. It must be said that it is a world war history and economics. Miracle.
One of the reasons for this miracle is that after the war broke out, Britain made a decisive move to nationalize a large number of enterprises.
At that time in Britain, all materials were so scarce that they had to take strict government control measures to thoroughly implement planned control of production and living materials, and successfully fed the whole with one-third of the food supplies. Nationals, survived to victory in World War II.
The British government that tasted the sweetness summarized and quickly promoted this experience after the war. They found that the state-owned planned economy system was particularly efficient when it needed to be mobilized at the national level, and World War III might break out at any time. Expectations make the entire country desperately need this efficiency.
As a result, Britain launched a vigorous nationalization campaign, involving industries ranging from banking to coal mining, aviation, communications, transportation, electricity, gas, steel, etc., and all industries considered to be the "lifeline of the national economy" were taken back. State-owned, and even such industries as automobile manufacturing, shipbuilding, and aerospace have been included in nationalization.
It was at that time that the Central Bank of Britain was nationalized, which also caused the Rothschild family to lose the pound coinage that it had held for more than a century.
This is undoubtedly a huge blow and loss for the Rothschild family.
However, the political situation at that time determined that even financial giants like the Rothschild family could not resist the will of the entire country, so they had to give in temporarily.
But now, Rothschild took advantage of this currency offensive by the Americans to retaliate, and also offered conditions.
Completely privatize British companies!
On the surface, this is completely consistent with people's understanding of capitalism. After all, privatization is one of the most important characteristics of capitalism.
Everyone knows the subtext under the table that in the process of privatizing these state-owned enterprises, they, represented by Rothschild, these "bankers" who hold huge amounts of cash, will become the gluttons that divide the British nation. The protagonist of the feast!
Therefore, the volatility of the exchange rate market is just their outpost. Their real goal is actually to gain control of the core companies that hold the true economic lifeline of Britain!
Mrs. Thatcher wanted to understand all this, but fell into deep hesitation.
From the current point of view, the nationalization of Britain's economy is at a relatively high level among all western developed countries. Among them, the nationalization degree of coal, electricity, railway, post and other systems is 100%, and this kind of nationalization The level of
economists
believes that Britain is currently in a state of
stagflation
with economic recession, slow growth, high unemployment rate, serious inflation, and the root cause of social conflicts.
These "economists" analyzed dazzling data and graphs and came to the conclusion: the nationalization of enterprises is an important reason for the loss of vitality of the British economy, and the "British disease" is increasingly entwining Britain, and the essence of this disease State-owned enterprise disease
They summarized the similarities in the "state-owned enterprise disease" in all countries:
-Lack of innovation, lack of cost accounting mechanism, and long-term losses.
The internal vitality of enterprises is insufficient, people are overwhelming, the government is burdened with heavy burdens, and many enterprises have eaten up a lot of financial subsidies.
The privileged status of state-owned enterprises has made labor unions powerful and organized strikes at every turn. It is easy to recruit workers and difficult to quit. They are overwhelming and inefficient. State-owned enterprises that have been losing money for a long time are overwhelmed.
The prescription they prescribed is exactly the same as what Rothschild said through the U.S. financial consortium: privatizing all enterprises can solve this problem and cure this disease.
Will this be a good medicine or just a poison?
Margaret Thatcher hesitated and was silent for a moment.
Seeing her like this, everyone consciously stood up and exited the room. Everyone knew that this was the real national policy, and the next decision that Mrs. Thatcher would make is related to the development direction of Britain in the next few decades. , Or rather, it's about Britain's future.
Perhaps, she should be given more time and space to consider the pros and cons and make a decision.
But, will those financial predators give her enough time?
Nigel Lawson also stood up and prepared to go out. He has said everything that should be said. Although he is the chancellor of the empire, the current decision is obviously not only about finances, but will determine the political trend of the entire empire. Therefore, all responsibilities have been handed over to the Prime Minister.
He had reached the door, but stopped again because he heard a call.
"Lawson, please wait a minute."
He stopped, turned around, leaned slightly behind and asked softly: "Madam?"
"Maybe, I should talk to him, can you arrange it?"
"As you wish."
...
"As you can see, our Highclere Castle is a typical Gothic building. It was built in 1839 and was presided over by the third Earl of Carnarvon. It was listed as a British first-class protected building in 1953. It was owned by the Herbert family for generations and now belongs to the seventh Earl of Carnarvon, John Herbert."
Tan Zhenhua and Yu Pengxia followed a person who looked like a typical British butler and visited this famous castle with a history of more than one hundred years with interest. In fact, he had a little bit of careful thinking that he couldn't say. At the beginning, the reason why he rented it without saying anything when he saw this castle, and even the price was not paid back, because of the name of the castle-Highclere.
As for the reason, it is simple, because this castle, or the entire Highclere Manor, is the main location of a very famous British TV series "Downton Abbey" that he himself likes very much.
Although according to the development of the timeline, the filming of the movie will not start until 30 years later, this does not prevent Xiao Tan Tan from taking a look at it.
"Gentlemen, the castle you are seeing was designed and built by Charles Barre, the famous architect who was responsible for the design of the British Parliament. Look, these giant oak interiors, these gorgeous leather wall decorations The solemn shield-shaped coat of arms fully illustrates the noble identity of the owner of this castle, and these collections show that the owner has the education that matches his identity."
Tan Zhenhua pointed to the paintings of portraits on the long corridor and asked, "So, are these the ancestor portraits of Count Carnarvon? Can I take a look?"
The butler leaned slightly and said: "Mr. Eric, you are right. These are the ancestors of the Earl Carnarvon family. Oh, not all, the portrait of Mr. John Herbert is here too!"
Tan Zhenhua smiled and said: "It turns out that the portrait of our master is also there. Although we have not met each other, if you have the opportunity, please convey my gratitude and thank him for lending me his house generously for so long."
While talking, he casually scanned the portraits on the wall, and then, a portrait of a beautiful young lady caught his attention.
Seeing him staring at the portrait, the butler’s voice sounded timely:
This is the portrait of Amina, the fifth Countess of Carnarvon. During the First World War, Highclere had 75 men walking. On the battlefield, as the war intensified, Madame Amina resolutely turned the castle into a temporary hospital. She organized doctors and nurses, bought the most advanced medical equipment, and rescued hundreds of wounded. The countess’ generosity and kindness It undoubtedly conquered everyone. In the archives of today's castle, there are still hundreds of thank-you letters from patients..."
The steward’s introduction is not unpleasant and touching, but Tan Zhenhua’s attention is completely off this aspect. He stared at the line of small characters at the bottom of the portrait, and stormy waves surged in his heart.
"This is dedicated to my dear Amina Rothschild-Henry Herbert."