Chapter 1073: Evil free trade

The spring breeze of reform blows across the British Isles, but Britain has not been able to change its face. It’s not that reform is not feasible, but the crux of the problem lies in how to reform.
The domestic economy continues to decline, stimulating the British, and the elite group knows that Britain has reached a fork in the road and must carry out social reforms.
Despite economic problems, Britain is still at its peak. The European world is not popular in saying that it is prosperous and declining, and they have done it once by turning over the history books of Britain.
If it were not for the rise of the Holy Roman Empire, which increased the pressure on them, it is estimated that most British people would not even have a sense of crisis.
In fact, even now, the British do not have a strong sense of crisis and do not think that the powerful British Empire is in danger of overthrowing.
There is no way, Shinra is too peaceful. Even if a super battleship was created, it just came out and went back for a while.
The originally anticipated arms race, because the Vienna government did not follow up in time, made the British lose interest.
After all, there are still a lot of old-fashioned warships in Britain. At this time, when the "Dumpling Contest" is started, all the old-fashioned warships in front will be scrapped.
The landlord’s family has no surplus, especially during the downturn of the domestic economy, the government’s fiscal revenue does not rise but falls, and the budget has to be saved.
Anyway, there is strait protection, as long as the Royal Navy's advantage is still there, everyone will not panic.
If the external pressure is not enough, the internal unity naturally cannot be united. After all, reform is also a double-edged sword. Some people benefit from it, while others suffer.
Vested interest groups are unwilling to give up their interests, and contradictions arise. From the beginning of the reform, the British Parliament fell into a noisy mode.
The power of the British government this year is still very limited. Not only is there a parliamentary restriction, there is also a king pressing on it.
As the king of Britain who reshaped the glory of the monarchy, Edward VII is not a rubber stamp. The cabinet government wants to toss casually, it is simply impossible.
Conservatives are strong, and the government's internal constraints are so large, and the progress of the Campbell government's reform is naturally not fast.
For a large country, reform is naturally appropriate to delay rather than urgent. It doesn't matter if it is slower, but it will cause big problems if it is faster.
But for companies, the situation is completely different. Fortunately, the traditional industry has built a moat, so it can survive even if there is an impact.
The real bad luck is emerging industries. Constrained by the small local market in Britain, it is inherently inadequate. In addition, the start is a step slower, and the competitors have been killed before they can fully develop.
The most typical of these are machinery and equipment manufacturing and the automotive industry chain. Related companies have either gone bankrupt or are on the verge of bankruptcy.
...
Stepping out of the government office building, McCall's smiling face has disappeared. As the boss of a leading high-end machine tool manufacturer in Britain, McCall’s small life should have been very moist.
The reality is quite the opposite. Because of misjudgments in the second industrial revolution, McCall's machine tool factory has always focused on traditional fields.
Not only his family, but British machine tool manufacturers have all plunged into the steam engine field, and they have not deployed in the emerging power field.
Along with the large-scale popularization of electric power, electric power has also emerged as a new force, gradually occupying a dominant position in industrial production.
Step by step, step by step.
By the time McCall reacted, competitors' products had already reached the British Isles. With excellent performance and low operating costs, they quickly snatched a large piece of cake from them.
Thanks to the conservativeness of British capital, the lack of diligence in replacing equipment, and the merits of the steam engine that have not been completely eliminated, McCall's factory survived.
It's just that with the strong entry of competitors, their orders were still taken away, especially in overseas markets almost all are lost.
The market share has decreased. In order to survive, the British machine tool companies that chose the wrong path have passively fallen into a brutal price war.
Even the leading companies are no exception. After all, now they are just the leader of Britain, not the leader of the world. Compared with its international counterparts, McCall's enterprise has fallen behind in comprehensive technology.
Changing the track is easy to say, but if you want to do it on the new track, it is not so easy.
In order to survive, McCall had to ask the government for help.
Don't talk about "free economy, oppose government interference in the market", those are slogans that are shouted when needed; they are not needed now, so naturally they have to be thrown away.
As the leader of the "high-tech" industry, there are always some privileges. Regardless of whether the technology has lagged behind its international counterparts, McCall's machine tool factory in China is still a big brother.
As long as the London government does not want to see the field of high-end machine tools and all fall under the control of competitors, it must support local companies.
For his own personal interests, McCall, who used to admire free trade, has now become a firm advocate of "trade barriers."
There is no way, no extraordinary means, normal business competition, simply can not compete with competitors.
Even if McCall is cruel to increase the R&D budget of 50,000 pounds, it is far from comparable to the investment of competitors.
The technology itself is backward and the investment in research and development is insufficient. It is obviously a big dream to rely on technological breakthroughs to overwhelm competitors.
It is not impossible to continue to increase investment, but McCall is first and foremost a capitalist. For capitalists, interest comes first. As long as you can make money, it doesn't matter whether you can surpass your competitors.
If it is really unlimited investment, it may be able to catch up technically, but the return on investment is absolutely impossible to see.
If you can't make money, it's useless even if you become No. 1 in the world.
Investors have only one requirement for a company-to be able to make money; there is only one indicator for evaluating whether a company is excellent-enough to make enough money.
McCall has already passed the second year of Secondary Two, so naturally he would not put all his wealth in Stud for the sake of a name.
Instead of conducting research and trade, it is better to conduct political public relations and directly keep competitors out of the country.
The domestic market alone may not be able to make a lot of profits for companies, at least to ensure long-term profits.
As long as there is enough time, McCall believes that his company will definitely catch up in the future, and then go to compete with international competitors in the market.
As for how long this time is, no one knows. It may be three or five years, or it may be twenty years and thirty years, anyway, hope is always there.
...
No matter how the situation changes, as long as the life goes on, the banquet is always indispensable.
Leaving the Government Avenue, McCall drove a luxury sedan produced in Shinra to the outskirts, to a manor named "Petter".
Tonight, there is a banquet organized by business leaders. As an important member of the business community, McCall was also invited.
Although they arrived early, there was still a lot of people in the manor, and there were obviously many people who doubted the same thought.
I don't know when it started, "banquet" is no longer a mere "banquet". Most of the time, people attending banquets have their own goals.
Stepping into the venue, McCall found his own small circle. McCall used to be the focus of banquets, and a group of people flattered everywhere.
Unfortunately, the good times are not long. With the intensification of competition in the machine tool industry, the right to speak of machine tool companies in the market is constantly decreasing.
Gone are the days when production orders were arranged a few years later, when the goods were relied on relationships.
For the survival of the company, McCall had to put aside his face, actively participate in social communication activities, and strive to maintain the relationship with customers.
Of course, this is not enough. Capital is profit-seeking, and if the quality of the product is not good, no matter how good the friendship is, it won’t be the best.
One of the important factors that can maintain the current basic market is that everyone is mixed in the same consortium and has a certain percentage of cross-shareholding.
Everyone is a community of interests. In the case of products with comparable cost performance, everyone is more willing to use their own products.
The performance is incomparable, it can only kill the price. The machine tool industry, which was originally a huge profit, has recently reached the price of cabbage.
In the pure machine tool business, one machine is sold and one is lost. If it is not for after-sales service to make money, McCall's machine tool companies can now consider closing their doors.
After a short drink, McCall smiled and asked, "Byron, I haven't seen you for a long time. How are you doing?"
Regardless of the internal pressure, I have a passion for the customer McCall. It is this positive marketing attitude that allows McCall to overwhelm the domestic counterparts and secure the throne as the leader of the subdivision track.
The middle-aged man shook his head and replied with a wry smile: "It's very bad. The Austrian, like a rat, is constantly grabbing our wealth.
Since they launched a new model last year, I haven't had a comfortable day. To tell you the truth, I have made three layoffs since the beginning of the year. "
It's no secret. Just look at the brand of the car that is full of people and you will know what life is going on with British auto companies.
The characteristic of industrialization is: the more products of the same type produced, the lower the production cost of a single product.
The British automobile industry started not too late, even early. As early as 1680, the famous British scientist Newton envisioned jet cars. Although the jet car did not succeed, the concept of the car was put forward.
In 1804, British engineer Richard Trevithick built the world's first steam engine car, which opened the curtain of the British automobile industry.
It's a pity that the king of the start was played as bronze in the end. Since then, the history of automobile development has shifted from Britain to France, and then to Shenra.
The steam engine car is also a car. Although it is not very convenient, it is still valuable in certain occasions, so a small amount of production is still carried out.
It stands to reason that British auto companies with industrial heritage should not be left behind. The crux of the problem lies in the second industrial revolution.
Missed the second wave of the industrial revolution, and the internal combustion engine technology did not keep up, the automobile engine became the biggest shortcoming in the British automobile industry.
If the performance of our own engines cannot keep up, we can only import them from overseas. Anyway, it is the era of free trade, and you can buy them if you want.
The core technology is controlled by others, and it is impossible not to pay the price. The most direct manifestation is the increase in production costs.
It's just that the engine is expensive, but it can be tolerated, and if it is a big deal, it will make a little less.
The problem is that Britain's car production capacity is very low, even the production of spare parts is not high, and the cost of production will go up.
Most of the local-produced parts and accessories are not only more expensive than imported ones, but they can't even keep up with their performance.
There is no support for domestic production. Capital chasing profits is naturally cost-effective. The direct result is that the British car manufacturer has become a car assembly factory.
In addition to bearing the name of a car manufacturer and adding a car logo, the auto repair shop outside their work is also capable.
With the development of technology, information is becoming more and more transparent. After discovering this, more and more auto repair shops are playing cross-border, intensifying market competition.
The domestic competition was fierce, but I didn't expect international competitors to come back. With the advantages of performance, many of Shenluo's car brands have gained a firm foothold.
The first is the fall of high-end brands. You can see from the cars in the manor that they are almost all imported cars.
Including Byron, the car manufacturer, the cars are also imported. There is no way, the performance of our own products is actually worse. For the sake of life safety, everyone knows how to choose.
If you lose the high-end market, you will lose it. There is not much sales. Before the influx of imported cars, the most important means of transportation in British society was the carriage.
Now it's different, and a lot of cheap cars are also coming in. Assembling factories without core technology naturally have no good days, and a large number of market shares are squeezed out.
In order for the company to survive, Byron had to choose to lay off employees and reduce production. But all these can only relieve urgent needs, and it is not enough to survive the crisis.
The customer's life is not easy, so McCall can't ask the question of order naturally. In a sense, everyone is now in the same boat.
If you want to live a comfortable life, you can only break the free trade system and rely on tariff barriers to protect the market.
"Be more optimistic, my friend will get better. The difficulties are only temporary, and the main problem is the free trade system.
Without this system, we would be able to raise tariffs to protect the market and gain time for enterprises to develop.
The Austrians did just that. If they hadn't implemented a trade barrier policy, they would have never become the world's largest industrial power. "
Lying is also a science. As a qualified capitalist, this is the most basic survival skill.
Although McCall himself does not believe that Britain's industry can be overtaken by protecting Britain's industry by trade, he is absolutely not able to persuade him in terms of momentum.
Raising his glass and bumping it, Byron drank it straight away, and then said angrily to his enemy: "My friend, you are right.
It was all the fault of the evil "Free Trade Agreement". If it weren't for this treaty, Britain's wealth would not be taken away.
For Britain, we must correct this error. We must not let this treaty continue to poison Britain’s future..."
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