Chapter 298 Installment Payment
Vienna, Schönbrunn Palace.
Watching beautiful women play pool is also a kind of enjoyment. Adjani elegantly picked up the cue and bent down to hit the ball. A series of movements were smooth and smooth. The graceful figure flashed past like a phantom, leaving only two big white ones. The semicircular sphere lingered in Franz’s mind.
"Archduke Franz, what do you think of Solomon Rothschild's proposal?"
Franz shook his head and said.
"No, a dog can't change its habit of eating shit. Can't they just make money honestly? They have to engage in some kind of financial innovation. Isn't 25% interest per year just usury?"
In fact, Franz's sewing machine business was booming during this period. The pedal sewing machine not only took away the market of hand-operated sewing machines, but also detonated the entire household machinery industry in one fell swoop.
It became the second mechanical product to enter thousands of households after clocks and watches.
Historically, it was precisely because of the rapid popularity of pedal sewing machines in various countries that it directly changed the history of the financial industry in later generations. But at this time, the ambitious Solomon Rothschild was trying to change his destiny.
A sewing machine priced at 350-400 florins is not something an ordinary Austrian with an annual income of 100-150 florins can afford.
This was the actual national situation at that time. Many ordinary families had to scrimp and save for several years before they had any purchasing power.
So Solomon, who had a shark-like sense of smell, was keenly aware of the business opportunities. He approached Adjani and said that he was willing to provide loans to poor buyers and promised to share 40% of the interest income with the royal family.
Franz's industry is naturally under the banner of the royal family, but few people think that he is the real boss behind the scenes, and on the surface, Archduke Franz Karl does not seem like someone who can do such a thing.
Therefore, people have concluded that Mrs. Sophie is the mastermind behind the scenes, but on the surface it is Adjani who is responsible for the contact and coordination, which makes people very confused.
Closer to home, however, Franz, who has a certain understanding of financial capital operations, does not want to be a lackey of these worms at all, not to mention that 40% of the income is simply a talisman to the palace.
The rule of the Habsburg family largely benefited from the support of the people at the bottom. This kind of conspiracy with loan sharks to defraud the people is tantamount to suicide for this country.
Adjani was not surprised by Franz's words, after all, the latter always seemed to come up with amazing and wonderful ideas.
However, if Solomon Rothschild's advice is adopted, more people will benefit from the convenient sewing machine, which will be more conducive to its promotion and popularization, and the profits and income will also increase rapidly.
As an intelligence chief, she can be said to be well aware of matters at all levels of Austria. The current sales growth rate of sewing machines has been exaggerated, but it has not yet reached its potential limit level.
Many people are unable to spend a very high amount of money to cross this high threshold and give up. And the advent of the sewing machine caused the incomes of women who relied on home sewing to plummet.
There are only two choices before them, either to immediately consider joining a factory to make a living, or to upgrade their equipment to improve efficiency by purchasing sewing machines.
She believes that under the stimulation of the surrounding environment and life pressure, many people will choose to borrow loan sharks as long as someone is willing to lend to them.
Since ancient times, loan sharks have been dependent on power, and the Rothschild family is no exception. It's just that before meeting Franz, Solomon's life was a little too smooth, making him think that he was the king.
To be honest, even Adjani felt sad for him at this moment. A former "king" is still only willing to share a small part of the profits after suffering many head-on attacks. It is really a bit desperate.
"Archduke Franz, you must have some fantastic ideas, right? After all, I am in charge of the department store business now. I believe your method can also be applied to other products."
Adjani smiled, jumped back and sat sideways on the pool table.
"I think you should also use your brain. After all, your brain will get rusty if you don't use it for a long time." Franz deliberately scolded.
"Oh, really? But experts in Vienna said that women should not be too smart, otherwise they will easily follow the path of Satan."
It was a consensus in Europe in the 19th century that women should not be too smart.
"You are bad enough, Satan's route is not suitable for you." Franz joked.
"Isn't it good to be a bad woman?" Adjani took off her shoes and put her feet on the pool table, tilted her head and looked at Franz, and winked.
"You should talk to the archbishop about this, maybe he can exorcise the devil for you.
Okay, let's get back to the topic we just talked about. Solomon's proposal was fine in good economic years, but once the economic crisis like that of 1837 returned or another food crisis broke out, a large number of bad debts would be unavoidable.
What we will see by then is a broken society with a large number of people going bankrupt, a massive weakening of consumption power, factories shutting down and a large number of workers unemployed.
Of course, the crisis will not stop its spread, from cities to villages, and eventually the entire empire will fall into a state of semi-paralysis. If there are any more sparks at such a critical moment, it will trigger a disaster."
The above analysis made Adjani's eyes light up. Although she had spent time and done a lot of homework, she was still far from the level of the former.
By closely linking these three seemingly independent events, usury to stimulate consumption, international situation, and revolution, she was not sure whether Franz was an alarmist, but she knew that the financial problem at hand was much more serious than she imagined.
“Then the solution is to let everyone buy products that are within their consumption range and income ability?”
"That's not entirely true. Economic problems have always been complex and multifaceted, and cannot be solved once and for all with a suitable or universal antidote. Moreover, blind austerity is not conducive to economic development. Perhaps we can adopt an installment payment model. "
"Instalment payment?" Adjani asked.
"Yes, for example, a sewing machine priced at 350 florins can be purchased by the other party for a period of 18 months with a monthly repayment of 20 florins. The extra 10 florins will be treated as Interest."
Franz's explanation made Adjani's eyes light up, and then she raised questions.
"Only 10 florins, isn't the interest too low? And there are many risks involved. What if the buyer dies or disappears?"
"Miss Adjani, what I proposed is just a concept. The specific operation will of course be done by you or someone under you. I only have one requirement: the total interest collected should not exceed 10% of the value of the goods, and it is best to be able to suppress below 5%.
As for how to eliminate risks, whether it is a mortgage or a pre-loan investigation, it is up to you. If you don't do some things, you won't know the results. "
Adjani jumped off the pool table and walked up to Franz and said.
"Archduke Franz, there are some things that you can't understand just by looking at them."