Chapter 532
If ever there was ever the worst teacher in the world to learn from, it was Ferdinand de Lesseps.
Because of the construction of the Suez Canal, Egypt was forced to bear huge debts. Britain lent money to Egypt to buy British food. Amazing skills, except for Egypt, Britain and France are all good.
And it happened because of a bad check that the London Stock Exchange and Said had written to Ferdinand de Lesseps.
If you dare to give me a bad check, I will dare to write any number. A careerist is not an unmarried and pregnant girl who trembles when she writes 500,000 on a bad check.
After the Suez Canal was repaired, all doubtful voices disappeared, and Ferdinand de Lesseps turned his attention to the Panama Canal in America.
At the beginning of the 16th century, Spain, the world's number one power at the time, drove the locals to build a stone road that could cross the isthmus and connect the two oceans.
Then they put the gold, silver, jewelry and other wealth looted from the Pacific coast in Panama City, south of the isthmus, and then drove many slaves to cross the stone road and transport the wealth to the port of the Atlantic Ocean. , and eventually shipped back to Spain. However, although the transshipment of goods from the isthmus is much closer than having to go around the southernmost tip of South America before, it still takes a lot of time because ships cannot navigate directly after all.
At that time, the Spanish king wanted to dig an isthmus canal, and also worked out a set of specific plans. However, due to the huge project, the King of Spain later overturned this plan. Since then, in the next three centuries, although the British, French, and Americans all had the idea of digging a canal on the isthmus, they never realized it.
With the gradual expansion of American power, in the middle of the 19th century, it built another railway on the Isthmus of Panama, which greatly enhanced the transportation capacity of the United States.
However, no matter how well it can be loaded by land, it is no match for sea ships. The United States and France fought for the right to dig the Panama Canal. In the end, France won. Ferdinand de Lesseps established a Panama Ocean Shipping Global Company, and came "Cut leeks".
Officials and celebrities attended the opening ceremony and sang "La Marseillaise" to celebrate this world-class project.
The Prime Minister of the French Cabinet and the Minister of Engineering highly praised it, so the first batch of 300 million francs of stocks were sold out quickly.
This way of grabbing stocks, the stocks skyrocketed, and Panama Canal Global Company became the most popular company. The company's executives opened another construction company and issued another 300 million shares.
Funds are in place so quickly, Ferdinand de Lesseps ambitiously announced that the canal will be opened within 7 years, the Panama Canal is only 40% of the Suez Canal, and the Suez Canal will be opened in 13 years, theoretically 7 years is enough, but this is not the case.
Panama's difficult terrain makes construction difficult, and it also faces frequent floods and heavy rains, making it difficult to carry out the entire project.
If you want to see the mountains and open the mountains, and fill the water when you see the water, you have to repair it. The originally estimated 45 million cubic meters of soil volume will become 400 million cubic meters. The Panama company started construction without going to investigate.
Later, a plague broke out in the jungle, and malaria and yellow fever were rampant. The project started in 1881, and by 1885 only less than 15% of it had been completed, but the Panama Company announced that more than half of it had been completed. The Panama Company established a "Canal Bulletin" to publish the progress of the canal project, site progress and outstanding employees. In the same way, if the European media comes, they will give bribes. Almost all famous media have received bribes from Panama Corporation.
Across the ocean, stockholders don't know the real situation, and many people believe in the credibility of journalists, just like Rita Kisser, she can be trusted no matter what she makes up.
Just take a photo and make up a non-existent place name, and the stockholders will really believe that the project is going well, and the stock will continue to rise.
The inspectors sent by the French government turned a blind eye after receiving the bribes. At this time, the 600 million financing was almost used up, so a new round of financing (cutting leeks) started again.
A large number of ministers, speakers, parliamentarians and officials of all sizes approved the French Parliament immediately after receiving bribes.
Under the momentum of the media, the Panama company raised another 850 million francs at once, and half of the money raised went into the pockets of the bribe-takers.
The on-site engineers found that the Pacific Ocean is tens of centimeters higher than the Caribbean Sea, so the sea-level canal could not be completed with the technology at the time.
This news was tightly sealed. "Leeks", no, it was the stockholders who continued to invest in it. After a few years, the 850 million yuan was used up. The promised construction period came, but the actual completion of the project was less than one-third.
And the investors who were kept in the dark are still investing money.
After "financing" for an unknown amount of money, Panama Corporation suddenly declared bankruptcy, which is tantamount to saying that the stocks bought by stockholders with all their wealth have become a pile of waste paper.
At that time, small and medium-sized investors in all townships and towns in France cried bitterly, 1 million people were affected, and various scandals broke out at this time, bribery of officials and journalists, falsification of engineering reports, covering up the company's financial status, etc., at least 2 billion funds were invested in this rotten 35%-50% of the funds were used to accept bribes. Three cabinet prime ministers, more than 200 members of parliament, the army, the Ministry of Public Works, reporters and the newspaper companies behind the reporters were all brought to court.
Hundreds of officials showed their skills and protected each other. Almost no one was charged. Ferdinand de Lesseps and his son were only sentenced to 5 years and a fine of 3,000 francs.
Four months later, the court changed its words and everyone was not guilty. Western rule of law and media supervision became a joke.
Of course, there was no compensation for the dead workers. After the Americans took over, they redesigned the entire project and strengthened budgetary control. This allowed the construction of the canal to proceed smoothly. It was not until August 15, 1914 that the Panama Canal was successfully tested.
No matter how solid a guarantee program is, things will go wrong when they should.
When "Leek" received the news, the oligarch had already run away. Lucius Malfoy had no property in the United States. Investing in the U.S. real estate market to earn some “little money” turned out to be an inside news that the U.S. economy was under enormous pressure to rise after 9/11. In order to stimulate economic recovery, the U.S. government wants to increase the residential home ownership rate. Between 2001 and 2003, interest rates were cut 13 times, from 6.5% to 1%. At the same time, the United States also passed the "American Dream Down Payment Act" to further promote Americans to buy houses.
In 1999, only those with good credit and stable income could buy a house with a loan, with a down payment of at least 20%.
In 2000, the down payment for home loans dropped to 3%. Then it was reduced to zero down payment, no proof loan. Many people who cannot repay can also take out loans to buy houses.
In 2005, loans to low- and middle-income families and poor families accounted for 70%, and the risk was too great. At this time, investing money in it would harm "friends". Lucius did not go to the colorful real estate market in the United States. UK real estate is also selling off cautiously.
Facing the financial crisis, holding currency is not safe, it is better to hold gold. Those Chinese "local tyrants" with big gold chains are smart people, as long as they are not afraid of being robbed.
As the largest holder of gold in the world, the U.S. government is well known to control the price of gold that can fluctuate in accordance with the interests of the United States. But silver is different. The global silver mines are mainly distributed in Mexico, Peru, Australia, Poland and other regions. If the safe-haven funds continue to invest in the gold market, it will be a dead end. The price of silver will fluctuate greatly after the outbreak of the subprime mortgage crisis. Silver is very suitable for mid-to-long-term holding or speculation. It is more stable than "immovable" real estate. It also happens that wizards and werewolves are at war and need a lot of silver, so Lucius Malfoy took the opportunity of dealing with goblins Started hoarding silver at Gringotts.
"You peeked at my files and now understand what Lucius is doing?"
After lunch of paella, Severus offered her a non-alcoholic Spanish drink, but she still felt dizzy, as if floating in the air.
He shook his head helplessly, as if lamenting that he married a stupid wife.
"Why Gringotts?" she asked.
"The Muggle financial crisis will not affect the wizarding world. Even if there is a war, they will not be able to find Gringotts. The money will always be his. Some of his Muggle friends are also asking him to help keep it. We are now It's rich!" He tried to change her world view of the poor.
Pomona shrugged, she still felt that money should not be wasted on food, drink and merrymaking.
When passing by a small bar, there was a news broadcast on the TV that Somali pirates had kidnapped merchant ships from various countries and charged a ransom of 500,000 U.S. dollars for each ship.
After the Suez Canal was dug, everyone entered the Mediterranean Sea from the Red Sea. Many ships passed by the golden waterway in the Gulf of Aden. They caught both big and small fish, and even the World Food Program's disaster relief ship for Africa was robbed.
600 years ago, the Chinese navigator Zheng He reached the coastal city of Somalia on his voyages to the west. It was the first time that a Chinese government official visited Africa.
A Slytherin needs to be scary, if he gets sympathy from others by "selling miserably", it's really sad, she still likes "bad guy" Slytherin.
"Don't make too much, you are enough to be hated."
Severus snorted. "Why didn't you tell them to teach me a lesson?"
"They won't obey." Pomona pinched his thin cheeks. "Are you obedient, Severus?"
Severus smiled at her and slapped her on the ass so suddenly that she screamed and he laughed smugly.
The volcano in the Philippines erupted yesterday. The VEI of this volcano is only 2-3, which will not affect the global weather. However, with the rainforest in Amazon Africa, the wildfires in Australia and the Siberia fire in 2018, I hope this Gengzi Year can pass safely
