Start 1861: I Just Inherited the Dutch Throne

Kingdom of the Netherlands, in the king's office.

William IV seriously put down the information about the Dutch news in his hands.

“According to the investigation, the recent excessive expansion of domestic production and corruption in stock trading in the Netherlands, if it continues like this, the Netherlands is likely to have a Dutch economic panic. By then, the domestic economic situation will continue to deteriorate, and even ten years later. In a few decades, labor riots may become more frequent, and our society will be in turmoil.”

William IV couldn't help but frowned when he thought of this.

The term "economic crisis" is not unfamiliar to him at all, and precisely because it is unfamiliar, he feels fear.

Every economic crisis will trigger large-scale unemployment and social unrest.

Since the 18th century, many social turmoils and government collapses have been related to economic crises.

The Netherlands has not experienced a large-scale economic crisis for 33 years since the Great Revolution in 1848. The main source of social stability is that the socio-economic development trend is improving and the people live and work in peace and contentment.

The Netherlands is now the most developed country in the world. In this regard, even the United Kingdom cannot compare.

Because of this, if an economic crisis occurs in the Netherlands, the harm to society will be absolutely huge.

He picked up a pen and wrote the words "overproduction" on the blank notebook next to him.

"If there is an economic crisis in the United States, overproduction will be the main cause of the crisis."

William IV couldn't help but think of the panic caused by the economic crisis in the United States in 1873.

Now, like the United States, the Netherlands is producing too much stuff from industrial enterprises and farms, and the oversupply on the market has caused prices to plummet. In the more than 10 years before 1880, the output of pig iron in the Netherlands doubled, but its price went from 200 guilders per ton to astonishingly high. Falling to 130 Dutch guilders per dollar, cotton is the main traditional export product of the Netherlands. Its output has increased by more than 50% in more than 10 years, and the limited international market cannot fully absorb the excess products of the Netherlands.

If this is not the case, it is very likely that many Dutch farmers and industrial workers will become the most serious victims of this economic depression, and even many farmers will declare bankruptcy."

“The entire society will fall into the miserable state of economic depression, but this does not prevent thoughtful people from going all out to make money and take advantage of the opportunity to rise.

According to the data, this is just a prelude, but Andrew Carnegie, who immigrated to the Kingdom of the Netherlands from the United States, has become a leader in rising in recent years. In the past few years, during the Dutch economic bubble, he built factories in other places at a high cost, and even bought out all the industries of his competitors - including several steel industry companies - this far-sighted approach allowed this guy to occupy the private leadership in the Dutch steel industry. -Leading position.

Then, now in the Netherlands. More and more people are following the example of Andrew Carnegie, squeezing each other out in improving efficiency and reducing costs, and trying every means to unseat each other. After brutal competition, a single industry has become dominated by one or a few companies."

Thinking of this, William IV couldn't help but think of antitrust issues.

However, he was afraid that interfering too much would trigger resistance from the capitalists and even have a huge impact on immigrants, so William IV chose to stay put.

Since then, competition in these fields has also formed a monopoly. Product prices are no longer determined by the game between many sellers and sellers in the open market as before, but are determined by a few companies that control these industrial fields. Determined according to its production cost and the profit return they hope to obtain.

In order to avoid brutal duel competition, some companies even join forces to control prices and eliminate competition to ensure an effective return on company profits. The resulting association of companies is called a trust.

It is precisely because of the emergence of trusts that there are now very few stories of Dutch entrepreneurs competing alone to gain wealth in the open market, and many companies have joined the trust movement.

"Trusts are very important to major companies. If others interfere with the operation of your company, it will eventually be able to fend for itself. Of course, many people dream of becoming the head of a trust company."

Even under such circumstances, the belief that many people in the Netherlands are succeeding through self-struggle still exists. Under the propaganda of some industrial giants, this belief has gradually become popular. This is good, and at least it is important to solve the economic crisis.

But as a result, trusts continue to grow, the economy gradually decreases or even disappears, and opportunities gradually decrease. At the same time, there are still people who work hard, thrift, and look forward to success.

And now another part of the Netherlands is writing novels. Create an image of a brave and honest character who strives alone to achieve success. Therefore, the prevalence of trusts does not disappoint people. In particular, it makes people with lofty ideals lose confidence and despair. Their yearning for success and belief in struggle make people no longer afraid of the control of one or several giant industries in these fields. .

In fact, this is understandable. As the Netherlands has said, it was actually the most capitalist country in the West in the entire 19th century. As I said before, the Netherlands was the first country to implement joint-stock systems. Both countries are controlled by large enterprises and the royal family. Yes, the East India Company was a platform that controlled the country and divided interests based on shares.

Only because of this, William IV can naturally understand that these trust giants are absolutely unavoidable in the Netherlands, and in the 19th century, the idea of ​​​​people eating people and the practice of advocating an elite society in the West were naturally inevitable in the Netherlands. Measure the country by who its elites are.

The Dutch industrial giant is actually the root of his legacy.

America knows that 15 years from now it will still develop according to the current model, and the business elite will still control the country as always.

The political elite are just the face of the American business consortium.

Andrew Carnegie believed that the law on corporate supervision was already perfect, but William IV did not think so, but because the Supreme Court should strive for excellence and make further changes to it.

Therefore, the Dutch Supreme Court modified the legal concept of "due process". Due process is a fundamental aspect of Dutch law. Before 1880, due process referred to the step-by-step execution of procedures. After the amendment, the focus of due process shifted to whether the procedure was legal.

William IV pushed for changes in these laws to prevent more cheaters in the future.

“Due process establishes that Dutch law requires that no one can deprive a person of life, liberty or property without due legal process, and that no one will be arbitrarily arrested, illegally confiscated property, etc. This can strengthen the Dutch public power of all levels of government. "Constraints"