Chapter 1025 Now It's the US Dollar vs the Mark

Roosevelt did not answer William Leahy's question directly, but turned his attention to the Secretary of the Treasury Henry Morgenthau.

"Admiral," Morgenthau took over the question, "I think the Germans are likely to reject our peace proposal."

William Leahy frowned, thinking: How can you, the Secretary of the Treasury, answer military questions? I, the President's Chief of Staff, have the right to say whether the Germans will continue to fight!

Morgenthau saw William Leahy's puzzled expression, just smiled and said: "Why do you think the Germans want to fight this war? Why do they want to form the European Community?"

"..."

William Leahy looked at the Jewish Secretary of the Treasury, who looked like a banker, and seemed to be waiting for him to answer the question himself.

Morgenthau smiled and said, "In fact, the culprit who started this war, the Chief of the General Staff of the German Wehrmacht, Reich Marshal Hersmann, had already made this issue very clear before the war. Germany started the war and promoted the formation of the European Community in order to maintain Europe's financial and economic hegemony.

In the eyes of Reich Marshal Hersmann, who is also an economist, the last world war caused the financial and monetary systems of European countries to collapse, and the world's financial hegemony shifted from Europe to the United States. The two financial crises that Germany encountered in the 1920s were ultimately due to the loss of financial sovereignty. If Europe wants to become great again, it must take back financial hegemony from the United States. To achieve this goal, it is impossible to rely on a single European country. The only way is to unite European powers such as Germany, Britain, and France to form a tariff and monetary union.

And this is the main purpose of Hersmann's support for Hitler's regime and launching a world war!"

"Isn't his goal almost achieved now?" William Leahy has of course read Hersmann's works-every one! Therefore, he fully understood Hessman's proposition.

"No," Morgenthau shook his head, "not yet!"

"No?" William Leahy looked at Morgenthau puzzledly.

"Of course not," Morgenthau said, "Although the Germans were victorious on the battlefield, their European Mark did not win, and the European Community was not truly united. In the countries conquered by Germany, people were just forced to accept the European Mark, and they did not really have confidence in this paper currency. Even the central banks of Rome and Japan, the German allies, did not reserve European Marks, but gold and silver. As far as I know, many large banks in France and Britain are now buying gold and silver whenever they have the chance, which shows that they have no confidence in the European Mark controlled by the Germans."

"Why is this so?" William Leahy did not understand economics very well, so it was strange for him that people did not believe in the European Mark. The German devils were so good at fighting, how could their money not be strong?

"The reason is simple," Morgenthau smiled faintly, "Although Germany's military power is very strong, the economy of Germany and the European Community cannot be compared with that of the United States. Germany and France are slightly better, Britain has not yet emerged from the collapse, and Poland, Lithuania, Ukraine and Russia are all ruins left by the war."

Morgenthau paused and said, "On paper, the economic strength of the European Community seems to be very strong, as if it is no less than that of the United States. But the European Community is a unified large market that has just been forcibly squeezed together, which is different from our large market in the United States that has developed naturally.

There are still many duplicates. Without 10-20 years of integration, there would not be an economically unified European Community. Moreover, due to the ineffective integration, the shortage of many important raw materials and the destruction of long-term wars, the current production capacity on paper in Europe has not been fully utilized. Although there is no shortage of military supplies, civilian supplies can only be strictly rationed.

In fact, for people or countries with a large number of European marks, if they do not want German-made arms, the European mark is not of much use. "

Morgenthau was indeed right. Now all countries in the European Community are rationing supplies, and you have to use tickets and cards to buy anything. If someone has only European marks in his pocket, he can only go to the black market or open "high-consumption" places to buy things. Then the money in his hand will become "hairy".

Due to the great prosperity and depression that the United States experienced before World War II, there was a large amount of excess capacity in all walks of life in the United States. The demand of the world war just made these excess capacities available, so the world war brought prosperity to the US economy, and all kinds of supplies were sufficient.

The rationing system was only implemented for a period after 1942, and the content was limited to gasoline and rubber products. However, with the surrender of the British mainland and the commissioning of synthetic rubber factories in the United States, the rationing system was abolished in the second half of 1943.

So now the countries and people who hold the US dollar in their hands do not have to worry about not being able to buy things.

"The second reason why the European mark is not strong is the lack of gold reserves." Morgenthau continued, "As we all know, after the end of the last World War, most of the world's gold went to the United States. The Federal Reserve Bank controls most of the world's reserve gold and silver, and this trend has not changed in this world war. Now the Federal Reserve has more gold and silver than in 1939.

And the vaults of the European Union Bank only have bonds issued by the European Community countries that no one wants!"

In this era, the "gold standard" and the "silver standard" are still deeply rooted in the hearts of the people. And "unsecured currency" is always linked to "devaluation" in people's minds. Therefore, the U.S. dollar backed by a large amount of gold and silver is definitely stronger than the European mark without any guarantee.

What's more, the current economy of the European Community is really not comparable to that of the United States. Therefore, in the battle between the US dollar and the mark, the US dollar still has an overwhelming advantage.

Roosevelt laughed, and then looked at William Leahy with sharp eyes, "General, do you understand why I want to make peace with the Japanese?"

William Leahy nodded and said: "Mr. President, you think it is unlikely that Germany will make peace under the current circumstances."

"Yes." Roosevelt nodded his head and said, "Once peace is restored on both sides of the Atlantic, the Germans will find that they cannot maintain the world empire they have worked so hard to build. Because the Italians are our friends, and the French They will also be our friends. Britain has lost most of its colonies and even India has fallen into chaos and has to turn to us for help. If the ruined Russian Empire wants to survive, it also needs to borrow money and buy supplies from the United States.

As for Japan... Well, the Germans will soon find that the entire Eastern market has closed its door to Europe. They would have to pay high prices for rubber, silk, tea, and certain raw materials that were only produced in the East. At the same time, the Euromark and European-produced consumer goods will be shut out!

Therefore, Germany will most likely adhere to the war line in order to attack our economy and prestige through war, and use military means to take away Venezuela's oil and Brazil's food. At the same time, we can also use the state of war to prevent our capital from penetrating into the United Kingdom, France and Russia, and buy time for Germany to further consolidate the European Community. "

"But do we really want to let Japan go easily?" William Leahy was still a little confused.

Roosevelt's face also darkened. He gritted his teeth and said, "No! Of course we cannot let them off lightly! In fact, our peace talks with Japan have pushed Japan to the brink of breaking up with Germany. Most Germans will not agree. To make peace, if Japan wants to make a separate peace, it will mean that the Japan-Germany alliance has completely broken down. At that time, we will have the initiative to make peace, and can implement strategies such as armistice, negotiation, and negotiation breakdown according to the needs of the Atlantic battlefield. Without signing the end-of-war peace treaty, we can end the negotiations and start the war again at any time!”

Negotiation does not mean peace, and a temporary truce does not mean that the war cannot be restarted! Historically, it was not uncommon for people to fight and talk while fighting. As long as Japan violates Germany's will and conducts "armistice peace talks" (temporary armistice) with the United States alone, the Japan-Germany alliance will be immediately suspended.

…

"Your Excellency, Imperial Marshal, the war in the Pacific has caused great damage and pressure to our country. The bloody battle in the Hawaiian Islands continued for a long time, and the navy and army aviation suffered heavy losses. The total number of aircraft lost has exceeded 4,000. This number does not include suicide bombers. The loss of aircraft. American submarines and mines also caused great losses to our country. As many as 160,000 tons of merchant ships were sunk in April. It is estimated that more than 180,000 tons of merchant ships will be lost. What a heavy loss. If this continues, the Japanese Empire will be defeated..."

The person who was talking to Hersmann on vacation in a luxurious villa in the fairy tale town of Berchtesgaden was Hiroshi Oshima, the Japanese ambassador to Germany, who had just returned from Tokyo, Japan.

Hessman looked at the sad-looking Japanese in front of him, and of course he understood what the other party meant - Japan must have felt that the peace offer offered by the Americans was good, and they would not accept the offer if they wanted to see a good deal.

In fact, after the United States truly showed some sincerity for peace, the countries in the Axis camp that wanted to give up as soon as they got along were not only Japan, which was beaten to the ground by the United States. Even Caesar Mussolini of the Roman Empire will come to Berchtesgaden today. He will probably lobby Hitler at the Eagle's Nest to agree to make peace, right?

It is a pity that Japan and Rome can make peace with the United States, but Germany and the European Community must insist on fighting.