King-Chapter 1414 - 268: Three Bankruptcy Tactics vs. the Delaying Strategy_3
Chapter 1414: Chapter 268: Three Bankruptcy Tactics vs. the Delaying Strategy_3
If it were any other irresponsible Minister of Finance, they’d simply play the game of borrowing new loans to pay off old ones, dragging things out until their term ended, leaving the mess for their successor.
Anyway, given the reputation of the Alpha Kingdom, keeping the game going for a decade or so shouldn’t be a problem. Count Francis would most likely retire with accolades.
"Your Excellency the Count, I don’t have any good ideas, but I do have one lousy suggestion: just stall for time and wait until the military operations in the Papal State conclude.
Once we receive that unexpected windfall, immediately repay part of the debt—not too much, just ten percent to stabilize creditors’ confidence.
Afterward, let’s focus on economic recovery!
When everyone has money in their hands, it will naturally circulate through the market. The sluggish commercial tax revenues will recover soon enough.
As long as there are no major upheavals later, we should barely be able to achieve a balance between revenue and expenditure. By the time the tax exemption periods for regions like the Northern Border and Near East end, the fiscal issues will solve themselves."
Hudson spoke calmly.
Financial deficits were nothing new to him. Compared to the rampant madness of certain nations in his previous life, the Alpha Kingdom was just getting started!
This time, during the Pope’s expedition, if the frontline soldiers don’t extract billions in wealth, someone is definitely slacking off.
According to previous plans, the Kingdom Government withholding a billion of the loot is perfectly reasonable.
With ten percent of the debt repaid, the annual interest payments would shrink to around twenty million.
When the economy stabilizes later, five to six million could be squeezed from the Kingdom Government’s tax revenues for debt repayment, six to seven million from government-owned industries, and two to three million from other government income sources—leaving just a shortfall of a few million each year.
Exploiting additional mineral resources in the Near East region would provide a sizable revenue increase.
As long as the Kingdom Government doesn’t undertake large projects, the gap in interest payments can certainly be plugged, with some leftover funds each year to settle promissory notes.
It’s not important when the debt is fully repaid; what’s crucial is that repayments begin. That’s a good start.
"Marshal, if the problem were so easy to solve, I wouldn’t be fretting over it.
Setting aside other expenses for now, the defense budget for newly acquired territories alone represents a massive expenditure.
We..."
Before Count Francis could finish speaking, Hudson interrupted: "Your Excellency the Count, you’re caught in a mental trap.
The Ministry of Finance only needs to resolve its own debt problems. Issues on the government’s side are matters for the King and Chancellor to worry about.
After all, if the Ministry of Finance has no money, then it has no money. If the government wants to pursue large projects, let them figure out how to obtain funding.
You absolutely don’t need to shoulder all the pressure yourself!"
Frankly speaking, these words bordered on being corruptive. But given the three solutions proposed by the Ministry of Finance so far, none of them were acceptable.
Whichever option was implemented would cause enormous harm to the Kingdom.
If the Ministry of Finance couldn’t solve the fiscal problems, then simply leave it to other departments capable of dealing with the issue.
Hudson believed that if the government took over resolving fiscal problems, the measures they implemented would certainly be more reliable than the Ministry of Finance’s three plans.
For instance: enacting laws beneficial to economic recovery, such as persuading domestic nobles to abolish transit taxes.
Or perhaps: emulating certain countries on the South Continent and implementing modest reforms.
...
In practice, these measures would undoubtedly face considerable difficulty. But at the very least, they wouldn’t drag the Kingdom into the Abyssal Hell.
Using bankruptcy to resolve fiscal problems simply wasn’t an option. In his previous life, countless nations went bankrupt financially, and none of them developed better afterward.
The Moxi Duchy managed to rise from the ashes post-bankruptcy only because it was "fake bankruptcy, real wealth"!
If they didn’t have massive cash reserves on hand, what would they use for post-war rebuilding? What would they use to restore the economy?
Should the Kingdom Government go bankrupt, the first thing to erupt would be a financial crisis, followed by mass bankruptcies among nobles. The chambers of commerce operating domestically, every single one of them, would shut their doors for good.
At that point, even the four major chambers of commerce on the continent, representing international capital, would likely withdraw and exit entirely.
Under the grip of panic, the private economy would completely collapse. The Kingdom’s few freemen would become the greatest victims.
Unemployment would plunge numerous households into absolute despair.
A new wave of land consolidation would ensue, leaving even the Major Nobles with empty purses, but their territories and populations would expand. Social stratification would deepen further.
With the basic structure in chaos and no steady flow of revitalizing resources from the Near East Land, even those regions would face catastrophe.
In Hudson’s view, the Ministry of Finance’s three plans ultimately led to the same outcome. novelbuddy-cσ๓
Fiscal bankruptcy would ruin the economy; increasing taxes would similarly destroy the private economy, and issuing paper money was even worse.
If people refused to recognize the currency, then it was nothing more than worthless paper. Forcing its circulation through administrative orders could be compared to the failed Baochao experiment.
It wouldn’t even reach the level of Baochao!
The Emperor of the Daming Empire and the King of the Alpha Kingdom were entirely different calibers of leaders.
If Caesar IV were to mandate exchanging gold coins for paper money, the local Noble Lords would likely respond with one word—"Get lost!"
If pushed too far, people would only think the King had gone mad. And if they were truly provoked, they wouldn’t mind swapping him out for a more agreeable King.
Dethroning a King was doable, let alone a mere Ministry of Finance.
"Purge the court, expel traitors!"
A ready-made political slogan, easily usable.
The Noble Lords along the way would handle logistics and bring their Private Armies to join the cause. The Capital’s garrison would prepare everything in advance, enthusiastically welcoming the army’s entry into the city.
The Royal Family, sensing the growing tide of discontent, would likely preemptively communicate with the various Clans, initiating a coup together.
All because this proposed reform harmed everyone’s interests. Without any concept of paper money in their worldview, to them, the government exchanging paper money for gold coins was blatant robbery!
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This content is taken from (f)reewe(b)novel.𝗰𝗼𝐦
