The Rise Of Australasia

The British representative touched on the concerns of small and medium-sized European countries, namely that if the German government indeed acted as a rogue, these countries would have no good solutions.

Even countries like Italy, which are not considered small or medium-sized, may not have enough say in front of Germany.

Germany is a proud nation, and the Germanic tribes are a proud people.

Those who understand the character of Germans know that after their defeat, they absolutely do not think of retreat or fear.

The proud Germans will only reflect on their failures and make a comeback at a certain moment.

British representative John constantly observed the facial expressions of other small and medium-sized country representatives, and after confirming that they were moved by his statements, John continued to add fuel to the fire, saying: "Gentlemen, the current losses are for us to gain better benefits in the future.

The World Alliance will protect the interests of all member countries, ensuring that any one of you can fully receive reparations from Germany."

Guaranteeing that all small and medium-sized countries can fully receive reparations is what their representatives are most eager to hear.

After hearing John’s indirect promise, it was clear that many small and medium-sized country representatives became interested, but they were still hesitant.

The 20 billion pounds of reparations were reduced to 15 billion pounds, a reduction of a full quarter.

For the Four Great Powers of the Allies, Britain, France, and Russia had to reduce their reparations by 1.275 billion pounds, and Australasia had to reduce theirs by 425 million pounds.

Furthermore, all large, small, and medium-sized countries would lose a total of 750 million pounds, which was enough to make all countries hurt.

The first meeting ended inconclusively, and while many small and medium-sized countries were interested, the representatives had to consult with their governments and receive their instructions before making a final decision.

However, both the British representative and the British government were not in a hurry, as reducing Germany’s reparations ratio was not an easy thing to do, and even if the meeting passed, it would take a long time to implement.

Exactly how much of a reduction, as well as the annual reparations Germany needed to pay after the reduction, would require further negotiations and would only be communicated to the German government afterward. Explore stories on empire

That’s right, even though this matter would benefit the German government, they still had no right to know.

Only after the final meeting had concluded, and everything had been settled, would the World Alliance inform Germany.

The entire meeting process was also conveyed to Arthur’s desk, and Arthur was no exception.

In the original history, Germany’s loans went through several rounds of reduction, from an extremely outrageous number to a more outrageous number.

Yes, Germany’s reparations in history were still very outrageous, even being repaid until the Cold War period after World War II.

Repaying World War I reparations after World War II was indeed an outrageous matter.

Arthur replied to this, still maintaining the previous decision, not actively supporting the reduction of reparations but not refusing it either.

This was just a small episode, and Arthur’s main focus was still on the development of Australasia, such as the welfare guarantees for the aging population currently facing Australasia.

Any country has an aging population, with the only difference being the proportion of the total population.

Thanks to the large number of immigrants and newborn babies, Australasia’s aging population is not large, which is good news for the current government.

However, as time goes on, the aging population in Australasia will increase.

Australasia’s current policy to protect the welfare of the elderly, besides building a large number of nursing homes to take care of those without children or relatives, is to increase the subsidies for the elderly population.

But even with the highest subsidies, there are certain limits, especially as the aging population grows, placing a heavier burden on the government.

Therefore, implementing a policy that can ensure a source of income for the elderly after they retire or lose their ability to work has become the primary goal of the current government, especially the Department of Civil Affairs.

When it comes to such policies, the first thing that comes to Arthur’s mind is pension insurance.

During their prime working years, people would purchase pension insurance in advance to ensure income during retirement and old age. This was the primary way to ensure the elderly would have sufficient material resources in later generations.

The advantage of this approach was that it wasn’t just the government shouldering the burden, but rather a joint effort between the younger generation and the government to support themselves in their old age.

A large number of young people buying pension insurance provided the government with a certain source of income, allowing them to have enough funds to help the elderly.

Under normal circumstances, as long as there isn’t a crisis in the birth rate, the government would have enough funds to assist the elderly through the continuous replacement of people at various ages, without any economic risks.

This system is quite suitable for present-day Australasia, as there are many young people who could use their pension funds to fully bear the cost of subsidies needed by the elderly.

Of course, compared to the current pension systems in other countries, this system is more advanced.

The pension systems in European countries nowadays are imperfect, even superficial.

Even in a country like the British Empire, pension systems generally only consider short-term issues, and simply cannot withstand close scrutiny.

Put bluntly, the pension systems established by European countries actually just pay lip service to the public, only informing them that the country has this system in place.

As for how much help this pension system can actually provide, the living conditions of the elderly population in European countries speak volumes.

As for the now ubiquitous retirement pensions, they are unheard of and unseen in this current era.

Even some major contributors to enterprises might not have a retirement pension after retiring, let alone ordinary employees.

One of the worrisome issues with establishing a pension insurance system is the decline in birth rates.

In fact, there is a precedent for this - according to European intelligence, in industrialized countries like Britain and France, birth rates have gradually declined as they entered industrialized societies.

There are many reasons for the decline in birth rates, but the most fundamental factor is the decrease in the happiness index of residents’ lives.

This is quite strange - why would the happiness index of people’s lives decrease after entering an industrialized society?

This phenomenon may seem odd, but as soon as one delves into the social situations in Britain and France, it becomes apparent.

With the advent of an industrialized society, the rise of capital is inevitable. Not all factories and businesses can be held in the hands of the state and the royal family, meaning that some people will inevitably ride the wave of industrialization and become major capitalists.

However, everyone knows that capital is profit-seeking. Newly risen capital will not treat commoners kindly; instead, capitalists will exploit them to achieve their goals.

Under such circumstances, although society has become industrialized, the happiness index of people’s lives continues to decline.

Although income has increased and life has become more technologically advanced due to industrialization, what happiness can be derived from someone working more than ten hours a day?

What’s more, they must worry about their income being deducted, working themselves to exhaustion just to feed their families, and sometimes not even having enough food while still worrying about the risk of unemployment. Under these circumstances, if the birth rate didn’t decline, then there must be an error in the data.

These circumstances have appeared in both Britain and France, indirectly proving the presence of significant capital in both countries. n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

But thankfully, both Britain and France are powerful nations and possess numerous colonies. They can extract substantial funds from their colonies to alleviate domestic conflicts.

As a result, Britain and France appear to be powerful nations on the surface, and their domestic conflicts and crises are not serious.

For Australasia, the problems faced by Britain and France must be avoided.

Birth rate decline must be prevented, as well as the nation becoming controlled by huge capital.

The good news is that currently, Arthur is the largest capital in Australasia, and no one is qualified to compete with him in the short term.

Being the leader of capital himself, Arthur can influence the capital environment in Australasia and ensure that the lives of Australasian citizens do not become as miserable as those in Britain and France.