After discussing the overall direction of financial sector development, the government's agenda shifted to commerce—or, more precisely, domestic consumption.
Ernst said, "I trust everyone understands that since the middle of the last century, with the economic development of countries around the world, especially against the backdrop of the Second Industrial Revolution—
"More and more countries have completed industrialization or are striding toward it, while correspondingly, competition in the international market has grown ever fiercer.
"All countries are actively developing their own industries. Increased production has caused total supply to continuously exceed total demand, in turn leading to frequent outbreaks of economic crises.
"This was also the root cause behind the wave of colonialism at the end of the nineteenth century and the outbreak of World War. From this, it can be seen that before a new international order is thoroughly established, the world economy and political situation will inevitably continue to undergo frequent turbulence.
"To solve this problem, one important key lies in the issue of distribution. This includes both reshaping the positions of nations relative to one another and reshaping the relationship between businesses and workers."
The so-called reshaping of positions between nations primarily referred to the renewed division of labor among countries within the global market, much like the various economic crises that had frequently erupted from the latter half of the nineteenth century to the early twentieth century.
The emergence of these crises was, to a great extent, because the market was temporarily incapable of bearing the explosive industrial growth of countries across the entire world at once.
Take Germany, the United States, and East Africa, for example. The industrialization of these late-developing countries had dealt a tremendous blow to the world economic structure of the old international system dominated by Britain and France.
From the perspective