"Money, money, money" had become the curse hanging over every government in Europe. "1.2 billion" was not "twelve bucks." The previous war had emptied the treasury, and even the Vienna Government could not raise that much money in such a short time.
There was no helping it—assets and cash were two different things. Pulling 1.2 billion Divine Shield out of circulation without affecting the normal functioning of the economy was practically a myth.
Whether borrowing from banks or issuing bonds, both reduced the liquidity available on the market. Once that exceeded what the market could bear, it would disrupt normal economic operations and, in turn, worsen the crisis through economic backlash.
One of the essential causes of an economic crisis was the uneven distribution of social wealth. Too much wealth became concentrated in the hands of a small minority, while ordinary people had pockets cleaner than their faces and lost their purchasing power. Naturally, something would go wrong with the economic cycle.
The ideal outcome, naturally, would be to make the rich spend their money and revive the market. As long as money began circulating, there would be no economic crisis.
Clearly, that was impossible. Even a century later, it would remain an unsolved problem. Franz did not believe he could solve it.
In a sense, supporting nobles in establishing overseas fiefs was the greatest policy stimulus. The only regrettable thing was that the newly risen military-merit nobility had made their fortunes too recently, and most of them were not particularly wealthy.
Besides the noble class, the only other group holding enormous wealth was the major capitalists. Their pockets were even harder to pry open. Every one of them was as shrewd as a fox, simply waiting to buy at the bottom after the crisis passed.
Unless they put a