Greece’s Roman Road - Chapter 290

In front of the fence on the second floor of the Athens Exchange, Constantine overlooked the crowded crowd in front of the stock trading seats representing the Andros Machinery Factory in the trading floor, and he was relieved.

“It seems that the investment market is very optimistic about the development prospects of Andros Machinery Plant. Andros Machinery Plant’s shares are favored and sought after by investors. Congratulations to Mr. Andros for successfully listing the company’s operations.” Chairman of the Trading Committee of the Athens Exchange , Georges smiled and said to Andros, who was also watching the lively scene downstairs.

“The Greek economy has grown considerably over the past two decades with the development of Greek industry, and this reality is reflected in the stock market, that is, the players who were previously engaged in portfolio investment, many of whom have made a fortune, in money Under the stimulation of the stock market, stock investment has also changed from a niche market that was originally unknown and only circulated among a few people to a conventional financial management method,” Georges explained to Constantine in a proud tone.

“Now the war is over, the great Greek army, under the command of the wise and wise Crown Prince Constantine,” said here, the flattering smile on George’s face became a little richer, his face flushed, and he praised excitedly: ” There is no doubt that His Royal Highness once again led the Greek army to achieve fruitful results, and taught the stupid and arrogant Bulgarian barbarians severely.”

“I personally think that the achievements you have made from the Bulgarians, Your Highness, are not inferior to the former “Bulgarian Butcher” Basil the Great”

Georges’s tone was sincere and sincere, full of reverence, and paid high tribute to Constantine, completely ignoring the high-level Greek government officials and Greek business elites who came to participate in the meeting.

The crowd burst into laughter when they heard Georges’ disgusting flattery.

Although during this period, as the de facto supreme commander of the Greek army, Constantine has received countless praises and praises, and he is still a little embarrassed by Georges’ undisguised flattery.

After all, Prime Minister Venizelos also came to participate in the meeting today, but Georges did not mention it at all. It seems that after the victory of the war, all the credit goes to Crown Prince Constantine.

However, people are expressing respect for themselves, and they are not good at refuting him, so they have to interrupt him to prevent him from saying more flattering words: “Okay, Chairman Georges, you are going too far, the war can be won, It is the result of the joint efforts of all”

Seeing that everyone present was paying attention to himself, Georges changed the subject: “Greece has achieved another brilliant victory, and the Greek capital market is also about to enter a new stage, stimulated by this super good news. , according to my years of stock trading experience, the stock market will usher in a rapid rise in a short period of time.”

“If everyone has surplus funds, in order to maintain and increase value, there is a need for investment. We should learn to use money to make money.”

Hearing that Georges immediately changed the subject, turned into a profiteer, and advertised the stock exchange he managed, Constantine was not only amused.

According to industry management, a certain percentage of commission will be drawn as remuneration for each transaction on the stock exchange, which is also the main source of income for the exchange.

Due to the upcoming economic meeting, the dozens of people gathered on the second floor are either high-ranking government officials or elites in the Greek business community. They are all wealthy and wealthy people. The best stock investor, Georges, the chairman of the stock exchange, naturally seized this opportunity to advertise his exchange.

The Athens Stock Exchange was established in 1882 and has been around for decades (1913).

Its establishment and development process is somewhat similar to that of Wall Street in New York, USA. It is an exchange formed spontaneously without official support.

The current chairman of the exchange, Georges, was one of the earliest stock traders in Greece.

It was Georges himself who was keenly aware of the rich benefits contained in the national debt. When he learned that the Greek government intended to issue national debt to the people in order to raise funds for the war, he actively lobbied Venizelos and Constantine to obtain official approval. License to allow Greek exchanges to trade government bonds.

It was Georges’ move that allowed Greek government-issued bonds to be traded on exchanges in real-time, and those who bought bonds, for various reasons, wanted to exchange them for cash.

The treasury bonds in their hands can be turned into cash at the actual price on the exchange without waiting for the treasury bonds to expire.

Since the issuance of treasury bonds is the first time in Greece and there is no precedent to follow, many people do not trust the government and worry that the money they buy from treasury bonds will not be cashed at maturity, adding many difficulties to the issuance of treasury bonds.

The Athens Exchange’s inclusion of treasury bonds into the trading scope has dispelled all kinds of concerns. As long as there is a need, treasury bond investors can sell their treasury bonds for cash on the exchange at any time.

At that time, in order to quickly issue government bonds, neither Constantine nor Venizelos had a good solution, but they could only agree to the requirements of the exchange.

The first issuance of national debt in Greece was based on the circulation of national debt in the Athens Stock Exchange.

Before that, in order to sell national debt, the government tried almost everything, and barely got 60 million drachmas.

After allowing the trading of government bonds in the Athens Exchange, in just one month, the amount of Greece’s national debt reached 500 million drachmas!

It was also in the national debt incident that the Athens Exchange played a huge role in financing, which attracted the attention of Constantine and Venizelos, and began to pay attention to the Greek capital market.

In just two or three months, hundreds of millions of drachmas have been raised, which has greatly eased the financial pressure of the Greek government and provided a favorable financial guarantee for the victory of the Greek army. The powerful energy of the Greek capital market, Let the Greek political circles look sideways.

After all, with this bond issuance as an example, Greek government financing will become the norm in the future.

The words of Georges praising Constantine repeatedly mentioned the victory of Greece. In fact, they also reminded everyone present that the Greek government was able to successfully issue national debts during the war, and the credit and contribution of the Athens Exchange should not be forgotten.

Prime Minister Constantine and Venizelos looked at each other, and the two had a tacit understanding, obviously seeing Georges’ intention.

Thinking of how worried he was during the war, in order to raise funds for the war, while Georges didn’t say a word, Venizelos, who was displeased in his heart, deliberately beat Georges and said coldly, “Mr. Georges is an exchange member. The chairman of , I’m afraid he made a windfall on the national debt.”

While speaking, he waved the Athens Times in his hand.

“Many purchasers of national debt have suffered heavy losses due to false rumors, and the impact is very bad. These days, they have gathered in the Parliament Square to protest, calling on the government to severely punish the liars and seek justice for them.”

“They all claim that the managers of the Athens exchange colluded with each other to encourage them to sell bonds at low prices”

The headlines on the front page of the newspapers are impressively written that traitors use national debt to spread false news, suppress the price of national debt, and make ill-gotten gains.

Seeing the newspaper in the hands of Prime Minister Venizelos, how could Georges, an important participant, not know the truth of the incident, and immediately felt a little guilty.

Whether it is Constantine or Venizelos, who is in power in Greece, they naturally understand the truth of the national debt incident.

Everything has advantages and disadvantages, and this feature is most vividly reflected in the capital market.

The Greek government used the capital market to raise a huge amount of money in a short period of time. However, due to the urgency of time, the government itself has no experience in managing the securities market, which naturally created a huge loophole for capital to take advantage of.

After government treasuries entered the Athens exchange as a freely traded commodity, capital soon showed its bloodthirsty and ugly side: Greece soon generated widespread rumors that the Greek army was defeated on the front line, very possible defeat.

At this time, Greece was in a period of war against Bulgaria. Such rumors caused widespread panic in Greek society. The more and more outrageous messages were spread, many people who did not know the truth believed the truth and believed that the Greek army was defeated.

The Greek national debt is issued on the basis of the government’s credit. Once the Greek army is defeated, the Greek government itself has spent a lot of money during the war, and together with the compensation for the defeat, it will definitely go bankrupt.

The government bonds issued by Greece will also become a piece of waste paper because the government has no money and cannot pay the principal and interest of the bond investors according to the agreement after maturity.

As a result, under the influence of rumors, in just a few days after treasury bonds entered the exchange, the value plummeted like a plummet.

At the lowest moment, the one-year government bond of the Greek government fell to 60% of its par value.

Like the plague, panic spread among government bond investors. Everyone scrambled to sell the government bonds in their hands, wanting to quickly exchange for cash to recover some of the losses before the government bonds were completely turned into worthless waste paper.

The paradox is that during this period, there have been funds in the exchange to buy treasury bonds at low prices, no matter how much the public sells, the funds to buy treasury bonds will not refuse, and they will all be accepted.

Now that the Greek army has returned to the country, the rumor has naturally collapsed, the Greek army has won a big victory, the government has received war compensation from Bulgaria, and its credit has soared, and there is no need to worry about the repayment of the national debt.

Investors of treasury bonds, who have realized it later, regret it, especially those who sold them at the lowest price of 60%. In addition to the interest that the government should pay after the maturity of the treasury bonds, their funds for purchasing treasury bonds have lost almost half of their funds in just a few dozen days. .

The panic of bond investors quickly spread to other areas of the stock exchange, and the stock market responded very strongly. After all, once the Greek army was defeated, it would be tantamount to a blow to the Greek economy, and the company’s bleak operation would naturally reflected in the stock price.

The collapse of the national debt is like the first domino to fall. The stocks of major Greek companies also began to plunge, and the entire exchange was crying.

Seeing the victories of the war, the domestic financial market is about to collapse because of the rumors, and the social order is about to be turbulent. The royal family and the government have all dispatched together to mobilize the media to announce to the society that the war is going well and to quell the rumors.

In order to enhance its persuasiveness, the government’s Ministry of Finance had no choice but to collect a sum of money urgently, and went to the exchange to personally end up buying government bonds at a “high price” according to the original price of the government bonds, so as to raise the price of government bonds and prevent panic from destroying government bonds.

In the process of dealing with this incident, Constantine, who was in a hurry, really realized the meaning of the sentence that capital is a double-edged sword!

Many people were worried about the safety of their children after they enlisted in the army, so they did not hesitate to buy government bonds to support the government that was in financial trouble. Now they are using their patriotism to make a lot of money. Naturally, they cannot accept it. this result.

Those who bought treasury bonds at a low price almost doubled their profits in a short period of time!

In recent days, investors who have suffered heavy losses have come to the government parliament square to hold a demonstration, sit-in protest, and demand that the government severely punish traitors and liars.

As for the truth, it is also very simple: the personnel of the exchange colluded both internally and externally, maliciously spreading rumors for profit, suppressing the price of government bonds, and purchasing government bonds from investors at low prices.

After they spread the rumors, they sold a large amount of government bonds in a short period of time, causing the prices of government bonds to drop sharply.

As a result, more people joined the ranks of selling treasury bonds, triggering further declines in treasury bond prices.

After this incident was exposed by the newspapers, it aroused the extreme indignation of the Greek people. People commented that this incident would not hesitate to cause domestic financial chaos during the war, but also to send a fortune to the country.

Georges is the chairman of the Athens Stock Exchange, and it is impossible for him to be unaware of the national debt incident~www.mtlnovel.com~ Without his permission, it is completely impossible to succeed.

Whether it is Constantine, Venizelos, or Georges himself, they are well aware of this.

Just as an old bird in the securities market, Georges is used to lies and deception, and has seen all the wind and waves. Dirty lies, every day

“In the final analysis, treasury bonds are also an investment” Georges shrugged his shoulders needlessly. “Investment is risky, and you need to be cautious when entering the market.”

“People shouldn’t expect to make a fortune in a field they don’t understand at all, it’s a stupid act”

Seeing that Georges didn’t care about the national debt at all, Constantine interjected: “Isn’t this typical insider trading, it’s against the law, Mr. Georges”

Exchange staff have special status, and by convention, they are not allowed to participate in securities trading.

The national debt incident also aroused great controversy and disgust within the military. Among the people who bought national debt, a large part of them made up their minds to buy national debt because their family members served in the military. big money.

These soldiers, and their families, cannot emotionally accept this kind of fooling.

After the war, a large number of soldiers complained to Constantine, demanding that traitors and fraudsters be punished.

As the de facto commander of the Greek army, Constantine could not ignore the strong demands of the officers and soldiers.

After all, the majesty and authority of a monarch comes from his invincible army.

“Our meeting this time is for this.” After saying that, Constantine glanced at Georges, and took the lead in opening the door of the office, leading everyone into the venue.