§ 59. Mr. Stokesasked the Chancellor of the Exchequer whether he will take steps to ensure that no profit accrues to the banks either by way of interest from any augmentation of the existing volume of general credit necessitated by his borrowings or from the subsequent extinction of such new short-term credits?
§ Sir J. SimonI do not think it is practicable to distinguish between an increase of the volume of credit due to an expansion of the business of the country and an increase due to the borrowing of the Government, nor, if it were, would a confiscation of the profit earned on the excess be a suitable fiscal measure.
§ Mr. StokesIs the Chancellor aware of the growing indignation with a system which allows the banks to create their own credit out of nothing, at great expense to the country and to their own great advantage, and how long does he propose that this scandal shall be allowed to continue?
§ Mr. MacquistenAre not the banks only able to create credit because their credit is good?