This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can usually download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1922 edition. Excerpt: ... The Control and Distribution of Production CHAPTER I THE MECHANISM OF CONSUMER CONTROL No doubt to some members and guests of this Society much of the subject with which we are concerned to-night will be elementary, even if the method of approach to it is somewhat novel; but to others to whom the subject of Finance, which is an important component of it, is a mysterious and incomprehensible jungle, through which they feel they could never hope to find a way, I would make the following suggestions. Money is only a mechanism by means of which we deal with things--it has no properties except those we choose to give to it. A phrase such as "There is no money in the country with which to do such and so" means simply nothing, unless we are also saying " The goods and services required to do this thing do not exist and cannot be produced, therefore it is useless to create the money equivalent of them." For instance, it is simply childish to say that a country has no money for social betterment, or for any other purpose, when it has the skill, the men and the material and plant to create that betterment. The banks or the Treasury can create the money in five minutes, and are doing it every day, and have been doing it for centuries. Secondly, you will hear a good deal to-night about credit, and I would ask you to bear most consistently in mind the two following definitions: -- Real credit is a correct estimate of the rate, or dynamic capacity, at which a community can deliver goods and services as demanded. Financial credit is ostensibly a device by which this capacity can be drawn upon. It is, however, actually a measure of the rate at which an organisation or individual can deliver money. The money may or may not represent goods and services. I...