alanjjohnstone wrote:

November 10, 2011 at 9:37 pm #86726

Keymaster

referring to 1931 and the MacMillan report tends to make me seem very old and it is bit UK parochial to be easily accepted by Americans.

Maybe but that New Economics Foundation video starts with a quote for Sir Reginald McKenna, dating from 1924, when he was chairman of Midland Bank (now HSBC) though it gives the impression that it dates from 1915-6 when he was Chancellor of the Exchequer, which is all over the internet on Monetary Reform sites including US ones. And he was a member of the 1931 Macmillan Committee.Type “I am afraid” + “Reginald McKenna” into a search engine and 93,000 results come up. A measure of how widespread currency crank and funny money ideas are.On the other hand, the quote from another banker of the time, Walter Leaf, chairman of Westminister Bank (now the NatWest, part of RBS) that:

Quote:

The banks can lend no more than they can borrow – in fact not nearly so much. If anyone in the deposit banking system can be called a ‘creator of credit’ it is the depositors; for the banks are strictly limited in their lending operations by the amount which the depositors think fit to leave with them. (Banking, Home University Library edition, 1926, p. 102)

can virtually only be found on our and related sites (only 95 come up).Of course, exchanging quotes settles nothing but those who support McKenna’s position ought at least to be aware of his contemporary Walter Leaf’s opposing view.