“If all the bank loans were paid up, no one would have a bank deposit, and there would not be a dollar of currency or coin in circulation.
This is a staggering thought. We are completely dependent on the commercial banks for our money.
Someone has to borrow every dollar we have in circulation, cash or credit. If the banks create ample synthetic money, we are prosperous; if not, we starve. We are absolutely without a permanent money system. When one gets a complete grasp upon the picture, the tragic absurdity of our hopeless position is almost incredible - but there it is. It is the most important subject intelligent persons can investigate and reflect upon. It is so important that our present civilization may collapse unless it is widely understood and the defects remedied very soon”.
Robert H. Hemphill,
Credit manager of the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta
January 24, 1939
