The Washington times., 1934-10-12

try" as if it
were a business
enterp rise. u
which exists to Lewis Hane-
make money through buying and
selling. It is also useless to think
of society as being "the govern
ment." Society is much more
than business and government.
The balance sheet of the gov.
ernment would show items like
the following:
Assets
Public buildings, land and
equipment.
Accounts receivable.
8 Power to tax.
Cash.
Liabilities
Bonds (long term).
Notes, etc. (short terml.
Accounts payable, including
relief obligations.
The result Is a surplus or DE-
ficit, measured in dollars. Our
government" now shows a large
and growing deficit.
But the "assets" and "liabili-
ties" of all of us as a society
or Country" are very different.
A social balance sheet would be
1;I-~ %ha fo11ouin1.
Assets
Mines, farms, factories, stores,
railroads, etc.
Goods in process.
Finished goods: Houses, auto
mobiles, clothes, etc.
Monetary metals.
international goodwill.
The people as a productive
force.
Natural resources, climate
etc.
The needs Of the people for
(a) Subsistence.
(b) Order and security
(c) Equal opportunity.
Wasteful practices.
Harmful restrictions.
The balance results either IN
prosperity and abundance, or In
poverty and want.
The first point to note is that
society's assets and liabilities
can't be measured in money, as
are those of a business or a
government. They concern goods
and wants.
It follows that the level OF
prices is unimportant. We can
be as prosperous at one price
level as another. You can't
'mark up" social assets and
liabilities by doing things to
money and price averages.
Paper money is credit, and
can't be added to the things 1t
buys. In fact, we can't count
private individual 4lAimS las
stocks and bonds) IS part OF
the wealth of society. They
are worth only what the real
property back Of them pro-
duceS.
when you get back to our real
"assets" as a society, you find
only such things as are listed
above in the table.
But our real assets are abun-
dant. They are unimpaired. Our
present trouble, then, lies in the
fact that Cd we have misuSed
our real assets. Also co the
morale of the people is allaged.
Too much of some things has
been produced in comparison
with other things. Artificial
prices have been filed on some
particular products.
The way out is Cd to allow our
social assets to earn and (2) to
reduce some or all of our social
liabilities. This we can do, not by
tinkering with money and credit
and "price levels" but as follows:
1. Restore the use Of our
monetary metal (gOld) by re-
. turning to the gold standard,
thus restoring confidence in
money and credit.
2. To do this, we must restore
the Governments balance sheet
so that assets and liabilities will
balance the budget"
3. Restore the basis Of credit,
not only by making our money
sound, but settling all the doubt
full claims and debts which now
prevent individuals from going
ahead with business. This re-
quires much reorganization"
either 'luntary or through
bankruptcy
4. Rest 1re international trade
by removing many restrictions
and stabilizing currency. 4
s. Restore the morale Of the
people by returning to sound
and definite economic policies
based on experience.
Artificial price lifting is worse
than futile.