June, 1919.
CONTENTS
I
THE OUTLOOK FOR CAPITAL
The Creation of Capital—The Inducement—War and Capital
II
LONDON'S FINANCIAL POSITION
London after the War—A German View—The Rocks Ahead—Our Relative
Position secure—Faulty Finance—The Strength we have shown—The Nature
and Limits of American Competition—No other likely Rivals
III
WAR FINANCE AS IT MIGHT HAVE BEEN—I
Financial Conditions in August, 1914—No Scheme prepared to meet the
Possibility of War—A Short Struggle expected—The Importance of Finance
as a Weapon—Labour's Example—The Economic Problem of War—The
Advantages of Direct Taxation—The Government follows the Path of Least
Resistance—The Effect of Currency Inflation
IV WAR FINANCE AS IT MIGHT HAVE BEEN—II The Changed Spirit of the Country—A Great Opportunely thrown away—What Taxation might have done—The Perils of Inflation—Drifting stupidly along the Line of Least Resistance—It is we who pay, not "Posterity"
V
A LEVY ON CAPITAL
The Objects of the Levy—Its Origin and History—How it would work in
Practice—The Attitude of the Chancellor—The Effects of the Scheme in
discouraging Thrift—Its Fallacies and Injustices—The Insuperable
Obstacles to its Application—Its Influence on Production—One of the
Tests of a Tax—Judged by this Test the Proposed Levy is doomed
VI
OUR BANKING MACHINERY
The Recent Amalgamations—Will the Provinces suffer?—Consolidation not
a New Movement—The Figures of the Past Three Decades—Reduction of
Competion not yet a Danger—The Alleged Neglect of Local
Interests—Shall we ultimately have One Huge Banking Monopoly?—The
Suggested Repeal of the Bank Act—Sir E. Holden's Proposal
VII
THE COMPANIES ACTS
Another Government Committee—The Fallacy of imitating
Germany—Prussianising British Commerce—The Inquiry into the Companies
Acts—Will Labour Influence dominate the Report?—Increased Production
the Great Need—Will it be met by tightening up the Companies Acts?—The
Dangers of too much Strictness—Some Reforms necessary—Publicity,
Education, Higher Ideals the only Lasting Solution—The Importance of
Foreign Investments—Industry cannot take all Risks and no Profits
VIII
THE YEAR'S BALANCE-SHEET
The Figures of the National Budget—A Large Increase in Revenue and a
Larger in Expenditure—Comparison with Last Year and with the
Estimates—The Proportion borne by Taxation still too Low—The Folly of
our Policy of Incessant Borrowing—Its Injustice to the Fighting Men