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Author : Raven Thomson Alexander
Title : Our financial masters
Year : 1937

Link download : Raven_Thomson_Alexander_-_Our_financial_masters.zip

The bank of England. In examining the strange network of financial interests which constitute the real government of these Isles and of the Empire founded by our fore-fathers, we do best to begin with the Hank of England, which is the official hub of City finance, although, as we shall see, the real directing power is situated elsewhere. In any case, the Bank is the essential "governor" of the financial machine controlling the issue of currency and credit, and hence exercising a dominating influence over all internal finance through the Big Five Banks. The Bank of England has been called the "Bankers Bank," and, as such, controls the policy of the Joint Stock Banks by granting or withholding credit from them and by regulating the flow of currency upon which the Banking System bases its creation of credit. We need, therefore, waste no more time upon the Banking System itself, even upon the Big Five, because they are ultimately under the domination of "the" Bank, and are, in any case, to-day no more than vast bureaucratic concerns bound by strict central office regulations. However alarming they may seem to the unfortunate client who desires an overdraft, we must look beyond them to the real financial masters who wield the ultimate power. Not only is the Bank of England the "Bankers' Bank," it is also the "Government's Bank," and as such wields a mighty influence over the Treasury, especially when the Government desires a vast "overdraft," as it did during the crisis year of 1931. In fact, the Bank is the ultimate repository of the financial power of the City of London, and can not only make or break Government by its policy, but can stimulate or depress British industry at will by its granting or withholding the currency and credit which is the life-blood of commerce. As the Bank of England exercises such appalling power over the economic life of the nation, we have every right to examine it with great care, and discover who are the men and what are the interests that control this essential piece of financial machinery. No doubt most people have a vague idea that the Bank is in some way a part of the Treasury and under Government control. Nothing could be more incorrect, for orthodox financial opinion repudiates Government control as a vile heresy, and, in fact, the Bank of England is a private Company entirely independent of Government. ...