Suffering from Surplus
Money is in surplus in the West.
Deposits in banks get an interest of three p.c., in Japan no interest. House
mortgages are four-and-half p.c for 30 years, at the end of which it is renewed,
which means one need not return the capital but can own his house for less than
the market rental value.
Gone are the days when Money is to be
deferentially approached by the borrower. Accumulated money seeks the productive
user for very low interest.
Organisations have grown in their
capacity to generate great wealth, if only they can persuade the user to produce
more by taking their capital and repaying part of it. More so, these
organisations pursue higher social goals which are beyond the imagination of
common people.
To educate a few talented boys is a national service which
people know. To help low producers produce more at one's cost is equally a great
national service that is hard to believe. Man cannot believe that such service
has in it more gratifying benefits than accumulating wealth. The 17 billion
dollars Marshall Plan spent on rebuilding Western Europe rewarded USA later with
a far greater market. It was a policy of foresight.
Society has matured
enough to know it is not in its own interest for some to remain, as permitting
an epidemic to linger because eradication of it is expensive. Talented men of
proven integrity can get all the capital they need, if they organise themselves
into local productivity or district development. Seven hundred years ago, banks
came on the scene and produced non-existent Money to render the local population
prosperous.
Banks multiply their deposits nine times, says a banking
expert. Money is not in short supply for any productive work in India. The
required organisation is not yet in place. Even the idea of surplus of money,
which is somewhat in vogue in higher financial circles in the world, is not
fully appreciated here in India.
There was a time when Man was under the
tyranny of a local bully and many incurable diseases and insoluble problems. It
is no longer true in the same measure. Paucity of MONEY is a real, felt
pressure. The Spirit behind MONEY is willing to wipe it out. Man should emerge
out of the fatalism he has long been under and patronise the Spirit within and
the Spirit behind everything.