Now that we have dealt with Congress' responsibility of "coining money," we must now take up that more difficult task of "regulating" the value of money.
- After Congress got full report from the Treasury, giving total deposits to the credit of the people (and the Government), and after getting from other agencies of the Government information which would lead them to a knowledge of the total business transacted in the United States in current year, the Congress would then "regulate the value of a dollar" in terms of the work it had to do. No other factors would enter; for the sole purpose and duty of money is to serve as a medium of exchange between buyer and seller, and to serve as a measure of the surplus products the people produce in anyone year. Of course that would divide our deposits into two categories: (a) demand deposits used in buying and selling goods and/or services, and (b) time deposits, or deposits to be loaned. However, the total would be treated as a whole, because the making of loans would keep the time deposits active, not in the names of the owners of these deposits, but in the accounts of the borrowers of money. Suppose that the Congress found that, after all monetary deposit credits of the people had been totalled, there would be on deposit to the credit of the people $700 billion, but it required only $350 billion to meet the demands of business annually. Then Congress would order the Treasurer to instruct the Depositories throughout the Nation to rewrite all deposit balances, giving each depositor credit for just half of his former balance. For example, should