The problems with today’s private banking system are clear. Bank presidents receive hundreds of thousands in pay for their supposed vastly important work; each member of the board of directors, which usually meet only once a year, often receives tens of thousands. The responsibility of bank presidents and boards of directors is shown by the fact that the state had to pay 1 1/2 billion marks for their foolish speculations and bad investments. Bank presidents do what they want, and the state pays the bills.
We therefore demand that the banking system and the money and capital systems be nationalized, just as the railroad and postal systems were fifty years ago, when under Bismarck’s leadership the transportation of persons, goods, and communications were taken under state control.
As a result of the state support since July 1931, through which the Reich covered 1 1/2 billion marks of foolish speculation on the part of the big banks with tax money, more than half of the German credit bank system is already in the hands of the Reich.
As preparation for the nationalization of the banking system, we demand the right of the state to supervise and intervene, and a requirement that banks report to the state.
The supervisory capacity must give the state the possibility of fully understanding everything that happens in the banking system, and the right to intervene must make it possible to introduce measures in the banking system that are in the interest of the economy. The reporting requirement will insure a monthly statement on all positions and important changes.
Only these measures will make it possible to stop foolish investments. Only they will make it possible to reduce interest rates to the necessary degree and break the slavery of interest. And only these measures can create the foundation for financing the job creation program.
Furthermore, the head of the Bank Office will have the authority to make the organizational changes he thinks necessary to prepare for and implement the nationalization of the banking system.