Der britische Ökonom hatte sich 1942 Gedanken gemacht über die Frage, wie Geld und Ressourcen zusammen dazu genutzt werden können, London nach dem Krieg wieder aufzubauen. Es wird sehr deutlich, dass die Frage "Woher kommt das Geld?" keine relevante Frage ist. Vielmehr ist die Frage relevant, welche Ressourcen – Backsteine, Mörtel, Stahl , Zement – eingesetzt werden können. Hier ist der kurze Ausschnitt, der am 2. April 1942 unter dem Titel "How much does finance matter?" veröffentlicht wurde.
For some weeks at this hour you have enjoyed the day-dreams of planning. But what about the nightmare of finance? I am sure there have been many listeners who have been muttering: 'That's all very well, but how is it to be paid for?' Let me begin by telling you how I tried to answer an eminent architect who pushed on one side all the grandiose plans to rebuild London with the phrase: ' Where's the money to come from?' 'The money?' I said. 'But surely, Sir John, you don't build houses with money? Do you mean that there won't be enough bricks and mortar and steel and cement?' 'Oh no', he replied, 'of course there will be plenty of all that'. 'Do you mean', I went on,' that there won't be enough labour? For what will the builders be doing if they are not building houses?' 'Oh no, that's all right', he agreed. 'Then there is only one conclusion. You must be meaning, Sir John, that there won't be enough architects'. But there I was trespassing on the boundaries of politeness. So I hurried to add: 'Well, if there are bricks and mortar and steel and concrete and labour and architects, why not assemble all this good material into houses?' But he was, I fear, quite unconvinced. 'What I want to know', he repeated, 'is where the money is coming from'. To answer that would have got him and me into deeper water than I cared for, so I replied rather shabbily: ' The same place it is coming from now'. He might have countered (but he didn't): 'Of course I know that money is not the slightest use whatever. But, all the same, my dear sir, you will find it a devil of a business not to have any'.
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