ABSTRACT
THE DEBTS which American individuals, business concerns, and government bodies owe to each other run into huge totals. The bonded debt of corporations was about $50 billion last year; securities of government bodies, $53 billion; mortgages, about $35 billion; short-term debts owed to banks and corporations, probably $30 billion; deposits of commercial banks and mutual savings banks, $40 billion1 and $10 billion respectively; the cash values of life insurance policies, $20 billion; and the withdrawable shares of building and loan associations, $4 billion to $5 billion. Items which cannot be effectively measured would add several billion more.2 A total of the items just listed, with allowance for debts not measurable, would exceed $250 billion.
