Passage 2

Large companies need a way to reach the savings of the public at large. The same problem，on a small scale，faces practically every company trying to develop new products and create new jobs. There can be little prospect of raising the sort of sums needed from friends and people we know，and while banks may agree to provide short-term finance，they are generally unwilling to provide money on a permanent basis for long-term projects. So companies turn to the public，inviting people to lend them money，or take a share in the business in exchange for a share in future profits. They do this by issuing stocks and shares in the business through the Stock Exchange. When the saver needs his money back，he does not have to go to the company with whom he originally placed it. Instead，he sells his shares through a stockbroker to some other saver who is seeking to invest his money.Many of the services needed both by industry and by each of us are provided by the Government or by local authorities. All these require more money than is raised through taxes alone. The Government，local authorities，and nationalized industries therefore frequently need to borrow money to finance major capital spending，and they，too，come to the Stock Exchange.There is hardly a man or woman in this country whose job or whose standard of living does not depend on the ability of his or her employers to raise money to finance new development. In one way or another this new money must come from the savings of the country. The Stock Exchange exists to provide a channel through which these savings can reach those who need finance.