Would George Have REALLY Gone to Jail?

I agree with you on the rules of the banking industry....they are strict and justifiably so. I do disagree slightly in that there were sources of money available, and had he kept his wits about him, he could have realized that there were ways to solve the problem. Like I said, if the law's after me for 8K, I'm not messing around. I'm going to some person who can loan me the money and then deal with it. In fact, he tried that with Potter and he turned him down. For that matter, didn't Potter suggest Sam W.?

Finally, this subject brings me to another matter....I'm wondering if they still would have charged him even though he clearly had enough donations to cover the debt? After all, there was still evidence--albeit circumstantial--that something had gone amiss. In the government's eyes, there would still be a need to investigate what had happened in the first place.

I think that Capra picked 8,000 dollars as a sum that would have been out of reach for the time and place by conventional standards. Most homes especially in the Bailey development were worth a quarter of that. George's home maybe half but who had ready cash in the community to be a ready buyer? Most towns were closer to the Depression in terms of economic means than the recovery that came with WWII. Industrialists and a few others reaped the financial benefits of WWII while most others saw a bump in weekly pay until the war was winding down in 1945. The post boom was just getting started with opportunities to be small business owners such as new automobile dealerships and insurance agencies. There were no such people handy at the moment to help George.

I know this is years late, but George I think, would've taken the fall for Uncle Billy. He was just angry and scared when he said that. When he was talking to Potter, he took responsibility for the $8K.