‘It is time to stop trying to fix what can’t and shouldn’t be fixed ... and get on with building the New Economy and a new system of financial institutions to serve it’ – David Korten.
New Zealand needs a new economic system which meets the needs of a modern, 21st century New Zealand. The Democrats for Social Credit Party (DSC) offers a wide-ranging policy platform underpinned by a programme of social credit monetary reform which presents a viable alternative to the present debt-based system.
Key to DSCpolicy is the use of our central bank to issue credit for major capital works, instead of borrowing the funds from private commercial financial institutions. Direct government funding of infrastructure could provide a large number of jobs for people, stimulate the domestic economy, and introduce debt-free money into circulation. This would result in a major revitalisation of the New Zealand economy.
Unfortunately, successive New Zealand governments have failed to display the vision and foresight necessary to embrace a new economic model. The present government’s approach is typically orthodox and neo-liberal in its approach, as recent announcements demonstrate.
In particular, the proposed increase in GST is reflects the Government’s reluctance to consider common sense alternatives. GST is costly to administer. It is a punitive tax with a narrow base. It is an imposition on individuals and businesses through its complex system of accountability. It adds directly to prices. All those who are lower or middle income earners pay a higher proportion of their incomes in GST. The DSC believes it is time to introduce a fairer system, starting with abolishing GST, not raising it.
Similarly, the intention of a Chinese backed, Hong Kong listed and Cayman Islands registered company, Natural Dairy (NZ) Holdings Ltd, to buy the 29 Crafar family dairy farms which are in receivership and also a further 100 dairy farms in Otago and Southland, raises nationally significant questions about who benefits, the motives of the investors, and issues of global food security. Although any such purchases will be closely scrutinised by the Overseas Investment Office (OIO) which must granted approval in order for the transactions to proceed, to date that organisation has not shown any willingness to put the brakes on foreign ownership and investment.
The proposed purchases are encouraged by the New Zealand-China Free Trade Agreement, signed up to by politicians on both sides of the House. It contains an embedded investment agreement protecting the rights of investors from the countries which are party to the Agreement, and those foreign investors’ rights are backed up by the force of legal sanction. This Agreement even includes a provision that New Zealand cannot make or amend laws (without China’s permission) that “discriminate” against Chinese investors.
It is important to remember that New Zealand companies and individuals invest in overseas countries too. Fonterra, for example, has invested in three farms in China. However, the company does not own the land but is subject to land use rights which are similar to a long term lease arrangement. The DSC believes that it is the responsibility of our government to support the vital productive farming sector by making low interest finance available to assist New Zealand farmers to purchase New Zealand farm land.
Direct government issuance of money and the control of credit as a public utility form the basis of the DSC’s monetary reform programme. The implementation of our programme will establish the new economic system on which New Zealand’s future as a prosperous, economically and environmentally sustainable nation depends.
- Stephnie de Ruyter, Leader, DSC