Change the Game
Jeremy Clarkson is in top gear when he says government is not telling us the truth: “Instead of telling us straight, it calls the crisis the ‘credit crunch’ to make it sound like a breakfast cereal... but money could cease to function as a meaningful commodity” (p.5)
US Congressman Dennis Kucinich agrees: “The whole thing comes down to a debt-based economic system collapsing. In effect what we have done is to bail out Wall Street and we have got to change the game”(p.9).
New Zealander John Rawson, explains that there is nothing natural behind the situation: “No disaster has caused crops to fail, nothing physical has occurred to hinder production of goods or services – what we have is simply a glitch in our financial accounting system, which clearly needs reform” (p.20).
Former US government administrator Richard Cook proposes a comprehensive series of measures that would transform the debt-based monetary system into one based on the productive values of the physical economy. He calls this ‘Dividend Economics’, quoting the example of social credit (p.12).
The Archbishop of York says, "When the day of reckoning came, the winds of truth blew away countless houses of cards. We have entangled ourselves in the chains of debt. The economy is our servant and not the master" (p. 6).
Even former Finance Minister Michael Cullen now admits: "Failure to address the underlying causes of the current crisis will mean the next one will be worse -it is clear the time has arrived for a real change" (p.23).
At the 2008 General Election, Democrats/or social credit increased its share of the vote by 12%. The tough times ahead will convince many more New Zealanders to "change the game".
Published: April 2009