The Editor

PO Box 33235

Takapuna

NORTH SHORE CITY

Dear Sir,

Aren’t elected representatives supposed to be on the lookout for ways to save tax and rate payers money. Shouldn’t they look seriously at any possibility. Instead we have seen both Wayne Mapp MP and Anne Hartley MP dismiss, from their blind acceptance of faulty orthodox economics, a perfectly possible idea proposed by Cr Gary Holmes that could save ratepayers in North Shore City some $144 million over the next 10 years.

Some fundamental questions have to be asked. Why should society borrow all the means of exchange it needs to operate its economy from private banks? They create this money unit lifeblood of the economy out of nothing against security over our assets and hire it to us at high interest cost. If you don’t understand that this happens, ask yourself this. When did any banker ask you if he could reduce your account balance so as to lend money out to someone else? Only 3% of money is actual currency, the dollars and cents. All the rest is created and issued by the operation of the private banking system. You can read about it in an economics textbook or the Encyclopædia Britannica.

Contrary to what Mr Mapp said (22 March), low interest (1%) finance for Producer Boards was used by his own National Party for 30 of the 47 years it had successfully utilised. It was only canned in 1983 by Messrs Muldoon, Birch & MacIntyre so as to gain greater interest payments from farmers in a vain attempt to contain the cost of burgeoning national debt from "Think Big" projects. Such finance had been introduced by the first Labour government employing Social Credit concepts and the facility had allowed New Zealand’s primary production to be built to outstanding levels.

What seems to have been missed by both Mr Mapp and Mrs Hartley is that Cr Holmes has never suggested that government subsidise ratepayers by borrowing at high interest from the open market and have taxpayers subsidise lower interest finance to local bodies. It doesn’t have to do that. Government has the sovereign power to create the correct amount of money supply for successful running of its Nation and no hire charge (interest) is necessary.

A responsible government would scale back the private credit creation and substitute new social credit without usurious interest charges needed for capital expenditure on essential works within its communities. What terrific savings this would represent - $177 million a year across NZ (average from ‘93-2000 figures) and $14.4 million a year on average for the next 10 years in North Shore City. That’s $204 average interest for every ratepayer and $2,044 over the next decade. Councillors should be seeking to achieve such savings from avoidable cost for their electors and so should MPs.

Yours sincerely,