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Banks should suspend customer payments on all loans
18 March 2020
From Chris Leitch, Leader
The country's banks should suspend customer payments on all loans, overdrafts, and other advances for a minimum of three months commencing 1st of April.
This should include all finance companies owned by or attached to any of the banks.
Interest on unpaid credit card balances should be cut to zero for the same period and reinstated at only 5% for the remainder of the year.
The rest of the country will be enduring significant pain during the Covid-19 crisis and the banks' mainly overseas shareholders should man-up and share in that pain. Read more ...
Recovery package will cost billions
17 March 2020
From Chris Leitch, Leader
Taxpayers will directly fund bigger profits for the shareholders of banks and other overseas financial institutions as a result of the economic rescue package just announced.
Taxpayers already pay approximately $4 billion dollars every year in interest payments on existing government borrowing.
The borrowing will be done by the issue of new government bonds for purchase by banks and overseas insurance funds when the Reserve Bank could have purchased those bonds directly. Read more ...
RBNZ's "unconventional tools" needed now
16 March 2020
From Chris Leitch, Leader
The Reserve Bank needs to dig into its arsenal of ‘unconventional tools’ now and start directly purchasing new government issued bonds.
That would provide the government with a source of debt-free zero-interest money that it could use to fund the needed economic rescue package for people who lose their jobs and businesses suffering economically due to coronavirus.
The government's proposed fiscal package of around $12 billion dollars will probably instead be funded by borrowing from the private sector which will mean taxpayers picking up the tab for the interest payments and the repayment of the debt.
The interest payments on existing government borrowing already amount to approximately $4 billion dollars every year. Read more ...
Reserve Bank's "unconventional tools" are conventional elsewhere
11 March 2020
From Chris Leitch , Leader
Yesterday’s announcement by Reserve Bank governor Adrian Orr that the bank would consider ‘unconventional tools’ like buying government bonds, would come as a shock to the governors of the central banks in Canada, Japan and China.
Finance Ministers in those countries have accessed funding from their central banks at zero interest for years. Read more ...
Rules for funding of political parties need radical overhaul
05 March 2020
From Chris Leitch , Leader
A robust democracy needs political parties to be sufficiently well funded to actively participate in elections.
Parties used to get the money they needed to operate and campaign from thousands of keen members paying a small membership fee and often adding a small donation, particularly in election years.
But the days of mass membership are over. Even National and Labour membership has shrunk to all time lows.
So the money that used to come from members has been replaced by money from big business and wealthy individuals, and the policies of the parties in parliament have become more ‘business friendly’ to reflect that reality.
That means the wishes (and needs) of the majority of the population are now coming in a poor second to the desires of the big funders the parties rely on. Read more ...
Government homelessness policy feeble
14 Feb 2020
From Chris Leitch , Leader
Labour’s greatest Prime Minister, Michael Joseph Savage, would be weeping tears of disappointment at his party’s feeble attempts to tackle the housing crisis.
Under Savage, Labour built 5,000 houses in the four years to 1939, and 30,000 by 1949, financed by Reserve Bank credit.
“To finance its comprehensive proposals, the Government… used Reserve Bank credit……The sums advanced by the Reserve Bank were not subscribed or underwritten by other financial institutions. This action showed the Government’s intention to ……use the country’s credit in creating new assets for the country”.
$75,000 attempt to derail judicial review
12 Feb 2020
From Chris Leitch , Leader
Lawyers acting for Westland Milk and its new owner, China’s Hong Kong Jingang Ltd, have launched an attempt to derail Social Credit’s judicial review of the Overseas Investment Office decision on the sale of Westland Milk Products.
Despite claiming that Social Credit has little chance of success in its High Court judicial review, lawyers Simpson Grierson have thrown big money behind an application to the court for the party to stump up with $20,000 surety for each company ($40,000 in total) to cover their clients’ legal costs, even though the same lawyers are acting for both companies. Read more ...
Government infrastructure plans rob poorest kiwis
28 Jan 2020
From Chris Leitch , Leader
New Zealanders waiting for hip and knee surgery and other medical procedures, families struggling to put food on the table, and the rural sector, will be funding increased profits for banks and corporate investors following the government’s $12 billion infrastructure announcement today.
Those banks and investors will be rubbing their hands with glee ... Read more ...
Airport screening for Coronavirus needed now
21 Jan 2020
From Chris Leitch , Leader
New Zealand health authorities’ decision not to screen at the country’s airports for the Coronavirus emanating from China is like passengers on the Titanic being told not to worry because the ship was unsinkable.
Instead of sitting on its hands and being forced to react in several weeks time when a significant number of New Zealanders have caught the virus, our health authorities should setup immediate screening for all passengers on flights originating from Asia in Auckland, Wellington, Christchurch, and Queenstown.
Kiwis should move their accounts to a NZ owned bank
01 Jan 2020
From Chris Leitch , Leader
Kiwis should make a New Year’s resolution to move their bank accounts to Kiwibank, or one of the other wholly owned New Zealand banks, said Social Credit Leader Chris Leitch.
New Year is the ideal time for Kiwis to display some patriotism, and get themselves out of the clutches of the overseas owned banks.
The big four Aussie owned banks dragged over $6 billion in profit out of the back pockets of Kiwis last year – four times more profit than the 10 largest companies on the NZ Stock Exchange. Read more
Social Credit promises action on Christchurch rail
31 Dec 2019
From Chris Leitch, Leader
The government’s recently released draft NZ Rail Plan totally ignores the need for passenger rail in Christchurch.
While the former National government aimed to neuter rail, the new plan recognises the need for investment in rail – something the rest of the world has been doing for years – but the needs of Canterbury have been ignored.
Just as in Auckland and Wellington, bold actions need to be taken to release Christchurch from its worsening gridlock.
Passenger rail should be an essential part of an integrated transport plan ... Read more
Productivity Commission Recommends Milking Ratepayers More
13 Dec 2019
From Chris Leitch, Social Credit Leader
If the Productivity Commission's report on local government funding, released yesterday, had been relied on by NASA as the basis for getting astronauts to the moon, its greatest achievement by now would have been launching a $2 skyrocket 40 feet into the air on Guy Fawkes night.
The innovation that turned hole-in-the-dial telephones into portable computers called iphones is conspicuous by its absence. Read more ...
Robertson rivals Scrooge at Christmas
12 Dec 2019
From Chris Leitch, Social Credit Leader
New Zealanders waiting for hip and knee surgery and other medical procedures, and families struggling to put food on the table will be funding increased profits for banks and corporate investors following Finance Minister Grant Robertson's $12 billion borrowing announcement yesterday.
Those banks and investors will be rubbing their hands with glee over the Christmas present they've been delivered. Read More...