Social Credit “Exposed As A Definite Fallacy”

Press, Volume XCIII, Issue 27990, 9 June 1956, Page 4

Social Credit “Exposed As A Definite Fallacy”

Social Credit jn Ne*w Zealand stood discredited at the present time, and attempts to further the aims of the philosophy only tended to mislead people throughout the country, the Minister of Works (Mr W. S.iGoosman) said when addressing a political meeting at Little River. “Social credit as a practical policy, after inyestigation by the Monetary Commission, stands exposed as a definite fallacy and of no value to the people whatsoever,” he said. “Do not besome of the blind leading the blind.” The “gap between production and monev to buy the goods produced” was a fallacy on which the whole Social Credit philosophy was based. At the last election the “gap” was said to be £193,000,000 and Social Credit wanted to put that amount of new money on the market when there was already too much.

We have got too much money chasing too few goods,” said Mr Goosman. “If we were to let loose a lot of money today there would be chaos.” “Troubles of Prosperity” New Zealand had never been in a better state and the big majority of peonle were in an excellent financial position, Mr Goosman said.. Any troubles the country had were troubles of prosperity. ‘‘We are rich in primary products but terribly poor in raw materials. we • not import our standard of living would be very low. There is no other way of -paying for imports eircept by exporting,” he said. You have to export goods, and not money you create, to pay for the imports.”

New Zealand was tied to overseas 1930 the spending power of the New Zealand £ was 20s sd, compared with the United Kingdom £’s spending power of 21s sd. Over the years the trend had remained the same q uarter year ended Decernoer. 1955, the comparative figures were

10s 7d for New Zealand and 10s 9d for the United Kingdom.

“We have stayed right alongside the United Kingdom all the time; there is not any getting away from that,” said Mr Goosman. “We are tied to export and world prices.”

People were asking why there should be a credit squeeze when there were plently of goods and plenty of money, he said. New Zealand had been spending more overseas funds than she had been-earning and funds were run down by £42,000,000. “There always comes a day of reckoning and that is the reason for the credit squeeze,” Mr Goosman said. “Wages went up and that released more money and the idea of the squeeze is to take some of that money off the market. Rates of Taxation “The Social Creditors say that there is not enough money; that they will cure all ills by issuing a lot more money. Actually we have got too much money and the pressure of it is too great on our physical resources available and if some of the money is not held prices will go up. We are endeavouring to avoid a spiral of prices' by the squeeze,” Mr Goosman said.

Mr Goosman said that the Govern ment had done its best to relieve taxation. The Government did not claim it had reduced taxation but it did claim it had reduced the rates of taxation. It had collected more taxation but salaries and wages and costs had become much higher. “We have collected a far smaller percentage of the national income and you have more of every £ left after taxation than you had before 1949,” he said. “On 1949 rates we would have collected £50,000.000 more than we actually did last year.” Mr Goosman was accompanied by Mr t * ( mem ber of Parliament for Lyttelton) and Mr T. L. Hayman ’member of Parliament for Oamaru). Sixty persons attended the meeting.