Social Credit’s vote in 1935

Press, 16 January 1985, Page 12

Social Credit’s vote in 1935

Sir,—l would remind Peter Kennedy that pragmatism, as expounded by William James, was an anti-intellectual philosophy which judged things solely on their results, and must not be confused with aimlessness. The first Labour Gov-

ernment saw that there were not enough houses, so it built some. It could not figure out how to pay for them, so it used Reserve Bank credit. From an economist’s viewpoint that could be described as pragmatic, and it was also an appropriate policy for the time, although most economists of the time would have disagreed. The main result of the policies the present Government has implemented so far will be that much of the official overseas debt will be converted into unofficial overseas debt at a higher interest rate. That sort of debt-shuffling policy makes the figures for official borrowing look good, but apart from that it is aimless. — Yours, etc., J. C. RING. January 12, 1985.