DOUGLAS SOCIAL CREDIT MEETING

Otago Daily Times, Issue 22066, 23 September 1933, Page 20

DOUGLAS SOCIAL CREDIT MEETING

At the Radiant- Health Club Hall on Tuesday last Miss M, H ' Sr* sft s e af£ oftr s was not present in person, she said that to call anything a fallacy suggest tl it has been proved a fajlagr. wnerea tint was certainly not so with regard Douglas Social Credit. In giving hia b tMs title. Professor Belshaw was attempting to bias his readers before they e amined his arguments. With reler«nc_ to the statement that.no oithodox econ inists agreed with Major Douglas s ana j “’andproposals, Major Douglas had said he could mention at least six orth ■ economists of repute who agreed with hm findings, although it would be ,■ that it would not be politic to mention their names publicly. . Miss King went on to say that tUei were very few orthodox economists wuo were not directly or indirectly in the p y of the banking system and kinadvocated the policy of the banking in terests. The majority of them, too, were so committed to assumptions which thev bad recarded facts for inan> y that they were incapable of absorbing new and ideas. They had m fact developed “the orthodox mind. H fessor Belshaw really felt the concern which he expressed at the B P ect ? cl ® potential plenty on one hand and want and unemployment on the othei, he w be in the Douglas camp, "ere not facing an unemployment Problem but a breakdown in the wage system. Ine m chine age and the leisure age were comm taMto hind. Dougin. accused of wanting an econom c paracl s^ Why should we not have it when scien had placed the means to attain it at on disposal, and only an antiquated mon y system held us back, Belshaw erroneously accused MaJ« Doug las of saying that the banks on n all pro nertv He did not say, bon ever, that the banking system through its of the issue and recall of credit laid claim to that which commanded all e,se < ?® they only issue that credit as a debt to themselves they were virtually the qnneis of all property. Referring to Major Douglas’s statement that normally banke; s were deflationists, Professor Belshaw said that in his opinion they would normally be inflationists as it would be so much more to their advantage. Miss King accused Professor Belshaw of overlooking the fact that they must first inflate before they could deflate. The banks had no option but to ? d °P t a a ,. T,01le y of alternate inflation and deflation. The local economist, Dr Fisher, had said tha * did not matter who had control of the creation of credit. Yet since just before the war the London and Midland Bank had been able to establish over 115 branches in London alone and the Bank of England was completing the building ot new premises splendidly and beautifully eqnipned. It was certainly startling to note the prosperity of the banking system as compared with the struggling condition of the majority of industries, trading concerns, and individuals, after nearly four years of “depression.”