15 November 1974. Thought for the Week: '...
it is important to recognise that governments come and governments go;
but the power of government increases with the successive enactment
of laws. Laws enacted because of inflation do not operate on inflation;
they operate on the individuals of the community and in general constitute
a progressive curtailment of freedom."
Bryan W. Monahan in Freedom and Inflation (1974) |
THE WHEEL OF (POLITICAL) FORTUNE TURNS"The Prime Minister, Mr. Whitlam, tonight will announce cuts in income tax". - The Sun (Melbourne) November 12th. Supporters will recall that the former Liberal
Prime Minister Mr. William McMahon, had his treasurer of the day, Mr.
Bill Snedden, introduce in August 1972, what has become known as the
"Save Our Skins" Budget. It didn't work he left it too late. Now it's
Mr. Whitlam's turn. Galloping inflation, mounting unemployment, industrial
and commercial distress, have eroded the credibility of the Whitlam
"Labor" Government, and immediate fiscal and monetary measures are being
taken (against Treasury advice) to save this Government's skin. Will
they save the Government? We don't think so; they've left them too late!
Mr. Bryan Frith, Financial Editor of The
Australian commented (Nov. 12th): There is no chance whatsoever that "counteracting steps" will be taken by the Government to halt inflation. Firstly because no-one in Government, the Treasury, or the Reserve Bank understands the real causes of inflation, which are inherent in the finance-economic system itself, and secondly because, under the present system of finance-economic orthodoxy, the only effective move which the Government could take to bring the inflation rate down would be to create such a rate of unemployment that the industrial and commercial life of Australia would grind to a halt. In our issue of On Target (October 25th) we made the assertion that it was unlikely that the abolition of the V.D.R. (Variable Deposit Requirement) clamped on capital inflow by the Reserve Bank would suddenly attract such capital inflow into Australia. There has been a spurt of capital inflow, but it is a direct result of the recent devaluation of the Australian dollar of September 25th. What has probably happened is that overseas investors have been hanging off for the past 14-15 months in anticipation of the devaluation. Why pour millions into a country for investment when this money will be likely to lose 12% of its value over night? Far from banning short-term loans, which were incorporated into point 5 of Mr. Snedden's Six Point Anti-Inflation Plan, the Whitlam Government has re-allowed overseas investment in Australia for this very purpose. The minimum borrowing time is now six months. We are still most skeptical that capital inflow into Australia will continue in the way that most of the press economists think it will. One or two of them have sounded the alarm. The latest issue of the International Currency Review (London) comments that "The benefits of Australia's recent devaluation of the dollar may be swamped by inflation." We think so, too. Higher rates of inflation are destroying the profitability of Australian industry and commerce; overseas investors will be looking elsewhere very smartly for investment markets. The long and short of all this comment is that in a desperate effort to save itself, the Whitlam Government will subject the Australian people to much worse effects of inflation than they have suffered already. |
SIR MARK ACKNOWLEDGES SATAN"South Australia's Governor, Sir Mark Oliphant, said last night that he had come to believe in the devil earlier this year." - The Sun (Melbourne) Nov. 12th. Sir Mark Oliphant was commenting on an ABC current affairs programme on the student disruption recently at Melbourne University. The occasion was a science forum, and the target of the loutish student behaviour was the vice-Chancellor of Flinders University (South Australia) Professor R. Russell. What none of the dailies reported, as stated specifically by Sir Mark, was that almost all of these disruptive students were from the political "science" faculties. This is really where the radicals are fashioned not by and large in the science faculties. With respect to Sir Mark's acknowledgement of the influence of Satan in man's life, League Of Rights supporters, as Christians, must have always been fully aware of this. The genius, C.H. Douglas, made many references to Satan's influences in man's public and private life, which could well, be kept in mind. One or two must suffice here. Writing of occultism in 1948 C.H. Douglas observed: "Most of us, because we have been conditioned to think that way, have a natural reluctance to accept "Occultism" as a considerable force in world affairs. There could hardly be a greater error - it is the primary adversary of Christian civilization. The forces of which it disposes are probably amoral; but the intention of those most evidently in possession of them is Satanic." Writing in 1946 of intellectualism, from which social malady we are groaning in agony in 1974, Douglas observed: "One of the results of intellectualism is more or less complete aberration of judgment; what we usually, but incorrectly call common sense; a loss of the instinctive valuation of the meaning of things. If the word 'intellect' be substituted for 'Satan', the phrase 'Satan is unchained' is a simple description as well as an explanation of the condition in which we find ourselves today, with our 'science' which has reduced us to serfdom." Those who wish to have many of Douglas's observations on the state of the world as he saw it may order "The Development of World Dominion" from G.P.O. Box 1052J, Melbourne, Vic, 3001. Price $1.33 post-free. |
EVERYBODY'S GETTING INTO THE ACT"The Leader of the Country Party, Mr. Anthony, has put forward a seven-point plan to solve Australia's 'rural crisis'." - The Australian, November 11th. Dr. Jim Cairns started the ball rolling with
his Six-Point Plan to cure Australia's economic and social ills. Needless
to say, it is a Marxist plan and, if implemented, will edge the Australian
nation over to the Left. Not to be outdone, Mr. Bill Snedden announced
his Six-Point Plan to cure inflation. We remind supporters that Mr.
Ian Sinclair has recently written to an enquirer that "Mr. Snedden has
all the answers to inflation", We'll be reminding him about that in
the short time ahead. Mr. Snedden will almost certainly have his opportunity
to show us those answers next year. Not to be outdone by six-point plans, the image-seeking
Mr. Anthony has hatched a seven-point plan. This must be bigger and
better than a six-point plan. It's the extra point that counts. Can't
you just see the St. Kilda Road advertising agency men going to town
with TV election commercials? With stirring music, a seven-pointed star
flashes at the viewer whilst a cooing, yet confident male voice intones:
"It's that extra point that counts; vote "Country Party". Now, our Victorian Premier has already surprised
us. Mr. Hamer is a gentlemanly person, ever correct and courteous, and
by no means an aggressive man. He has sparked off our admiration for
his gamesmanship. He has come out with, if you please, a thirteen-point
plan to boost the economy and help cut inflation and unemployment. Where
will it all end? |
BRIEF COMMENTSAustralia, or should we be more precise and say Mr. Whitlam's "Australian" Government, has rushed to offer aid to the new Government of Mozambique which is dominated by members of Frelimo, an African terrorist organization, now become respectable. If our guess is right, it won't be all that long before the Soviet Navy has bases in Mozambique from which it will, when the time comes, be able to harass Western shipping, and particularly the oil tankers carrying Western Europe's life-blood from the Persian Gulf. This is just an example of the results of "intellectualism"; lack of common sense, of which C. H. Douglas spoke. Socialist ideology has blinded, for example, the Canberra socialists to the stark reality that if Australia is cut off from Europe, we perish. Yet the "Australian" Government is giving aid to those forces, which are hell-bent on bringing down South Africa, our natural ally, and fostering the local influence and aggrandisement of Communism. If this isn't a case of the forces of Evil at work, we don't know what it is. At least there is one voice of sanity in the U.S.A. The Washington Star-News launched an attack on the "Australian" Government for its attacks on South Africa. It accused the Australian Labor Government of being hypocritical and foolish and claimed that the reason was Australia's hunger for the Presidency of the next General Assembly. "Intelligence Digest" (U.K.) November,
1974, sounds the alert on South Vietnam. It claims that there has been
a massive build-up of military might by North Vietnam, which is poised
to strike at South Vietnam, and that this will take place in the first
half of 1975. What is this all about? It will be to test the U.S.A.
to see if she is now so sick and demoralised that she will no longer
fight for freedom. North Korea will be watching closely, and if America
does reveal that she will no longer fight, then South Korea will be
invaded. And it won't stop there. Malaya, Thailand, Burma will all suffer
full-scale attacks from Communism's forces; psychological, guerrilla,
military. And then Indonesia! And then? We have remarked recently that Cardinal Joseph Mindszenty is receiving very little press coverage. However, he was interviewed on behalf of a women's magazine and his comments on Communism should be publicized. He warned that friendlier relations between the Communist bloc and the West could lead to catastrophe. He said: "The Communist regime is a system of sin, lies and violence. One cannot expect any good from evil". Speaking of the (in)famous 'detente' he said: "The notion of detente is very good for the Russians because it makes the West more sleepy and more slackening. Maybe the detente itself will lead to catastrophe". He made the pungent comment on his deposition from his office of Primate of Hungary: "What the Communists failed to accomplish was done by the Church". Wilmot Robertson, author of the marvelous book, The Dispossessed Majority, a thoroughly documented, scholarly, 544-page work dealing with the race issue in the U.S.A. is meeting a conspiracy of silence. Not only Left wing, but some organizations popularly thought of as Right wing, refuse to review the book, but are also refusing paid advertisements. We have stocks now of The Dispossessed Majority. Order from Box 1052J, G.P.O. Melbourne, Vic. 3001. Price: $3.75 post-free. The salary of Mr. Al Grassby, former Minister of Immigration, who is now resting gently in a cushy job (for the "boys") as special "adviser" on community relations, is $26,000 a year. His "staff" numbers 51. Perhaps we'd better spell that - fifty-one! Our hope is that both "special adviser" and his staff will be looking in the positions vacant columns of the dailies in a few months time. If Mr. Snedden is serious about curtailing government spending as an anti-inflation measure, then we can think of no more apt place to start than here. Mr. Giles (Representatives, Appropriation Bill, Oct. 30th) referred to refugees from Chile. He charged that the Chilean immigrants were "improperly-screened, so-called Chileans, who were not born in Chile in many instances, and who were originally born in countries ranging from Cuba, Paraguay, Romania to Czechoslovakia." He added: "Mr. Grassby must be condemned for allowing trained political activists to come into this country with no real intention to abide by this nation's principles or aspirations. I am told that very few can speak either Spanish or the Chilean patois of Spanish." |
The Cancellation of MoneyJust as overdrafts are granted every day, overdrafts are reduced every day. Every time an overdraft is repaid, both the debt and money used to pay the debt are automatically cancelled. It is difficult for us to visualise that our "money" is being constantly created and cancelled. Because we are in the habit of thinking of money as being notes and coins which are thirty or forty years old, and which must have passed through hundreds of hands and hundreds of transactions, we picture "money" as being durable, and each "parcel" of money as remaining more or less permanently in existence once it has been created. It seems strange to think that it is in a constant state of flux. And yet, in its short life, it is no different from any of our most useful and convenient commodities. (Note: Money itself, is not a commodity). They are created, they are used, and having fulfilled their purpose they are disposed of. Similarly, money is created and added to the nation's money supply when an overdraft is granted. It is cancelled and subtracted from the money supply when an overdraft is repaid. This, then, explains why we are not overwhelmed with a flood of money, even though money is being constantly created. Money is cancelled by three methods: (1) Repayment of bank overdrafts (2) the taxation system (3) the Price system. |