INFLATION MAJOR FACTOR IN WORLD CRISIS

"Sydney - "If the world-wide trend of inflation continued, it could bring about the downfall of capitalism, an international financier said yesterday. He said the Western world would have to put up with the present monetary crisis for some time before it improved. The financier, South African Dr. Jan Marais, is the founder and chairman of the Trust Bank of Africa Ltd., one of the largest banking houses in the world. Dr. Marais arrived in Sydney yesterday for a week of talks with Australian bankers and Government officials". - The Age, Melbourne, October 5th.

If Dr. Marais equates "capitalism" with free enterprise and private ownership of property, he is correct when he says that continuing inflation will destroy this type of economic system. But Dr. Marais' reported remarks make it clear that he has no realistic solution to offer to the inflation problem. Let us repeat what we have said over many years, with events, regrettably, persistently confirming our warning: So long as the present finance-economic system is operated in accordance with present financial rules, not only is continuing inflation inevitable, but all attempts to "control" it can only produce that increasingly revolutionary situation which is the delight of the Marxists.

Dr. Marais parrots the exploded myth about increased wages being one of the basic causes of inflation. Events have completely destroyed this dogma of the Keynesian economists. If the Heath Government persists with its restrictive financial policies, it is now estimated that the United Kingdom will by Christmas have over one million unemployed. But in spite of this drastic curtailment of wage costs, inflation is continuing in the United Kingdom at approximately 10 per cent per year. Dr. Marais even revives the old story that harder work and more production is the answer. But in spite of the restrictions imposed on the free enterprise economy by financial policies retarding maximum efficiency, that economy has now produced such a surfeit of production that the more highly developed industrial nations of the world are entering into a dangerous conflict in their desperate efforts to make their internal economies work a little longer by attempting to send their national surpluses to other countries.

The situation is almost exactly as predicted by Lenin in his famous book on Imperialism. Seen in retrospect, it is now possible to grasp the enormity of the defeat, which the United States has suffered through the disastrous no-win policy pursued in Vietnam. This policy matched perfectly the Marxist strategy based upon the view that the longer the conflict went in Vietnam, the greater the defeat economically and morally for the United States domestically. Vietnam contributed substantially to America's dangerous inflation problem. And the financial crisis has merely added fuel to the flames of social disorder.

Elected on the clear understanding that he would attack the causes of the inflation he had inherited from President Johnson, President Nixon has openly embraced Keynesian economic theories of even greater deficit budgets. He and his "advisers" increased the prime interest rate from 6.5 per cent to 8.5 per cent. Professor Milton Friedman observed in Newsweek of May 3rd, "the quantity of money has been exploding in recent months".

In his desperate efforts to get re-elected next year, President Nixon is endorsing an even greater "explosion" in the money supply. It can be predicted with certainty that a greater expansion of the money supply, adding to the towering debt structure, and requiring more taxes and rates to service the debt, must produce an even greater rate of inflation. This in turn will be used in an attempt to impose more rigid controls.

The sudden imposition of a 10 per cent tax on those nations exporting to the United States has made a further contribution to the growing instability and conflict throughout the non-Communist world. It is no use Australian Treasurer Mr. Billy Snedden complaining that the United States is "guilty of unfair trade practices". Under present finance-economic policies all nations must attempt to gain a "favourable balance of trade", even if this now means accepting the enticements of the Red Chinese.

The restrictive trade policy being adopted by the United States has explosive implications, which as yet comparatively few observers appreciate. It has not only produced an "international monetary crisis" which will be used to strengthen the international control of The Internal Monetary Fund, now creating the new international financial instrument known as "paper gold"', but it is pushing Japan into the Communist orbit. Japanese Foreign Minister states that Japan is now sounding out Peking for a visit by a "Japanese Kissinger".
Japanese businessmen are also pushing hard for closer ties between Japan and Red China. Inside Japan the Marxist movement is growing rapidly. The more Australia gears its economy to that of Japan and Red China, the more it prepares the way for the eventual Marxist take-over.

Under the pressure of inflationary finance-economic policies, the European Economic Community nations, headed by Willy Brandt's West Germany, are also moving closer to the Soviet Union. It is as certain as the sun will continue to rise that if the non-Communist nations insist upon present finance-economic policies, they must now stumble from one convulsion to the next, and in the process surrender what independence they still possess.
Against the background of the overall situation, the historic significance of the drive to force the United Kingdom into the European Community becomes chillingly clear.

Only a challenge to the present inflationary finance-economic policies can meet the Marxist strategy. That challenge is only going to come from inside the old Crown Commonwealth. Only inside these nations are there the groups with the knowledge necessary to make the challenge. And by virtue of their history and traditions, the peoples of these nations have the best understanding of how individuals in voluntary association might make the free society work. If the British can defeat the Common Market trap, the way will be cleared for an attack on that inflationary financial policy which Lenin saw as a major weapon in the Marxists' campaign against the free society. The next few weeks will be critical in the world drama.

THOSE INCREASED POSTAL CHARGES

"The Post Office will pay about $141 million in interest during 1971-72…The Post Office finances its expenditures from revenue plus monies borrowed from the Treasury. It will borrow $255 million in 1971-72". -Post Office News, September.

Every business organisation is painfully aware that increased communication costs, postage, telephones and telegrams, must be charged into prices. Like increased transport costs, increased communication costs substantially contribute to furthering inflation. It is true that general inflation has caused employees of the Post Office to be paid increased wages, and that increased wage costs must be recovered through higher charges. But it is not true that increased wages are the only cause of dramatic increases in postal charges, as the figures quoted above reveal.

It is outrageous that, having loaned part of the taxpayers' money contributed in taxation to finance capital works for the Post Office, the Government should insist that not only are the taxpayers taxed twice, but that they are also forced to pay interest in higher Post Office charges - on their own taxes.

Unless this iniquitous policy is challenged, Australian taxpayers can look forward to substantial further increases in all postal charges. Business organisation could give a lead in opposing the present method of financing the Post Office, which would be at least a start in the right direction against the whole policy of continuing inflation.

LEAGUE OPENS 1971-72 FUND

CONFRONTATION AT SHEPPARTON, VICTORIA

"I deeply regret that the leader of the Victorian Country Party, Mr. P. Ross-Edwards, did not accept my invitation to be here this evening, as I am one of those old-fashioned people who believe that if one has serious allegations to make concerning another person, one should make those allegations in the presence of that person". - League of Rights National Director, Mr. Eric Butler, speaking at a public meeting in Shepparton, Victoria, on Monday, October 4th.

The Murray Electors' Association is to be congratulated for having sponsored a Shepparton meeting for Mr. Eric Butler to answer in the electorate of Mr. Ross Edwards the false allegations made against the League in general, and Mr. Butler in particular. Mr. Edwards declined either to debate Mr. Butler, or to be present to ask questions and to make a statement. Country Party representatives were at the meeting, but not one of these asked a question.

In the course of his address, Mr. Butler charged that Mr. Ross Edwards had followed the lead of the Federal Country Party leader, Mr. D. Anthony, in attempting to smear the League. Mr. Butler also said that he wished to nail the lie told by Mr. Ross Edwards, at the Victorian Conference of the Country Party, that the reason the Murray Electors' Association had recommended a number one vote for Liberal Party candidate W. Hunter in the Murray by-election was because Mr. Hunter had contributed financially to the Association or the League of Rights. Mr. Butler said that these were the tactics of "political pygmies" who, unable to meet the arguments of the League of Rights, resorted to the type of smearing used by the Communists.

In a hard-hitting attack on the report on the League prepared by the National Secretariat of The Australian Country Party, Mr. Butler said that this "filthy political document" was the basis of the type of allegations being made by some Country Party spokesmen. He said that one of the most significant parts of the report stated six of the eleven policy points put forward by the Murray Electors' Association would be acceptable at any Country Party branch. Points mentioned were: immigration, long-term rural loans, interest rates, and regular meetings between Members of Parliament and electors. Mr. Butler commented: "Presumably some Country Party spokesmen do not mind Country Party branches carrying resolutions on these matters, and even using them as public relations gimmicks before elections, but resent the League of Rights suggesting that Federal Country Parry members should make some serious attempt to implement these policies. In other words, the League is allegedly dangerous because it exposes the hypocrisy of the Country Party politicians".

COMING LEAGUE EVENTS

New England Regional Dinner, October 15, Coachwood and Cedar Motel, Uralla. Guest speaker, Assistant National Director Edward Rock.

Northern Regional WA Dinner, October 14, at Moora Motel. This Dinner follows Seminar on Local Government. Guest speaker National Director Eric Butler.

Perth Rally, October 21, Sr. Andrews HaIl, Pier Street, to hear Eric Butler.

South Australian State Dinner, Saturday, October 23rd, Fernlee Lodge 569 Greenhill Rd, Burnside. Guest speaker Horton Davies, Chairman Christian Institute for Individual Freedom.

MARXIST STUDENT REVOLUTIONARY GAOLED

"Albert Langer, 22 year-old student leader, was goaled for 18 months in the County Court yesterday. Then his wife, Kerry, 20, was fined $200 for contempt of court. Mrs. Langer called out 'fascist' when her husband's sentence was announced". - The Age, Melbourne, October 5th.

In sentencing Langer, Judge Gray said that this Mao Tse-tung supporter had been involved in a "deliberate attempt to incite a large and excitable crowd to engage in acts of violence. It is a crime of considerable gravity. Furthermore, I am satisfied that the crime was committed not upon any impulse, but in the intended furtherance of a political campaign which you have waged for some years and intend to wage in the future. You asserted that you shall continue to employ the same methods in the future including, where necessary, the use of force against authority:"

Langer had during the court hearing described Judge Gray as a "paper tiger". But the Judge had the last say, pointing out although there was room for all shades of political opinion in Australia, violence would not be tolerated.
Langer's wife has received political training in Peking. Student groups at Monash and La Trobe Universities immediately organised support for Langer. Clearly the last has not been heard of Mr. Langer. He is to be made the centre of a major contest between the Rule of Law and violence.

ON TARGET BULLETIN

The Sabotage of Human Effort

The artificiality of the financial system which is ruthlessly imposed on us and our governments, and its inability to reflect industrial facts, its disastrous social consequences and its continuous urge towards war were carefully explained by C.H. Douglas over fifty years ago. The following statement from "Economic Democracy"' is both revealing and explanatory of the situation in Capitalist society today…

"it must be borne in mind that the existing economic system distributes purchasing power through the same agency which produces goods and services - i.e. payment for work in progress. In other words, if production stops, distribution (of purchasing power) stops, and, as a consequence a clear incentive exists to produce useless and superfluous articles in order that useful commodities, already existing, may be distributed. …"

This perfectly simple reason is the explanation of the increasing necessity of what has come to be called economic sabotage; the colossal waste of effort which goes on in every walk of life quite unobserved by the majority of people because they are so familiar with it. A brilliant essay on the experversity of much of modern human effort is To What End by the late James Guthrie. A Scot, like Douglas, James Guthrie made a massive contribution to the cause of Political and Economic Realism. His work lives after him.