You can listen to this excellent fifteen minute interview on the money system here.
This is a very clear exposition of the monetary system and fractional reserve banking.
He also touches on timebanking and other form of alternative currencies as well as the Occupy movement
Raf Manji is a former London investment banker who moved to Christchurch and founded the independent policy development space, the Sustento Institute .
Well it looks as though it wouldn’t be much fun being the next Prime Minister of either Greece or Italy right now. It is a poisoned chalice. Who wants to introduce austerity measures and remain electable? Any concerned citizen can see what is coming for New Zealand when our trading partners are in this sort of trouble.
Richard Douthwaite, the green economist from Ireland, has written the most amazing chapter in FEASTA’s book Fleeing Vesuvius. He explains the connection between declining oil supplies and the trend of rich countries to run deficits. 
Taking Ireland as an example, he lists the cost of mineral fuel imports, the value of exports and then works out the fuel cost as a percentage of export earnings. It rose from 2.4% in 2001 to 7.6% in 2008. Exports are the only means by which the country can earn the money it needs to pay the interest on its overseas borrowings.
He explains that a country that runs a deficit on its trade in goods and services for several years will find that its firms and people get heavily in debt because a dense web of debt has to be created within that country to get the purchasing power, lost as a result of the deficit, back into everyone’s hands.
After a careful explanation, one of his conclusions is that it is dangerous and destabilising for any country, firm or individual to borrow overseas and net capital movements between countries should be prohibited. This is rather startling, but when you think about it foreign capital creates problems when it enters a country and when it leaves the country. When it comes in it boosts the exchange rate, thus hurting firms producing for the home market by making imports cheaper. It also hurts the exporters, reducing their overseas earnings when they convert them into national currency. As a result, when the loan has to be repaid, the country is in a weaker position to do so than it was when it took the loan on. And managing borders obeys one of the laws of Nature.
The late Rod Donald, former co-leader of the Greens, used to go on and on about the balance of payments in New Zealand and I can see why. Both the National Party and the Labour Party seem to be taking our country into more and more debt. We have borrowed around $40 billion in the last three years.
Someone should work out our trend over the last few years. We need to find a list of the fuel cost as a percentage of export earnings and the ratio of total external debt to exports.
Reduce oil dependence for National Security, says candidate
8 Nov, 2011
The New Economics Party has sent in an Official Information request to the Minister of Defence to ask him to release relevant military reports advising us to reduce oil use for security reasons. The candidate for Wellington Central, Laurence Boomert, said have now been major military reports on oil in both Germany and USA.
A report was released a week ago to Senate by a prestigious Military Advisory Board In Virginia, USA. The report for CNA (cna.org/news/releases/) calls for a 30 percent reduction in US oil use over ten years to reduce ‘grave national security risks.’
Boomert said the report advised that even a small interruption of the daily oil supply impacts our nation’s economic engine, but a sustained disruption would alter every aspect of our lives – from food costs and distribution to what or if we eat, to manufacturing goods and services to freedom of movement.
“USA get their oil through the same shipping routes as we do – through the Strait of Hormuz. They have analysed what would happen in the event of a complete shutdown of a strategic chokepoint like the Strait of Hormuz, the international passageway for 33 percent of the world’s seaborne oil shipments.”
“If Iran pre-empted an attack on their nuclear plants by shutting off oil supply lines, New Zealand would be affected too”, said Boomert. The report calls for immediate, swift and aggressive action over the next decade to achieve the 30 percent reduction in U.S. oil consumption.
He said oil shocks are immediate and far-reaching, but at today’s level of consumption, a sustained disruption would be devastating. Worldwide demand for oil is increasing at an alarming rate.”
The report calls on national leaders to increase efficiency, diversify supply sources, develop alternatives and develop a national, cogent, dedicated and sustained energy roadmap that rises above partisan politics.
Boomert has previously worked on regional energy descent plans with Transition Towns and, as a Living Economies trustee, recently co-published Fleeing Vesuvius a comprehensive handbook for contingency planning in the face of energy, economic and environmental shocks to our system.
His party the New Economics Party has an oil reduction plan as part of its manifesto (https://neweconomics.net.nz) calling for a 4-6% per annum reduction plan for this country.
The German report said that by 2014 increasing prices of oil due to decline in supply would bring an end to our growth- based economic model, leading to widespread social unrest.
“We have entered treacherous waters but there is no one steering our ship”, laments Boomert
For further comment phone Laurence Boomert 03 525 8229 or 027 258 8807
I have just read the most wonderful piece of prose on the Occupy Movement by Charles Eisenstein, author of Sacred Economics. And today I have been interviewed for Planet FM on the world’s Problems so I am thinking about the Occupy Movement.
I think they will eventually win and suspect it will take years. It was so inspiring to read the Dominion this morning and see that St Paul’s Cathedral in London was letting the protesters camp there and that the Anglican church is launching a fierce attack on greedy bankers, accusing them of having “slipped their moral moorings.”
Nov 5th was Bank Transfer day, the day people are called on by the Occupy movement to transfer their bank accounts to a credit union. Credit unions didn’t go down in the Global Financial Crisis of 2008 and have excellent facilities for changing automatic payments. They have ATM machines round the country. A good choice if you don’t mind going without a credit card. They are financial co-operatives where the customers own the bank so you can go to their AGM and stand for their board. They don’t deal in derivatives.
Very recently the PSIS has managed to acquire bank status with the Reserve Bank and is now rebranded as the Co-operative Bank. Up to now their cheque books had to have the Bank of New Zealand them, presumably because BNZ did their credit clearing overnight. So you can change your account to them, but remember to keep a close watch on how they change. Will they deal in derivatives? They have the right to. Will they deal in shares and bonds and their derivatives? Will they get into insurance or wealth management services? They shouldn’t. Banks should be prohibited by law from doing anything but banking (the Glass Steigel Act in USA) and we had a similar prohibition before Roger Douglas deregulated the banks in the 1980s. Yes old fashioned banks were doing what old fashioned banks did best – taking in deposits and lending them out.
Media Statement
6 November, 2011
Plan for less 4-6% less oil every year, says candidate
The New Economics Party believes that Government should involve the public in planning for a 4-6% reduction in oil use every year.
Laurence Boomert, the party’s candidate for Wellington Central, says we have to do this because the alternative is growing national debt, food riots and severe recession.
“The public needs to help decide how we are to adjust to a world with less oil every year. We need to do this as the world production of oil starts to decline relentlessly. We also need to do it to address climate change. It may be the people opt for petrol rationing, a lower speed limit on the road, to introduce a ‘cash for clunkers’ scheme or to voluntarily reduce air travel, he said.
“It is going to be painful, we will all have to sacrifice, but if we go on as we are the alternative is much worse. “
Boomert said growing national debt is a big worry. The Pre-election Fiscal Update assumed the price of oil would only rise to $93 by June 2016, but Treasury must be in la-la land.
Our oil exports cost a record $7.7 billion last year, an increase of 22%. If it keeps going at this rate our annual oil import bill will cost us soar to $25 billion by 2017. This is more than double what we currently spend on education. If we don’t watch our debt we will be another Greece.
Boomert said Britain’s former chief scientist has attacked politicians and industry experts who have their “heads in the sand” over dwindling oil supplies and the same could be said for our politicians.
The longer we delay, the harder the brakes will have to be put on, he said.
For further information phone Laurence Boomert 03 525 8229 or 027 258 8807
New Economics Party Membership Form
If not me then who?
I’ve been thinking about why this project started. What on earth would motivate a woman of 73 to start a new political party? Shouldn’t I just be enjoying life at that age, playing bridge, knitting for my grandchildren and travelling. During the winter of 2011 I had had a Skype call from Richard Sanders, an ecological economist in Brisbane. He was worried. His concern was that things aren’t getting any better and that Transition Towns won’t solve everything. He said: “Even if your town becomes self sufficient in food and energy, what are you going to do when the raiders come over the hill?” We talked and together decided that until we are all free, no-one is free. Although in transition towns we have traditionally said to politicians: “A pox on all your houses, we will take leadership here locally to prepare for life here after peak oil”, I have realised that national policies and international policies are just as vital as constructive local action for resilience.
If one is sick we are all sick, if one is poor we are all poor
I was in a classical music concert in Waikanae on 20th August, a Sunday afternoon, and dreaming away happily. I had nearly completed a nine-week e-course on evolutionary spirituality and was contemplating my future from the point of view of my evolutionary impulse, defined in the course as ‘the part of me that wants to make the world better’. We had all been mulling over the vexed question of our life’s work in the world. Since the phone call from Richard Sanders I had been wondering whether I wanted to stay working for my local transition town group and local timebank or get into something national? For me it was time to move back into national issues. What would I do? A few projects came to mind.
So on the way home from the concert it became clearer. When my husband left the car to buy some fish I sent the following text to Laurence Boomert: “Sounds a weird question but I just sat in a concert thinking if I could vote in the coming election or not. I wondered about the possibility of a Collapse Party.” Back came the text: “Have written a draft manifesto and was thinking of standing for Wellington Central.” So it was all on.
During the next few weeks we brainstormed on names, started working seriously on a manifesto and floated the idea among friends and colleagues. Soon it came clear people would rather it was just a pressure group. The Green Party members wanted to help but couldn’t if we were to be a party. Tricky. So for a while we called it a Working Party on New Economics in case we dirtied our hands with politics. Maybe the thought was “Politics is a dirty activity only for liars”?
If we want a world without babies we should just go on – business as usual
At one stage we thought if we wrote policy and drew attention to it, then parties could all help themselves and adopt it. But of course they won’t. How naïve! Then somehow, I can’t remember how or why, we switched right back, and jumped in. It was back to a political party and we ended up with quite a conventional name.
So the idea of a political party had surfaced for months, but was quickly dismissed as stupid. Yes I had played leadership roles before, but a political party? That is different. And back came the answer from the course “If not me, then who?” Well I had written a book on new economics, or at least the money side of it, and I had once been a city councillor, I had been a professional campaigner (for ASH in the 1980s) and had stood for the Values Party in 1975 and dabbled in the Green Party and the Alliance from time to time, even stood for local bodies as a Green candidate twice.
But there are all sorts of reasons why it shouldn’t be me. I have a husband of 86 and we don’t travel far from home. We have a big garden and home to care for. I had eczema very badly last year and could hardly walk for the splits on my feet. But it is under control now. I have had heart trouble. But I have just had two cataracts replaced and now I can see without glasses, so that no longer is an excuse. Those are my limitations.
But something happened inside me and I just jumped in. I have written most of this website, with suggestions and short pieces from others, and it is just a draft to discuss at our first get together in Turangi, 14 April, 2012. Because we have so little time to solve these Very Big Problems I have shamelessly cut and pasted from all sorts of sources, so if you recognise something as yours please take it as a compliment. Thank you for your contribution. I have no aspirations right now to be in Parliament, but will do whatever I can to advance the policies in any way you want me to.
Many of you will be able to contribute your specialist knowledge. Mine is only one glimpse of the truth. To create a new economy on a war-like footing needs a whole army of highly motivated pioneers. We need those with knowledge on banking, investment, new business models, cooperatives, credit unions, new models of ownership for a start. We need those who have worked in economic think tanks, those who have worked in Treasury, the Reserve Bank, or those who have traded in derivatives. We need those who know about climate change, those who campaign against free trade and those who know that income tax is an illogical tax. We need those who have no particular knowledge on economics but just want to help somehow. Is this you?
One theory is that there are four general types of people required to be an effective group. We need conscientious people who just want to help, to be given clear instructions. We need directors who work out who will do what and organise it to be done. We need visionaries who can see the rocks ahead. We need carers, those whose role is to care for others in the party.
If you are one of these people can you please ask yourself the question “If not me, then who?”
Environmental campaigner Bill McKibben has written:
“We definitely need art and music and disciplined, nonviolent but very real anger. Most, we need to tell the truth, resolutely and constantly. Fossil fuel is wrecking the one earth we’ve got. It’s not going to go away because we ask politely. If we want a world that works, we’re going to have to raise our voices.”
So stop waiting for someone else to fix the economic system that is killing our planet. There is no one else. It is you and it is me. If you want to raise your voice, go to Get Involved on the menu now and jump in! There is nothing to be lost and Life to be gained.
In fact if you want to help us get 500 members before April 2014, here is the membership form for you to download, fill in and post with your sub.
Deirdre
Media Statement
4 Nov 2011
Let Christchurch City Council issue a Christchurch dollar, says candidate.
According to Laurence Boomert, Wellington Central candidate for the New Economics Party, the best thing the government could do to help Christchurch recover to allow them to create a range of interest free local currencies.
“Here we have a cost of up to $30 billion for the Christchurch rebuild. It is time to think outside the square,” said Boomert.
The Council could reduce its expenses in NZ dollars, and if local businesses play their part, then the labour part of local infrastructure repairs could easily be paid with a local currency. Boomert said there is a huge component of local labour and there should be no need to use precious national dollars for that.
CERA, the Canterbury Earthquake Recovery Authority needs to play its part. It is already empowered to override any existing legislation, so that should also be true for the legal tender law. CERA could declare the Christchurch Earthquake Dollar legal tender, and then have the City Council issue the money by spending it into circulation. He said it would involve legislating to ensure that the Christchurch dollar would be acceptable for paying rates.
It would be essential that the Chamber of Commerce and other business associations should be on board and we call on them to do so. Since local businesses are hurting as a result of the earthquake, anything that increases turnover should find their support.
Boomert said the Council could persuade locally owned businesses to accept the Christchurch Earthquake Dollar and in this way money could be kept in Christchurch. The notes could have pictures like the old cathedral and other landmark buildings on it.
“A local currency keeps money in the area and usually circulates faster, doing more good,” said Boomert.
For further comment Laurence Boomert 03 525 8229/027 258 8807