Charles Moyer wrote:

"The point is that a few failures of Social Credit do not prove it to
be an "erroneous solution", and you admit "the movement had some success in
New Zealand". Whether or not a system like Gesell's would turn into
financial disaster remains to be seen.

    Of course the absence of implimentation of SC policies does not prove
their incoherence. An examination of them does. Though you seem to prefer
very brief explanations, I do recommend that you read Pound in Purgatory or
any of the several articles I have published on the topic over the years.
            Incidentally, the New Zealand "success" was very limited as I
said. Only in Canada has the a SC party formed the government. It should
also be recognized that Stamp Scrip has nothing to do with Social Credit.

Jonathan Gill wrote:

"I've been mulling over Leon Surette's remark that the Fed is a consortium
of private banks.  This is not quite accurate, since the fed governors,
central and regional, all serve at the pleasure of elected officials. So
to be optimistic, the populace controls monetary policy, albeit
indirectly.  To say the Fed is a private banking consortium is a bit like
saying the FCC is a private communications consortium or that airports are
private airline consortiums."

    It's true that the governors are appointed by elected officials--though
not, I think, by Congress, but it is still a consortium of private banks,
which--until about 20 years ago--retained all the profits from the issue of
currency, called "seignorage."
    Of course, my point is not that any of this is evil or even unwise. I am
simply attempting to report on the facts as I understand them. Venting about
the virtue of vice of things that are not the case does not seem to me to be
very helpful.
    As to the FCC analogy, it is surely inapposite. So far as I know the FCC
has no ariplanes, books no flights, and cannot profit from its
deliberations--except through graft or insider trading. Nor are arilines
members of the FCC. (Neither are railroads and broadcasters if they are
included in FCC regulation, as I believe they are.) By contrast the Fed
issues currency and  sets interest rates--both of which directly affect the
profits or losses of member banks. It seems to me that we all have great
difficulty getting our heads around banking because it is entirely virtual.
An owner of a bank produces nothing except credit, owns nothing except
debts--and some real estate. and computers.


Leon Surette
English Dept.
University of Western Ontario
London, Ont.
N6A 3K7