Christian Council for
Monetary Justice

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Proposals

  THE CHRISTIAN COUNCIL FOR MONETARY JUSTICE  

 We believe that:

  •  Money for social infrastructure, trade and services should be issued by elected national, and possibly in some instances a local government only, in amount appropriate to the goods and productive capacity which it represents.
  • The money supply should be used to develop and spread ownership of the various forms of productive (and the associated purchasing) capacity to everyone in society.  
  • Such money should be interest-free but for the genuine cost of administration.  
  • Bank loans should be limited to the actual assets held by banks, i.e., the present and practice of banks ‘lending’ say 10 times their holdings should end.  
  • The national debt, local council debts and many debts of firms and of persons are ‘phoney’ to the degree that they relate to money created as above out of nothing by institutions which have gathered a private a monopoly of credit creation.  
  • If the banks have a monopoly of credit and want more back than they create, in consequences of charging interest, they ask the impossible, so that the public ‘debt’ grows continually.  
  • The computerised ‘Global Money-Market’ has acquired a momentum of its own, yet it is irrational and is damaging to the poorer nations that it exploits on our behalf, as has become glaringly apparent in 2008. 
  •  

 

  [Smith's conditions for the success of economic freedom were neutral money, a medium of exchange without influence on the commercial process; and control of the speculators who would deflect capital away from job growth. Never in the history of capitalism have these conditions been so violated as they now are by ultra-capitalists.]

  Below is a framework of Proposals for Action, with indications of members bearing special knowledge of the activity. We need to be aware of the prevalence of 'mobile truth', which enables us to serve both God and Mammon; and to seek ways to reach closer to the mature intrinsic truth for contemporary society and future generations.
WE SUGGEST THAT YOU DRAW CONCERNED CHRISTIANS TO EXAMINE THIS MATRIX AND SEEK IDEAS RELATING TO ANY OF THE THRUSTS MENTIONED.

 

 

Challenging MAJOR ABUSES within the current system, eg

• Curtailing the activities of high-interest loan sharks and credit card companies: new Credit laws in train (Richard Murphy) [Tax Justice network]

• Preventing banks from forcing people into bankruptcy: SAFE (Keith Wincup, Robert Owen)

• Critiquing proposed new legislation - for example on PPPs etc (Chris Cook)

• Knowing the range of literature (CCMJ Librarian Ken Palmerton).

• Addressing the Public (PeterChallen@gmail.com)

• Alerting our representatives: The Forum for Stable Currencies is in regular exploration and debate in the Palace of Westminster and proposes Early Day Motions (www.monies.cc  Sabine McNeil) and Private Members Bills eg Ministry of Peace.

Co-operating with the American Monetary Institute - (Stephen Zarlenga) and the advocacy of the American Money Act 2008

Supporting incremental change by means of: COMPLEMENTARY APPROACHES which can run alongside the current system:

• Credit unions offering lower interest rates (Peter Bussy)

• Cash-free exchange networks, e.g. LETS and Timebanks (Mary Fee)

• New modes of investment involving risk-sharing rather than usury (Chris Cook)

• Pension Reform by investment in building projects not the stock-market (Richard Murphy)

• Know of the co-operative advantage represented by the International Co-operative principles (John Courtneidge)

• Dialogue with Churches, Mission agencies, Muslims, Jews (Peter Challen, Rodney Shakespeare, David Pidcock, Michelle Mapp. Mission in London's Economy )

Developing a coherent set of comprehensive, electable, STRATEGIES FOR CHANGE

  • Annual Bromsgrove Conference - October 2-4 2009
  • CREDIT - Campaign for a Royal Commission
  • Who, if not commercial banks, should create and issue "national currency"? ( Anne Belsey, Ron Morrison, James Robertson, Rodney Shakespeare)
  • To underpin essential social investment, how could funds be issued which are without interest and repayable in some circumstances? ( Rodney Shakespeare (www.globaljusticemovement.net)(www.binaryeconomics.net)
  •  State support of social infrastructure - social credit ( Frances Hutchinson, James Robertson), land rental income ( Dave Wetzel), "Open Capital" ( Chris Cook), etc
  • Money Reform Party [Anne Belsey]
  • How could the complex pattern of social security payments be replaced by a single basic income?
    (Colin Whitmill, Ken Palmerton, Malcolm Torry)
  • Know the lucid description of the Monetocracy that is dominating our private and our public lives, and the nature of holistic democracies - "Gaian Democracies" - a Schumacher Briefing ( Roy Madron rm@gaiandemocracy.net )
  • Educate with basic primers, eg David Boyle's 'Little Money Book" or work by Frank McManus, Richard Kay & Richard Greaves)
  • Support for the 2009 Coalition for Economic Justice bringing fiscal and monetary reform into stronger relationship.