Money from misery
We hear of the great loss of lives as a result of World War I, both of service and civilian, but never hear of the financial costs re loss to economies, damage to infrastructure, costs of weapons, the battles along with rebuilding and taxation etc.
Further, we never hear of the great profits made by some as a result of the world war, or profits still being made over the past 100 years.
Yes, World War I took a great loss of life of many men, women and children, along with great suffering to wounded, heartache to families, many deprived families, orphan and unwanted children, as well as financial hardships.
To this very day, 100 years on, people are still profiting from the first world war, with book writing, films, 100-year celebrations. Talk about getting blood out of a stone. A few people are still getting financial blood, e.g. money, out of the dead, instead of letting them rest in peace.
We read and hear of a few names that can bring profit to a few, but never hear about the millions of white crosses, names of those who lost their lives.
What did the world learn from World War I? That it was very profitable for a few. That’s why wars continue to this very day worldwide.
The Bible states that the wars today were only kids games compared to that which is coming, and I believe that to be true, a sad state of affairs, as wealth, power and control rules over the world, creating fewer haves and more have nots but hey, is this not politics at its max?
My heart goes out to those families who lost loved ones. A great change of life for them, something that changed their families lives forever, and not understood by those who never suffered the experience.
Were our men and women great heroes? I would like to say yes, but the truth is they were nothing other than cannon folder in the game of politics, men, women and children on both sides experiencing inhuman conditions that only those in war zones can experience first-hand, but sadly, wars continue as wealth, power and control increases for a few at the suffering of many.
JOHN BASSETT
Diggers’ Valley
PS: Yes, the 11th day of November 2018 should be a day that we all remember, and the ending of other wars, but sadly, many new wars are to follow which will impact on lives of New Zealand citizens one way or another in coming years. John Key’s call for stricter regulations for banks is a cynical and carefully planned pre-emptive strike on behalf of the ANZ and other banks ahead of the release of a report from the Financial Markets Authority and Reserve Bank.
As ANZ’s New Zealand chairman, and a member of the Australian ANZ board, he hopes to be able to argue that “all is well, we have already put in place measures that will address the issues the Australian Royal Commission and this inquiry has raised”, and, as he has already attempted to portray “New Zealand banks don’t operate the same as the Australian banks”.
But if there isn’t a problem, then why call for stricter regulations?
The strategy is designed to try and avoid a more detailed investigation into banks operating in New Zealand, and deflect attention from the enormous $2 billion profit that ANZ has made in the last year.
Ninety-seven per cent of that profit, over $400 for every person in the country, was pulled out of New Zealand and shipped off to ANZ’s overseas owners, depleting our economy of muchneeded capital. Most of the profit was made by the bank lending money it doesn’t have and then charging interest on those loans.
The idea that banks lend out money people deposit with them is a myth, a fact confirmed by the 1955 Royal Commission on Money and Banking in New Zealand.
Bernard Hickey put it succinctly recently — “They invent money out of nothing whenever they lend. The only
thing stopping them from going completely berserk is central banks force them to keep some of their capital aside whenever they make a loan. So that’s the dirty little secret of international finance.”
Social Credit would make banks keep a much larger percentage of their capital on deposit with the central bank (that is, Reserve Bank), which would restrict their debt-creating activities and reduce their profit.
The Reserve Bank would be tasked with replacing that private bank lending with funds for the government and local bodies to invest in health, education, housing and infrastructure projects, and for low-interest loans for first-home buyers, saving taxpayers, ratepayers and first-home buyers enormous sums of interest.
We would also provide Kiwibank with the capacity to reduce its interest rates and its fees, which would introduce some real home-grown competition for the big four Aussie banks.
CHRIS LEITCH Leader, Social Credit Historian Professor Alexander Gillespie, of Waikato University, is very selective with reportage of the Land Wars. Some facts he chose not to mention.
Fatalities in the entire period, 4000, were less than 10 per cent of those killed in the Musket Wars, Ma¯ ori by Ma¯ ori, and considerably fewer than those of Hongi’s and Te Rauparaha’s violent raids.
Were he aware of colonial history he would realise how inappropriate were his comments on the suitability of the date of the Declaration of Independence for annual remembrance.
The request of the northern tribes, Nga¯ puhi, for aid from Britain was because of their fear that other tribes, having obtained muskets, might seek utu for the thousands that Hongi Hika had slaughtered in his southern rampages. The Declaration of Independence, apart from appropriating a British mercantile flag as their emblem, came to naught. The subsequent confederation with other tribes never occurred. There were no further meetings.
Michael King, in his Penguin History, called it a ‘contrived ceremony’ with no constitutional significance.
The treaty settlements he claimed as verification of the injustices of the colonial government were simply politically motivated largesse by Christopher Finlayson for the National Party to gratify their Ma¯ ori parliamentary partners and the rubber stamp approval given by the Waitangi Tribunal to all Ma¯ ori claims. BRYAN JOHNSON
O¯ mokoroa
"The request of the northern tribes, Nga¯ puhi, for aid from Britain was because of their fear that other tribes, having obtained muskets, might seek utu for the thousands that Hongi Hika had slaughtered in his southern rampages." Bryan Johnson