Social Credit

Social Credit is an economic theory and a social movement which started in the early 1920s. The Canadian social credit movement was by far the most notable, but the ideas also gained some lesser success in other countries. One such country was New Zealand, where the Social Credit Party gained several seats in the national parliament, with 21% of the total votes at one election. In England, the Kibbo Kift, a small breakaway from the Boy Scout movement, transformed itself into the Green Shirt Movement for Social Credit, a political uniform-wearing paramilitary mass-movement, that marched, demonstrated and agitated in the 1930s for the introduction of a Social Credit system.

Arguments

Many if not all critics of Social Credit have argued that it would cause inflation. The Christian Reconstructionist writer Gary North (who wrote a book on Social Credit and allows it to appear online) addresses Douglas's plan to stop inflation, but calls it socialistic. He also adds moral arguments, such as the claim that God intends us to work for our survival.

Related Topics:
Christian Reconstructionist - Gary North - God

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North makes several arguments (beyond those that consider Social Credit to be inflationary), all concerning the justification Douglas offered for his plan. First, he states that the fact of consumer debt destroys Douglas's theory. Second, he says the A+B Theorem ignores the fact that all payments go to individuals. Third, he asserts that if the current system causes a break in the flow of purchasing power, so will the guaranteed income payments. Lastly, North proposes that we outlaw fractional reserve banking without instituting Social Credit. He says a 100% reserve free market system would not have any of the flaws Douglas points out.

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Heinlein's presentation contains a modified A+B theorem, stressing the argument that all savings remove money from circulation. Wilson does not seem to mention this justification for the plan, stressing instead that the plan (in his view) would end poverty, taxation and wage slavery.

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