February 11, 2013

No bank bailouts says new petition – reform banking instead

The New Economics Party has launched a petition to ask for a Parliamentary Enquiry into the options for making banks stable so that no bailouts are ever needed. Spokesperson Deirdre Kent said they wanted Parliament to include examination of a new report from two IMF economists revisiting a good idea after the 1930s Depression.

“The Government hasn’t yet publicised that the Reserve Bank of New Zealand is working behind the scenes with the registered banks to set in place a system where customers will bailout a failing bank out instead of taxpayers. Their account will be frozen overnight and the bank will take a haircut from the top. A customer will wake up in the morning with less in the bank”.

“But that is unfair. No one should have to bail out a bank. Banks should be stable in the first place and there are ways to make them stable”, she said.

“We have requested a Parliamentary Enquiry because we know that it has to be brought in simultaneously in all countries. A small country like us can work on it and take initiative. We have the skills here to work out a better banking system so we are not vulnerable to financial contagion,” she said.

“When I took this petition briefly to our local Otaki market yesterday, one man stalked off declaring they won’t get away with this. There was no antagonism to the petition, just amazement that such a proposal was on the books and they hadn’t heard about it.”

She said the organisers had a Facebook page for the petition and had just started an online petition as well. The petition has the support of Positive Money NZ, the Living Economies Educational Trust, The Awareness Party, and the Democrats for Social Credit. “We are expecting more support from political parties and organisations. Nearly everyone has a bank account so we are all vulnerable,” she said.

ENDS

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Arguably Reassuring: Inspector-General Finds GCSB "Arguably" Legal

Of the 88 individuals:

• 15 cases involving 22 individuals did not have any information intercepted by GCSB.

• another four cases involving five individuals were the subjects of a New Zealand Security Intelligence Service warrant and the GCSB assisted in the execution of the warrants. The Inspector-General is of the view that there were arguably no breaches and the law is unclear.

• the Bureau only provided technical assistance which did not involve interception of communications, involving three of the individuals, so no breach occurred.

• the remaining cases involved the collection of metadata, and the Inspector-General formed the view that there had arguably been no breach, noting once again that the law is unclear.
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