wfn.org | Taiwan Church News: PCT pastors urge Christians to use consumer vouchers wisely

["Lydia Ma" <enews@pctpress.org>]

>Taiwan Church News

>2968 Edition

>January 12~18, 2009

PCT pastors urge Christians to use consumer vouchers wisely

>Reported by Lin Yi-ying and Chen Yi-shuan

>Written by Lydia Ma

In an attempt to invigorate the Taiwanese economy, the Ma administration  is determined to go ahead and distribute consumer vouchers beginning  January 18th. Though most Presbyterian Church in Taiwan (PCT) pastors do  not support this policy, most PCT pastors agree that instead of  declining the vouchers, Christians should use them wisely to help the  poor and disadvantaged. Pastors are also urging believers to use  vouchers at small, independent stores and buy Taiwan-made products  instead of imported goods.

With regards to this policy, economists point out that making,  distributing, advertising, processing, and recycling the vouchers will  be costly and the policy would have been more efficient if the  government had handed out the $3,600 NTD worth of vouchers per  individual (approximately $105 USD) directly in cash.

>Bad policy worse than corruption

According to PCT General Assembly moderator Asing Aman, consumer  vouchers are powerless in stimulating consumption and will not  significantly benefit the disadvantaged or the unemployed. The  government should not be distributing vouchers to every citizen, but  should focus instead on assisting those who are really in need to help  them get through the current financial crisis. He goes on to suggest  that top government officials should openly donate their own vouchers to  help disadvantaged social organizations in dire financial situations.

“Bad policies are worse than corruption!” said PCT General  Secretary Andrew Chang. He pointed out that Taiwan’s sagging  economy is due to the Ma administration’s China-leaning economic  policies and consumer vouchers will not solve the problem. Furthermore,  $3,600 NTD dollars is insignificant for the rich and insufficient for  the poor to pay for food and shelter. To illustrate how unsound economic  policies have been in Taiwan, Chang said that the government has been  offering military personnel, civil servants, and public school teachers  a special account with 18% preferential interest rate. This policy costs  Taiwanese taxpayers $80 billion NTD every year (approximately $2.4  billion USD). “Wouldn’t it be better if the government got rid  of this 18% interest and reimbursed the money back to the people every  year?” asked Chang. He adds that a government determined to keep  such a policy in an era of zero interest rate is nothing short of  vote-buying.

“Distributing consumer vouchers is a distorted form of  vote-buying!” exclaimed PCT Assistant Moderator Lim Chong-Cheng  (Lin Zong-jeng), “Who knows how many vouchers will be printed? Is  anyone monitoring the printing process?” He pointed out the reason  the government chose to print vouchers instead of handing out cash is  because there are strict regulations monitoring the amount of money that  can be printed in order to control inflation. It is disturbing that  there are no similar regulations in place supervising the printing and  distribution of vouchers. One can only speculate how the vouchers will  negatively impact the Taiwanese economy.

Lim also argued that the Ma administration is focusing on helping  Taiwanese manufacturers that have factories in China so that Chinese  workers will not be laid off, while ignoring the fate of Taiwanese  workers or factories within Taiwan. “Is it fair that Taiwanese  investors living and spending money in China are also eligible to  receive these vouchers? Whenever something bad happens to them in China,  the Taiwanese government is the one spending money bailing them out. Is  this reasonable?” asked Lim.

Consumer vouchers ineffective in boosting economy

PCT Assistant General Secretary Lyim Hong-tiong said bluntly that  government efforts in boosting the economy through consumer vouchers are  unlikely to work from an economic standpoint. “The problem is not  consumption. The problem is Taiwanese industries moving to China and  massive loss of job opportunities in Taiwan.” He advised  policymakers to focus on revitalizing Taiwanese industries instead.

“People lose their income when they don’t have jobs. Without  income, they don’t have money to spend.” Lim pointed out. When  people have a stable source of income, they will be less likely to worry  about spending money. Hence, the Ma administration missed the whole  picture when it decided to distribute vouchers, which will only make  matters worse in the long run by leaving a trail of debt for future  generations. Lim wonders why the government did not spend time, energy,  money investing on Taiwanese manufacturers instead.

Policy is like asking for trouble, say economists

According to CEO of Taiwan Think Tank Chen Bo-jhih, the government is  asking for trouble and inconveniencing citizens by distributing consumer  vouchers. Furthermore, it is very unlikely that this policy will  reinvigorate the sluggish economy. Chen points to similar policies  adopted by the Japanese government in the past that resulted in very  negligible increases in consumer consumption. Furthermore, once the cost  of printing, distributing, collecting, and destroying the vouchers are  factored in, and environmental concerns are accounted for, the cost of  pursuing this policy may greatly outweigh the benefits.

Consumer vouchers are also causing problems for religious and social  organizations who will likely receive many from donors. While some  organizations are able to redeem these vouchers for cash at financial  institutions, many others cannot do so because they are not registered  businesses. These organizations are limited to using donated vouchers  toward purchases at places that accept vouchers. Therefore, though many  would like to help charitable organizations by donating vouchers,  whether vouchers can turn into a source of financial support as intended  is another dilemma.

A pastor says “no thanks” to vouchers

Pastor Ng Tiat-gan (Huang Je-yan) from Shan-Jiao Church in Hsinchu  presbytery will not be picking up his vouchers. He offers four reasons  why he is rejecting them. First, he believes that vouchers will not be  used for daily necessities and making, processing, delivering them will  be a waste of fuel and other natural resources. Second, since vouchers  are equivalent to cash, he doubts the country can supply enough cash.  Third, he questions whether there is adequate oversight during the  printing process. He argues that there is a lack of transparency in the  printing and usage of vouchers, especially now that the Nationalist  (KMT) Party is controlling both the legislative and the executive  branches of government. Finally, it is very problematic for a government  to promote spending and leave a pile of debt for future generations to  pay.

“Is having or getting money all that matters nowadays?” Pastor  Ng blurted out. He urged Christians to examine their faith and values  and fight against what is wrong. If we do not take a stand now, we will  not have any ground to oppose bad government policies in the future.

Pastor Ng knows that a lot of people think he is a fool, however, this  is a personal conviction born out of his faith. Though Ng has shared  this conviction with his church members and his family, he will not stop  them from collecting their own consumer vouchers. “After all, each  person has his own perspective and judgment,” he conceded.

Using Vouchers to support Taiwan-made products and the disadvantaged

PCT Associate General Secretary Kho Sing-Doh encourages believers to  make good use of consumer vouchers instead of refusing to accept them.  He supports using them to help the most vulnerable people in society.  Kho discourages believers from using vouchers at big hotels or franchise  stores. Instead, he advises them to use vouchers in small retail stores.  He suggests using vouchers to pay for taxi rides or house-keeping  services so that small stores or people who are struggling financially  can survive during this economic downturn.

It goes without saying that people should try to buy Taiwanese products  instead of Chinese imports when using these vouchers so that profits  will benefit national industries that are struggling.

>From a biblical standpoint, Kho encourages believers that since they  received these vouchers freely, they should consider donating them to  churches who do not have pastors, evangelical organizations, or social  agencies. He urges them to put their faith in action by using vouchers  to support one another.

“Consumer vouchers come from taxpayer’s money. It’s the  people’s money – not a gift or a favor from the government. So,  we should definitely use them,” claimed one pastor from Taipei.  Though he is also skeptical about the ability of vouchers to increase  consumption and boost the economy, he is encouraging his church members  to pick them up and spend them. He sees them as a small source of  additional income that may help people buy some necessities when budgets  are tight. However, he also warned against spending too much time  deciding how to spend these vouchers and buying things one wouldn’t  buy normally. Otherwise, people might just end up wasting money on  unnecessary items.

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