–Obama: Edward Snowden is a stinkin’ traitor and should be hung . . . er . . . ah . . . I said what?

Twitter: @rodgermitchell; Search #monetarysovereignty
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Mitchell’s laws:
●The more federal budgets are cut and taxes increased, the weaker an economy becomes.
●Austerity is the government’s method for widening the gap between rich and poor, which ultimately leads to civil disorder.
●Until the 99% understand the need for federal deficits, the upper 1% will rule.
●To survive long term, a monetarily non-sovereign government must have a positive balance of payments.
●Those, who do not understand the differences between Monetary Sovereignty and monetary non-sovereignty, do not understand economics.
●The penalty for ignorance is slavery.
●Everything in economics devolves to motive.
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In two posts, Police state: Which vital secret did Edward Snowden reveal? and Which vital secret did Edward Snowden reveal? Part II we recounted the foaming-at-the-mouth utterances of our politicians. For instance:

Senator Dianne Feinstein, Chairman of the United States Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, said Edward Snowden is a traitor. He committed treason. He should be found and extradited.

The ever-reliably doltish House Speaker John Boehner said, “He’s a traitor. The disclosure of this information puts Americans at risk. It shows our adversaries what our capabilities are. And it’s a giant violation of the law.”

And the blogsphere was filled with teeth gnashing by angry “patriots,” who want Snowden drawn and quartered and after that have some really bad stuff done to him.

What we didn’t read, and what we have yet to read, is the answer to the question, “What vital secret did Snowden reveal?” Maybe here is the clue:

Reuters, August 9, 2013; Obama pledges greater transparency in surveillance programs
By Steve Holland and Jeff Mason

WASHINGTON, Aug 9 (Reuters) – President Barack Obama announced plans on Friday to limit sweeping U.S. government surveillance programs that have come under criticism since leaks by a former spy agency contractor, saying the United States “can and must be more transparent.”

“Given the history of abuse by governments, it’s right to ask questions about surveillance, particularly as technology is reshaping every aspect of our lives,” Obama told a news conference at the White House.

Saying that it was important to strike the right balance between security and civil rights, Obama said he was unveiling specific steps to improve oversight of surveillance and restore public trust in the government’s programs.

Despite the announcement, the Obama administration has vigorously pursued Snowden to bring him back to the United States to face espionage charges for leaking details of the surveillance programs to the media.

“I don’t think Mr. Snowden was a patriot,” Obama said.

“I, as your President, want you to understand:

“1. Many other governments illegally spy on their citizens.
“2. But not my government — no, absolutely not my government.
“3. And although my government absolutely did not spy on you, we won’t do it again.
“4. You wouldn’t have known about this if it weren’t for that stinkin’ Snowden, so I’m going to track him down and string him up. Why? Because he’s a traitor for letting you know what I’ve been hiding from you.
“5. I want you to remember, I’m the transparency President.”

Obama said he plans to overhaul Section 215 of the anti-terrorism Patriot Act that governs the collection of so-called “metadata” such as phone records, insisting that the government had no interest in spying on ordinary Americans.

“I am not spying on you. Do you consider yourself ‘ordinary’?

“I am just collecting and analyzing data on you, your spouse, your children, your friends, your children’s friends, your relatives, their friends, your neighbors and their friends, your associates and anyone you ever have seen, known, or been near, plus what you read, where you go and what you do.

“But I am not spying on you. Understand?”

Obama will also reform the secretive Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court, which considers requests from law enforcement authorities to target an individual for intelligence gathering.

He wants to let a civil liberties representative weigh in on the court’s deliberations to ensure an adversarial voice is heard.

“Of course, the ‘weigh in’ will be secret, and you won’t know who the ‘civil liberties representative’ is, what he says, when or why he says it. That’s what I consider “transparency.

“(Hmmm . . . I wonder whether Michelle will take the job.)”

The secretive court, makes its decisions on government surveillance requests without hearing from anyone but U.S. Justice Department lawyers in its behind-closed-doors proceedings.

“Yes, they hear only one side of the story, which is why they never deny a surveillance request — heck, that court would let me spy on your dog if I felt like it. But, what’s wrong with that?

“You never heard of Spy Dog?

“Really, there wouldn’t be a problem if it weren’t for that stinkin’ Snowden spilling the beans.”

Obama also said he wants to provide more details about the NSA programs to try to restore any public trust damaged by the Snowden disclosures.

“Why don’t you people trust me? I’m the President and I know what’s best for you. Don’t ask questions.”

The administration will also form a high-level group of outside experts to review the U.S. surveillance effort.

“Yeah, right. I’ll select outside experts. Sure I will. But ‘experts” in what? Spying on Americans? Baseball? Politics? Movies? Travel? Don’t worry; they’ll be experts in something.”

It is not clear if Congress will take up the initiatives. A number of influential lawmakers have vigorously defended the spying programs as critical tools needed to detect terrorist threats.

“Oh, gee. I really want to stop spying on you, but mean old Congress won’t let me. Also, I didn’t want to raise your FICA tax, cut your Social Security and impose the sequester. Nothing is my fault. I’m just a President. I can’t control this stuff.”

The Snowden disclosures generated concerns about whether people were being forced to sacrifice their constitutionally guaranteed civil liberties in the open-ended search for terrorism links.

“It’s like this. No matter how much we spy on you and take away your liberties, there never can be 100% security. So we always will tell you we need to spy more and more and more, and allow you less and less and less liberty.

“Pretty soon, we’ll need to know what you do in your bedrooms, because you may be discussing terrorist acts, there.

“That stinkin’ Snowden may have slowed us a bit, but by next year, you’ll forget all about him, and we’ll be taking away even more of your freedom.”

The search for Snowden has upset U.S. relations with some Latin American countries, China and, above all, Russia. Obama this week canceled a planned summit in Moscow with President Vladimir Putin.

The revelation of the sweeping U.S. electronic spying programs has also alienated countries such as Germany, which fiercely defends its citizens’ privacy rights.

“I really don’t care what Americans say. I don’t even care what the Germans and China say. And as for Putin, what can I say about a guy who rides horses with his shirt off?

All that concerns me is what my legacy and my rich backers will say. Will I have to include this in my Obama Library? (I’ll ask Penny Pritzker.)

“Meanwhile, wait ’til I get my hands on that stinkin’ Snowden.”

Rodger Malcolm Mitchell
Monetary Sovereignty

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Nine Steps to Prosperity:
1. Eliminate FICA (Click here)
2. Medicare — parts A, B & D plus long term nursing care — for everyone (Click here)
3. Send every American citizen an annual check for $5,000 or give every state $5,000 per capita (Click here)
4. Free education (including post-grad) for everyone. Click here
5. Salary for attending school (Click here)
6. Eliminate corporate taxes (Click here)
7. Increase the standard income tax deduction annually
8. Increase federal spending on the myriad initiatives that benefit America’s 99% (Click here)
9. Federal ownership of all banks (Click here)

10 Steps to Economic Misery: (Click here:)
1. Maintain or increase the FICA tax..
2. Spread the myth Social Security, Medicare and the U.S. government are insolvent.
3. Cut federal employment in the military, post office, other federal agencies.
4. Broaden the income tax base so more lower income people will pay.
5. Cut financial assistance to the states.
6. Spread the myth federal taxes pay for federal spending.
7. Allow banks to trade for their own accounts; save them when their investments go sour.
8. Never prosecute any banker for criminal activity.
9. Nominate arch conservatives to the Supreme Court.
10. Reduce the federal deficit and debt

No nation can tax itself into prosperity, nor grow without money growth. Monetary Sovereignty: Cutting federal deficits to grow the economy is like applying leeches to cure anemia.
Two key equations in economics:
1. Federal Deficits – Net Imports = Net Private Savings
2. Gross Domestic Product = Federal Spending + Private Investment and Consumption – Net Imports

#MONETARY SOVEREIGNTY