Chapter 2

(Everything boils down to one simple fact: Spending by state and local governments, businesses, and individuals costs them money but adds zero net dollars to the economy. Spending by the federal government costs nothing to anyone, and it adds growth dollars to the economy.)

Chapter 1 began with this:

MS$=∞ is one of the most important equations in economics. When the information sources acknowledge it and the public understands it, we could have, in America:

1. The end of federal taxes collected ostensibly for funding (Collect federal taxes only to control the economy and to assure demand for the U.S. dollar.)
2. The end of poverty by instituting a more generous Social Security for everyone in America, regardless of age.
3. Free, no-deductible healthcare for every man, woman, and child regardless of prior health.
4. Free K-16+ education, including professional (medical, legal, etc.) for all who want it.
5. Free and generous retirement income
6. Modern and maintained infrastructure — free roads, utilities, buildings, and mass transit.
7. Responsive and helpful government services.
8. The prevention/cure for recessions, depressions, and inflation.
9. The research and development of AI and other inventions to protect and improve the lives of the people.
10. The end of the state and local governments’ need for taxes to fund spending

The equation means: A monetarily sovereign has unlimited access to its own currency.

We now will continue with:

VI. Modern and maintained infrastructure — free roads, utilities, buildings, and mass transit.

The U.S. infrastructure costs are layered into federal, state, local, and household budgets. Each layer funds different types of assets with different lifespans and different replacement cycles. Our Monetarily Sovereign federal government could fund the entire system, simplifying national infrastructure management.

Infrastructure includes roads & highways, bridges, mass transit, airports, ports, water systems, sewage & stormwater, electric grid, broadband, public buildings, schools & universities, and housing infrastructure.

Each category has its own cost structure and funding.

Total U.S. infrastructure spending (all levels combined)
Across all categories, the U.S. spends about $1.5–2.0 trillion per year. This includes federal, state, local, and private household utility payments. That is the cost of maintaining and expanding the national physical infrastructure.

The federal government spends about $350–450 billion per year to fund interstate highways, FAA & airports, Amtrak, the Army Corps of Engineers, water projects, broadband grants, energy grid modernization grants, federal buildings, national parks, disaster rebuilding, and transit capital grants.

State governments spend about $500–600 billion per year to fund state highways, state universities, state water systems, state transit agencies, state buildings, state parks, and state energy programs.

While the federal government merely creates the dollars it spends, ad hoc, states rely on gas taxes, vehicle registration fees, sales taxes, bonds plus usage fees, all of which come from the public.

Local governments spend about $500–600 billion per year to fund local roads, local water & sewer, local transit operations, school buildings, police/fire stations, libraries, local airports, local parks, and zoning & planning infrastructure.

Local governments rely on property taxes, local sales taxes, municipal bonds, utility fees plus usage fees. These too come from the pockets of the public.

Households & individuals spend about $300–400 billion per year. (These are the usage fees).  Households pay water bills, sewer bills, electricity, natural gas, broadband, trash collection, stormwater fees, tolls, transit fares, vehicle registration, gasoline taxes, and HOA infrastructure fees.

This is infrastructure paid directly by individuals, not governments.

In summary, the total cost of the national infrastructure system is about $ 1.6- 2.0 trillion, of which the federal government pays $350–450 billion- dollars that it creates and that do not come from the public.* The state and local government, and households pay a total of $ 1.3- 1.6 trillion, all of which comes from the pockets of the public.

*Note. In our Monetarily Sovereign government system, the purpose of federal taxes is not to provide spending funds to the government. The government creates, ad hoc, all the dollars it needs and uses. The purposes of taxes are:

1. To control the economy by taxing what the government wishes to discourage and by giving tax breaks to what the government wishes to reward, and

2. To assure demand for the U.S.  dollar by requiring taxes to be paid in dollars.

Our Monetarily Sovereign federal government could fund all $1.6–2.0 trillion a year without financial constraint. State/local taxes could be eliminated or drastically reduced. Household utility bills could be eliminated or subsidized. Infrastructure would become free at the point of use (like roads already are).

This would eliminate deferred maintenance, infrastructure debt costs, local budget crises, regressive utility burdens, tolls and fares, and infrastructure inequality between rich and poor regions.

And it would not increase real resource use beyond the existing $1.6–2.0T envelope — it would simply remove the financial burden from the public and add to net growth dollars coming in to the public.

IN SUMMARY
America’s total infrastructure cost is about $1.6–2.0 trillion per year, of which $1.3-1.6 trillion comes from the pockets of the public. Our Monetarily Sovereign federal government could fund all of it at no cost to anyone.

Control: There are several formulas by which the dollars could be allocated, allowing local governments to retain control.

1. On a state overall per-capita basis (and the states would allocate to counties and cities)
2. Directly to municipalities on a per-capita basis
3. By specific infrastructure according to usage.
4. Additionally, by specific proposal and need.

Whatever system is used, the public would save money, and more infrastructure would be upgraded, without funding hesitations.

VII. Responsive and helpful government services. Unlike households and businesses, and even state and local governments, the federal government does not need to save money. The biggest problem facing the federal government is not waste, but lack.

That is, for our Monetarily Sovereign federal government, cost is not the concern. The government creates all the dollars it needs, simply by pressing computer keys.

The concern is whether a job is done well and timely.

This is alien thinking for most of us who are accustomed to visualizing our own households and businesses, where costs are a major concern. But as many Federal Reserve Chairmen have said: 

Alan Greenspan, Former Federal Reserve Chairman: “A government cannot become insolvent with respect to obligations in its own currency. There is nothing to prevent the federal government from creating as much money as it wants and paying it to somebody. The United States can pay any debt it has because we can always print the money to do that.”

Despite Elon Musk’s claims and his infamous chainsaw, he did not save the American taxpayer one cent. In fact, he cost us billions in lost services that the government should have provided but couldn’t.

If ever you need to contact a government agency for the help they are supposed to provide, and the phone rings forever or you stand in line forever, you can thank the obsolete, harmful think of Elon Musk and his failed claims. 

In a strictly financial sense, federal wasted spending is more beneficial to taxpayers than no spending, because at least federal “wasted” spending enters the economy as growth dollars. The federal government is not “too big.” This is a big country, with big needs, and it needs a big government to provide help for those needs.

Unlike state and local governments, which do use tax dollars, the federal government needs no tax dollars, and its spending costs you nothing. That is how, as alien as it may seem, our Monetarily Sovereign government operates.

VIII. The prevention/cure for recessions, depressions, and inflation. This is discussed in more detail at: The inflation myths debunked. It’s never “money-printing.” It’s always shortages.

When things become scarce, prices go up. When things become more plentiful, prices go down. That is a fundamental truth in economics. Inflation is not a situation where one or two or even several prices have gone up. Inflation is a general increase in prices.

While spending by the federal government can cause certain specific prices to go up because certain specific products become scarce, federal spending cannot, and never has, caused all prices of all things to go up.

However, some products and product categories are so essential that their scarcity can cause prices to rise. Oil, for instance, is used by all industries. Oil prices rise and fall with scarcity, and those changes are reflected in inflation.

Similarly, food is consumed by everyone, and food scarcity depends on weather, disease, and labor availability, so the cost of food affects inflation.

While federal spending alone doesn’t cause inflation, using it to address shortages can help prevent or fix it.

For example, oil-related inflation could be tackled by funding efforts to produce and distribute more oil or alternative energy, and food-related inflation could be eased by supporting farmers or importing food.

Cutting federal spending to fight inflation usually backfires, leading to recessions that don’t solve the underlying shortages, as “stagflation” has shown. The Federal Reserve’s approach of raising interest rates is also flawed—it doesn’t create more oil or grow more food, and shrinking the economy is like trying to cure anemia with leeches.

Instead of relying on Congress, which moves slowly, or the Fed, which lacks the right tools, we should have a dedicated Department of Inflation Control. This agency could boost or scale back oil and food production through direct payments, tapping reserves, or imports. It would monitor critical goods and services to act quickly against looming shortages.

In III. Free, no-deductible healthcare for every man, woman, and child regardless of prior health. We advocated for a healthcare program that would exacerbate current shortages of healthcare workers and pharmaceuticals, resulting in high, unaffordable costs to the public.

While the federal government has the power to provide free, comprehensive Medicare to everyone, thus eliminating the cost problem, shortages of services and drugs still are unacceptable.

The healthcare industry provides assets and services that have various lifespans and various replacement times;

Long‑lived assets (slow replacement): Doctors (training pipeline ≈ 10–12 years; career ≈ 35–40 years), Hospitals (lifespan ≈ 40–60 years), Universities (effectively perpetual). These assets cannot expand quickly. Their supply curve is inelastic in the short run.

Medium‑lived assets: CT scanners (lifespan ≈ 7–10 years), MRI machines (≈ 10 years), Ambulances (≈ 5–10 years), Medical office buildings (≈ 20–30 years). These can expand moderately fast.

Short‑lived assets: Crutches (≈ 2 months), Bandages, syringes, consumables (days–weeks), Food (days–months), Clothing (months–years). These can expand very fast. Scarcity risk is highest when demand hits long‑lived assets.

When you inject additional billions of dollars into Medicare for All, demand will rise across all categories. We will see a time‑dependent scarcity curve.

In years 1–5, shortage risk will be highest because demand suddenly exceeds supply for doctors, nurses, hospitals, medical equipment, and medical education. These cannot scale instantly.

By years 5–15, scarcity will decrease as more doctors graduate, hospitals are built, equipment is manufactured, and universities expand capacity. Supply begins catching up.

By years 15–40, scarcity will be minimal as longer-lived assets have expanded to meet the new demand baseline. Supply will stabilize as real productive capacity has caught up to nominal demand.

Thus, the sooner we recognize that shortages cause prices to rise and prepare for them, the sooner we will prevent or at least minimize those shortages and the resulting cost increases.

Inflation is not a monetary phenomenon. It is a capacity ramp phenomenon. Money is instantaneous. Capacity is slow. A lack of planning for supply disruptions causes prices to rise.

X. The end of the state and local governments’ need for taxes to fund spending. We discussed this at VII. Responsive and helpful government services. 

State and local governments are monetarily NON-sovereign. Financially, they resemble households and businesses. They require income in the form of taxes, fees, and borrowing. By contrast, the Monetarily Sovereign federal government does not need to tax or borrow for spending.

A statement from the St. Louis Fed: “As the sole manufacturer of dollars, whose debt is denominated in dollars, the U.S. government can never become insolvent, i.e., unable to pay its bills. In this sense, the government is not dependent on credit markets to remain operational.”

Therefore, the federal government can save taxpayers billions of dollars by funding many of the functions now funded by state and local government taxpayers.

This does not require these governments to give up control. While Social Security and Medicare provide dollars, doctors and hospitals determine the vast majority of what they fund.

And just as Social Security and Medicare provide financial assistance to people, the federal government can provide financial assistance to state and local governments, thereby easing the burden on taxpayers.

This could be handled by a “Medicare-like” Department of State Aid; just as Medicare pays for healthcare financial obligations, the Department of State Aid could pay for state financial obligations.

===============///===============

REGARDING SLOTH

The federal government has the means to close the income, wealth, and power Gap between the rich and the poor. As a monetarily sovereign nation, it can improve and safeguard the lives of all Americans without costing anyone a dime.

Unfortunately, some oppose this idea, clinging to the false belief that giving benefits to the poor will make them lazy and unwilling to take on the tough, undesirable jobs. This view is not just wrong but cruel.

From what I’ve seen, the poor are among the hardest-working people in the country, held back not by a lack of effort but by a lack of opportunity.

The fix for poverty is money—something the federal government has in unlimited supply—and the fix for filling jobs is fair pay.

If the worry is “Who will scrub the floors and toilets?” the answer is simple: pay enough to make people want to do those jobs or automate them. The government could set higher minimum wages and help employers cover the cost if needed.

Forcing people to choose between starvation and the hardest, most unpleasant work is wrong, especially when the solution costs nothing. Building national prosperity on the backs of the poor is unjust when it’s so easily avoidable.

Rodger Malcolm Mitchell

TRUMP: “I won, just as I said I would. It’s all but over. Any day now.

“I ruined the economy by causing an inflation, and there is much worse to come. The average person can’t afford anything. The price of diesel is astronomical. The price of gas is through the roof. Imports are costly; exports have declined. The farmers are suffering. The ranchers are suffering. Small business is in the toilet. Food prices are way up. The rich are richer, but the rest are destitute.

“The election system is being rigged as I speak. Even the postal service doesn’t know whether or not to deliver mail.

“Immigrant children are being separated from their parents. Suckers — I mean ‘soldiers’ — are dying. The best universities are being punished for speaking out. Children are going unvaccinated and are sickening from measles and other diseases.

“So many top soldiers have been fired and so much ammo has been wasted, the military is in deep trouble.

“Medical research is coming to a halt. The legal system has been wrecked and no longer is focused on crime, but rather on political vengeance.

“There’s a clamp down on speech; no one even can write the numbers: ’86 47′ or the full weight of the government will come down on them.

“A domestic version of the ‘Gestapo’ is running wild and arresting — even killing–citizens without a cause or even a warrant; and they go unpunished.

“Any mention of slavery, inequality, bigotry, hatred, religion, democracy or civil rights is called ‘woke’ and prosecuted. A lot of books are being burned, and a lot of people are being jailed and even killed without trial.

“The government is wasting money on fancy rooms, pools, and arches, as homage to the leader, but benefits to average people are being cut for lack of money.

“In short, the entire country is a mess, and I DID IT! I told you I would. I keep my promises.”

INTERVIEWER: “Mr. President, we all thought you meant you would do that to Iran, not to the U.S.

Rodger Malcolm Mitchell

I. End federal taxes through V. Free retirement income

(Everything boils down to one simple fact: Spending by state and local governments, businesses, and individuals costs them money but adds zero net dollars to the economy. Spending by the federal government costs nothing for anyone, and it adds growth dollars to the economy.)

MS$=∞ is one of the most important equations in economics. When the information sources acknowledge it, and the public understands it, we could have, in America:

1. The end of federal taxes collected ostensibly for funding (Collect federal taxes only to control the economy and to assure demand for the U.S. dollar.)
2. The end of poverty by instituting a more generous Social Security for everyone in America, regardless of age.
3. Free, no-deductible healthcare for every man, woman, and child regardless of prior health.
4. Free K-16+ education, including professional (medical, legal, etc.) for all who want it.
5. Free and generous retirement income
6. Modern and maintained infrastructure — free roads, utilities, buildings, and mass transit.
7. Responsive and helpful government services.
8. The prevention/cure for recessions, depressions, and inflation.
9. The research and development of AI and other inventions to protect and improve the lives of the people.
10. The end of the state and local governments’ need for taxes to fund spending

The equation means: A monetarily sovereign has unlimited access to its own currency.

The U.S. government is Monetarily Sovereign, so it cannot unwillingly run short of U.S. dollars. The fundamental purpose of a government is to improve and protect people’s lives.

The U.S. government operates financially unlike any state, county, city, village, business, or individual. It has the unique power to create U.S. dollars simply by pressing computer keys. It also makes all the laws governing dollar creation and can produce as much money as it wants, whenever it chooses, and distribute it to whomever it decides.

The U.S. government, or any of its agencies, can never unwillingly run out of dollars. If Social Security needed an extra trillion, the government could create it before nightfall. If Medicaid required an additional two trillion, it could be provided at no cost to anyone.

If the military requested five trillion more, Congress could approve it with a simple vote. Even if Senators, Representatives, and Supreme Court Justices wanted their salaries tripled, the government could make it happen with ease. Nothing—absolutely nothing—is unaffordable for the U.S. government.

None of the above is speculation. These are the absolute facts of money, all of which are merely legal numbers on balance sheets that the U.S. federal government owns and controls.

What Would You Do If You Were in Charge of the Government and Understood MS$=∞?

Your list might be different from mine, but here is what I would do:

I. End taxes collected ostensibly for funding.

The federal government has no use for outside income. It actually creates dollars by spending dollars.

The only taxes might be “sin” taxes on cigarettes, alcohol, gambling, illegal drugs, and other products and activities the government wished to discourage or to narrow the Gap between the very rich and the rest. FICA, income taxes, capital gains taxes, and inheritance taxes, except on the very rich, would be eliminated.

This would enrich the working class, aid businesses, and add billions of dollars to Gross Domestic Product.

Taxes on business profits would be eliminated to encourage business growth, while anti-trust laws would be enforced to prevent monopolistic behavior.

Charities would benefit from a “reverse tax” to encourage charitable giving.

II. A more generous Social Security for everyone. The poor are a drag on the nation, not because they are lazy or unwilling. Quite the opposite. Most work hard just to survive.

They face a tough reality, with less time and opportunity to be educated or productive. Often stuck doing menial tasks that machines could handle, they miss out on using the most valuable asset any human has: their mind.

They’re less likely to get an education, become scientists or creatives, or make a positive impact on the world. Instead, poverty and desperation increase the chances of them turning to crime, leading to wasted days in jail that cost both society and them precious time and talent. This cycle often continues, passing poverty down to the next generation.

The Social Security benefit should not be based on income, wealth, age, marital status or any other demographic. Every living American should receive the same monthly benefit. That would eliminated the need for a complex, costly, inefficient, difficult-to-manage program like our tax code has become.

It would reduce crime and the need for the subsistence charities that cater to the very poor.

III. Free, comprehensive, no-deductible healthcare for every person, regardless of prior health, should be a priority. To fulfill its mission to “improve and protect people’s lives,” the government should ensure that everyone has access to top-quality healthcare. This means doctors of all specialties, hospitals, nursing homes for long-term care, nurses, medicines, and equipment should be readily available and free, fully funded by the government.

Achieving this will require substantial financial investment to guarantee accessibility. Private hospitals should receive federal funding, and doctors should be supported by the government, similar to how concierge doctors are supported by patients today.

The “comprehensive, no-deductible” promise ensures no one delays seeking medical care due to financial concerns.

IV. Free K-16+ education, including professional (medical, legal, etc.) for all who want it. Currently, the states, counties, and cities offer free K-12 education, Because they are Monetarily non-Sovereign, financing always becomes an issue.

Thus, too many public schools are understaffed, and the students are underserved. Expensive private schools can exist only because free public schools provide inferior education in an inferior environment. Generous federal funding of public schools could cure the disparity as well as relieving local taxpayers of the financial burden.

Teachers, other staff, school buildings, transportation, books and equipment all should be federally funded.

V. Free and generous retirement income. By the “official” poverty measure seniors appear to have the lowest poverty rate:

• Children (<18): 16.3%;
• Working-age adults (18–64): 11.7%;
• Seniors (65+) 10.9%.

However, the “official” measure ignores medical costs, housing costs, and geographic price differences — all of which disproportionately affect seniors.

The more realistic Supplemental Poverty Measure (SPM, 2024) includes out‑of‑pocket medical expenses, housing costs, and regional price differences, which hit senior harder than any other group. Here we see that seniors are the highest‑poverty age group:

• Children (<18)≈ 12–13%
• Working‑Age Adults (18–64)≈ 8–9%
• Seniors (65+)≈ 14–15%

Social Security is the single largest anti‑poverty program for older Americans. Without it, senior poverty would be about 37–38%, That means current Social Security, as modest as it is, still lifts roughly 17 million seniors above the poverty line. This is the largest anti‑poverty effect of any federal program.

And what was the poverty line in 2024, the time of the above data? These are national base thresholds for a two‑adult household, adjusted by housing status:

• Renters: ~$34,000
• Owners with mortgage: ~$36,000
• Owners without mortgage: ~$28,000

So, even with SS, 14-15% of seniors fell below the poverty line. Without SS, 38-40% of seniors would live in  poverty.

The question is: Should the government’s goal be to lift people above the poverty line, or should the goal be higher? The poverty line is basically a bare‑bones survival threshold, not a measure of a decent or secure life. Economists, social scientists, and policy analysts use several higher‑level standards to capture a measure of whether people can live well, not merely avoid destitution.

We suggest creating a Decent Life Index. It would measure a household has enough stable resources to meet basic needs, maintain security and resilience, and participate meaningfully in society.

It combines basic needs, economic security, and relative position (the Gap  — distance between income/wealth/power –metrics).

A. BASIC NEEDS includes:

• Housing: safe, stable, non‑overcrowded, <30–35% of income
• Food: reliable, non‑hungry, nutritionally adequate
• Healthcare: access without catastrophic cost risk
• Transportation: reliable access to work, services, social life
• Childcare (if relevant): affordable, safe
• Technology: basic connectivity (phone, internet)

Score: 0: Below basic‑needs threshold (poverty/ALICE‑below), 1: Meets basic needs, no margin, 2: Meets needs with modest margin

B. ECONOMIC SECURITY/RESILIENCE includes:

• Emergency buffer: savings or access to support covering ≥3 months of expenses
• Income stability: no large (>25%) involuntary drops in income over last 2–3 years
• Debt burden: manageable; no chronic delinquency
• Risk exposure: not one medical bill or car repair away from crisis

Score: 0: Highly fragile (one shock → crisis), 1: Some resilience (can absorb small shocks) 2: Strong resilience (can absorb major shocks)

C. GAP POSITION (relative income/wealth/power distribution:)

• Income position: share of median income (e.g., <50%, 50–100%, >100%)
• Wealth position: net assets vs. debt
• Autonomy: ability to refuse exploitative work/housing; bargaining power

Score: 0: Deeply subordinated (low income, no assets, high dependence), 1: Moderate position (some bargaining power, some assets), 2: Strong position (high autonomy, assets, low dependence)

Combining A, B, and C. into a single index

• 0–1: Precarious (below decent life; often People above poverty but still unable to afford childcare, transportation, housing and healthcare)
• 2–3: Barely decent (meeting basics, fragile)
• 4–5: Secure decent life
• 6: Comfortable / empowered

This provides a graded picture, not a binary “poor/not poor.” (Poverty line: “Are you starving or homeless?” DLI: “Can you live a stable, decent, autonomous life?”)

With the Gap lens we can see where do they stand relative to those at the top? The current median SS monthly benefit is $2,000 per month. Comparisons:

• With Current Social Security [median $2,000 per month]: DLI ≈ 3 (Barely decent life);
• With SS median at $5,000 per month: DLI ≈ 6 (Comfortable/empowered; SPM poverty ≈ 0–2%)

Now consider this America:

1. Every man, woman, and child gets $5,000/month = $60,000/year. (No other cash or in‑kind aid (no SNAP, housing vouchers, tax credits, etc.)
2. Free, comprehensive Medicare for All. Out‑of‑pocket medical costs ≈ $0.

If every American received $5,000/month per person + free comprehensive Medicare for All + no other aid, poverty situation is essentially eliminated.

There would be no need for specialized programs like SNAP, housing vouchers, tax credits and the bureaucratic costs, complications, delays, and unfairness associated with all bureaucracies.

It would be simple: Medicare for All + $5,000 a month for all, and poverty would disappear. Crime would drop significantly

The income/wealth/power Gap would still exist at the top (ownership, capital, political power), but material poverty and basic‑needs deprivation would be gone.

The Fundamental Change: Today a large fraction of Americans live at “precarious” to “barely decent.” A huge cognitive load goes to survival problems like rent, food, medical bills, debt.

With $5,000/month + Medicare for All, Almost everyone jumps to a comfortable, secure, decent life, and survival becomes solved, so attention can move to meaning, contribution, and preference. Not only does that have a personal positive effect, but it affects the entire economy.

Property crimes, like theft, burglary, robbery, and many frauds are heavily driven by economic desperation. With everyone at $60k/year + free healthcare, the economic motive collapses for most. Expect sharp declines in property crime and survival-driven offenses. Some violent crime also is tied to poverty, stress, and unstable environments.

Overall, crime shifts from “survival-driven” to “pathology-driven.” Total crime likely drops substantially and the composition changes.

As to K-12 education, kids show up better fed, better rested, less traumatized by economic chaos. Parents will have more time and mental flexibility to monitor their children. Schools no longer will function as emergency food and crisis management centers. We can expect higher achievement and a lower dropout rate with better behavior.

For higher education (college and beyond) cost becomes less of a barrier; more people can pursue college, trades, or creative paths. Student debt becomes less necessary or less burdensome. Overall, education becomes less about “escaping poverty” and more about “developing capability.” Expect longevity and physical/mental health to improve.

Medicare for All can provide preventive care, chronic disease management, mental health care. No one skips treatment due to cost. There would be massive reductions in untreated conditions, late-stage diagnoses, and medical bankruptcy. Expect stress reduction

Financial stress is one of the biggest health killers. Removing survival anxiety improves sleep, mental health, and physical health. We should expect higher life expectancy, less suffering. lower suicide rates and overall better mental  health.

GDP and economic activity would increase. There would be a huge increase in demand and supply. Businesses would thrive. More entrepreneurs would take risks by starting businesses, creating, experimenting—without fear of destitution. There would be more innovation, more small firms, more local projects.

People would no longer be forced into exploitative jobs just to survive. Low-quality, low-respect work would either improve in pay and conditions or be automated, shifting bargaining power toward workers.

GDP would rise, and more importantly, there would be less meaningless work and more productive activity. Society in America would see fewer conflicts over money, fewer evictions, and fewer desperate moves, with more time and emotional energy for relationships.

People would have the time, energy, and will to engage in local politics, volunteering, and organizing. While poverty would be essentially eliminated, the income, wealth, and power gap would still exist. Ownership, capital income, and political power would remain concentrated, but as the floor rises dramatically, the distance between “top” and “bottom” would shrink in lived experience.

Most Americans would move up, with those at the bottom progressing relatively more. The gap would become less about survival and more about influence, luxury, and control. America would become a nation where no one is forced to trade dignity for survival, and the central human question would shift from “How do I survive?” to “What do I do with my life?”

As for the Social Security for All cost, figure $5,000/month for all x 335,000,000 people x $60,000 ≈$20.1
trillion per year. So, assume a cost of about $20 trillion per year in gross payments.

Free comprehensive Medicare for All. Estimated at $6 trillion per year. This covers: Current Medicare, Medicaid, private insurance, employer insurance, out‑of‑pocket, VA, CHIP, and state/local programs.

America’s total medical + SS cost would be about $26 trillion per year, and our Monetarily Sovereign government would pay it all vs. about $3 trillion that the government now pays—an additional $23 trillion in federal spending under the proposed plan.

Because the federal government is Monetarily Sovereign, and MS$=∞ , t can pay for anything simply by pressing computer keys. So, affordability is not a question. One question is inflation, another is sloth (Who will do the work?) both of which will be discussed in the next Chapter.

The last suggestion was V. Free and generous retirement income. Next:

VI. Modern and maintained infrastructure — free roads, utilities, buildings, and mass transit. We will discuss this, plus additional suggestions, and two main objections (inflation and sloth) in a subsequent post.

Rodger Malcolm Mitchell

This is my triumphal arch. Now if only I had something to be triumphant about.