–S.O.S. Signs of Stupidity. The perfect storm that engulfs us.

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Those, who do not understand the differences between Monetary Sovereignty and monetary non-sovereignty, do not understand economics.
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Nations are like people; they just tend to live longer. And like people, nations have individual personalities, individual beliefs, individual histories. There are Italian ethics, Russian mores, American values that transcend and affect those of any individual. Entire nations can go through periods when they exhibit brilliance, periods when they exhibit madness and periods when they exhibit stupidity.

Late 17th century – early 18th century Europe, particularly France, exhibited the brilliance that became known as the Age of Enlightenment. Late 1930’s – early 1940’s Germany exhibited the madness that created World War II and the Holocaust. The Early Middle Ages (some term the “Dark Ages”) were times when nations (tribes, really) exhibited abject stupidity akin to self immolation.

Today, America experiences a confluence of signs of stupidity (S.O.S.), some longstanding, some transient, some quite new – a perfect storm of stupidity – that could lead to our degeneration and downfall. I have listed, without ranking or qualification, some of the S.O.S. we now experience.

Anti-gay marriage
Anti-vaccination
Birthers
Congress (special nod to Rep. Michele Bachmann)
Creationism (aka “intellegent design”)
Drunks
Emailing, cell-phoning, messaging or social networking anything private
Fed Chairmen Alan Greenspan and Ben Bernanke
Federally sanctioned torture
FICA
Flag wavers
Flood plain building
Forest fire fighting
Fox “News”
Governors Rick Perry, Nathan Deal and Jan Brewer
Illinois governors (pardon my bias)
Government actions against Wikileaks
Hummers
Immigration laws; anti-immigration laws
National Rifle Association
News editors (special nod to Chicago Tribune, N.Y. Times, Wall Street Journal)
Old-line economists and the columnists who parrot them
Patriot Act
Rap music
Religious fundamentalists
Sarah Palin
Smoking
Suicide bombers
Supreme Court Justices Clarence Thomas, Antonin Scalia.
Tea/Republican Party (Democrats too, though less so)
Texting, phoning, eating while driving
The EU and the euro
The war on drugs; illegal drug users
Treasury Department Secretary Timothy F. Geithner
U.S. “debt” (aka “T-securities”) debt ceiling, balanced budget, austerity
Wars since WWII (special nod to current Mideast wars)
This list.

Please feel free to edit, disagree or supplement, before the light of intelligence flickers out and you no longer can.

Rodger Malcolm Mitchell
http://www.rodgermitchell.com


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No nation can tax itself into prosperity, nor grow without money growth. It’s been 40 years since the U.S. became Monetary Sovereign, , and neither Congress, nor the President, nor the Fed, nor the vast majority of economists and economics bloggers, nor the preponderance of the media, nor the most famous educational institutions, nor the Nobel committee, nor the International Monetary Fund have yet acquired even the slightest notion of what that means.

Remember that the next time you’re tempted to ask a teenager, “What were you thinking?” He’s liable to respond, “Pretty much what your generation was thinking when it ruined my future.”

MONETARY SOVEREIGNTY

Published by Rodger Malcolm Mitchell

MBA Northwestern, business turnaround expert, economist

Published

14 thoughts on “–S.O.S. Signs of Stupidity. The perfect storm that engulfs us.”

  1. Joe Biden as VP – really? I mean, seriously?
    Nancy Pelosi
    The “jobs created or saved” meme
    The main stream media “news” echo chamber: ABC/NBC/CBS/CNN
    Cable “news” spin-off MSNBC
    Democrat Party (Republican Party too, though less so)
    Scientology
    The “War” on drugs
    Reality television
    The ballooning college student loan debt
    Interest only loans on a mortgage or any of that other creative financing
    Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac for making the above possible
    WWE
    The fixation on Sarah Palin
    Rap music
    Public education quality (maybe not a sign but a cause?)
    Electing an untried and profoundly inexperienced president who’s single biggest achievement to date is producing his birth certificate.

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  2. Rap music is really just a matter of taste. I don’t much care for it myself, but de gustibus non est disputandum.

    The EU and the euro, and suicide bombers are a foreign thing, not an American one, although I suppose you are saying American behavior in the world has led to suicide bombers, which is somewhat true. America isn’t the only country that has to deal with this, however, and aside from 9/11 most suicide bombings occur elsewhere.

    I’m curious to know what your beef is with forest fire fighting. Link?

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    1. Forest fires are a natural part of the ecosystem, the effect of which is to rid the forest of kindling. Without fire fighting, most forest fires would be smaller and self-contained, for lack of kindling.

      That is why the Park Service eventually decided not fight a fire in Yellowstone. The result, a new forest has sprung up. It will thrive for a couple centuries, at which time it will burn again. Meanwhile, the lack of underbrush will protect it and its animals.

      Rodger Malcolm Mitchell

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  5. It gets crazier and crazier. Here is the “Cut, Cap, Pledge” some Republicans have signed. It reads”

    1. Cut – Substantial cuts in spending that will reduce the deficit next year and thereafter.
    2. Cap – Enforceable spending caps that will put federal spending on a path to a balanced budget.
    3. Balance – Congressional passage of a Balanced Budget Amendment to the U.S. Constitution — but only if it includes both a spending limitation and a super-majority for raising taxes, in addition to balancing

    And here are the Senators who have signed it — so far:

    Sen Tom Coburn, OK; Sen Jim DeMint, SC; Sen Lindsey Graham, SC; Sen Orrin Hatch, UT; Sen Dean Heller, NV; Sen Jim Inhofe, OK; Sen Mike Lee, UT;
    Sen Jerry Moran, KS; Sen Rand Paul, KY; Sen Marco Rubio, FL; Sen Pat Toomey, PA; Sen David Vitter, LA.

    Are any of them your senators?

    Rodger Malcolm Mitchell

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  6. From “The Note,” ABC News:

    Michele Bachmann became the first presidential candidate to sign a pledge, vowing to support a constitutional amendment that defines marriage between a man and a woman, and which calls for a ban on all pornography. . . .

    Bachmann’s support of a constitutional amendment outlawing same-sex marriage, conflicts with previous comments she has made, in which she has said she would not interfere with states that have legalized same-sex marriage.

    “I do believe in the 10th Amendment and I do believe in self-determination for the states,” she said during a CNN debate in June. “I’m running for the presidency of the United States. And I don’t see that it’s the role of a president to go into states and interfere with their state laws.”

    By signing the pledge she supports the idea that homosexuality is a choice, and that being gay is a health risk. Last month, however, she told CBS’ Bob Scheifer that she was “not running to be anyone’s judge.”

    “You know, I firmly believe that people need to make their own decisions about that,” she said when asked if being gay was a choice. “But I am running for the presidency of the United States. I am not running to be anyone’s judge.

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  8. Yet another sign of stupidity:

    New York Times, Sean Collins Walsh, 7/15/11
    House votes to hamper a law on light bulbs

    The House voted on Friday to withhold funding to enforce part of a 2007 law that increases efficiency standards for light bulbs.

    The new standards, which would require most light bulbs to be 25 to 30 percent more efficient by 2014 and at least 60 percent more efficient by 2020, have become a symbol of what conservatives see as an unnecessary intrusion into the market.

    “The federal government has no right to tell me or any other citizen what type of light bulb to use at home,” said Representative Michael C. Burgess, Republican of Texas, who offered the measure as an amendment to a 2012 energy and water spending bill. The light-bulb provision was approved on a voice vote; later the House voted 219 to 196 to pass the energy bill.

    Right, Rep Burgess. Why should the federal government be concerned about energy savings? Let’s allow each citizen to determine energy policy for himself. And while we’re at it, let’s cancel all gas-mileage laws.

    The Tea/Republicans have exceeded all stupidity standards, and seem to create a new benchmark each passing day.

    Rodger Malcolm Mitchell

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  9. From Naked Capitalism:

    Elizabeth Warren Out as Possible Head of Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.

    In a further sign of how petty and dysfunctional Washington has become, not only have the Republicans said they will approve no one for the CFPB post (and they’ve stymied the approval process for other important government posts) but they are denying pay to any recess appointees to key agencies.

    Tell me, Tea Party Patriots, how does this benefit America?

    Rodger Malcolm Mitchell

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  10. A Senator on Monday proposed legislation to allow private investment in public infrastructure, saying it would create around $100 billion for projects cash-strapped governments can ill afford.

    The proposal by Senator Mark Kirk, an Illinois Republican, ran counter to legislation offered last week by Senator Dick Durbin of Illinois which would create hurdles to the privatization of infrastructure by requiring some of the proceeds go to repay federal funding that helped build it.

    O.K., Kirk wants the private sector to help the states pay for stuff. Reasonable. The states, being monetarily non-sovereign, are going broke. The private sector might be able to improve local economies, by moving some money around.

    But then comes Durbin, who wants the private sector to pay the Monetarily Sovereign federal government. Uh, excuse me Senator Durbin, but that is known as a TAX. Just what we need at this time: More taxes that the federal government neither needs nor uses.

    Rodger Malcolm Mitchell

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  11. AP: WASHINGTON — Congressional leaders are giving tea party-backed Republican freshmen the run of the House this week with a plan to let the government borrow another $2.4 trillion — but only after big and immediate spending cuts and adoption by Congress of a constitutional amendment requiring a balanced federal budget.

    Of course, a balanced budget eliminates money growth, which eliminates GDP growth, and invariably causes recessions, but what can you expect from the Tea Party?

    Rodger Malcolm Mitchell

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