–Traders buy 2 myths: Fed and austerity stimulate economy. Proof money and brains don’t always go together.

Mitchell’s laws: The more budgets are cut and taxes increased, the weaker an economy becomes. Until the 99% understand the need for deficits, the 1% will rule. To survive long term, a monetarily non-sovereign government must have a positive balance of payments. Austerity = poverty and leads to civil disorder. Those, who do not understand the differences between Monetary Sovereignty and monetary non-sovereignty, do not understand economics.
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The media would like you to believe the Fed is responsible for our economy. Total nonsense. But, the stock traders, who have no clue about economics, fall for it.

Yahoo Finance
Stocks snap higher on hopes for new Fed action
Stocks up sharply on Wall Street on hopes that the Fed will take new action on the economy
By Pallavi Gogoi, AP Business Writer | Associated Press

NEW YORK (AP) — Stocks rose sharply on Wall Street Tuesday as traders turned their focus back to corporate news from the U.S. and hopes that the Federal Reserve will come up with a plan to jumpstart the economy.

Amazing that all hopes lie with the Fed, while it is Congress and the President who have the power to “jumpstart” the economy. Here are what Congress and the President should do, none of which involves the Fed: “Nine Steps to Prosperity”:

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

Stock traders are also latching on to recent signals from the Federal Reserve that the central bank may reveal plans to stimulate the economy at the end of its two-day meeting Wednesday.

“A good portion of today’s strong market action is from a hope factor that we’re going to get more easing from the Fed,” said Peter Cardillo, chief market economist at Rockwell Global Capital.

“Recent signals” “May reveal plans” “More easing from the Fed”?? Those are the hopes? What exactly do you want the Fed to do? Cut interest rates below zero?

Economists say that even if the Fed does not act after its meeting, it will send a clear message that it is standing by to do so if needed.

Yes, that’s what we need: The Fed “standing by,” and sending “clear messages,” just as Congress is “standing by” and President Obama is “standing by.” Rather than standing by, and sending clear messages, how about implementing the Nine Steps.

Financial companies were among the best performing stocks as investors hoped for Fed action: Bank of America soared 4.5 percent, Citigroup gained 3.5 percent, JPMorgan Chase was up 2.2 percent and Morgan Stanley rose 3 percent.

Sure, the big banks have friends in the Fed and in the Treasury. Do well; make millions. Do poorly; the Treasury will bail you out — and you still make millions. Can you visualize any big banker being so stupid, he can’t make millions? By the way, what was Jamie Dimon’s bonus for losing $3 billion?

In Europe, Spain’s cost to raise money skyrocketed. The Spanish government had to pay an interest rate of 5.07 percent for 12-month bills, up sharply from 2.98 percent.

Still, investors were heartened to see that people were willing to lend Spain money. “Even though it cost Spain dearly and yields rose to a record, the fact is that it was not shut out of the markets,” said Cardillo.

Wonderful! Monetarily non-sovereign Spain, which is deeply in debt, now is able to go even deeper in debt, at “only” 5.07%. The U.S., which is Monetarily Sovereign and even deeper in debt, borrows at 1/10%. Why? Hmmm . . . Could it be because Spain is monetarily non-sovereign, so can’t pay its debts, while the U.S. is Monetarily Sovereign, so can pay any size debt?

Or could it be because a Monetarily Sovereign nation, having the unlimited ability to create its sovereign currency, doesn’t even need to borrow?

Those who do not understand the difference between Monetary Sovereignty and monetary non-sovereignty, do not understand economics.

Bottom line, Congress and the President have been foisting the myth that somehow the Fed is responsible for economic growth. Total crap. Congress and the President are 100% responsible. The Fed is just a bank. Do you go home at night hoping your bank somehow will stimulate your company?

Whatever happens to this economy, it’s neither the fault nor the credit of the Fed. All of the fault and credit lies on the shoulders of Congress and the President. Period.

Unfortunately, Congress and the President evade and avoid their responsibility, with the Big Lie, that federal deficits should be reduced, while austerity will grow the economy. It’s a Big Lie promulgated by the upper 1% income group, in cahoots with the mainstream media, also run by the 1%. Austerity takes more from the 99% than from the 1%. Austerity grows the income gap.

The Democrats are horrible about spreading these myths, but the Republicans are even worse. They are completely in the pockets of the 1%. Anyone earning less than $300 thousand per year and voting Republican, is a fool.

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

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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:
Federal Deficits – Net Imports = Net Private Savings
Gross Domestic Product = Federal Spending + Private Investment and Consumption + Net exports

#MONETARY SOVEREIGNTY

Greek vote: A win “for all Europe.”

Yes, that’s what the headline read: “A win ‘for all Europe.'” Not a win for the Greek people, of course. They will continue to suffer — worse. The words “all Europe” are a synonym for “European banks and rich people.”

Greek vote: A win “for all Europe.”
By Anthee Carassava and Henry Chu, Los Angeles Times, June 17, 2012, 11:56 p.m.

ATHENS — The conservative New Democracy party eked out a slim victory in Sunday’s parliamentary elections over Syriza, the radical-left group that vowed to ditch Athens’ multibillion-dollar rescue deals and the harsh austerity measures they entailed. European officials had warned that such a move would result in Greece’s expulsion from the Eurozone.

Translation: Syriza is “radical,” because it doesn’t want Greek citizens to continue suffering “harsh austerity measures,” and because they think a return to Greek Monetary Sovereignty would be a bad thing.

Time is of the essence as recession and social deterioration worsen in debt-ridden Greece. Gripped by political instability since an inconclusive election last month and burdened with an increasingly dysfunctional government, the country is in danger of slipping further behind in meeting the deficit-cutting targets demanded by its creditors, spurring speculation it may yet have to seek its third bailout in three years.

Translation: We don’t care about Greece and the Greek people. All we care about is whether Greek will pay its creditors, mainly the banks.

Antonis Samaras, the New Democracy leader and potential new prime minister, urged his rivals to join him in a new government dedicated to promoting economic recovery.

Translation: Economic recovery is defined as Greece borrowing more, and Greek citizens having less.

He said that Greeks had voted “to stay anchored with the euro, remain an integral part of the Eurozone, honor the country’s commitments and foster growth. This is a victory for all Europe.”

“Anchored” is the operative word, as in trying to swim while tied to the anchor of monetary non-sovereignty and debts in a foreign currency (the euro).

The results also confirmed the stridently anti-austerity Syriza as Greece’s main opposition party, consolidating its breakthrough second-place finish in last month’s voting, which shocked many Greeks and other Europeans as well. The party’s leader, 37-year-old Alexis Tsipras, now has an official platform from which to keep up his populist hammering at the bailout agreements and to strengthen his power base among young people and others fed up with cronyism and corruption in Greek politics.

Translation: Being anti-austerity is “strident” and “populist,” while wanting the Greek people to continue falling deeper and deeper into debt, unemployment and depression is economically “stable.”

Locked out of the financial markets, Athens has had to accede to brutal spending cuts in exchange for foreign loans to stay afloat, including a $145-billion bailout package in 2010 and a second rescue deal last year that was worth $170 billion. The country is into its fifth consecutive year of recession, a breathtaking economic contraction marked by galloping rates of unemployment, poverty and homelessness.

Translation: Greece can’t pay its debts. So it gets to be more indebted to eurozone loan sharks. This increasing pauperism amazingly causes recession and economic contraction, unemployment, poverty and homelessness. Who’da thunk it?

European capitals greeted Samaras’ victory with relief and a hint that they might be willing to bend a little, perhaps by offering Greece more time to meet its spending and loan-repayment targets. Within weeks, Athens is supposed to detail about $14 billion in further budget cuts.

Translation: After five years of recession, Greece has cut away all the fat and all the meat and drained all the blood, and now must slice off pieces of the bone. But we’ll give them more time.

In a joint statement, Eurozone officials said they remained “convinced that continued fiscal and structural reforms are Greece’s best guarantee to overcome the current economic and social challenges.” But Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle of Germany, Europe’s de facto paymaster, told German radio that, though “there cannot be substantial changes to the agreements,” he could “well imagine talking again about timelines.”

Translation: So long as Greece finds some way to pay its debts to the banks, we really don’t give a damn how they do it.

The White House issued a statement expressing hope that Sunday’s results would “lead quickly to the formation of a new government that can make timely progress on the economic challenges facing the Greek people.”

Translation: We believe in magic. It’s the same magic that somehow will grow the U.S. economy if we cut our federal deficit spending.

And then there was this article:

Germany to cut Greece slack after vote backs bailout
Stephen Brown and Annika Breidthardt, Reuters, 9:25 a.m. CDT, June 18, 2012

BERLIN (Reuters) – Germany may cut Greece some slack after its voters backed a pro-bailout party in weekend elections, with officials saying Athens might get more time to meet its savings goals, though longer-term economic reforms were still set in stone.

German officials, seeing the conservative New Democracy’s win as a vote to keep Greece in the euro zone and respect the terms of the European Union and International Monetary Fund bailout, struck a conspicuously softer line.

However, a Berlin government spokesman made clear there was no question on going back on key economic reforms to slim down the public payroll, close loss-making public enterprises, privatize state assets and crack down on fraud and tax evasion.

Translation: “Slim down the public payroll” means fire lots of people, which should help cure unemployment. “Close loss-making public enterprises” mean cut government stimulus spending, since all government enterprises are “loss-making.” “Privatize state assets” means selling state assets to the wealthy, for two cents on the dollar. “Cracking down on fraud and tax evasion,” means to extract more money from a private sector already starving. And Greek people, if youse rats don’t do what you’re told, we’ll bust your kneecaps.

Sounds like a great formula for economic recovery.

The question is: Why would the Greek people vote for a government that has announced it will continue austerity, only worse, while making sure the banks are taken care of? Answer: For the same reason the American people continue to back the Tea/Republicans. Economic ignorance, created by the brainwashing paid for by the upper 1% income.

It’s a mad, mad, mad, mad world.

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

#MONETARY SOVEREIGNTY

–Anyone heard from #Occupy lately? Does anyone care?

It began with “Occupy Wall Street” and it had such great promise. It was going to be the antidote to the nutty and damaging Tea Party. It was going to lift the 99% from the slavery imposed by the 1%.

But something happened on the way to freedom.

I wrote about the Occupy movement several times. There was:

Nine steps to prosperity; a short message to #Occupy Wall Street,
Oct 7 2011
Do not devolve to class warfare. Punishing billionaires, banks and businesses does nothing for the underclasses or for the overall economy. In fact it would hurt the economy.

Far better to focus on helping the “little” people:

1. Eliminate FICA (Click here)
2. Federally funded Medicare — parts A, B & D plus long term nursing care — for everyone (Click here)
3. Provide an Economic Bonus to every man, woman and child in America, and/or every state a per capita Economic Bonus. (Click here) Or institute a reverse income tax.
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)

Shortly thereafter, I wrote:

An open letter to #OWS — or in my geographical case, #Occupy Chicago
Oct 19 2011
Today, you are seen as leading an amorphous mob, a group threatening to bring down civilization. That’s why the politicians have been slow to back you. They don’t know what you want. You need to focus, focus, focus, so the world can visualize where you want to go, understand why you want to go there and how you will achieve it, and in that way, join you.

You need to understand, then teach, Monetary Sovereignty, first to your followers, then to the rest of the world. Those are your next steps. And there are plenty of us who can teach you. You have but to ask.

And again:

“Two views of the #Occupy movement,” or “These guys are a riot.”
May 3 2012
If they had read and understood Monetary Sovereignty, they would have proposed specific solutions to the growing gap — solutions such as: Eliminate FICA, provide Medicare to everyone, increase Social Security payments, annually increase the standard income tax deduction, etc. And they would be able to answer the typical, debt-hawk “inflation” concerns about social spending.

But no. #Occupy prefers protest-and-party to learn-and-propose. So “#Occupy” will fail the legitimacy test, the gap will grow, and Mr. Greenwald will continue to blame the class warfare on the victims.

And most recently:

#Occupy, to get ahead, get a head, and stay the hell away from Chicago during the NATO summit.
May 15 2012
If #Occupy wishes to make a statement, first it should have a statement to make — a sharp, clear, focused statement. And then it should make that statement, not in the maelstrom of a thousand screaming children, but on a calm, clear day, when their voices are the only ones to be heard.

In short, #Occupy, to get ahead you need to get a head, preferably one with enough good sense not to try painting a picture while standing under a waterfall. Sure, come to Chicago, but not at a time when you’ll be blamed for every misdeed, and accomplish nothing, except to have your message drowned out. Come when yours is the one voice, so the media can support your ideas.

So I decided to look in on them again, and this is what I found on the Occupy Wall Street web site:

The Silent March to End Stop and Frisk
On Father’s Day, let’s stand together to show that New Yorkers refuse to let our children be victimized by racial profiling.

Learning from Wisconsin
The massive uprising last winter in Madison, Wisconsin, that was spurred by Walker’s plans to balance the state deficit by slashing public workers’ benefits and wages. . .

Infinite Solidarité with Infinite Strike!
Last night, thousands of people across hundreds of cities once again rallied in solidarity with the Québec student strike.

Occupy Lakeview Elementary School – Closed by Oakland School District
At the end of this school year, the Oakland Unified School District plans to close five public elementary schools. . .

At Senate Hearing, Jamie Dimon confronted by Occupy Our Homes DC
Deborah Harris, a disabled former paramedic who lost the title to her home due to J.P. Morgan’s unethical business practices. . .

Ocupa Rio+20: Occupy the Earth Summit
Occupy the coming Rio+20 United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development (the Earth Summit) on June 20-22.

Call for Solidarity from Mexico
. . . nonpartisan marches against political and media corruption in Mexico.

It goes on and on, protest after protest. Anti-racial profiling. Anti-union busting. Anti-tuition increases. Anti-school closings. Anti-mortgage fraud. Anti-unsustainable development. Anti-corruption. Anti-this, anti-that, anti-the other thing.

For reasons unknown, the Occupy movement seems to take a perverse pride in being leaderless and directionless, preferring to run hither and yon, protesting whatever strikes their fancy. No focus. No plan. No idea. Just protest.

The Tea Party has a simple, easily understood focus: Lower taxes. What is Occupy’s simple, easily understood focus?

The business and political leaders, against whom Occupy protests, have learned one thing: Do nothing. Occupy will protest and then they will be gone, and we can resume business as usual.

The public grows weary of ineffectual, random, aimless protests, and Occupy, which began with such great promise, becomes last week’s newspaper. A lost opportunity is a step backward, as people become discouraged and slide into lethargy.

Somewhere, in board rooms around the world, the 1% is laughing.

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

#MONETARY SOVEREIGNTY

–When inmates run the asylum and porters steer the ship. This time, it’s Medicare.

This tiny article was buried on the lower half of page 9 in today’s Chicago Tribune:

Washington–A congressional agency Friday recommended makng traditional Medicare beneficiaries pay more money upfront for medical services.

A report by the non-partisan Medicare Payment Advisory Commission recommended a new 20% charge for the 90% of Medicare beneficiaries who buy supplemental insurance to cooovere medical cosgts that Medicarfe part A and Part B do not cover.

Now see if you can understand this. It affects all of you who unnecessarily pay Medicare taxes (the government doesn’t need or use your money), and who, because Medicare doesn’t pay enough to doctors, are forced to pay for supplementary insurance.

You will be punished for having to pay for your supplementary insurance, by having your benefits reduced 20%. Got it? You pay once (unnecessary taxes). Then you pay again (unnecessary supplementary insurance). And then you pay a third time (that unnecessary 20% benefit cut.)

You say you never heard of the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission? Here’s a press release from the Government Accounting Office.

WASHINGTON, DC (May 24, 2012) – Gene L. Dodaro, Comptroller General of the United States and head of the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO), today announced the appointment of five new members and the reappointment of one existing member to the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission (MedPAC).

Here is a list of the geniuses who made the recommendation to steal more money from your pocket — unnecessarily. See if you can point out the common denominator among them:

–Alice Coombs, MD, Critical Care Specialist and Anesthesiologist, South Shore Hospital, Weymouth, MA;
–Jack Hoadley, Ph.D., Research Professor, Health Policy Institute, Georgetown University, Washington, DC;
–David Nerenz, Ph.D., Director of the Center for Health Policy and Health Services Research, Henry Ford Health System, Detroit, MI;
–Rita Redberg, MD, Professor, Clinical Medicine, University of California at San Francisco Medical Center, San Francisco, CA;
–Craig Samitt, MD, President and Chief Executive Officer, Dean Health System, Inc., Madison, WI. Their terms will expire in April 2015.
–Glenn M. Hackbarth, JD (Chair)
–Peter W. Butler, MHSA, Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer of Rush University Medical Center;
Michael Chernew, PhD, (Vice Chair) Professor of Health Care Policy at Harvard Medical School;
–Willis D. Gradison, Jr., MBA, a Scholar in Residence in the Health Sector Management Program at Duke University’s Fuqua School of Business;
–William J. Hall, MD, Director of the Center for Healthy Aging at the University of Rochester School of Medicine;
–George N. Miller, Jr., MHSA, Chief Executive Officer, Okmulgee Memorial Hospital, Okmulgee, OK.
–Scott Armstrong, President and Chief Executive Officer of Group Health Cooperative;
–Katherine Baicker, PhD, Professor of Health Economics in the Department of Health Policy and Management at the Harvard School of Public Health;
–Thomas M. Dean, MD, practicing physician, Horizon Health Care;
–Herb B. Kuhn, President and CEO, Missouri Hospital Association;
–Mary Naylor, PhD, RN, Marian S.Ware Professor in Gerontology and Director of the NewCourtland Center for Transitions and Health at the University of Pennsylvania School of Nursing;
–Cori Uccello, FSA, Senior Health Fellow of the American Academy of Actuaries.

See the similarity? Medicare fees are a question of economics. But here we have sixteen commissioners and not one is an economist! They understand medicine, but none understands the realities of today’s economy.

They all believe our Monetarily Sovereign government is running short of the dollars it has the unlimited ability to create. So, they have decided to take more dollars from your pocket (because obviously you are not running short of dollars).

Congress established MedPAC in 1997 to analyze access to care, cost and quality of care, and other key issues affecting Medicare. MedPAC advises Congress on payments to health plans participating in the Medicare Advantage program and providers in Medicare’s traditional fee-for-service programs.

In short, they are a bunch of medical folks, who wouldn’t know a Monetarily Sovereign government, if they were in it. Oops, they are, but they don’t.

They know medicine, but have no clue about federal financing — so naturally, the Comptroller General thinks they are perfect for the job.

Note: This bit of expensive ignorance brought to you by the same folks who decided to tax your Social Security benefits after taxing you with FICA.

And who does all this hurt the most? Surprise! It’s the lower 99% income group; the upper 1% couldn’t care less. They don’t need Medicare. Their corporations pay for their insurance.

And the beat goes on.

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

#MONETARY SOVEREIGNTY

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