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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Last March we published the post, “The Meaning of America,” which you might wish to read.
The word “meaning” was a pun. It not only stood for “definition” but also for “becoming cruel.”
I thought about that post today, when I read a short column in today’s Florida SunSentinel. The lead was:
“Florida ranks second among states with workers who have been unemployed for at least six months.”
It was followed by the question:
“What would help get Florida’s long-term unemployed back to work?”
At this point, one might have expected answers like, “Provide free job training and education” or “Improve the economy so that more good jobs are available, everywhere” or “Eliminate FICA, to make hiring less expensive to businesses” or “Provide federally funded Medicare for all, to lift the healthcare insurance burden off business.”
But, that is not what the people answered.
“REMOVING extended federal unemployment benefits. Is that soo hard to figure out????”
Keyla“There are jobs out there people have got to (sic) lazy. Sorry but it’s the truth.”
Liebra“I suspect giving them money will not work will not do it. call me silly. Gal at the dog park was unemployed for months and months. one week before here benefits were to expire she found a job. Duh.”
Hank“I believe a person in order to receive unemployment checks should bring 20 statement letters of denial from 20 different companies every month to get a check.”
Victor“Opening the classified ads and earnestly applying for and following up on job opportunities! Simple as that.”
James
In short, the people say the fault is not with the economy. The fault is not with the government. No, the fault is with those lazy, good-for-nothing unemployed. That is what the people have been brainwashed into believing.
In the same issue of the SunSentinel, there was a longer article that included these comments
Job-placement experts say the stigma of a lengthy layoff means job seekers have to work harder to catch the eye of an employer.
Mason Jackson, president of Broward County’s WorkforceOne, worries many people “just don’t know how to market themselves” or that their interview skills have faded “because they’ve always gotten jobs by who they know.”
Ed Patterson, of Lake County, has been without steady work for 20 months and is ready for almost any opportunity. A software specialist, he was in the banking industry, starting decades ago as a teller.
He worked his way up, ultimately making six figures, he said, before being laid off in July 2012. Today, he said, he’d go back to being a teller, “just to give me a little income.”
He’s 66 but can’t afford to retire. He’s been collecting Social Security and raiding his retirement fund to pay his bills. He sold his house — “just to get out from under it” — and lives in a rental. He’s frustrated by a job search that seems futile, saying many unemployed feel abandoned.
“I’m not out there alone,” Patterson said. “There’s a lot of people like me out there, and a lot of them have just given up.”
(Apparently, Ed is one of those “people have got to (sic) lazy.”)
You rightfully may object to basing conclusions on this small sample, but my sensing is that America has become meaner. We are the people who display proudly “Give me your tired, your poor . . .” at our front door; yet now we wish to punish those tired and poor.
We are the sons and daughters of immigrants, proud of America being a “melting pot”; yet now we wish to fortify our borders, and make the process for becoming a citizen arduous and lengthy.
We wrote into our Constitution, the 24th Amendment, prohibiting the revocation of poor people’s voting rights due to the non-payment of a poll tax; yet today, many of our states again pass laws trying to prohibit the same people from voting.
We are a people proud of taking the side of the underdog, proud of fighting against injustice, proud of America’s charities and good works. Yet now, an entire political party is devoted to meanness and selfishness. An entire party is devoted to kicking the downtrodden. And entire party is devoted to blaming the victim.
They couldn’t do it, if enough of mainstream America didn’t agree. So the question becomes: What is the source of this meanness? Why does it exist in our America and tarnish us as a nation?
Rodger Malcolm Mitchell
Monetary Sovereignty
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Nine Steps to Prosperity:
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)
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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
THE RECESSION CLOCK
As the federal deficit growth lines drop, we approach recession, which will be cured only when the lines rise. Federal deficit growth is absolutely, positively necessary for economic growth. Period.
#MONETARY SOVEREIGNTY
#Monetary Sovereignty - Mitchell 
regrettably rodger, as long as we have a certain segment of whites in this country (right leaning men primarily) that are easily malleable, we will always have a level of hate, especially against so called minorities. the hate and ignorance has been utilized successfully by the 1% since the country’s inception. if the white indentured servants hadn’t seen themselves as exceptional when compared to the slaves, free blacks, and native americans, things might have been different. or european immigrants in the last century……alas, people want to feel special… it is good, however, that whites are feeling some pain on the level of the so called minorities, maybe now the mask of ignorance will be shed. im not holding my breath though.
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as a totally off topic point, I called thom hartmann today (the so called progressive radio/book personality) to discuss his views of the monetary system (he positions are conflicting), and after his agreeing that gov’t spending was not restricted by revenue, he cut me off after I further stated that FICA did not fund social security. he then went about “educating” me and his listeners about the history of social security and how it is funded. even though less than a minute before he agreed with me that gov’t spending is not restricted by revenue. if so called “progressive personalities” are not willing to think about such issues, I have zero faith in the masses. maybe this is on topic.
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In a very, very narrow sense, he’s right, at least about the intent. Reportedly, FDR was well aware that Social Security needed no tax support, but he created the tax anyway, because he wanted SS to be considered an entitlement.
That is, if the people payed a tax, they would feel SS is not a gift, but instead its something they paid for — sort of like an annuity. So they would rebel against anyone who tried to take it away. In short, it was a defense against future Congresses.
At least that’s the story.
In any event, for Monetary Sovereign deniers to have two opposing positions on the same subject is nothing new. Example, they hate additional federal spending because “as everyone knows,” adding to the money supply causes hyperinflation.
However, they favor tax cuts, which from a money-supply standpoint, accomplish exactly the same thing.
P.S., I too would put rap “music” in quotes, just as my parents would have put rock “music,” in quotes. I love rock and hate rap (bad poetry set to nonmelodic sounds), but what can you expect from someone closing in on 80?
Wait until the next big thing comes around, and you hate it, much to the disgust of the young people. 🙂
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[1] Yes Rodger, the FICA tax may make Social Security seem like an entitlement or annuity, but Social Security can still be eliminated in several ways.
There’s the “empty trust fund” lie, which claims that there is a SS “trust fund,” and that it contains nothing but IOUs, since SS money was all “spent.”
There’s the “generational war” lie, which claims that SS recipients are stealing from younger people, because more is supposedly being paid out of the “trust” fund” than is being paid into it.
There is the “national debt crisis” lie, which claims that all SS benefits were consumed by interest payments on the “national debt.” (If you want your SS benefits, talk to China.)
There’s the privatization lie, which claims that the only way to “save Social Security” is to send all FICA revenue to Wall Street.
As long as the mass believe the Big Lie, they will believe anything about SS. The British government is radically cutting Social Security (“welfare”) and the masses accept it, since they believe the Big Lie.
[2] Rodger says it is common for MS deniers to have two opposing positions on the same subject.
I say it is more than common. It is the rule. It is unavoidable. Rodger has written many posts in the theme of, “How can they believe THIS when they believe THAT?”
If you point out a denier’s self-contradictions, he smugly ceases to communicate.
Therefore, in my opinion, one of the first things we must do is accept that logic and facts are useless, since the masses want to be brainwashed. The masses are enslaved by their own greed, fear, envy, and hate. And since the masses treasure these emotions, they treasure their slavery. Conservatives accept this fact, and exploit it. They use slogans, jingles, catch-phrases, buzz-words, and other tricks to appeal to the masses’ emotions. Likewise, we must learn to appeal to the masses’ emotions. How? I’m still thinking about this.
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Had I had the opportunity to talk to hartmann, as opposed to having my mic cutoff after bringing up MS, I would have brought up fdr’s reasoning, etc. But I don’t think he was talking about the original intent. He also gave props to Obama reducing the deficit. You should go on his show, he likes having Peter Schiff as a guest, be a nice contrast. haha…… As for your views on rap music (im more of a jazz guy, have been my whole life, but during my youth I was a rap/rock enthusiast as well), I assume you have been exposed to what I would view as bad poetry as well.
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[1] Rodger writes: “The fault is with those lazy, good-for-nothing unemployed. That is what the people have been brainwashed into believing.”
I say that brainwashing plays a role, but brainwashing only works because the peasants want to be brainwashed and enslaved.
Many people object, saying, “People may be petty and selfish, but they don’t actually want to be enslaved.”
If that were true, then people would examine their own beliefs and prejudices. They would stop hating this or that group, and instead ask, “Why is there so much poverty?” They would ask if self-righteousness is really more pleasant than freedom and prosperity. They would seriously think about the Big Lie.
But no, it’s more fun to stay in poverty and look for someone to blame. And it’s easy. As long as you hate, you will always find someone to hate.
Or maybe the whole thing is just a question of deeply ingrained habits.
[2] Rodger writes: “My sensing is that America has become meaner.”
I agree. In fact, I say that you can gauge a society’s meanness by the extent to which its members believe and defend their own society’s Big Lie.
A century ago, Americans had a stronger sense of community. People wrote books like Frank Baum’s “The Wonderful Wizard of Oz” (1900), which was a satire of the American money system and how the rich use lies and illusions to enslave the masses.
The “yellow brick road” was the oppressive gold standard. The scarecrow was farmers who didn’t have the brains to unite. The tin man was industrial workers who were too busy being “macho” to unite. The cowardly lion represented politicians who worked for the rich.
The emerald city represented the power of “greenbacks” and Monetary Sovereignty. The wizard was the US president, whose power was based on illusion and trickery. The midget munchkins were average people. The poppy fields were propaganda that keeps people drugged and asleep.
The wicked witch of the west was railroad firms and big banks like Wells Fargo and Bank of America. The wicked witch of the east was mining firms and New York banks.
The good witch of the north was Minnesota and North Dakota farmers who tried to fight for their own interests. Dorothy is an innocent child in the sense of the emperor’s new clothes. She was from Kansas, which in 1900 was a hotbed of populism and progressive policies (the opposite of today’s Kansas). And so on.
Today we have rap “music” and Miley Cyrus.
[3] Rodger asks: “What is the source of this meanness? Why does it exist in our America and tarnish us as a nation?”
Perhaps it all comes down to technology and mobilization. That is, a breakdown in the sense of community. Most Americans have never spoken to their next-door neighbors. They act like mean hermits.
I‘ve noticed that Americans fall into two groups. The first group comprises 90% of people. They never talk to their neighbors, yet they go to crowded bars and huge stadiums to see concerts and sporting events.
The second group loathes crowded places, but frequently talks to their neighbors, and even spends time with them, lending them tools and whatnot. I suspect that most of Rodger’s readers fall into this group. I do.
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how clever, you put quotations around music. is that to suggest that rap is not “music”? or that it has no redeeming social qualities? you do realize that rap “music” goes beyond your limited knowledge of the genre? and that for every degenerate there is another rap “musician” making “music” that would not offend your precious sensibilities…. and I love how you group a whole genre with one teenage white girl, as if the equivalency is just…. as for your assessment in regard to the source (#3), you don’t appear to know much of the history of this country if you answers are technology and mobilization. what odd choices…..
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Hi blacksocialist: Yes indeed, music can be quite personal and condemnation of such can often can be seen as a personal affront. Believe me, I know, I spent over 45 years in the ‘music business.’ It’s the distorted lifestyle image (nee ‘gangsta’-ism) as portrayed in rap “music” that is typically most despised – not the sounds themselves per se. It is very hard to condemn the roots of rap music which are about as American as you can get. Blues, soul, poetry, gospel, church, spiritual, jazz, do-wop, pop, rock musics and contemporary elements such as the controlled use of noise/distortion, turntablism, techno/laptop/computer music, and of course a healthy dose of ‘sampling.’ A pretty nice amalgam can be found if you know where to look. Artists like Hip Hop legends/pioneers Sugarhill Gang, Grandmaster Flash, Kurtis Blow, Beastie Boys, Tribe called Quest or De La Soul, are a great place to start. Current stylists and producers like El-g, Actress, the Invisble Scratch Pickls (sic), even Jay-Z, Common and Mos Def are serious artists and true innovators. While I’m not a huge rap fan, I really appreciate many of these sounds. While somewhat younger than Rodger, I did buy my first 7″ single (Elvis, of course), back in 1957.
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steve – thanks for the response, and your distinction is spot on to what I was addressing. im not a big rap guy anymore (im 43), and haven’t been since the 90s when its ownership changed. that said, to group a genre (whose origins were deeply political, and outside of the popular Jay-Zs and Kanyes, still is) with a teenage white girl is a little much when juxtaposing it to the Wizard of Oz.
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“What would help get Florida’s long-term unemployed back to work?”
RMM: Maybe it’s how the question is phrased. If you asked, “How would you change the system to solve unemployment?”
OR “Since we can always find plenty of money to take care of the CIA and the Pentagon to go to, or prepare for war, why can’t we find tons of money for the unemployed living to take care of the living instead of tons of money to kill the living?”
OR “Many people have lost their jobs through no fault of their own, and want to go back to work, so what should be done to help these people who really want to go to work but cannot?”
Saying “get the long-term unemployed back to work” puts the focus on the “lazy good for nothing bums.”
Change the focus to the system to de-personalize the question. You force people to really “think” rather than blurt out a group think, knee jerk reaction. You’ll also probably get a lot fewer intelligent responses and a lot of shrugs. Of course there will still be those who’ll revert to “individual laziness” and let the system off the hook. After all, blame feels so good and superior…..the moral high ground.
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There is no “we” in regard to the United States. From the beginning the country was not united in values. It passed a Constitution that was designed to protect the property rights of big owners, maintain order, and ensure that the wealthy were in charge. The “populist” Andrew Jackson main “democratization” was corruption and a vicious war against Indian rights in defiance of the Supreme Court and the binding nature of treaties. It was about wealth, seizing they wealth of the Indians and redistributing it to his supporters. That was the great “democratization” in US history.
The Book “American Nations: The Eleven Rival Regional Cultures” outlines to huge differences in values, attitude toward government, and behaviors between the different cultures. You are writing from the respective of only one of those cultures. Three cultures would agree or partially agree with what you write. The others would not, and they certainly would think the poem about huddled masses is nonsense, an affront to their Americanism.
The book, though brief and brisk, provides well-evidenced sources for the anthropology and history it lays out. I’ve lived in a number of these American cultures, and am always amazed how those from New England and parts of the Midwest and West have no concept of American cultures other than their own.
We are not one nation, and never were. Oh yes, there was a brief period post WWII when the moderate Republicans and the Jewish media leaders in New York and LA and some Irish politicians and some publishers (Bennet Cerf) in post WWII set out to create an “American identity” that emphasized Equality as well as Liberty (the right to use your property as you pleased without interference from the central government). This worked for a while, especially among those families new to college and new theme ownership. This promotion worked for a while, when there were only three TV networks, Time magazine was read by the new middle class, and the Book of the Month influenced people throughout the nation. But that was only one brief period in US history. It led to the Civil Rights movement which pitted the South again against America. But the South had its revenge. It has taken over the Republican Party, and joined the Catholic hierarchy to its cause, and acts aggressively to delegitimize and paralyze the federal government based its its value of Liberty. It has also been joined by a resurgent laissez-faire capitalism, that pretend intellectualism of our billionaires, under the banner of Libertarianism.
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http://www.newsmax.com/Stossel/Big-Government-subsidies-lobbyists/2014/02/12/id/552371
Stossel appears to think that government programs favor the rich.
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Classic example of economic ignorance. At least 20 misstatements in that short article.
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You state: “Yet now, an entire political party is devoted to meanness and selfishness. An entire party is devoted to kicking the downtrodden. And entire party is devoted to blaming the victim.”
I ask: When do you intend to wake up to the reality that it is the entire corrupt, Fascist government system, with almost the complete cooperation and facilitation of members of both parties that are complicit in destroying democracy, equality and any semblance of compassion for the less fortunate of our citizens. Why do the “representatives of the common, working and middle-class citizens” (sic), the Democrats, get a pass from you?
I suggest you awake to the fact that the Democrats are not merely conceding to the demands of those dastardly right-wing Republicans. They both have been in on this whole class war from the beginning and should be commonplace knowledge by now (for evidence of this assertion, see the Democrat’s report entitled “State Budget Crisis Task Force,” released in July, 2012).
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Rodger! Truly fascinating blog! You’re now attracting myriad folks with incisive, insightful views. Lively give and take! But, then, so what?
Rodger, you’re the ‘Moses’ figure here! It falls to you to devise the way to effectively ‘shock’ America into ‘MS consciousness’. How, wise man?
Nicoli Tesla also suffered ‘market-phobia’. Brilliant, but, commercially,
an idiot-savant. Thus, a towering genius died relatively unknown …..
I’ve already suggested YouTube spots. But, think you need a pro Ad-Man to ‘dump your goods, spread your word’! Otherwise, it’s a pleasing blog….
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