–How acceptance of the Gap makes slaves of us all

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Twitter: @rodgermitchell; Search #monetarysovereignty
Facebook: Rodger Malcolm Mitchell

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, and the motive is the gap.
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The single most important problem in economics is the Gap — the income/power gap between the very rich (the .1%) and the poor.

Re-read the post, “The Gap, the whole Gap and nothing but the Gap” and you will be reminded that:

Money is power. Privilege is power. The Law is power. Control, Possessions, Strength, Influence, Glory, Weaponry, Knowledge, Talent – all are power. And despite their vast diversity, they all have one measure: The one measure of power is the Gap between the most and the rest.

Power is not an absolute; it is a comparative. If each person on earth owned one million dollars, no one would be rich. But if one person had just a hundred dollars and everyone else had but one dollar, that one person with the hundred dollars would be rich.

It’s not the absolute amount of money that makes him rich; it’s the Gap.

For every level of power, those below wish to narrow the Gap above them, and those above wish to widen the Gap below them.

Thus, those below can be persuaded that Gap-widening strategies are beneficial, so long as the perception is that these strategies will be applied below them.

The Southern middle-class votes for conservative austerity, because austerity widens the gaps between all classes, especially the gap between the poor black and middle-class white.

But, there are unanticipated consequences:

Recovery Has Created Far More Low-Wage Jobs Than Better-Paid Ones
By Annie Lowrey, APRIL 27, 2014

WASHINGTON — The deep recession wiped out primarily high-wage and middle-wage jobs. Yet the strongest employment growth during the sluggish recovery has been in low-wage work, at places like strip malls and fast-food restaurants.

In essence, the poor economy has replaced good jobs with bad ones. That is the conclusion of a new report from the National Employment Law Project, a research and advocacy group, analyzing employment trends four years into the recovery.

Higher-wage industries — like accounting and legal work — shed 3.6 million positions during the recession and have added only 2.6 million positions during the recovery. But lower-wage industries lost two million jobs, then added 3.8 million.

With 10.5 million Americans still looking for work — the unemployment rate is 6.7 percent — employers feel no pressure to raise wages for those who are working. As a result, the average household’s take-home pay has declined through the recession and the recovery to $51,017 in 2012 from $55,627 in 2007, after adjusting for inflation.

Nothing could please the very rich more. Consider how they feel about being able to access an entire nation of low-paid-wage-slaves.

Debt ceilings, deficit reductions, shrinking “big government,” unemployment compensation limits, reductions in food stamps and other poverty aids — these all are austerity designed to widen the gap.

They are popular, not only among the upper .1%, but among all income/power levels, because as “The Gap, the whole Gap . . . “ told you:

The fear of narrowing the Gap below is stronger than the desire to narrow the Gap above. The fear of losing relative power is stronger than the desire to gain relative power.

In evolutionary terms, losing power can result in death, while gaining power may have only marginal benefits, if at all.

Being forced financially to move down to a “worse” neighborhood is far more traumatic than is the pleasure of moving to a “better” neighborhood. Being demoted carries deeper, longer-lasting emotions than does being promoted.

That is why the middle-class easily is persuaded by the rich, that social payments (food stamps, unemployment insurance, etc.) cause sloth, and so should be eliminated.

Being easily persuaded to vote to widen the gap below them, the middle-class pays a price. The gap widens above them:

America’s Middle Class Falls Behind
Denver Nicks, April 22, 2014
For the first time in decades, middle-income Americans are no longer the richest middle class in the world

The New York Times, citing an analysis of survey data going back 35, reports that the middle class in the United States has fallen behind Canada’s middle class. While economic growth in the U.S. is equal to or stronger than growth in other countries, those gains have gone almost exclusively to the wealthiest Americans.

America’s middle class is still wealthier than corresponding demographics in Europe, but the gap has narrowed significantly in the last 10 years. Meanwhile, the poor in the U.S. are significantly worse off than their counterparts in Europe and Canada—a total reversal from 35 years ago.

The people who should care the most, vote the least, and the people who vote the most, vote the worst.

Why the Democrats’ Turnout Problem Is Worst in North Carolina
Nate Cohn

North Carolina might be the state where Democrats suffer the most from low midterm turnout. The state is divided between older, culturally Southern and conservative voters, and younger, more diverse and more liberal voters.

In midterm elections, when older voters turn out at much higher rates than younger ones, the Republicans have a big advantage.

It was not always thus. The South, being poorer than the North, once voted for liberals who provided the most federal benefits. But the Nixon “Southern Strategy,” which appealed to Southern bigotry, turned the tide.

Today, older Southerners, who rely most on Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid and other aids to the elderly, are most likely to vote conservative, i.e. to reduce . . . that’s right . . . Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid and other aids to the elderly.

They are the ones most easily sold on the false idea that the poor (black and brown) are “takers,” while the rich (white) are “makers.”

Why? Because in despising the poor, the white middle class is quite willing to believe the rich, especially when the bought-and-paid-for media, politicians and economists tell them government aid to everyone should be reduced. It is classic, “Cut your nose to spite your face” thinking.

By linking austerity to rewarding “takers,” the rich have narrowed options for improving the lives of the middle-class and the poor. For example:

Would You Pay a Quarter for Someone Else’s Insurance?
414 APR 28, 2014 9:58 AM EDT
By Christopher Flavelle

The case against the Affordable Care Act rests on the premise that the free market can better provide health insurance to the nation’s 54 million uninsured than a government program can.

That is a quote from Bloomberg View. So indoctrinated are we by the rich-owned media, politicians and economists, that even a normally liberal publication follows the conservative line.

The real case against ACA rests on the conservative premise that the federal government cannot afford to provide fully funded, comprehensive Medicare to man, woman and child in America.

So, because the government is presumed unable to pay for health care, the burden falls on taxpayers, and this has led to the convoluted, complex, Rube Goldberg plan called Obamacare.

A telephone survey by Bankrate.com asked 3,496 people how they would react if a business tacked on an extra 25 cents to every bill to help cover the cost of health insurance for its employees. Among Democrats, 70 percent said they would approve; 11 percent said they’d disapprove but would keep doing business with it anyway. Just 12 percent said they’d stop patronizing that business:

When Republicans were presented with the 25 cents idea, however, a plurality — 35 percent — said they would respond by taking their business elsewhere. An additional 17 percent said they would disapprove but would keep using the business, while 34 percent said they approved of the extra charge.

The vast majority of Republican respondents — 78 percent — also told questioners that Obamacare should be repealed. So a significant portion of Republicans don’t think the government should pay for people’s health insurance, but they are not willing to pay even a small amount more so that those people can get covered through their employer.

Which leads to a puzzling question: How, exactly, are these people supposed to get insurance?

It leads to an even more puzzling question: Why does virtually everyone — Democrat, Republican and Bloomberg — oppose the federal government’s paying for America’s health care?

The Affordable Care Act, that paean to austerity thinking, was created by Republicans and adopted by Democrats, all of whom support the Gap. Today’s conservative objection is that ACA isn’t “gappy” enough, because some of the poor benefit.

And the voters accept the rich propaganda that the government is running short of dollars, or that federal spending is causing hyper-inflation — and the Gap makes slaves of us all.

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)

—–

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
Monetary Sovereignty Monetary Sovereignty

Vertical gray bars mark recessions.

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

Published by Rodger Malcolm Mitchell

MBA Northwestern, business turnaround expert, economist

Published

12 thoughts on “–How acceptance of the Gap makes slaves of us all”

  1. Denver Nicks of Time Magazine says, “The New York Times, citing an analysis of survey data going back 35, reports that the middle class in the United States has fallen behind Canada’s middle class.”

    Don’t worry, Mr. Nicks. Canadians too are in the austerity death spiral.

    Just today, Parliamentary Budget Officer Jean-Denis Frechette said the Canadian government will have a balanced budget in the current 2014-15 fiscal year, because of austerity. That’s one year ahead of schedule. (Hooray!!!)

    The result, of course, will be a radical worsening of Canada’s current depression, which is the whole point. In today’s world, all depressions in developed nations are 100% gratuitous. Their purpose is to help widen the gap.

    http://www.therecord.com/news-story/4488955-ottawa-s-successful-austerity-measures-have-a-downside-pbo-report/

    == Off topic ==

    ALL I ASK IS ONE SECOND

    Statistically, austerity is genocide. It causes a radical increase in suicide, especially among males. Anyone who denies this is a liar or a fool.

    Now comes this gem from Forbes magazine regarding a paper from the University of Portsmouth in England…

    “The authors set out to prove that austerity is a direct cause of suicide in general, and particularly for older people affected by cuts to their fixed incomes. I’m afraid they failed. They simply did not adequately demonstrate correlation between government spending cuts and suicide rates, let alone a causative relationship.”

    Wow.

    First of all, the authors did NOT “set out to prove that austerity is a direct cause of suicide in general.” No, they said that the general rates of suicides increase with the general severity of austerity. Again, anyone who denies this is a liar or a moron (or a Forbes contributor).

    The Forbes article also says the authors failed to prove that older people are more likely to commit suicide under austerity.

    Such blatant lies deny or trivialize mass suffering.

    Fortunately the victims defend their killers. For example, if I condemn the liars, and I call them “retards” (gasp!) then I get flamed as “inappropriate” and “uncalled for,” while the lying champions of genocide are excused. This is another way the masses justify the ever-widening inequality that is killing them.

    The Forbes article also says, “The Greek debt crisis blew up in 2010 and austerity measures were imposed after that. Government spending reductions in the 1988-2009 data either did not exist or were so tiny they were practically irrelevant. In short, there was no austerity during that period. It is therefore not possible with this data set to prove that government spending cuts cause increased suicides among older people.”

    More lies. Greece entered the austerity death spiral the day the Greek government adopted the euro (1 Jan 2001). Before that, Greece had one of the lowest suicide rates in the world. In 2008, Greek suicides increased as the Troika began dropping its debt bombs. In 2009 suicides increased again when Goldman Sachs bribed Greek politicians to adopt a special credit default swap index.

    “Media reports saying that, ‘Draconian austerity measures instituted as a result of the Greek debt crisis have taken a dramatic toll on male suicides’ are just wrong.”

    Wow. I would love to meet this author in a dark alley for a “conversation.” Just one second. That’s all I would need.

    The Forbes article:

    http://www.forbes.com/sites/francescoppola/2014/04/24/austerity-and-suicide-the-case-of-greece/

    [2] IT’S NOT AUSTERITY

    The ultra-right-wing “American Spectator” blog justifies ever-increasing austerity by claiming that it is not austerity.

    “I’ve noted before how Britain’s supposed fiscal austerity is nothing of the sort, consisting of tax increases and mere cuts to the rate of spending.”

    Got that? Spending cuts and tax increases are not austerity.

    Further, the author whines that, “The A-word lives on, though it has little meaning and its users have not a shred of credibility.”

    Add him to the long list of people I would love to meet in a dark alley for a “conversation.”

    http://spectator.org/blog/58862/austerity-saves-great-britain

    [3] INAPPROPRIATE

    Below is an article about an 82-year-old man in Portugal who is suffering because the Troika cut his meagerly pension in half.

    Because of things like this, I would like to denounce the champions of austerity as morons and scum-bags.

    However that would be “inappropriate” and “uncalled for.”

    http://www.euronews.com/2014/04/25/portugal-s-carnation-hope-overpowered-by-austerity-bitterness/

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    1. ‘Again, anyone who denies this is a liar or a moron (or a Forbes contributor).’

      I’ve read some of Ms. Copolla’s stuff on modern money and it is pretty good. What the hell happened here? (Don’t answer, I know.) The worst offender on Forbes however, is Peter Ferrara. He is such a despicable lying little cretin-always skewing facts, making up phony economic numbers, relying on input from morons like Arthur Laffer and presently senseless anecdotal “evidence” that a twelve year old can see through. And not an ounce of understanding of MS. (On purpose, I suppose.) He’s a shameless bullshitter with all the wrong answers.

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  2. Perhaps Rodger agrees with me that the blame for inequality lies as much with the peasants as with the rich. Every idiotic comment we see on the Internet worsens the mass poverty, e.g. “Obama is a socialist!” Or, “We must have a balanced budget!”

    (I’m sorry…is my use of the word idiotic “inappropriate and uncalled for”?)

    Anyway, behold: a scene from the wasteland. As America’s middle class vanishes, so do the shopping malls that once served the middle class. In every American city, shopping malls are partly or fully closed. I predict they will all be extinct within five years.

    Today, few retailers cater to the middle class, since there is no middle class. It was killed by austerity. The only retailers that survive are those that cater to the rich, or to the poor (e.g. Wal Mart and “dollar stores”).

    Here is a link that shows some abandoned shopping malls. I looked at only half of these photos. They were too depressing to continue with. Alas, the peasants were complicit in their own doom.

    http://www.weather.com/travel/abandoned-malls-seph-lawless-photos-20140408

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    1. quatloosx, I don’t think your use of “idiotic” is inappropriate, but I do think we’re all just spitting into the wind here. To what value is all of our venting?

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      1. Jeff asks, “To what value is all of our venting?”

        That’s a good question. Why vent if most people are part of the mindless mob?

        Venting reveals why we are in hell, which (for me anyway) is better than simply being in hell and not knowing why.

        Hell is sustained by the gap and gratuitous austerity. We cannot correct this problem unless we clearly understand it. Therefore we vent, and we examine the problem in all its manifestations.

        Still, I agree that the situation is depressing. In my opinion most humans (not all) are insane. They deny reality, contradict themselves, indulge in endless hypocrisy, and live in various dream worlds, all of which result in hideous violence and boundless oppression.

        In fact, I say that the rich rule the peasants not by brainwashing them per se, but by fomenting and exploiting madness in the peasants.

        Anyway, venting is one way to let off steam so we can make it through each day. Plus we get to verbally support each other. Some of the time, anyway.

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  4. The problem is a lot of people are doing well in the system we have and they don’t believe MMS is a valid model. They believe that gov’s wasteful spending and taxing is the issue and the solution.
    They don’t believe everyone deserves healthcare they don’t believe service industry workers should make a living wage. “The poor you will have with you always”

    They believe the rich DESERVE to be rich. They believe the poor are accountable along with government.

    Even liberals think MMS is bat shit crazy 🙂

    What is the best evidence for MMS? Because people are looking at the last 40yrs and blaming government’s lack of constraint on spending and inflation at 2 or 3 percent as not acceptable. Where does it end?

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  5. Did you mean MMT or Monetary Sovereignty?

    Either way, following the precepts of Monetary Sovereignty neither would cause nor prevent any particular inflation rate. The inflation rate can be whatever the government wants it to be.

    It ends when one powerful voice — perhaps the President of the United States — gives a speech something like this one: https://mythfighter.com/2011/09/10/the-next-speech-a-courageous-president-obama-will-give/

    When the people understand that federal financing is not at all like personal financing, the lies will end.

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    1. Ah yes, the perennial bogeyman of inflation…

      1. Throughout the world, rich people order their lackeys (pundits, professors, and politicians) to impose and defend austerity, in order to widen the gap between the rich and the rest.

      2. Austerity removes money from the real economy, thereby causing a depression in the real economy. However the financial economy repeatedly sets new records, making the rich even richer. Meanwhile everyone pretends that the financial economy and the real economy are the same thing. Thus, everyone pretends that the depression is a “recovery.” And since we are in a “recovery,” it is your fault if you can’t find a job, or you are stuck in minimum wage slavery. YOUR fault.

      3. The more that austerity causes the peasants to suffer, the more the peasants demand still more austerity, claiming that without it, there will be more suffering (because of “inflation”).

      (More and more leeches cause more and more anemia, but without the leeches there will be more anemia. Got it?)

      The peasants don’t know what inflation is. They only know that inflation is “bad,” and that it can only be kept away via austerity. If you ask them why their suffering increases each day, they blame Blacks, or Mexicans, or “liberals,” or “big government,” or whatever. Anything but the actual cause, which is austerity.

      Are the peasants well trained, or what?

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  7. A low federal minimum wage increases corporate profits while keeping countless individuals and families in poverty. It enables corporate executives to receive multi-million dollar salaries and bonuses, while their lowest-paid employees can barely afford food.

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