Pin pricks threaten the trial balloon, and the self-destructive American attitude

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

Mitchell’s laws:
●Those, who do not understand the differences between Monetary Sovereignty and monetary non-sovereignty, do not understand economics.
●The more federal budgets are cut and taxes increased, the weaker an economy becomes. .
●Liberals think the purpose of government is to protect the poor and powerless from the rich and powerful. Conservatives think the purpose of government is to protect the rich and powerful from the poor and powerless.
●Austerity is the government’s method for widening the gap between rich and poor.
●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.
●Everything in economics devolves to motive, and the motive is the Gap.
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Yesterday, we published, “Obama’s tiny trial balloon regarding education. Let the struggle begin.” Friday, Jan 9 2015

It described President Obama’s preliminary recommendation that the federal government pay for part of community college costs. As a fundamental (i.e. government should pay for education), the recommendation not only is sound, though long overdue.

The states and cities, which being monetarily non-sovereign, have limited financial resources, but they pay for 12 grades of education. Why? Because education is the one thing that can keep America’s world leadership.

Unfortunately, because the states and cities are cash strapped, the quality of education in America has declined, thus threatening the very foundations of our nation.

Here’s The New Ranking Of Top Countries In Reading, Science, And Math
JOE WEISENTHAL, DEC. 3, 2013,

The OECD is out with new global rankings of how students in various countries do in reading, science, and math. Results of the full survey can be found and delved into here.

You can see below how Asian countries are obliterating everyone else in these categories. The United States, meanwhile, ranks below the OECD average in every category. And as the WSJ notes, the US has slipped in all of the major categories in recent years:

Is it that the citizens of these nations are naturally smarter than Americans? No, its that they receive better educations. We are cheating our children, our nation and ourselves, of the benefits of education.

For reasons that must relate to America’s “can-do,” self-sufficient, “John Wayne” history, we tend to expect individuals to take care of themselves.

So, for instance, unlike the majority of first-world nations, we look down on universal health care as some sort of weakness — as though anything given free will be abused by lazy, free-loaders.

We demean “food stamp mamas” as low-life cheaters, who should “get a job” and not expect the government to feed them.

And we say, if you can’t afford college, get a job and work your way through; don’t expect a handout from the government.

That is the American attitude — a self destructive attitude that has diminished our national health care, national nutrition and national education. This American attitude has, in many ways, made us a 2nd world nation, if not 3rd world.

Were it not for our powerful army, our large population and good plumbing, we indeed would be a 3rd world nation.

Unfortunately, President Obama’s recommendation, as meager as it is, now has begun to face the nay saying of those who never have had an idea, and who despise those who do.

Obama: ‘No free lunch’ in free-tuition plan

Right away, even the President has to apologize for a government benefit. God forbid education should be free. There has to be some sort of mountain to climb, because as America has been taught, free is bad.

The president’s plan, which would require congressional approval, would call for the federal government to pay 75 percent of students’ community-college tuition and for states to pick up the rest of the tab. White House aides said the initiative, modeled on a fledgling program in Tennessee, would cost U.S. taxpayers about $60 billion over its first 10 years.

There is no good reason to force cash-poor states to pick up any of the tab. This requirement is guaranteed to make the states fight the program, and has no financial purpose. Question: Does Obama want the program to succeed or to fail?

Also, that Big Lie about costing U.S. taxpayers about “$60 billion” is wrong, wrong, wrong. It would not cost federal taxpayers one cent. Federal taxes do not pay for federal spending.

“No one should be denied a college education just because they don’t have the money,” the president said. “Two years of college will become as free and universal as high school is today.”

Absolutely correct. By why just two years? Why not four years? Why not post-grad? There are no good reasons other than the wrong-headed Big Lie that the federal government “can’t afford it.” That, together with the belief that no one should be given anything, are why the U.S. is sinking among nations.

But perhaps the most important reason: The rich do not want the rest of us to be educated, because education helps narrow the Gap between the rich and the rest. And that is why you will see the Republicans fight this with all their strength.

The president said his proposal is “not a free lunch” because students would need to keep their grades up to qualify.

“There are no free rides in America,” Mr. Obama said. “Students would have to do their part by keeping their grades up. This isn’t a blank check.”

There’s that evil word “free.” No free lunch. No free ride. No blank check. “Do their part.” What is this strange obsession Americans have with self-sufficiency?

Democratic lawmakers reacted favorably to the proposal. But Republicans in Congress questioned how the administration intended to pay for it.

Answer: By simply creating the dollars to pay for it. That is the fundamental purpose for a nation to be Monetarily Sovereign.

Rep. Diane Black, Tennessee Republican, noted that the state’s program is paid for by a lottery reserve fund that she said doesn’t result in added cost to taxpayers.

Uh, excuse me Rep Black, but who are those people buying stupid lottery tickets? Aren’t they taxpayers? And aren’t the vast majority in the lower 99% income groups?

“By contrast, the president’s proposal appears to be a top-down federal program that will ask already cash-strapped states to help pick up the tab,” she said. “Will the president offer proposals to make his plan budget-neutral, or will he attempt to charge it to the credit card?”

Get it? Republican Rep. Black doesn’t want the “cash-strapped states” paying for it (which is a legitimate concern), but she also doesn’t want the federal government to “charge it to the credit card.” In short, she doesn’t want anyone to pay for it.

Cory Fritz, a spokesman for Speaker John A. Boehner, Ohio Republican, said the plan lacks details. “The speaker is for making college opportunities more available but the White House needs to fill in the blanks, starting with the cost to taxpayers,” Mr. Fritz said.

Oh yes, the Speaker surely wants to make college opportunities more available, so long as there is no cost to the federal government. How that works, no one knows. It’s just more of the “cost to taxpayers” Big Lie. Maybe if we shout it would help: FEDERAL TAXPAYERS DO NOT PAY FOR FEDERAL SPENDING.

The federal government should pay for public college and beyond, just as the states and cities pay for public grades K-12. (In fact, the federal government, having unlimited funds, should pay for K-12 too.)

But many things stand in the way of American progress:
-The silly, “no free lunch” attitude.
-The equally silly, “John Wayne self sufficiency” attitude.
-The false hubris that “we already are the best.”
-The desire by the rich to keep the rest down, so as to widen the Gap between the rich and the rest.
-The Big Lie that says the federal government “can’t afford” to spend more on education (and that his will cause hyperinflation).
-The desire of the idea-devoid Republicans to smash down anything Obama.

And that little trial balloon floats among the pins, threatened by pricks.

Rodger Malcolm Mitchell
Monetary Sovereignty

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Ten 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. (Refer to this.)
8. Tax the very rich (.1%) more, with higher, progressive tax rates on all forms of income. (Click here)
9. Federal ownership of all banks (Click here and here)
10. Increase federal spending on the myriad initiatives that benefit America’s 99% (Click here)

The Ten Steps will add dollars to the economy, stimulate the economy, and narrow the income/wealth/power Gap between the rich and the rest.
——————————————————————————————————————————————

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.
1. A growing economy requires a growing supply of dollars (GDP=Federal Spending + Non-federal Spending + Net Exports)
2. All deficit spending grows the supply of dollars
3. The limit to federal deficit spending is an inflation that cannot be cured with interest rate control.
4. The limit to non-federal deficit spending is the ability to borrow.

THE RECESSION CLOCK

Vertical gray bars mark recessions.

As the federal deficit growth lines drop, we approach recession, which will be cured only when the growth lines rise. Increasing federal deficit growth (aka “stimulus”) is necessary for long-term economic growth.

#MONETARYSOVEREIGNTY

–Obama’s tiny trial balloon regarding education. Let the struggle begin.

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

The Ten Steps to Prosperity first was posted on Oct 7, 2011 and more recently has been included in every post.

It contains:

Step 4. Free education (including post-grad) for everyone. Click here

and

Step 5. Salary for attending school (Click here)

You can read the rationales for each step by clicking the links.

Now, the White House has posted on Facebook a short video in which President Obama proposes making “two years of community college free for anyone who’s willing to work for it.”

He doesn’t explain why just two years of community college. And he doesn’t explain what “who’s willing to work for it” means. But let us speculate.

He may really want to implement Step 4, but knows he will run into all those people who will say, “We can’t afford it.” Even his tentative step will be challenged on sustainability of deficits and debt.

Of course, those who are not ignorant of Monetary Sovereignty know full well the federal government can afford anything, with the only limit to federal spending being inflation.

But because the masses have been brainwashed into believing the Big Lie that federal finances are like personal finances, you can be sure “affordability” will be the first objection. This will be difficult for the President to overcome, because he is one of those who has been spreading the Big Lie.

So he will be hung with his own petard.

Add that to John Boehner’s famous lie, “Let’s be honest. We’re broke,” and it becomes quite difficult for either party to backpedal to the truth.

Then there’s the mystery, ” . . . for anyone who’s willing to work for it.” I speculate this anticipates the right-wing’s predictable, mean-spirited response that those lazy, good-for-nothing poor have things too good, and are given too much, so should be made to work for whatever they get (and be drug-tested, too).

Never mind that the lazy, good-for-nothing rich kids are sent to college by mommy and daddy, who mail checks from their yacht in the Caribbean. And never mind that federal spending does not cost anyone anything.

The biggest fear is that poor kids will prove to be as smart or smarter than the rich kids, and will be able to pull themselves up, thereby narrowing the Gap between rich and poor.

No one, but absolutely no one, wants to look down at one’s “inferiors,” and discover that those “inferiors” are closing the Gap, and perhaps even (gasp!) passing.

So, between the “we can’t afford it” lie, and “they already get too much” lie, it will be a tough slog for anyone, but particularly for a President who has not distinguished himself as a slogger.

He, and the rest of America’s federal leaders, simply have not shown the courage to do what the monetarily non-sovereign state and local governments already do (free grades K-12 for everyone), by providing free grades 13+ for everyone.

I predict that just like the complex, convoluted mess called Obamacare, which was an “affordability” compromise (should have been free Medicare for every man, woman and child in America), Obama’s community college gambit will turn out to be an equally complex, convoluted mess.

It will have more regulations than the tax code, and will require recipients to jump through hoop after hoop after hoop (Think: The HARP mortgage refinance disaster of past years.)

But, to maintain competitiveness, America needs educated people, and quality of education must not depend on students’ wealth (or lack of it). The more Americans we educate, the more chances we have of developing great scientific, political and business leaders.

The question should not be whether our government can afford to educate our people (we can), but whether we can afford NOT to (we can’t).

It’s not a gift to the poor; it’s a gift to our nation’s future.

Let the struggle begin.

Rodger Malcolm Mitchell
Monetary Sovereignty

#MONETARYSOVEREIGNTY

–These people step on your back, to lift themselves up. Campaign to fix the debt.

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

There is a group deceptively named, “Fix the debt.org,” whose sole mission is not to fix anything, but rather to cut the federal spending that benefits the poor and middle-income people (the 99%), and to modify tax laws to benefit the 1% richest among us.

At the end of this post, you’ll see the usual “widen the Gap” (between the rich and the rest) suspects — Bowles, Simpson, MacGuineas, Peterson et al.

As part of their well-funded campaign to justify their reverse Robin Hood — taking from the poor and giving to the rich — they have published Common Myths About the Debt.

Here are some excerpts:

Our nation’s debt has reached unsustainable levels, nearly twice the historical average and on track to grow even greater unless Congress acts.

They never mention what is “unsustainable” about the federal debt, which is nothing more than the total of T-security deposits in private accounts at the Federal Reserve bank.

Is your bank savings account “unsustainable”? No? Neither is mine. But, for reasons beyond logic, your accounts at the Federal Reserve Bank supposedly are “unsustainable.”

Why? To cut federal benefits — Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, aids to the poor, aids to education, unemployment compensation and all other spending that benefits the 99% and narrows the Gap.

(So-called) “Myth”: Deficit levels are falling and therefore, debt is no longer a concern.

(Phony) “Fact”: Over the next decade, our debt is on track to grow by almost $8 trillion. Even though debt may remain stable as a share of the economy for a few years, its growth will accelerate after 2018 and exceed the size of the entire economy by the mid-2030s.

An ever-rising debt path will inhibit long-term economic growth, increase the cost of living, leave the government unprepared for national emergencies, and increase the risk of a fiscal crisis.

Real Fact: Yes, the total of deposits in T-security accounts might exceed Gross Domestic Product. So?

It’s like saying your deposits in your bank savings account will exceed your spending. So? In both cases, it’s a meaningless comparison, meant to scare us about nothing.

And exactly how will these deposits “inhibit long-term economic growth, increase the cost of living, etc., etc.”? Answer: They won’t. Quite the opposite, in fact.

Federal spending stimulates long-term economic growth, does not cause inflation (See: Oil Causes Inflation), and has nothing to do with government preparedness or fiscal crises.

(So-called) “Myth”: There is no harm in waiting to solve our debt problems.

(Phony) “Fact”: The longer we wait to confront our debt problems, the larger the required benefit cuts or tax increases will need to be for each individual. And it will be harder to protect the most vulnerable in society from bearing the burden.

Real Fact: No benefit cuts or tax increases are necessary. To “pay off” the debt (i.e. redeem the T-securities), the Federal Reserve Bank does exactly what any bank does: It takes existing dollars from the T-security accounts and transfers them to private checking accounts.

Even if the federal “debt” (total of T-security accounts) were $999 trillion, they still would not be a burden on the federal government, on you or on me.

As for the fake worry about “the most vulnerable in society,” these are the people who are most injured by austerity (aka deficit reduction).

(So-called) “Myth”: Deficit reduction is just code for austerity, which will ultimately hurt the economy.

(Phony) Fact: A comprehensive and gradual deficit reduction plan can replace austerity with more targeted and pro-growth reforms that promote economic recovery and accelerate long-term wage growth.

For example, the Congressional Budget Office found that a $4 trillion deficit reduction package would help the economy, increasing average income by $7,000 by 2039. Average income would be 9 percent higher than if policymakers allow debt to rise rapidly.

Real Fact: They actually don’t deny that debt reduction is, in fact, austerity, which never has worked to grow an economy, anywhere in the world. There is no known economic mechanism by which taking $4 trillion out of an economy would “help” the economy and increase average income.

(So-called) “Myth”: Deficit reduction will harm low-income and vulnerable populations.

(Phony) Fact: Every recent bipartisan deficit reduction plan has included progressive reforms that ask more from those who can afford it, protect low-income programs, and offer new enhancements for the most vulnerable.

Real fact: Note the carefully crafted words, “bipartisan” and “included.”

“Bipartisan” excludes all right-wing “screw-the-poor” plans. And “included” doesn’t mention that on balance, right wing plans always widen the Gap.

(So-called) “Myth”: The debt can be solved by cutting waste, fraud, or foreign aid.

(Phony) Fact: Even if we eliminated all waste, fraud, and foreign aid, we would still have not dealt with the long-term drivers of the debt. Specifically, we need to slow the unsustainable growth of entitlement spending, which currently makes up 60 percent of the budget.

Mandatory and interest spending will nearly double in the next 40 years due to population aging and rising health care costs.

Real Fact: Since the “debt” is not a problem, one should not refer to “solving” it or calling it “unsustainable.”

Yes, entitlement spending is at the heart of this. The rich, and their toadies, don’t want you to collect on Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, School Lunches, any aids to the not rich, etc.

Looks like we can forget about the right-wings desire to “protect the most vulnerable.”

The federal government being Monetarily Sovereign, Federal interest payments are no burden whatsoever.

Even were interest payments 100 times their current level, the government could pay them without difficulty. And those payments stimulate the economy, by putting dollars into consumers’ pockets.

(So-called) “Myth”: The debt can be solved with faster economic growth.

(Phony) Fact: Economic growth must be part of the solution, but it can’t solve the debt problem alone. The amount of growth required would be unprecedented. Productivity growth would have to be 50 percent higher over the next quarter century just to hold debt at its current record-high levels.

Real Fact: This is an intentionally confused statement, pretending to indicate that the federal government pays its debts with Gross Domestic Product.

Total nonsense.

Economic growth doesn’t “solve” a debt non-problem. The federal debt is not paid with GDP. The federal debt (aka T-securities) are paid with dollars that already exist in T-security accounts.

Interest is paid with dollars that are created ad hoc, by our Monetarily Sovereign government. Even if GDP were $0, the federal government could pay off any size debt, instantly.

(So-called) Myth: Taxing the wealthy more will solve the debt problem.

(Phony) Fact: Our debt problems are too large, and the top 1% too few, to solve the entire problem by raising taxes on the wealthy.

Our debt problems are large enough that they should be solved by both tax reform to reduce tax breaks and spending reform to slow the growth of entitlement programs.

Again, totally confused.

First: Federal debt is not a “problem,” not for you, not for me, not for the federal government. It is bank accounts, similar to saving accounts. Is your bank savings account a “problem”?

Second: Federal taxes do not pay for anything. Even if all federal taxes were eliminated, the federal government could continue to spend, forever.

Third: To the right wing, “tax reform” means some form of “flat tax” or “broadening the tax base” — taxes that for right-wing “fairness,” cost the poor a larger percentage of their income than the rich. Classic examples: FICA and sales taxes, both of which are highly regressive.

Fourth: There’s that “slow the growth of entitlement programs” mantra again, the real goal of the rich.

You don’t need Social Security and Medicare, unemployment insurance or food stamps, do you? And anyone who accepts them is a good-for-nothing sloth. Right?

After all, everyone knows that you people taking money from the government are lazy, do-nothing slackers trying to game the system. It’s the rich who work their fingers to the bone (washing their yachts, planes and limousines) who are the real Americans.

As mentioned at the start, here is that list of people who are oh-so-concerned about our most vulnerable — the poor, the sick, the elderly, the out-of-work, the school children — that they spend billions to reduce entitlements.

Why? Very simple. The Gap is what makes the rich rich. Without the Gap, no one would be rich, and the wider the Gap, the richer they are.

The following are just a few of those who tell the BIG LIE (that federal debt is “unsustainable), and who would like to push you down, then step on your back, to lift themselves up.

Recognize any names?

Campaign to Fix the Debt
Co-Chairs:
Mayor Michael Bloomberg, Former Mayor, New York City, New York; Senator Judd Gregg, Former U.S. Senator, New Hampshire; Governor Ed Rendell, Former Governor, Pennsylvania

Co-Founders:
Erskine Bowles, Co-Chair, National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform; Senator Alan Simpson, Co-Chair, National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform

Members:
Governor Phil Bredesen, Former Governor, Tennessee; Senator Kent Conrad, Former U.S. Senator, North Dakota; David Cote, Chairman and CEO, Honeywell International; Senator Pete Domenici, Former U.S. Senator, New Mexico; Congressman Vic Fazio, Former U.S. Congressman, California; James B. Lee, Jr., Vice Chairman, JPMorgan Chase & Co.; Maya MacGuineas, President, Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget; Congressman Jim McCrery, Former U.S. Congressman, Louisiana; Senator Sam Nunn, Former U.S. Senator, Georgia; Congressman Jim Nussle, Former U.S. Congressman, Iowa; Michael Peterson, President and COO, Peter G. Peterson Foundation; Steven Rattner, Chairman, Willett Advisors LLC; Alice Rivlin, Former Director, Office of Management and Budget; Mayor Scott Smith, Former Mayor, Mesa, Arizona; Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, Former Mayor, Los Angeles, California; Ambassador Robert Zoellick; Former President, World Bank

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Rodger Malcolm Mitchell
Monetary Sovereignty

Ten 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. (Refer to this.)
8. Tax the very rich (.1%) more, with higher, progressive tax rates on all forms of income. (Click here)
9. Federal ownership of all banks (Click here and here)
10. Increase federal spending on the myriad initiatives that benefit America’s 99% (Click here)

#MONETARYSOVEREIGNTY

Sneak attacks: Cut Social Security. Increase the gas tax. Widen the Gap between the rich and the rest

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

Most people understand that increasing taxes in not a successful way to grow an economy. Taking dollars from consumers’ pockets depresses an economy.

Similarly, net federal spending adds dollars to consumers’ pockets. And, increased consumer spending stimulates the economy.

Those are basic economic facts.

Yet, amazingly, there are people whose mentality does not allow them to connect those dots. They sneer at all federal spending as “socialism,” and claim that federal deficits (i.e. net federal spending) actually depress the economy.

They claim that taking money out of the economy (aka “austerity”), in some unknown way, is stimulative. They have been brainwashed by the rich.

Those people refuse to understand the differences between a Monetarily Sovereign government (the U.S., Canada, Australia, China et al) and a monetarily non-sovereign entity (Florida, Cook County, Chicago, General Motors, euro nations, you and me).

Seemingly, they cannot visualize why financial prudence for one are acts of financial imprudence for the other. So they fret and fuss about deficits and debts, which can be harmful for monetarily non-sovereign entities, but are necessary for Monetarily Sovereign governments.

Presumably, such people would believe that because vultures thrive on rotted meat, humans too, would thrive on rotted meat. In their world, differences of case are ignored.

Not understanding the simple facts of Monetary Sovereignty, those people vote for political representatives who are paid by the rich is to take money from the pockets of the poor and middle-income groups, thus widening the Gap. between the rich and the rest.

Then, of course, after having voted for criminals, they complain about political criminality.

For example:

On Day One, the new Congress launches an attack on Social Security
Michael Hiltzik, LOS ANGELES TIMES

Well, that didn’t take long.

As one of its first orders of business upon convening Tuesday, the Republican House of Representatives approved a rule that will seriously undermine efforts to keep all of Social Security solvent.

(Before we continue, you should understand that the author is ignorant of Monetary Sovereignty, so he discusses Social Security “solvency,” when in fact, it is impossible for an agency of a Monetarily Sovereign government to become insolvent — unless the government wants it. Nevertheless, he understands the harm caused by austerity.)

The procedural rule enacted by the House Republican caucus (requires that) “benefit cuts or tax increases improve the solvency of the combined trust funds.”

In practical terms, it mandates either benefit cuts across the board, which aren’t politically palatable, or a payroll tax increase, which isn’t palatable to the GOP.

“It is hard to believe that there is any purpose to this unprecedented change to House rules other than to cut benefits for Americans who have worked hard all their lives.” – Max Richtman, Committee to Preserve Social Security and Medicare

The rule change reflects the burgeoning demonization of disability recipients, a trend we’ve reported on in the past. it’s been fomented by conservative Republicans and abetted by sloppy reporting by institutions such as NPR and “60 Minutes.”

This obeys the popular Republican meme that anyone (except big corporations) who receives money from the government, is a lazy slacker, trying to game the system. That includes the disabled, the sick, the unemployed and the poor — all lazy, criminals according to the right wing.

Disability recipients are easily caricatured as malingering layabouts by politicians, academics and journalists. They’ll say disability benefits are so lavish they discourage work, and convenient substitutes for welfare payments. None of that is true.

As I reported in 2013, Social Security’s disability standards are stringent. To be eligible you must have worked at least one-fourth of your adult life, and been employed in at least five of the previous 10 years.

Workers younger than 31 have to show employment in half the years since they turned 22.

You have to be too impaired to earn even $1,040 a month on your own. Just over a quarter of all applicants are approved initially, though an additional 13% or so win benefits on appeal. All in all, only 41% of all applicants end up with checks. Sound easy to you?

And here’s where the politicians, on the payroll of the rich and powerful, rely on the ignorance of the voting public:

The new rules drafters say it’s necessary to “protect the Old-Age and Survivors Insurance (OASI) Trust Fund from diversion of its funds to finance a broken Disability Insurance system.”

But, disability isn’t “broken.” Its rolls have grown because of a number of well-understood factors, including the aging of the American population, the entry of more women into the workforce (and thus their eligibility for benefits), and the increase in Social Security’s full retirement age above 65.

In a cynical ploy, direct from the book, “1984,” our “Big Brother” teaches that cutting your benefits “protects” your money — and black is white and war is peace.

Sadly, the author thinks its all a big misunderstanding:

Do House Republicans understand any of that? It’s doubtful. If they did, they’d understand that their actions Tuesday are nothing short of shameful.

It’s no misunderstanding at all. It’s an intentional effort to keep taking money from the 99%, so as to widen the Gap., between the rich and the rest — an effort funded by the rich via campaign contributions (thank you right-wing Supreme Court) and promises of lucrative employment later.

You can read more about this at: ’60 Minutes” shameful attack on the disabled, October 07, 2013|By Michael Hiltzik.

Meanwhile, the Gap-widening efforts continue:

Republicans for Raising the Gas Tax?
Peter Suderman|Jan. 6, 2015

With gas prices around the country at lows not seen for years, America’s political class smells an opportunity: It must be time to raise the gas tax.

Over the weekend, Sen. John Thune (R-SD) was asked about the possibility of raising the federal tax on gasoline. In response, he said, “but I think we have to look at all the options.”

There are two reasons why this issue is coming up now. The first is that there’s a perennial shortfall in the Highway Trust Fund, which funds federal roads projects. The trust is paid for by a fuel tax of 18.4 cents per gallon, which has been level since 1993. Estimates from last summer put the shortfall around $170 billion.

It’s currently being funded via an $11 billion stopgap measure that expires in May. The politicos who manage the fund are looking for ways to fill that pot.

According to the article, “Peter Suderman is a senior editor at Reason magazine and Reason.com, where he writes regularly on health care, the federal budget, tech policy, and pop culture.” He also is a film critic.

So he knows a lot, but the one thing he doesn’t know is economics, because like the “man-in-the-street” he doesn’t understand the difference between Monetary Sovereignty and monetary non-sovereignty.

He thinks federal spending is paid for by federal taxes. And the public, which hears this nonsense day after day after day, has been thoroughly brainwashed.

That’s the policy reason. But as much as anything, this is about low gas prices, which, at least in theory, make it easier to raise federal gas taxes.

It’s a kind of tax hike opportunism: Consumers are saving money at the pump, so some of the savings ought to go to the federal government. Even Republicans, typically the anti-taxers in government, aren’t immune from the lure of easy tax hikes.

The real reason is that tax hikes on purchases affect the 99% far more than they affect the 1%, simply because the 99% uses a greater percentage of their income to buy things, while the 1% uses more of their money to invest.

The rich pay to spread the disinformation about federal taxing and spending, because they want the Gap to increase. It is the Gap that makes them rich, and the wider the Gap, the richer they are.

So by telling you The Big Lie (i.e. the federal government needs your tax dollars) they gain your approval to reduce spending that benefits you and raise taxes on yourself. That’s why FICA was increased, Social Security benefits decreased and Republican governors have refused to accept billions in Medicaid benefits to the poor.

Day after day, you experience yet another sneak attack by the rich on the rest. And the Gap grows wider.

Rodger Malcolm Mitchell
Monetary Sovereignty

THE RECESSION CLOCK

Vertical gray bars mark recessions.

#MONETARYSOVEREIGNTY

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