There are Republicans and then there are REAL Republicans, those people known as “the base.”
Whoever you think you are, REAL Republicans — the base — determine who will be the candidate for President. If you’re not a REAL Republican, you might as well forget FOX News, candidate debates, and Trump, until a REAL candidate is chosen by the base.
Meanwhile, read the sports pages or log on to Ashley Madison or just chill out. Your opinions count for nothing.
Oh, you don’t know what a REAL Republican is? You’d like to be included in the base? O.K., to be included in the base you have to believe like the base.
Here is what you need to be:
- Anti-abortion, even in cases of rape or physical/mental danger to the mother. Embryos are more important than pregnant women.
- Anti Planned Parenthood. Deny that the videotapes were faked and that Planned Parenthood focuses on female health.
- Anti-gay. No gay marriage; no gays in the military; no gay Boy or Girl Scouts; no gay teachers; no gays anywhere near children; no gay adoptions; because they will make their children gay. Force gays to convert to being straight.
- Anti-immigrant. Deport them all, even those whose children are citizens. No amnesty or legal path to citizenship. Brown immigrants are criminals and rapists. Make it more difficult to come to America. Build a wall and force Mexico to pay for it.
- Anti-union. They want to be paid for not working. Bosses work hard. Union members don’t work hard.
- Anti-Muslim. They all are terrorists. Don’t let any Muslims come to America
- Anti-Latino. They are lazy. They come here only to get benefits for not working.
- Anti-poor. The poor deserve their poverty. They are lazy.(Anti-welfare, anti-unemployment compensation, anti-food stamps, anti-ACA.) The rich are not lazy.
- Anti-aid to the poor. Benefits just make them lazier.
- Anti-aged. Cut Social Security benefits, or privatize SS so that Wall Street can make more money.
- Anti-universal health care. The insurance companies don’t like it. We can’t afford it. Rich people don’t need it. People should pay for their own health care, especially if they can’t afford it.
- Anti-medical marijuana. Deny it helps prevent pain and nausea. Claim that unlike alcohol, marijuana muddles the mind and is a “gateway” to stronger drugs.
- Anti-prison instead of the death penalty. The only way to ensure public safety is to kill more criminals. Deny that innocent people have been killed. Increase enforcement of the “War on Drugs,” because it has worked so well.
- Anti-tax increases on the rich. They are the “makers” who look after us and have our best interests at heart. Deny that tax increases that affect the poor disproportionately (like a flat tax or national sales tax) are harmful to the poor and to the economy. Favor programs that widen the Gap between the rich and the rest, like privatizing federal offices.
- Anti-federal deficit spending. Deny federal deficit spending creates the dollars that grow the economy. Claim the federal government will run short of dollars and deficits will turn us into Zimbabwe. Deny that deficit spending prevents and cures recessions and depressions.
- Anti-medical malpractice suits. These mostly are fake and benefit only the middle and lower classes. Doctors and hospitals don’t make horrendous mistakes.
- Anti-gun control. Deny background checks could save lives. Believe what the NRA tells you: More guns = a safer America. Gun crimes prove more guns are needed. Support no limits on number or types of guns available to everyone.
- Anti-separation of church and state. America is a Christian country. We need Christian prayer in school and in courtrooms. Anti-Jews in America (but Jews in Israel are O.K.) Keep all Muslims out, and closely monitor Muslims who are here.
- Anti-evolution. It’s just a theory. The Christian bible is Truth. Other religions’ books are not the Truth. Post the Christian 10 Commandments in all government offices
- Anti-climate change. The scientists are lying; the right-wing politicians are telling the truth. CO2 is not an important greenhouse gas and humans aren’t creating it.
- Anti-auto and factory emissions controls. Too expensive. Deny pollution is man-made or that pollution is harmful to our children.
- Pro oil drilling; anti-environment. The Koch brothers have it right.
- Anti-limits to political contributions. Money is free speech. The rich deserve more speech than do the rest of us. Bribery of politicians is good.
- Anti-flag burning. Deny flag-burning is free speech.
- Anti minority voters. Deny vote fraud seldom exists, and deny voter ID laws are meant to limit participation by poor blacks. Deny gerrymandering is a form of vote fraud. “Those” people shouldn’t vote, anyway.
- Anti-research on embryos. Deny this can save millions of human lives. Killing microscopic embryos is murder. Even condoms murder sperm. Sperm are more important than people.
- Anti-nuclear agreement with Iran. Better to bomb them and send in our soldiers, as we successfully did with Iraq and Vietnam. Carpet bomb enemies; don’t worry about innocent civilian deaths.
- Anti-negotiation with foreign enemies. War is a better problem-solver. Negotiation is for wimps. Tell Putin, “Or else.”
- Anti-everything Obama. He’s not an American citizen; he’s a Muslim who wants to destroy America.
- Anti “big government.” Claim the federal government and its agencies are insolvent, so all social spending should be cut. But, increase spending for monitoring Muslims, building a wall on our border, deporting immigrants, building prisons and growing the military
- Anti-liberal. The bleeding-heart liberals and libtards gave us Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, the Civil Rights Act, the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, the Voting Rights Act, the Food Stamp Act and other benefits to the poor and middle classes, all of which should be cut.
If you subscribe to all of the above, you are a REAL Republican and are part of the REAL Republican base.
But, if you don’t agree, you are a RINO, and no right-wing politician will have the courage to care what you think.
You decide.
Rodger Malcolm Mitchell
Monetary Sovereignty
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Ten Steps to Prosperity:
1. ELIMINATE FICA (Ten Reasons to Eliminate FICA )
Although the article lists 10 reasons to eliminate FICA, there are two fundamental reasons:
*FICA is the most regressive tax in American history, widening the Gap by punishing the low and middle-income groups, while leaving the rich untouched, and
*The federal government, being Monetarily Sovereign, neither needs nor uses FICA to support Social Security and Medicare.
2. FEDERALLY FUNDED MEDICARE — PARTS A, B & D, PLUS LONG TERM CARE — FOR EVERYONE (H.R. 676, Medicare for All )
This article addresses the questions:
*Does the economy benefit when the rich afford better health care than the rest of Americans?
*Aside from improved health care, what are the other economic effects of “Medicare for everyone?”
*How much would it cost taxpayers?
*Who opposes it?”
3. PROVIDE AN ECONOMIC BONUS TO EVERY MAN, WOMAN AND CHILDE IN AMERICA, AND/OR EVERY STATE A PER CAPITA ECONOMIC BONUS (The JG (Jobs Guarantee) vs the GI (Guaranteed Income) vs the EB) Or institute a reverse income tax.
This article is the fifth in a series about direct financial assistance to Americans:
Why Modern Monetary Theory’s Employer of Last Resort is a bad idea. Sunday, Jan 1 2012
MMT’s Job Guarantee (JG) — “Another crazy, rightwing, Austrian nutjob?” Thursday, Jan 12 2012
Why Modern Monetary Theory’s Jobs Guarantee is like the EU’s euro: A beloved solution to the wrong problem. Tuesday, May 29 2012
“You can’t fire me. I’m on JG” Saturday, Jun 2 2012
Economic growth should include the “bottom” 99.9%, not just the .1%, the only question being, how best to accomplish that. Modern Monetary Theory (MMT) favors giving everyone a job. Monetary Sovereignty (MS) favors giving everyone money. The five articles describe the pros and cons of each approach.
4. FREE EDUCATION (INCLUDING POST-GRAD) FOR EVERYONEFive reasons why we should eliminate school loans
Monetarily non-sovereign State and local governments, despite their limited finances, support grades K-12. That level of education may have been sufficient for a largely agrarian economy, but not for our currently more technical economy that demands greater numbers of highly educated workers.
Because state and local funding is so limited, grades K-12 receive short shrift, especially those schools whose populations come from the lowest economic groups. And college is too costly for most families.
An educated populace benefits a nation, and benefiting the nation is the purpose of the federal government, which has the unlimited ability to pay for K-16 and beyond.
5. SALARY FOR ATTENDING SCHOOL
Even were schooling to be completely free, many young people cannot attend, because they and their families cannot afford to support non-workers. In a foundering boat, everyone needs to bail, and no one can take time off for study.
If a young person’s “job” is to learn and be productive, he/she should be paid to do that job, especially since that job is one of America’s most important.
6. ELIMINATE CORPORATE TAXES
Corporations themselves exist only as legalities. They don’t pay taxes or pay for anything else. They are dollar-tranferring machines. They transfer dollars from customers to employees, suppliers, shareholders and the government (the later having no use for those dollars).
Any tax on corporations reduces the amount going to employees, suppliers and shareholders, which diminishes the economy. Ultimately, all corporate taxes come around and reappear as deductions from your personal income.
7. INCREASE THE STANDARD INCOME TAX DEDUCTION, ANNUALLY. (Refer to this.)
Federal taxes punish taxpayers and harm the economy. The federal government has no need for those punishing and harmful tax dollars. There are several ways to reduce taxes, and we should evaluate and choose the most progressive approaches.
Cutting FICA and corporate taxes would be an good early step, as both dramatically affect the 99%. Annual increases in the standard income tax deduction, and a reverse income tax also would provide benefits from the bottom up. Both would narrow the Gap.
8. TAX THE VERY RICH (THE “.1%) MORE, WITH HIGHER PROGRESSIVE TAX RATES ON ALL FORMS OF INCOME. (TROPHIC CASCADE)
There was a time when I argued against increasing anyone’s federal taxes. After all, the federal government has no need for tax dollars, and all taxes reduce Gross Domestic Product, thereby negatively affecting the entire economy, including the 99.9%.
But I have come to realize that narrowing the Gap requires trimming the top. It simply would not be possible to provide the 99.9% with enough benefits to narrow the Gap in any meaningful way. Bill Gates reportedly owns $70 billion. To get to that level, he must have been earning $10 billion a year. Pick any acceptable Gap (1000 to 1?), and the lowest paid American would have to receive $10 million a year. Unreasonable.
9. FEDERAL OWNERSHIP OF ALL BANKS (Click The end of private banking and How should America decide “who-gets-money”?)
Banks have created all the dollars that exist. Even dollars created at the direction of the federal government, actually come into being when banks increase the numbers in checking accounts. This gives the banks enormous financial power, and as we all know, power corrupts — especially when multiplied by a profit motive.
Although the federal government also is powerful and corrupted, it does not suffer from a profit motive, the world’s most corrupting influence.
10. INCREASE FEDERAL SPENDING ON THE MYRIAD INITIATIVES THAT BENEFIT AMERICA’S 99.9% (Federal agencies)Browse the agencies. See how many agencies benefit the lower- and middle-income/wealth/ power groups, by adding dollars to the economy and/or by actions more beneficial to the 99.9% than to the .1%.
Save this reference as your primer to current economics. Sadly, much of the material is not being taught in American schools, which is all the more reason for you to use it.
The Ten Steps will grow the economy, and narrow the income/wealth/power Gap between the rich and you.
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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
THE RECESSION CLOCK
Recessions begin an average of 2 years after the blue line first dips below zero. A common phenomenon is for the line briefly to dip below zero, then rise above zero, before falling dramatically below zero. There was a brief dip below zero in 2015, followed by another dip – the familiar pre-recession pattern.
Recessions are cured by a rising red line.
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.
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Mitchell’s laws:
•Those, who do not understand the differences between Monetary Sovereignty and monetary non-sovereignty, do not understand economics.
•Any monetarily NON-sovereign government — be it city, county, state or nation — that runs an ongoing trade deficit, eventually will run out of money.
•The more federal budgets are cut and taxes increased, the weaker an economy becomes..
•No nation can tax itself into prosperity, nor grow without money growth.
•Cutting federal deficits to grow the economy is like applying leeches to cure anemia.
•A growing economy requires a growing supply of money (GDP = Federal Spending + Non-federal Spending + Net Exports)
•Deficit spending grows the supply of money
•The limit to federal deficit spending is an inflation that cannot be cured with interest rate control.
•The limit to non-federal deficit spending is the ability to borrow.
•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.
•The single most important problem in economics is the Gap between rich and the rest..
•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.
•Everything in economics devolves to motive, and the motive is the Gap between the rich and the rest..
MONETARY SOVEREIGNTY
My comment is not a comment on this specific post, but I could not find an email address for you.
I read an interesting article on FT.com about how Sardinia created a local currency in 2008 to help them weather the financial crisis.
I thought it might provide a good source for a future blog post of yours.
Their solution to the global financial crisis to was to disconnect (to some extent) from the global financial system by creating a local currency.
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/2/cf875d9a-5be6-11e5-a28b-50226830d644.html
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Kevin,
Just from a brief reading, it sounds like a barter system, the primary disadvantages of which are trust, supply and demand.
“Trust” means control, and I’m not sure what the controls are. Perhaps in a tiny island community — something akin to a family — the control is peer approval. So I’d hate to recommend the model for a nation.
Supply and demand mean “price,” i.e. what is one Sardex unit worth when embedded in a euro system?
Example: You wish to buy a cow using Sardex, but you own only enough units for part of a cow, and must use euros for the rest.
Instantly then, a Sardex unit acquires an exchange value compared with a euro. That seems to lead to a Sardex/euro exchange, where one person offers X number of euros in exchange for Y number of Sardex units.
But that defeats the whole purpose, doesn’t it?.
I suggest it might have been better for Sardinia to issue its own currency, and have a central bank that could issue more as needed — in short, become Monetarily Sovereign, like a sovereign nation.
Their real problem may not have been central banks, but rather the lack of Monetary Sovereignty.
Admittedly, I don’t know enough, and perhaps I’m misreading the program.
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I don’t think Sardex can be considered a barter system. A barter involves an exchange of goods between two parties. A transaction in Sardex involves any pair of members in the Sardex network, trading goods for an amount of Sardex currency. Your Sardex current account can be negative, so you can buy goods and become a debtor to the network, and this is how Sardex currency is created. Sardex credit/debit is not created by a central authority, but by the transactions within the network.
As far as I know, you cannot trade Sardex for Euros, but only Sardex for goods within the network. The network founders keep track of the transactions. Yes, you need to trust them and yes, Sardex is linked to Euro on a 1:1 basis. However, it seems to me that it really is a form of money, which can be helpful if you have excess productive capacity and not enough money to buy it.
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This could happen only in a REAL Republican state:
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I’m pro micro evolution. But macro evolution is a ridiculous fiction that is a bigger nonsense than creation.
And I don’t think the republicans are anti Jew. Why do you think this?
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So, REAL Republican, the other 26 points are O.K.?
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“Deny pollution is man-made or that pollution is harmful.”
And where did you read this. Or did you just make it up. And don’t you favor bombing Iran?
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Hmmm . . . REAL Republican, why the fight against pollution controls unless you believe pollution is not man-made and/or not harmful?
And no, I don’t favor bombing Iran. Do you?
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Sorry. I thought I read a previous post of yours where you wrote in favor of bombing Iran. And no. The US should stay out of Iran. Interfering only makes matters a lot worse and results in much death and suffering.
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Roger, you are being blunt again. This will lead to less understanding of MMT as your detractors think adversely when you don’t accept their moral and political thinking.
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Maybe you’re right. Try your subtle approach and see if it works better.
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Your right Roger, much more informed then I, who cares to use a similar approach.
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