If you’ve not already read it, or don’t remember it, I invite you to read the January 31, 2015 post: Mr. Suderman, what exactly is the “Welfare State”?.
The article discussed how Suderman, a film critic and Reason.com editor, claimed that benefits to the middle-classes and the poor constitutes a “welfare state.”
(All those tax breaks and other benefits to the rich are just fine, thank you.)
In Suderman’s latest demonstration of abject ignorance about economics, he wrote:
Neither Clinton Nor Trump Would Reduce the National Debt
Clinton’s policies would increase the debt less—but would still leave the budget on an unsustainable path.
Ah, the old “unsustainable” federal debt lie.
By way of reminder, we showed you the annual claims beginning in 1940 (Yes, 1940!) that the federal debt was a “ticking time bomb.”
Well, believe it or not, 76 years later, that ole’ bomb still’s a’tickin.’ It more recently morphed into a “looming collapse,” and now is “unsustainable.”
There is nothing wrong with being wrong. We all do it on occasion, though being wrong consistently for the past 76 years might give one pause, or at least a bit of humility.
No pause or humility for Suderman, however. He’s still shoveling the same old Tea Party bullsh*t.
When he, or others of his ilk, say the “debt” is “unsustainable, notice they never, ever say what “unsustainable” means.
Does it mean the government can run short of dollars, its own sovereign currency it originally created from thin air?
Or does it really mean, the very rich hate that dollars are being spent to narrow the Gap between the rich and the rest?
Well, anyway . . .
Here is a note to Peter: Please allow me to direct you once again to: Monetary Sovereignty, the key to understanding economics, and to: Lunch really can be free, so that at long last you may begin to understand Monetary Sovereignty and the reasons why the so-called federal “debt” is not, and never will be, “unsustainable.”
It’s not even a “debt.”
In the event Peter doesn’t see this post, will someone please contact him and relieve him of the misery of his misunderstandings.
And while you’re at it, please contact your political representatives and local media, so they too can stop disseminating the Big Lie.
You will do your nation and your family a real service, as we may stop talking about unnecessary and harmful reductions in Social Security and Medicare benefits, and about a disastrous reduction in federal deficit spending.
No, the federal deficit and debt are not “unsustainable, ticking time bombs.” No, federal spending is “not funded by federal tax payers.” No, the government cannot “go broke,” and no, the government does not need to “live within its means.”
What you have been hearing from the Suderman’s of the world is a lie, designed to keep you in financial bondage.
The sooner you understand that, and encourage adoption of the Ten Steps to Prosperity, the sooner you can free yourself.
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 CHILD 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.
MONETARY SOVEREIGNTY
#Monetary Sovereignty - Mitchell 