Gap Psychology at work. Why reducing crime does not require fighting crime.

Twitter: @rodgermitchell; Search #monetarysovereignty
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It takes only two things to keep people in chains: The ignorance of the oppressed and the treachery of their leaders..
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As readers of this blog know, “Gap Psychology“ describes the human desire to distance oneself (widen the Gap) from those who are poorer, and to come closer to those who are richer.

Without the Gap, no one would be rich; we all would be the same. And the wider the Gap, the richer the rich are. Thus the prime interest of the rich is not just to make more money, but more importantly, to widen the Gaps below them.

Gap Psychology is manifested in many ways, from segregated neighborhoods, to private schools, to membership clubs, designer clothes, expensive cars, jewelry, mansions, etc.

Each is designed to help the richer separate themselves, physically and emotionally, from those who are poorer. The reverse also is true: For instance, wearing expensive jewelry allows the wearer to “come closer” to those who are richer. That is the other phase of Gap Psychology.

Gap Psychology is maintained by certain, basic beliefs, including the false narrative that poorer people are fundamentally less moral,  less intelligent and lazier than those who are richer.

These beliefs find justification by the facts that poorer neighborhoods see more crime, more unemployment, and worse academic results than do richer neighborhoods.  

In reality, however, it is the reduced access to money that causes people to act with less moral behavior, be less academically successful and be less able to find remunerative employment.

As Aristotle said, “Poverty is the parent of crime.”

That is the real reason Chicago’s affluent “North Shore” suburbs have almost no violent crime, while Chicago’s poorer neighborhoods are rife with violence.

The rich want us to believe the false narrative that they are born morally superior, because that justifies their having more than the rest of us. But their so-called “moral superiority” merely is the result of their financial superiority.

Trump decries Chicago crime ‘epidemic,’ says he’s ‘sending in federal help’
by Jeremy Gorner, LA Times

Twenty federal gun agents have been assigned to Chicago to join a newly formed task force aimed at cutting the flow of illegal guns into the city and cracking down on people repeatedly arrested on gun charges.

At a news briefing Friday in Washington, D.C., reporters asked Deputy Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders whether Chicago’s crime problem was related to gun access.

“I think that the problem there is pretty clear that it’s a crime problem. I think crime is probably driven more by morality than anything else,” she said. “So I think that this is a law enforcement issue and our focus is trying to add additional support.”

The roughly 40-person strike force, which consists of Chicago police officers, ATF agents and Illinois State Police, will be working on unsolved shootings and gun-related homicides as well as combating illegal gun trafficking, officials said Friday.

Can something be obvious and subtle at the same time?

Chicago has more shootings than larger cities, especially in the poorer neighborhoods. The purpose of Trump’s task force is to cut the flow of illegal guns into Chicago’s poorer neighborhoods.

But Huckabee Sanders says the problem is not about gun access; it’s about morality.  To her, the poor are congenitally immoral people — born that way, live that way, die that way.

Trump is a Republican. They traditionally are the Party of the Rich. The Republicans also are more opposed to gun regulation than are the Democrats. So the GOP never considers shootings to be a gun access problem; they always claim crime is a “bad guy” problem, and the bad guys are poor.

According to the rich, guns are not at fault; the shooters and their victims are at fault.

Because a disproportionate number of shooters and victims are poorer, the rich want you to believe the problem is morality, not lack of money.

If the rich were to admit that the basic problem is a lack of money, the obvious solution would be to provide more financial benefits to the poor, i.e. to narrow the Gap, something the rich do not want.

When asked by a reporter if twenty additional agents is enough, Tim Jones, head of the ATF task force replied, “We could use 500 more agents. We just don’t have (those resources).

The real problem is not guns. The real problem is not even crime. Those are symptoms. And the real problem certainly is not “morality.”

The real problem is poverty.

But, rather than providing sufficient poverty-fighting resources (See The Ten Steps to Prosperity, below), the government provides inadequate crime-fighting resources, to foster the belief that the poor are at fault for their own misery.

Police Superintendent Eddie Johnson said the task force “will significantly help our police officers stem the flow of illegal guns and create a culture of accountability for the small subset of individuals and gangs who drive violence in our city.”

To a hammer, the problem always is a nail, and to the police, the problem always is crime. But unless the real problem, poverty, is solved, the crimes and shootings will continue.

Make the poorer neighborhoods richer, and you will solve the shootings. No mystery. It’s that straightforward.

Sadly, it’s not something the rich want to happen.

Rodger Malcolm Mitchell
Monetary Sovereignty

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The single most important problems in economics involve the excessive income/wealth/power Gaps between the have-mores and the have-less.

Wide Gaps negatively affect poverty, health and longevity, education, housing, law and crime, war, leadership, ownership, bigotry, supply and demand, taxation, GDP, international relations, scientific advancement, the environment, human motivation and well-being, and virtually every other issue in economics.

Implementation of The Ten Steps To Prosperity can narrow the Gaps:

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 can afford better health care than can 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 A MONTHLY ECONOMIC BONUS TO EVERY MAN, WOMAN AND CHILD IN AMERICA (similar to Social Security for All) (The JG (Jobs Guarantee) vs the GI (Guaranteed Income) vs the EB (Economic Bonus)) 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 EVERYONE Five 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 benefitting 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 FEDERAL TAXES ON BUSINESS
Businesses are dollar-transferring machines. They transfer dollars from customers to employees, suppliers, shareholders and the federal government (the later having no use for those dollars). Any tax on businesses reduces the amount going to employees, suppliers and shareholders, which diminishes the economy. Ultimately, all business taxes reduce 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 business taxes would be a 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