Your Social Security and Medicare will be cut. You’ve been warned.

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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Why are these guys laughing?

Trump’s Startling Plan to Kill Social Security in Second Term
By: Ryan Davis

The new tax plan aimed at restoring larger amounts of wealth to corporations and wealthy individuals — an estimated $1.6 trillion will be added to the national debt.

The Republican authors of the bill have been quiet on their plan to fix the deficit, but the consensus is Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid “reform.”

As readers of this site know, the so-called national “debt” is not really a debt. It is no burden on the federal government or on taxpayers. It properly should be called “deposits,” for that is exactly what it is: Deposits in Treasury security accounts.

Seventy-seven years ago a total of $40 Billion was deposited in T-security accounts, and we the people were told those deposits were a “ticking time bomb.”

Today, those deposits total $15 Trillion, and that time bomb still is ticking and we still receive the same false warnings.

The purpose of those false warnings is to make you believe the federal debt is “unsustainable,” and must be cut, so that you will agree to completely unnecessary Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, etc. cuts.

The GOP, “the party of the richest 1%” is just itching to cut benefits to the 99%. They can hardly wait.

One anonymous Republican lawmaker had a lot to say about the process of “entitlement reform.”

“Entitlement reform always takes leadership at the presidential level, and it also takes — by the way, real reform takes bipartisanship. If we’re worried about the debt in 10 years, when we get serious about entitlement reform, then I’ll know we’re serious about the debt.”

Not only is the “debt” not a debt, but “reform” isn’t reform. It’s cuts, pure and simple. But doesn’t the word “reform” sound oh, so much better?

Trump allegedly wouldn’t want to go after Social Security (or Medicare and Medicaid) until the first day of his second term – if he actually were elected a second time – because he made a very big promise that he wouldn’t. Here is the content of a tweet from Trump’s personal Twitter account on May 7, 2015:

“I was the first & only potential GOP candidate to state there will be no cuts to Social Security, Medicare & Medicaid.

Trump wants to wait to break his promise so he can keep you in the dark until the election is over.

He knows you won’t like giving up your money so the rich can get richer, but that is exactly what he wants to do: Take dollars from your pocket and put more dollars in their pockets.

“We’re going to have to get back next year at entitlement reform, which is how you tackle the debt and the deficit,” Paul Ryan said.

Now that Trump, Ryan and the rest of the GOP have voted to enrich the already rich, they suddenly have begun to “worry” about the mythical debt.

Before the vote, it was no problem at all. Now it has become a huge problem that only your money can solve (Please don’t ask the rich for any money.)

Washington Post: Today, only about 24 percent of workers at midsize and large companies have pension coverage, and that number is expected to continue to fall as older workers exit the workforce.

In place of pensions, companies and investment advisers urge employees to open retirement accounts. The basic idea is workers will manage their own retirement funds, sometimes with a little help from their employers, sometimes not.

Once they reach retirement age, those accounts are supposed to supplement whatever Social Security might pay. (Today, Social Security provides only enough for a bare-bones budget, about $14,000 a year on average.)

Trump, Ryan and the rest of the GOP feel that an annual stipend of $14,000 is too much for you and should be “reformed” either by cutting the annual payout or by starting it later.

The trouble with expecting workers to save on their own is that almost half of U.S. families have no such retirement account.

Of those who do have retirement accounts, moreover, their savings are far too scant to support a typical retirement. The median account, among workers at the median income level, is about $25,000.

According to the Government Accountability Office. “Traditional pensions have become much less common, and individuals are increasingly responsible for planning and managing their own retirement savings accounts.”

The GAO further warned that “many households are ill-equipped for this task and have little or no retirement savings.”

The GAO recommended that Congress consider creating an independent commission to study the U.S. retirement system. “If no action is taken, a retirement crisis could be looming,” it said.

Paul Ryan and his fellow Republicans already have studied the U.S. retirement system and they have concluded that you, the 99% receive too much, while the richest 1% receive too little.

Simply keep this in mind:

1. The federal government cannot run short of its own sovereign currency, the dollar.
2. That means, even if all federal tax collections fell to $0, the government still could pay all its bills, forever. There is no “debt crisis” or “ticking time bomb.” The so-called “debt” never will be paid by you or by your children.
3. Not only is there no reason to reduce Social Security, Medicare, or Medicaid et al, but there even is no reason to take FICA from your paycheck.

Bottom line: You have been warned. The GOP has told you exactly what they plan to do to you. You can’t claim you didn’t know.

If you still are foolish enough to vote Republican, you deserve what they will do you.

You can prevent it. Don’t cry later.

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

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The 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