Translating the code in a news article

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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Humans love codes.  Language is a form of code.

The word “red” is not red. The word “happy” is not happy. They are codes.

We even use code for code. The phrase “That’s great,” may mean something is great, or being sarcastic, may mean something is terrible.

Go to your thesaurus, and you will see that virtually every word has multiple meanings, depending on context, which is a common attribute of codes.

Codes can be used to inform or deceive. Since our media and our politicians are notable code users —  the better to fool you — I’ll present you with a short example — the better to educate you.

Here are excerpts from an article that means exactly the opposite of what it purports to say. I offer a translation so you can see the true meaning:

Kudlow, others differ on deficit estimates
By Jeff Stein The Washington Post

WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump’s top economic adviser said Friday that the federal deficit is “coming down rapidly,” contradicting estimates by nonpartisan analysts, Congress’s official scorekeeper and a branch of the White House.

Translation: WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump’s top economic adviser said Friday that the federal government will add less money to the economy, contradicting estimates by partisan analysts, Congress’s official scorekeeper and a branch of the White House.

Larry Kudlow, director of the White House’s National Economic Council, said on Fox Business that stronger economic growth was creating enough new tax revenue to bring down the deficit.

Translation: Larry Kudlow, director of the White House’s National Economic Council, said on Fox Business that stronger economic growth was taking enough tax dollars from taxpayers’ pockets and from the economy to bring down the deficit.

“The deficit — which was one of the other criticisms (of the GOP tax law) — is coming down, and it’s coming down rapidly,” Kudlow said. “It’s throwing up enormous amounts of new tax revenue.”

Translation: “The economy’s surplus — which was one of the other criticisms (of the GOP tax law) — is coming down, and it’s coming down rapidly,” Kudlow said. “It’s taking enormous amounts of money from taxpayers and the economy.”

It’s hard to know where Kudlow is getting his numbers from.

Translation: We know exactly where Kudlow is getting his numbers from: The Trump administration.

The deficit from January through April was $161 billion, according to Treasury, up from $135 billion at the same point last year.

Translation: From January through April, the federal government pumped $161 stimulus dollars into the economy, up from $135 billion at the same point last year.

It will deteriorate further, since the Treasury collects a large amount of tax revenue in April when taxes are due for most.

Translation: The economy will be stimulated further, since the Treasury takes a large amount of money from the economy in April when taxes are due for most.

Kudlow may have been referring to a Congressional Budget Office report earlier this week that said the long-term deficit would be smaller than its estimate in 2017, partly because of revised downward estimates of health care spending.

Kudlow may have been referring to a Congressional Budget Office report earlier this week that said the government would add fewer dollars to the economy than its estimate in 2017, partly because of revised downward estimates of health care benefits to the public.

But it made clear that deficits are still set to rise in the near and long term.

“(T)he federal budget deficit, relative to the size of the economy, would grow substantially over the next several years, stabilize for a few years, and then grow again over the rest of the 30-year period,” the CBO said, projecting that deficits as a percentage of the economy would rise from 3.9 percent in 2018 to 9.5 percent in 2048.

Translation: But it made clear that the federal government will add more dollars to the economy and to your pockets in the near and long term.

“(T)he additional dollars, relative to the size of the economy, would grow substantially over the next several years, stabilize for a few years, and then grow again over the rest of the 30-year period,” the CBO said, projecting that federal input of dollars as a percentage of the economy would rise from 3.9 percent in 2018 to 9.5 percent in 2048.

Commenting specifically on the 2017 tax law, the CBO said it would increase deficits by $1.27 trillion over the next decade.

Translation: Commenting specifically on the 2017 tax law, the CBO said it would increase the amount of money going into the economy, and decrease the amount of money taken from you, by $1.27 trillion over the next decade.

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Consider the irony:

Kudlow, who toils for Trump, wants you to believe that the government will add fewer dollars to the economy, and steal more dollars out of your pockets — and that supposedly is a good thing.

But the reality is that the current budget projections have the federal government adding more growth dollars to the economy, while taking fewer dollars from you — and Kudlow tries to deny it, when he should be boasting about it.

The simple fact is:

Larger economies have more money in them than do smaller economies, so to grow — to go from smaller to larger — an economy must have more money.

The federal government is an important source of the money that is necessary to grow our economy. When the federal government “deficit” spends, proportionately fewer dollars are taken from you, and more dollars are spent on benefits for you.

That is why reductions in federal deficit spending lead to recessions, which always are cured by increases in deficit spending.

Worse yet, the total elimination of deficit spending (disingenuously called a “surplus”) leads to depressions:

1804-1812: U. S. Federal Debt reduced 48%. Depression began 1807.
1817-1821: U. S. Federal Debt reduced 29%. Depression began 1819.
1823-1836: U. S. Federal Debt reduced 99%. Depression began 1837.
1852-1857: U. S. Federal Debt reduced 59%. Depression began 1857.
1867-1873: U. S. Federal Debt reduced 27%. Depression began 1873.
1880-1893: U. S. Federal Debt reduced 57%. Depression began 1893.
1920-1930: U. S. Federal Debt reduced 36%. Depression began 1929.

In the Kudlow article, the misleading code word is “deficit.” Look it up and you will see such hateful synonyms as: loss, shortfall, arrears, default, deficiency, inadequacy, insufficiency, lack, paucity, scantiness, and shortcoming.

No one loves “deficits.” But what Kudlow doesn’t tell you is that a federal deficit is a surplus for you.

The greater the federal deficit, the more money coming into the economy and into your pockets, and that is a very good thing, indeed.

Another common, misleading code word is “debt,” which means one thing when applied to people, and something altogether different when applied to the federal government.

Both “deficit” and “debt” are misused code words designed to scare you into taking dollars from your pocket and receiving fewer federal benefits. It’s what the very rich want.

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

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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 (Guaranteed Income)) 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
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