Sometimes, the Democrats leave me scratching my head.

One of the most puzzling names a political movement could choose for itself is “Democratic Socialist.” If their goal was to win over Republicans, it’s hard to imagine a worse choice, since hardly anyone in America is eager to vote for a Socialist.

And. . . .

THEY ARE NOT SOCIALISTS

According to Wikipedia: “Socialism is an economic and political philosophy encompassing diverse economic and social systems characterized by social ownership of the means of production, as opposed to private ownership.

The Democratic Socialists, as they regrettably call themselves, are not opposed to private ownership. But they like certain government programs that benefit those who need help, most.

A democratic socialist is someone who believes that society should be more economically equal and that key parts of the economy should serve the public good, but that these changes should be achieved through democratic elections, civil liberties, and constitutional government rather than through authoritarian rule or revolution.

From Chat GPT:

They generally argue that private markets should continue to exist, but that essential services and major economic decisions should be more accountable to the public.

That is why:

• the military
• the military hospitals
• the U.S. Postal Service (USPS)
• Amtrak
• Los Alamos National Laboratory
• Oak Ridge National Laboratory,
• Argonne National Laboratory
• National parks,
• National forests
• Campgrounds
• Smithsonian Institution museums
• military academies
• public elementary and secondary schools
• public universities
• The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation
• The Export-Import Bank of the United States,
• The Government National Mortgage Association

 . . .plus, many more are government owned, yet very few people complain about them as “Socialist.” 

It’s also important to distinguish democratic socialism from social democracy:

• Democratic socialism aims for a more fundamental transformation of capitalism, often favoring greater public or worker ownership of businesses.

• Social democracy accepts capitalism but seeks to regulate it heavily and reduce inequality through government programs.

In the United States, politicians such as Bernie Sanders and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez are often described as democratic socialists, although many of the policies they advocate resemble those found in social-democratic countries such as Sweden, Denmark, and Norway.

In simple terms: a democratic socialist wants a more equal economy and stronger public services, while preserving democracy, free elections, and political freedoms.

I often have written that one of the biggest problems facing America is the growing gap between the wealthy—the top 1%—and everyone else, the 99%. As the linked reference shows, this widening gap is bad for the economy.

ProPublica asked,

“How much tax did billionaires pay compared with how much richer they became?” 

They found: The 25 richest Americans increased their wealth by about $401 billion between 2014 and 2018, and they paid $13.6 billion in federal income taxes. That’s a 3.4% “true tax rate” relative to their increase in wealth.

The reason is that unrealized capital gains are generally not taxed. If a billionaire’s stock rises from $10 billion to $15 billion, the $5 billion gain usually isn’t taxed until the stock is sold.

Bottom line: Relative to increases in their wealth, billionaires often pay very little tax because unrealized gains are not taxable under current law.

A common estimate is that the average American worker earns around $2 million over a working lifetime. Elon Musk is a trillionaire. If he spent each day, what the average American worker earns in a lifetime, it would take him 1,369 years to spend it all.

He has the power to buy any politicians he chooses, which is why Trump allows Musk and his companies so much leeway — leeway that allows Musk to get even richer.

The U.S. federal government is Monetarily Sovereign, meaning it can create U.S. dollars at will with just a few keystrokes. If someone presented a legitimate $100 trillion invoice, the government could pay it immediately without collecting a single penny in taxes.

With a quick tap on the keyboard, the creditor’s bank account would instantly show an extra $100 trillion.

This means the federal government has the financial power to fund:

1. The elimination of the FICA tax, which is massively regressive, plus:
2. A comprehensive, no-deductible Medicare program for every man, woman, and child in America, plus:
3. Increased medical education, research & development, and equipment production to support increased Medicare benefits, plus:
4. A far more generous Social Security program for every man, woman, and child in America, plus
5. Education aid that would allow more American children to attend college and beyond, to help America compete globally, plus:
6. Widespread improvements in America’s crumbling infrastructure, plus
7. Any other programs that benefit America, while narrowing the Gap between the rich and the rest.

So no, eliminating FICA, while providing a better Medicare, Social Security and other benefits to the 99% is not Socialism any more than tax breaks for the very rich constitute Socialism.

Strangely, people often say that benefits for the 99% are inflationary, while tax breaks for the rich are not, even though both have the exact same impact on federal deficits. In reality, neither is inflationary. As explained in “The Inflation Myths Debunked,” it’s never about “money-printing” — it’s always about shortages.

Providing benefits to the 99% always has been the core of what the Democratic Party stands for, though some members now prefer that awful label “Democratic Socialists.”

The Democrats have managed to divide the voting public, while the Trumper Party remains united in its belief that the wealthiest 1% should run the country and everyone else should simply do as they’re told.

In short, Democrats are wise about what’s good for the vast majority of Americans, but they are message-stupid about how to get elected.

Rodger Malcolm Mitchell

Monetary Sovereignty

Twitter: @rodgermitchell

Search #monetarysovereignty

Facebook: Rodger Malcolm Mitchell;

MUCK RACK: https://muckrack.com/rodger-malcolm-mitchell;

https://www.academia.edu/

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A Government’s Sole Purpose is to Improve and Protect The People’s Lives.

MONETARY SOVEREIGNTY

 

Just read this, and if it doesn’t make you hopping mad, you have forgotten how to hop.

Our enemies are howling with laughter.

 

MAGAs have earned the title of the Most Ignorant Group on Earth (MIGE). They continue to back a man and a party that act against the best interests of the vast majority of MAGAs.

The Republican Party backs:

1. Tax breaks for the rich; tax increases for everyone who is not rich
2. A coward who kneels to enemy dictators and their dictatorships
3. A warmonger who started unnecessary wars and who has made enemies of our allies.
4. A convicted serial molester of women
5. An unpatriotic election denier who tried to overthrow the U.S.  government
6. The most crooked thief in Presidential history, who has amassed billions in ill-gotten gains.
7. An incompetent who has caused multiple business and economic failures
8. A ruthless bigot, who destroys good, hardworking families who benefit America
9. A fool who repeatedly hires incompetents that oppose the goal of the programs they were hired to run
10. A sick, elderly, frail, low-IQ, hatemonger to do a job that requires intelligence, vigor, honor, and compassion.

So yes, MAGAs are quite thin in the brains department, but . . .

. . . but I suggest there is a group that beats MAGAs for sheer numbheadedness: The Libertarians.

They believe that the government is too big, and the “proof” of this is the size if the so-called “federal debt.”

But ask them how big the debt should be and they cannot answer, other than it should be smaller.

Here is an article that ran in the June 9 edition of The Week Magazine:

A devastating debt crash is coming by Megan McArdle (McArdle has describes herself as a “right-leaning libertarian”.) 

The ballooning national debt may be “an incredibly boring” topic, said Megan McArdle, but Americans “need to take a hard look at the bill that is rapidly coming due.”

Immediately, McArdle declares her ignorance of Monetary Sovereignty by using the words, “coming due.”

That wording blurs the line between private debt, which is repaid out of assets, and federal “debt,” which is deposits in Treasury security accounts that are repaid by returning the deposits to their owners. In the first instance, money changes ownership.

In the second instance, location, not ownership, changes.

Both the public and McArdle seem confused, since physical currency and bank reserves (actual dollars) aren’t counted in the official “debt held by the public” or “total federal debt” numbers.

The official federal debt consists primarily of: Treasury securities held by the public (T-bills, T-notes, T-bonds, TIPS, Savings bonds.) These together make up what the Treasury reports as the “federal debt,” and are liabilities of the federal government.

But Federal Reserve Notes (paper currency) also are liabilities of the government. In short, bank reserves are liabilities of the Federal Reserve. Treasury securities are liabilities of the Treasury.

Both are liabilities of the federal government. But only Treasury securities are counted in the official national debt reports

A dollar bill is a non-interest-bearing government liability with no maturity. A T-bill is an interest-bearing government liability with a maturity date.

When someone says, “The government owes $31 trillion,” they are referring only to Treasury securities, not to the many trillions of dollars of currency in circulation, reserve balances, and other government-created monetary liabilities.

The line between “money” and “debt” is largely one of arbitrary classification. A T-bill is a dollar with a maturity date and interest, whereas a Federal Reserve Note is a dollar with neither.

If Libertarians and those of similar ilk counted dollars (i.e., Federal Reserve Notes) the same way they count T-securities, the public immediately would understand that the concern about federal “debt” is nonsense.

People would say, “Are you telling me there are too many dollars in the economy” and the Libertarians would be left gasping. But say there is too much federal debt, and you sound prudent and judicious.

That would be true if you consider recessions and depressions “prudent,” because that’s exactly what happens when the federal government cuts debt. In fact, every depression in U.S. history started with a drop in government debt. Every single one.

Actually, to create a recession, you don’t even have to reduce federal debt. You can accomplish that mission simply by reducing federal debt growth:

Even when debt is growing, but growing too slowly, we have recessions (vertical gray bars). Recessions are cured by increased deficits, which means a faster increase in debt.

The debt currently sits at $31.6 trillion and earlier this year surpassed 100% of gross domestic product. With annual budget deficits now reaching $2 trillion a year, this “slow-moving disaster” is out of control.

Ms. McArdle never explains why pumping dollars into the economy constitutes a “slow-moving disaster.”

The federal government now spend a third of all tax dollars on interest payments – more than it spends on national defense or Medicare.

Interesting comparison, because she also wants Medicare to be cut.

Her comments are designed to shock those who do not understand federal finances (Monetary Sovereignty) vs. state/local and personal finances *monetary non-sovereignty). The federal government, being the issuer of the dollar, has the infinite ability to create dollars. So:

1. 1. It cannot run short of dollars
   2. It never borrows dollars. T-securities do not provide the federal government with spending money. (See: The Drumbeat of Lies about Debt.)

   The article continues:

   Both parties also have refused to touch the “highly popular” entitlement programs, Social Security and Medicare.

   They are “highly popular” because they benefit the average American. Libertarians generally prefer benefit to the rich, like tax cuts at the top, plus increases in FICA.

   “There is only one way this kind of profligacy can end”: a financial crisis that necessitates huge spending cuts and a major tax hike.

   Meanwhile, Americans have collectively “decided not to think about it until we make landfall on whatever hellscape we’re approaching.” If we do nothing, “a devastating crash becomes inevitable.”

   The Libertarians have been spouting the same nonsense for at least 86 years (See: Historical Bullshit and while the federal debt has increased from $40 billion to $32 trillion , an 80,000% increase (!), we have not seen the hellscape the Libertarians repeatedly predict.

   THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT IS FREE TO YOU. IT PAYS ITS OWN WAY.

   Contrary to popular belief, the Monetarily Sovereign federal government is self-supporting. It pays its own way by creating as many dollars as it needs.

   (State and local governments, being monetarily non-sovereign) cannot create dollars, cannot pay their own way, and so do cost you money via taxes.)

   The purposes of the federal taxes you pay are not to support the government. Federal taxes have two functions:

   1. To control the economy by taxing what the government wishes to restrict and by giving tax breaks to what the government wishes to reward.
   2. To assure demand for the U.S. dollar by requiring that taxes be paid in dollars.
   That’s it. Your taxes do not pay for the federal government.

   Even if the government completely stopped collecting federal taxes, it still could pay the for White House, the Supreme Court, Congress, the military, the FBI, the CIA, ICE, and every other federal agency, simply by creating dollars.

   Further, the federal government could fund Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, every other social program, highways, dams, and every infrastructure need, and still not collect a penny in taxes.

   In summary, if the Libertarians are concerned that the federal government has too much control over us, cutting the so-called “debt” would do nothing to reduce that control. The federal government has the financial power to control every aspect of our lives without collecting any taxes whatsoever.

   By focusing on federal debt, rather than on the actual control, the Libertarians provide the rich with excuses to reduce Social Security, Medicare, and every other human benefit the government easily could provide.

   And that is the real hellscape.

   Rodger Malcolm Mitchell

   Monetary Sovereignty

   Twitter: @rodgermitchell

   Search #monetarysovereignty

   Facebook: Rodger Malcolm Mitchell;

   MUCK RACK: https://muckrack.com/rodger-malcolm-mitchell;

   https://www.academia.edu/

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   A Government’s Sole Purpose is to Improve and Protect The People’s Lives.

   MONETARY SOVEREIGNTY