An absolutely perfect illustration of the Big Lie con job you’re subject to every day.

Here it is in all its glory: The Big Lie, perfectly illustrated:

BIG LIE big ditch — **The Big Lie: The federal debt (aka “national debt”) is a danger.**

It shows the federal debt (aka “national debt”) as a gigantic ditch, just waiting to swallow an innocent homeowner. And it’s all a lie — not just a lie but, “The Big Lie.”

The Big Lie in economics is promulgated via various myths. Which of these myths have you heard:

Federal spending is paid for by federal taxes.
Our children will be responsible for paying the federal debt.
The federal debt is a burden on the economy.
China lends dollars to the U.S. federal government.
If China demands repayment, the federal government will be insolvent.
The federal debt is an unsustainable ticking time bomb.
The federal debt (the total of federal deficits) can cause inflation like Zimbabwe or __[fill in the blank]__.
If you must live within your means, so must the federal government.
The federal government can’t afford __[fill in the blank]__.
A balanced federal budget is more prudent than running a deficit.

You probably have read or hear some of these, and sadly you might even believe some. Not one is correct. Not one.

1. Because it is Monetarily Sovereign (unlike state and local governments) the U .S. federal government has the unlimited ability to create U.S. dollars. It has no need for taxes, which in fact are destroyed upon receipt.
2. The so-called federal “debt” is paid by returning the dollars that are in T-security accounts. No one has been, is, or ever will be “responsible.”
3. Reducing the federal debt is what causes depressions and recessions.
4. China does not lend dollars to the U.S. federal government. Nobody does. The U.S. government does not borrow. It creates dollars by paying bills. The thing erroneously called federal “debt” does not result from borrowing. It results from deposits.
5. The federal government cannot become insolvent. “Insolvent” means: “unable to satisfy creditors or discharge liabilities, either because liabilities exceed assets or because of inability to pay debts as they mature.” But the government’s method of creating dollars is to pay bills.
6. The “ticking time bomb” fear-mongering phrase has been thrust upon the American public for 80 years. No explosion. Being wrong for 80 years says it all.
7. All inflations and hyperinflation are caused by shortages of food and/or energy, never by an excess of government spending.
8. The federal government has no means. That is why those few economists who have tried to demonstrate that federal debt has a negative influence on an economy, have failed miserably. Deficit spending is necessary for economic growth; the lack of deficit spending causes recessions and depressions.
9. The federal government has the infinite ability to create dollars. Therefore, it can afford anything. (See The Ten Steps to Prosperity, below.)
10. A balanced federal budget is the least prudent notion imaginable. Reducing federal deficit spending leads to recessions and 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.
1997-2001: U. S. Federal Debt reduced 15%. Recession began 2001.

The Big Lie is promulgated by the rich to discourage the rest of us from asking for more federal benefits and as an excuse to reduce our benefits.

As a result of Gap Psychology, the rich grow richer when the Gap between them and the rest of us is widened. The Big Lie accomplishes exactly what the rich want.

Here is a revision to the misleading cartoon at the start of this post. Perhaps it can serve as a mnemonic for reality:

And they call this debt

Rodger Malcolm Mitchell

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

THE SOLE PURPOSE OF GOVERNMENT IS TO IMPROVE AND PROTECT THE LIVES OF THE PEOPLE.

The most important problems in economics involve:

Monetary Sovereignty describes money creation and destruction.
Gap Psychology describes the common desire to distance oneself from those “below” in any socio-economic ranking, and to come nearer those “above.” The socio-economic distance is referred to as “The Gap.”

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 Monetary Sovereignty and The Ten Steps To Prosperity can grow the economy and narrow the Gaps:

Ten Steps To Prosperity:

1. Eliminate FICA

2. Federally funded Medicare — parts A, B & D, plus long-term care — for everyone

3. Provide a monthly economic bonus to every man, woman and child in America (similar to social security for all)

4. Free education (including post-grad) for everyone

5. Salary for attending school

6. Eliminate federal taxes on business

7. Increase the standard income tax deduction, annually.

8. Tax the very rich (the “.1%”) more, with higher progressive tax rates on all forms of income.

9. Federal ownership of all banks

10. I

Increase federal spending on the myriad initiatives that benefit America’s 99.9%

The Ten Steps will grow the economy and narrow the income/wealth/power Gap between the rich and the rest.

MONETARY SOVEREIGNTY

The long, sad suicide of Donald J. Trump

That Donald J. Trump is a psychopath cannot be denied. He scores an astounding 29 out of 30 on the Hare Psychopathy Checklist-Revised which is used to diagnose the presence of psychopathy.

To Trump, the worst epithet is “Loser.” From his early years, he has feared being seen as a “loser,” and being unaccepted by the people he admires most: The rich whom he considers to be “winners.”

Yet as is so common in human psychology, the more one tries to assume a persona that is not natural or inbred, the further one drifts from it.

And so it has been for Trump, who craves acceptance like an infant craves a breast, yet sees it repeatedly taken away. With each perceived slight, he screams and stomps his feet.

Today, the intelligent wealthy, even in his home state are turned against him, and it is more than just symbolic that not one bank in America will lend him money.

His repeatedly naming his properties, “Trump,” his overstatements about his health, wealth, and accomplishments, his admiration for dictators, his bigotry, his hiding of his school transcripts, his refusal ever to admit error or blame, along with his insistence on receiving undeserved credit for anything good, all bespeak massive feelings of inferiority and rejection, which may have begun in early childhood.

He even cheats at his favorite game, golf, — cheats to the extent that he will not allow his scores to be known.

In his long, sad, suicidal drive for acceptance, he first became a Republican, switched to the Reform Party, then to the Democratic Party, and most recently, in 2009, back to the Republican Party.

The irony is, he has the charisma and extemporaneous speaking ability to excite followers. Had he remained a Democrat, and used those assets to benefit the poor and middle classes, rather than the rich, he might have been viewed by history as among our great Presidents.

American Presidents assume the title, “great” when they win a war and/or fight for the downtrodden. Trump could have used his communication ability to support equality and justice, yet he has done the opposite.

He has incorporated virtually every negative aspect of the human condition.

His fear of disappointment and rejection has become so profound that his reflex reaction to anything proposed by a perceived “enemy” is to argue against it, even when the proposal would help him.

Despite once arguing that Congress should “go big” with stimulus money, Trump now argues against the one thing that could save his Presidency — a growing economy — only because the rescuing money was proposed by Nancy Pelosi.

Pelosi introduces $3T virus bill
House speaker warns inaction costs more
By Lisa Mascaro and Andrew Taylor Associated Press
WASHINGTON — House Speaker Nancy Pelosi unveiled a more than $3 trillion coronavirus aid package Tuesday, providing nearly $1 trillion for states and cities, “hazard pay” for essential workers and a new round of cash payments to individuals.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has said there is no “urgency.” The Senate will wait until after Memorial Day to act.

In parroting Trump’s own words, Pelosi said, “We must think big, for the people now. Not acting is the most expensive course,” but even his own words are not sufficient for Trump. They come from “the enemy.”

The sooner money can be added to the economy, the sooner it will recover. The very formula for the measure of economic performance, Gross Domestic Product, shows Pelosi to be correct:

GDP = Federal Spending + Non-Federal Spending + Net Exports

Three more trillion will add to GDP and not cost taxpayers one cent. The economy dies daily. Yet Trump’s mouthpiece in the Senate, McConnell, claims there is “no urgency.”

The Heroes Act from Democrats is built around nearly $1 trillion for states, cities and tribal governments to avert layoffs, focused chiefly on $375 billion for smaller suburban and rural municipalities largely left out of earlier bills.
The bill will offer a fresh round of $1,200 direct cash aid to individuals, increased to up to $6,000 per household, and launches a $175 billion housing assistance fund to help pay rents and mortgages.
There is $75 billion more for virus testing.
It would prolong, through January, the $600-per-week boost to unemployment benefits. It adds a 15% increase for food stamps and new help for paying employer-backed health coverage.
For businesses, it provides an employee retention tax credit.
There’s $200 billion in “hazard pay” for essential workers on the front lines of the crisis.
There are other new resources, including $25 billion for the U.S. Postal Service. There is help for the 2020 Census.
For the November election, the bill provides $3.6 billion to help local officials prepare for the challenges of voting during the pandemic.
The popular Payroll Protection Program, which has been boosted in past bills, would see $10 billion more to ensure underserved businesses and nonprofit organizations have access to grants through a disaster loan program.
For hospitals and other health care providers, there’s an additional $100 billion infusion to help cover costs and additional help for hospitals serving low-income communities.
There’s $600 million more in funding to tackle the issue of rapid spread of the virus in state and federal prisons, along with $600 million in help to local police departments for salaries and equipment.

You might think the above would be welcomed by Trump and the GOP, who surely would take credit for the economic bounce that would ensue. The added money would help stave off a Depression and save Trump from himself.

Yet it probably will not be.

If history guides us, we will have the Depression, which Trump will blame on Pelosi — and on the Democrats, and on Hillary, and on Obama, and on China, and on the Federal Reserve, and on the “Fake Media.”

Trump will take no blame, whatsoever.

And he will fire some of his own people, who despite swallowing their pride while trying to adhere to some of his wavering, incomprehensible policies, will find themselves receiving his blistering tweets.

Some will lie for him and then disgraced, they will go to jail.

“There are those who said, ‘Let’s just pause,’ ” Pelosi added. “Hunger doesn’t take a pause. Rent doesn’t take a pause. Bills don’t take a pause.”
But the 1,800-page package is heading straight into a Senate roadblock. Senate Republicans are not planning to vote on any new relief until June, after a Memorial Day recess.
“I don’t think we have yet felt the urgency of acting immediately,” McConnell told reporters earlier this week at the Capitol.
Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, said, “I don’t think there’s a sense of urgency to do it now.”
At least a dozen Capitol police officers and other staff have tested positive for the virus, and at least one senator, Lamar Alexander of Tennessee, is in isolation at home after exposure from a staff member who tested positive.
Other lawmakers have cycled in and out of quarantine.
Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer warned that if Trump and congressional Republicans “slow walk” more aid they will be repeating President Herbert Hoover’s “tepid” response to the Great Depression.

As the ship of state accelerates over the waterfall of depression, Trump rejects all scientific help while his cowardly acolytes claim there is no urgency.

Trump had the opportunity to be great, to be revered on a pedestal. Instead, we watch his long, sad emotional suicide.

He, I predict, will die a broken man, to the end blaming the mythical wraiths churning in his brain, accusing all but himself for his misfortune. And America will suffer for it.

Ah, what could have been. What could have been.

Rodger Malcolm Mitchell

Monetary Sovereignty

Twitter: @rodgermitchell Search #monetarysovereignty Facebook: Rodger Malcolm Mitchell …………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..

THE SOLE PURPOSE OF GOVERNMENT IS TO IMPROVE AND PROTECT THE LIVES OF THE PEOPLE.

The most important problems in economics involve:

Monetary Sovereignty describes money creation and destruction.
Gap Psychology describes the common desire to distance oneself from those “below” in any socio-economic ranking, and to come nearer those “above.” The socio-economic distance is referred to as “The Gap.”

Ten Steps To Prosperity:
1. Eliminate FICA
2. Federally funded Medicare — parts A, B & D, plus long-term care — for everyone
3. Provide a monthly economic bonus to every man, woman and child in America (similar to social security for all)
4. Free education (including post-grad) for everyone
5. Salary for attending school
6. Eliminate federal taxes on business 7. Increase the standard income tax deduction, annually.
8. Tax the very rich (the “.1%”) more, with higher progressive tax rates on all forms of income.
9. Federal ownership of all banks
10. Increase federal spending on the myriad initiatives that benefit America’s 99.9%

The Ten Steps will grow the economy and narrow the income/wealth/power Gap between the rich and the rest.

MONETARY SOVEREIGNTY

The Big Lie exhibited in all its glory

If you want a lovely picture of the economics version of The Big Lie, in all its glory, here it is:

**Michael Pramirez, the cartoonist, either doesn’t understand economics, or he doesn’t want you to understand.**

The Big Lie in economics is: “Federal taxpayers fund federal spending.” It is 100% false.

Now, when the U.S. economy is in great danger of falling into a depression, the GOP and such cartoonists as Michael Pramirez, try to convince you that deficit spending to prevent a depression should not happen.

What Michael Pramirez and other GOP cartoonists don’t understand, or don’t want you to understand, is that you federal taxpayers do not fund federal spending.

State taxpayers do fund state spending. County taxpayers do fund county spending. City taxpayers do fund city spending.

States, counties, and cities are monetarily non-sovereign, meaning that they do not spend their own sovereign currency.

Image result for bernanke and greenspan — **Alan Greenspan:** “A government cannot become insolvent with respect to obligations in its own currency.”
**Ben Bernanke:** Right, “the U.S. government has a technology, called a printing press (or, today, its electronic equivalent), that allows it to produce as many U.S. dollars as it wishes at essentially no cost.”

They spend dollars, which are the sovereign currency of the United States federal government, a Monetarily Sovereign entity.

Monetarily non-sovereign entities require some form of income in order to spend.

This income can come in the form of earnings, taxes, and/or borrowing.

That is why states et al, spend taxpayer money.

Monetary Sovereign entities, like the U.S., Japanese, Canadian, and Australian governments have the unlimited ability to create their own sovereign currencies.

They never can run short of their sovereign currencies.

Even if the U.S. government collected $0 taxes, it could keep spending, forever.

Rep. Pelosi asks for an additional $3 trillion to prevent an oncoming depression. These funds will cost you nothing. They will cost your children and your grandchildren nothing.

They merely will be part of what erroneously is termed, “the federal debt,” which never needs to be paid down. Never.

Today’s federal “debt” (actually just deposits into Treasury Security accounts) is above $20 trillion. It has grown almost every year for 80 years.

It has had no adverse effect on the economy, nor will it ever have. It is just a number on a balance sheet, a number that the federal government could erase tomorrow if it chose.

By contrast, the depression Pelosi is trying to prevent, will cost you and your descendants greatly

In summary, pay no attention to those who claim that you and other taxpayers will have to pay for federal spending. It is nothing more than The Big Lie in economics.

Federal deficit spending is necessary to grow the economy and to prevent recessions and depressions.

U.S. depressions tend to come on the heels of federal surpluses.

It’s time to learn from history and from mathematical fact: By formula, adding dollars to the private economy increases GDP.

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

…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..

THE SOLE PURPOSE OF GOVERNMENT IS TO IMPROVE AND PROTECT THE LIVES OF THE PEOPLE.

The most important problems in economics involve:

Monetary Sovereignty describes money creation and destruction.
Gap Psychology describes the common desire to distance oneself from those “below” in any socio-economic ranking, and to come nearer those “above.” The socio-economic distance is referred to as “The Gap.”

Implementation of Monetary Sovereignty and The Ten Steps To Prosperity can grow the economy and narrow the Gaps:

Ten Steps To Prosperity:

1. Eliminate FICA

2. Federally funded Medicare — parts A, B & D, plus long-term care — for everyone

3. Provide a monthly economic bonus to every man, woman and child in America (similar to social security for all)

4. Free education (including post-grad) for everyone

5. Salary for attending school

6. Eliminate federal taxes on business

7. Increase the standard income tax deduction, annually.

8. Tax the very rich (the “.1%”) more, with higher progressive tax rates on all forms of income.

9. Federal ownership of all banks

10. Increase federal spending on the myriad initiatives that benefit America’s 99.9%

The Ten Steps will grow the economy and narrow the income/wealth/power Gap between the rich and the rest.

MONETARY SOVEREIGNTY

Read the single scariest thought of the year, maybe of the decade.

This isn’t a novel or a movie, so I won’t keep you in suspense. Here is the single scariest thought of the year, maybe of the decade.

Even if Trump loses the election, he still will be President for another two months.

That gives him plenty of time to deny he lost it and to have William Barr “prove” the election was rigged, and to have a right-wing Supreme Court agree.

Remember, this is the same President who has gone to great lengths to claim that he really didn’t lose the last election by 3 million votes, that all those votes were fake, and that with proper counting he would have won by 3 million.

Trump claims 3-5M illegal ballots cost him popular vote, cites no evidence
January 24, 2017 CBS NEWS

At a small reception for a bipartisan group of congressional leaders, President Trump claimed that 3 to 5 million illegal ballots cost him the popular vote, CBS News’ Nancy Cordes and Catherine Reynolds confirmed on Monday night. The claim is unproven.

Mr. Trump made a similar claim before. After the election, he tweeted that he “won the popular vote if you deduct the millions of people who voted illegally,” but he cited no evidence to back up his claim.

At the White House press briefing Tuesday, press secretary Sean Spicer was asked if Mr. Trump really believes that millions voted illegally in the election.

“The president does believe that. He has stated that before. I think he’s stated his concerns of voter fraud and people voting illegally during the campaign,” Spicer said. “He continues to maintain that belief based on studies and evidence that people have presented to him.”

Asked what evidence Mr. Trump has specifically, Spicer was unable to provide any information.

“As I said, I think the president has believed that for a while based on studies and information he has.”

Trump and Putin talked about Mueller report, Venezuela and North ... — **Tell me how you got more than 70% of the vote. Can you fix mine, again?**

Of course, Trump believes it. As a demonstrable psychopath, Trump probably believes all of his 18,000+ lies.

Crazy knows no bounds.

And when a psychopath has a compliant Senate, a compliant Attorney General, and a compliant Supreme Court to do his bidding, there may be no limit to what could happen to America.

As for the Senate, remember this was the same Senate Majority Leader who stated his proudest accomplishment was blocking Obama’s Supreme Court nomination because there was “only” a year to go before the Presidential election.

There was no precedent for such an action since the period around the Civil War and Reconstruction. No Democratic president had made an appointment while Republicans held the Senate since 1895.

In a speech in Kentucky, McConnell said: “One of my proudest moments was when I looked Barack Obama in the eye and I said, ‘Mr. President, you will not fill the Supreme Court vacancy.’ “

McConnell was not alone. The 11 Republican members of the Senate Judiciary Committee signed a letter saying they had no intention of consenting to any nominee from Obama.

No proceedings of any kind were held on Garland’s appointment.

Given Trump’s, Barr’s, McConnell’s, and the Supreme Court’s lack of honor and honesty, it is by no means a stretch to predict that a Trump loss would be followed by incredible maneuvering to overturn the results and eventually to make Trump President for life.

And remember also, that as President, Trump is Commander-In-Chief of America’s armed forces. Historically, all dictators have taken and remained in power by control over the military.

President Trump Joked That Maybe The US Should Have A “President For Life” Like China. “He’s now president for life,” Trump said of China’s Xi Jinping. “Maybe we’ll give that a shot some day.”
Salvador Hernandez, BuzzFeed News Reporter

He was just being “sarcastic.” Right?

Opinion | Trump to Dictators: Have a Nice Day - The New York Times — https://www.nytimes.com/2018/06/19/opinion/trump-to-dictators-have-a-nice-day.html

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

THE SOLE PURPOSE OF GOVERNMENT IS TO IMPROVE AND PROTECT THE LIVES OF THE PEOPLE.

The most important problems in economics involve:

Monetary Sovereignty describes money creation and destruction.
Gap Psychology describes the common desire to distance oneself from those “below” in any socio-economic ranking, and to come nearer those “above.” The socio-economic distance is referred to as “The Gap.”

Implementation of Monetary Sovereignty and The Ten Steps To Prosperity can grow the economy and narrow the Gaps:

Ten Steps To Prosperity:

1. Eliminate FICA

2. Federally funded Medicare — parts A, B & D, plus long-term care — for everyone

3. Provide a monthly economic bonus to every man, woman and child in America (similar to social security for all)

4. Free education (including post-grad) for everyone

5. Salary for attending school

6. Eliminate federal taxes on business

7. Increase the standard income tax deduction, annually.

8. Tax the very rich (the “.1%”) more, with higher progressive tax rates on all forms of income.

9. Federal ownership of all banks

10. Increase federal spending on the myriad initiatives that benefit America’s 99.9%

The Ten Steps will grow the economy and narrow the income/wealth/power Gap between the rich and the rest.

MONETARY SOVEREIGNTY

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