Trump University; Trump Institute. The beat goes on.

You may have heard about Trump University, the pretend university that was supposed to teach innocent victims students all of Donald (“The Art of the Con”) Trump’s business secrets, in exchange for thousands in tuition.

That so-called “university” is gone now, as is the money Trump’s victims students paid into it, leaving behind a trail of lawsuits.

But, have you heard about the Trump Institute and Mike and Irene Milin?

The Daily Beast: Trump’s Get Rich Seminar Partnered With Couple Prosecuted for Fraud

When Donald Trump was setting up Trump Institute, he turned to Mike and Irene Milin, who were known to law enforcement officials for a host of get-rich-quick schemes and alleged real estate scams.

They were prosecuted by the Texas attorney general for deceptive trade practices, and sued by the makers of Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous, to name just two of the Milins’ many legal entanglements.

The Milins’ oft-investigated National Grants Conferences, in effect, became the blueprint for Trump Institute.

The two seminar businesses used some of the same speakers and shared office space in Boca Raton, Florida.

“Trump Institute operated itself in much the same manner as National Grants Conferences”: After a promise of easy riches and a free seminar, customers were cajoled into doling out more and more money to get the key to unlocking wealth.

Of course. Who else would Trump turn to for help but hucksters? Does the phrase “birds of a feather” come to mind?

The Milins launched National Grants Conferences in 1998, promising customers lucrative grants from the government, which they could not fulfill.

Before that, the couple basically got run out of each state in which they set up a different iteration of the same shady practice.

Similarly, Trump Institute promised to make people into savvy real estate investors, thanks to advice from The Donald himself. The customers never met the straw-haired impresario, however. They only got to see a cardboard cutout of his likeness.

NGC went bankrupt just two years after the partnership began, after being dogged by a major complaint from 34 attorneys general across the United States.

Trump University would also earn a reputation as a fraud operation and both New York State and former students have brought charges against the Republican frontrunner as a result.

Part of Trump Institute’s education materials, supposedly based on Trump’s “wisdom”, were actually plagiarized from an obscure 1995 real estate textbook.

Read the linked articles if you want a more in-depth understanding of Trump’s serial con jobs.

Trump University, Trump Institute, Mike and Irene Millin — ah, Donald Trump is a true American treasure, the closest thing to P.T. Barnum since . . . well, since P.T. Barnum.

“There’s a sucker born every minute,” and they are voting for Trump to be President of the United States.

How did the Republican Party, those uber-religious people who congratulated themselves on their honesty and family values, manage to nominate a wife-cheater, con-artist bigot to be their candidate?

It began with Nixon’s Southern Strategy and the rise of the Tea Party, both of which eliminated any pretense of being the “moral majority.”

But that’s another story.

Rodger Malcolm Mitchell
Monetary Sovereignty

==========================================================================

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 afford better health care than 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 AN ECONOMIC BONUS TO EVERY MAN, WOMAN AND CHILD IN AMERICA, AND/OR EVERY STATE, A PER CAPITA ECONOMIC BONUS (The JG (Jobs Guarantee) vs the GI (Guaranteed Income) vs the EB) 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 EVERYONEFive 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 benefiting 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 CORPORATE TAXES
Corporations themselves exist only as legalities. They don’t pay taxes or pay for anything else. They are dollar-tranferring machines. They transfer dollars from customers to employees, suppliers, shareholders and the government (the later having no use for those dollars).
Any tax on corporations reduces the amount going to employees, suppliers and shareholders, which diminishes the economy. Ultimately, all corporate taxes come around and reappear as deductions from 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 corporate taxes would be an 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

The vast, unrecognized power of Monetary Sovereignty: Where do we go from here?

Consider this short article to be a “where-do-we-go-from-here” think piece.

The UK has voted to leave the European Union. The EU bankers, hoping to discourage the departure of their cash cows (aka “EU member nations”), will debate the best ways to exact the most excruciating vengeance on the UK.

What the UK has done is what all nations should do: Preserve its national sovereignty, particularly its Monetary Sovereignty (MS).

The euro nations committed a devastating error by exchanging their sovereign currencies and their government financial prerogatives for the mouthful of ashes known as the EU. They looked at the EU, and said, “Take me,” and taken them the EU gladly has — taken them for huge sums of money, while the populace suffers.

The EU even has taken over the political sovereignty of its member nations. Read this denial in the Politico web site:

There are no imminent plans to create an EU army. The creation of EU headquarters would integrate national operational headquarters and command-and-control centers, facilitate planning and enhance coordination of civilian and military EU missions.

“. . . integrate national operational headquarters and command-and-control centers, facilitate planning and enhance coordination of civilian and military EU missions” is exactly what America’s Pentagon does. It is the definition of military headquarters.

The EU doesn’t need to “create” an army. Armies already exist. All the EU wants to do is to run those heretofore national armies.

The euro nations did not (and most nations, including the UK, still do not) recognize the vast power of their political and Monetary Sovereignty:

  1. An MS nation never can run short of its own sovereign currency. It has the unlimited power to pay any invoice and service any debt denominated in its currency.

    The cities, counties, states, businesses, and individuals of a nation are monetarily NON-sovereign, and do not own the powers of MS.

  2. An MS nation has the unlimited power to protect the value of its sovereign currency (inflation) by regulating both the Supply and the Demand for that currency. Demand is a function of Risk and Reward, and the Reward for owning a currency is Interest.

    That is why the Fed raises interest rates, i.e increases the Reward when inflation looms.

  3. An MS nation never needs any sort of income. It never needs to levy taxes if the ostensible purpose is to pay for goods and services. It pays its bills by creating its sovereign currency, ad hoc. (Certain taxes can have economic control functions, but all taxes disappear upon receipt.)

    An MS nation also never needs to borrow or to earn a profit.

  4. An MS nation never needs austerity, i.e the reduction in deficit spending or the creation of “balanced budgets.” On the contrary, deficit spending is the method by which an MS nation creates national prosperity, and balanced budgets create recessions and depressions.

    An MS nation has the unlimited power to prevent those recessions and depressions.

  5. An MS nation has the power to eliminate poverty and to support a middle class, and to narrow the Gap between the rich and the rest. (See: The Ten Steps to Prosperity).

    An MS nation has the unlimited power to feed, clothe, house, educate, and protect the health of its people in two ways: By a direct infusion of cash to the populace (a la Social Security) and by paying businesses to provide services to the populace (a la Medicare).

  6. An MS nation has the unlimited power to maintain and modernize its infrastructure, and to fund research and development in all fields of science and technology.
  7. While individual businesses may benefit from export, an MS nation has no need to export. Exporting involves sending the fruits of scarce and valuable labor and physical assets to other nations, in exchange for money, of which the MS nation has an unlimited supply.

    (Imagine manufacturing automobiles and sending them abroad in exchange for air.)

These are the fundamental facts, and the vast, largely unrecognized powers of Monetary Sovereignty.

And now, allow us to drift to speculation. Where do we go from here?

……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

Monetary Sovereignty is the most valuable asset any nation can have. Like all assets, some of its value lies in its scarcity. Some nations don’t have it, and none seems to recognize its power.

If every nation not only were MS, but had leaders who understood and used the powers of MS, fewer nations would be motivated to exchange their scarce goods and services for money, i.e. there would be less motivation to export. (Why trade scarce resources for money that can be created freely?)

MS nations simply could support their own businesses and their economies without the need to ship scarce resources abroad.

(The U.S. consistently runs huge trade deficits — import more than we export — yet never runs short of dollars. Its Monetary Sovereignty allows it to create unlimited, economically stimulative dollars, to replace the dollars sent abroad.)

Though MS nations do not need to export, they all need to import, which with every nation being MS, could create a conundrum: No nation needing to export, but every nation needing to import.

In such a case, nations might be tempted to return to barter — nations paying for foreign goods and services, with domestic goods and services.

But because barter is inefficient, the world could invent a common, scarce product (CSP), for instance — dare I say it? — gold, silver, platinum and the like, to act as a surrogate for barter.

(The euro was sold as a CSP controlled by the EU. It might have worked had the financial merger of European nations been supported by a political merger, i.e. a United States of Europe. In such an arrangement, the citizens and their states (not greed-driven bankers) would have had a voting voice in the use of their money.

This is not to say a united states of “anything” is a perfect solution. Far from it, especially if expanded to encompass the entire world. The notion of one-world-rule is frightening to contemplate.)

When a CSP is inconvenient to use, as are the metals, credits based on CSP are created. Thus, one might visualize a bifurcated money system, with CSP credits being the currency of international trade, and sovereign currencies being used locally.

Yet, even that clear division would not endure, as sovereign currencies inevitably would be exchanged with CSP credits. This would bring us right back to the fact that Monetarily Sovereign nations could produce and acquire CSP credits in unlimited amounts, thus reducing the motivation for export.

The same would be true for an international currency, like bitcoin.

In the future, not just nations, but smaller political entities — states, counties, cities, even businesses and individuals — could become Monetarily Sovereign. Small, tentative steps have been taken, the missing link being widespread acceptance.

(Visualize McDonald’s wishing to stimulate sales, so it issues millions of $0.10-off electronic coupons for the purchase of any McDonald’s products. Is McDonald’s sovereign over the coupons? Is there a limit to McDonald’s issuance of the coupons? Are the coupons money?

Where are we headed and where will it all end? There never may be an ending point: Money may continue to evolve, as each solution begets a new problem. Clearly, the citizens of the first nations to discover and use the power of MS will benefit most.

Equally clear, the “secret” will not remain hidden. It is out there today, for all to see — the solution to many of our financial and personal problems.

If those problems are hunger, homelessness, poverty, illiteracy, disease, scientific progress, the infrastructure, the environment, and/or the Gap between the rich and the rest, Monetary Sovereignty provides solutions.

We have only to understand it and have the will to use it.

=Rodger Malcolm Mitchell
Monetary Sovereignty

=======================================================================================================================================================================================================================================================================================================

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 afford better health care than 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 AN ECONOMIC BONUS TO EVERY MAN, WOMAN AND CHILD IN AMERICA, AND/OR EVERY STATE, A PER CAPITA ECONOMIC BONUS (The JG (Jobs Guarantee) vs the GI (Guaranteed Income) vs the EB) 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 EVERYONEFive 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 benefiting 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 CORPORATE TAXES
Corporations themselves exist only as legalities. They don’t pay taxes or pay for anything else. They are dollar-tranferring machines. They transfer dollars from customers to employees, suppliers, shareholders and the government (the later having no use for those dollars).
Any tax on corporations reduces the amount going to employees, suppliers and shareholders, which diminishes the economy. Ultimately, all corporate taxes come around and reappear as deductions from 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 corporate taxes would be an 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

The myths of “Crowding out”

Reader “CharlesD” bemoaned the difficulty he has had explaining Monetary Sovereignty to Congresspeople. (I feel your pain, Charles.)

He mentioned the “non-partisan” Congressional Budget Offices use of “crowding out” hypothesis,as one of the arguments against the increased federal deficit spending that is inherent in Monetary Sovereignty and the Ten Steps to Prosperity (below).

So far as the CBO being “non-partisan,” the Speaker of the House of Representatives and the president pro tempore of the Senate jointly appoint the CBO Director. The rest of CBO’s staff, including the Deputy Director, are appointed by the Director.

Is it possible to be more partisan than that?

Anyway, partisanship makes little difference, because both political parties and all political directions — right, center, and left — subscribe to the same “crowding out” myths, of which there are several:

Myth I. Federal debt supposedly “crowds out” private debt

From Investopedia: “Because large governments have the power to borrow large sums of money, doing so can actually have a substantial impact on the real interest rate, raising it by a significant degree.

This has the effect of absorbing the economy’s lending capacity and of discouraging businesses from engaging in capital projects.

A. The U.S. government does not borrow, nor does it need to.  What erroneously is termed “federal borrowing” actually is the issuance of T-securities.  Federal “debt” is the total of T-security accounts at the Federal Reserve Bank — similar to bank savings accounts.

In essence, “crowding out” hypothesis proposes that these bank account deposits crowd out lending, a strange idea, indeed.

B. The federal government pays its bills by creating new dollars, ad hoc.  To pay a creditor, each federal agency sends instructions (not dollars) to the creditor’s bank, instructing the bank to increase the balance in the creditor’s checking account.  When the bank does as instructed, dollars are created and added to the economy.

C. Interest rates are determined by the Fed, and evolve from the federal funds target rate, which the Fed arbitrarily sets.

D. Issuing T-securities does not “absorb the economy’s lending capacity.” The federal government does not borrow from banks. The federal government issues T-securities, having no effect on any bank’s lending capacity (which is determined by bank capital).

Myth II. Social welfare programs supposedly “crowd out” private spending.

From Investopedia: Crowding out may also take place because of social welfare, unlikely as this may seem, though indirectly.

This happens when governments raise taxes in order to fund the introduction of new welfare programs or the expansion of existing ones.

With higher taxes, individuals and businesses are left with less discretionary income to spend, specifically on charitable donations toward social welfare or other causes that the government is also funding.

A. Federal spending adds dollars to the economy, thereby increasing the private sector’s discretionary income.

B. A Monetarily Sovereign government’s taxes do not fund the government’s spending. Even if all U.S. federal tax collections fell to $0, the federal government could continue spending, forever.

C. For monetarily non-sovereign (state and local) governments, taxes do fund spending, but that spending goes back into the economy. Local taxing does not create a net change in individuals’ and businesses’ discretionary income.

Ironically, the “crowding out” false claim is that federal spending on social programs crowds out private spending — on social programs.

Myth III. Government-funded infrastructure development projects can discourage privately funded infrastructure programs.

From Investopedia: Another form of crowding out can occur because of government-funded infrastructure development projects, which can discourage private enterprise from taking place in the same area of the market by making it undesirable or even unprofitable.

This often occurs with bridges and other roads, as government-funded development discourages companies from building toll roads or from engaging in other similar projects.

For example, if Build-It Infrastructure Corp. is thinking about building a bridge across the San Francisco Bay and has structured the project’s profit model around charging tolls for cars crossing the bridge, the announcement of a government-funded bridge project in the area will likely prevent Build-It’s project from taking place, as their toll bridge will likely not be able to compete with a free, publicly funded one.

A. Whatever the government does, it can “crowd out” a private company from doing the same thing. Instead, the government may hire a different private company to do the work.

In the “Build-It” example given above, the government usually will hire Build-It or one of its competitors to build the bridge. The government itself does very little of its own work, but generally finances private industry to do the work.

For example, the entire defense industry is built on federal financing. No “crowding out” there.

B. When the government does the work, it usually is because of control and risk. A classic example is NASA, which was funded and controlled by the government, for important political reasons.

Even here, however, the majority of NASA’s work is done by private contractors, who were relieved of the risk inherent in rocketry. Now, many years after the moon missions, private industry has learned enough from NASA’s experiences, the current risk seems acceptable.

Rather than “crowding out” private industry, NASA supported private industry and created an information base which private industry now is using.

Further, NASA pays the private sector (i.e. individual employees) to do the work, and these employees spend their money with private industry.

We have quoted the myths from Investopedia, but in all fairness, Investopedia does mention (at the end of its article) the other side of the story:

On the other hand, macroeconoic theories like Chartalism and Post-Keynesianism hold that in a modern economy operating significantly below capacity, government borrowing can actually increase demand by improving employment, thereby stimulating private spending as well.

This process is often referred to as “crowding in,” (which) has gained some currency among economists in recent years after it was noted that during the Great Recession of 2008 enormous spending on the part of the United States federal government on bonds and other securities actually had the effect of reducing interest rates.

Almost, but not quite.

Enormous spending by the federal government on products and services pumped dollars into the economy, which stimulated the economy.

Simultaneously, the Fed lower interest rates, by fiat, which in fact, did not stimulate the economy, and may have had a recessive effect. (See: The Low Interest Rate / GDP Growth Fallacy.)

Low rates cause the Federal Government to pay less interest on T-securities. Thus fewer dollars are pumped into the economy, an economic recessive.

Summary: The “crowding out” hypothesis demonstrates ignorance of economic reality and particularly of Monetary Sovereignty.

Save this article for the next time someone mentions the “crowding out” myth.

=Rodger Malcolm Mitchell
Monetary Sovereignty
===================================================================================
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 afford better health care than 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 AN ECONOMIC BONUS TO EVERY MAN, WOMAN AND CHILD IN AMERICA, AND/OR EVERY STATE, A PER CAPITA ECONOMIC BONUS (The JG (Jobs Guarantee) vs the GI (Guaranteed Income) vs the EB) 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 EVERYONEFive 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 benefiting 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 CORPORATE TAXES
Corporations themselves exist only as legalities. They don’t pay taxes or pay for anything else. They are dollar-tranferring machines. They transfer dollars from customers to employees, suppliers, shareholders and the government (the later having no use for those dollars).
Any tax on corporations reduces the amount going to employees, suppliers and shareholders, which diminishes the economy. Ultimately, all corporate taxes come around and reappear as deductions from 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 corporate taxes would be an 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.
=================================================================================================================================================================================================================================

A letter to our good friends, the British

Dear friends,

Congratulations on ridding yourselves of the unelected, wealthy bankers who have been running your country without your say so.

We discussed this at “What will Brexit mean”? and at “Brexit: How Obama bailed, then failed”

Be assured that your newfound freedom of self-determination has angered and frightened the above-mentioned wealthy bankers. They will not relinquish you, their cash cow, lightly.

During the weeks and months to come, you will be subject to repeated pressures to reverse your vote.

For example:

(LONDON)— Standard & Poor’s has stripped the United Kingdom of its top credit grade in the wake of the vote to leave the European Union.

The rating agency downgraded the country’s sovereign rating by two notches, from AAA to AA, saying the vote is a “seminal event” that “will lead to a less predictable, stable and effective policy framework in the U.K.”

It is also keeping a negative outlook on the rating, which means it could downgrade the country further.

It added in a report published Monday that the outlook reflects the risk to the economy and public finances, as well as the pound’s role as an international reserve currency.

It also cited “risks to the constitutional and economic integrity of the U.K.” as Scotland’s strong vote to remain in the EU could raise the prospect of another referendum on Scottish independence.

Do you see what is happening here?  S&P, which is owned by the rich, has begun the drumbeat for a reversal of Brexit.

And everything it says is lies.

  1. There is not a “less predictable, stable policy framework.” Quite the opposite, without the EU ruling for itself rather than for the people of Britain, policy should be more predictable.There will be no contradictions of motive. All decisions can be for the people, and the profitability of the ECB will not be an divisive issue.
  2. And here comes the threat: “It could downgrade the country further.” (Come back under our thumb, or else we’ll cut your credit rating — OR ELSE.)
  3. “The pound’s role as an international reserve currency” is a truly ironic concern. Where was this concern when the EU wanted Britain to leave the pound and join those tragic unfortunates who surrendered the single most valuable asset any nations have — their Monetary Sovereignty?In any event, leaving the EU will not affect the pound’s role as an international reserve currency. It actually will boost the pound’s role by strengthening the British economy.
  4. Then even more irony: ” . . . risks to the constitutional and economic integrity of the U.K.” Where in the constitution does it say that unelected, wealthy bankers and their compliant clerks should rule and overrule your constitutionally elected government?What is the “economic integrity” of having foreigners run your government?

S&P supposedly measures creditworthiness, i.e. the ability and willingness to service one’s debts. How has leaving the grasp of the EU bankers reduced Britain’s ability and willingness to service its debts?

(S&P is one of the rating organizations that reduced America’s credit rating below that of corporations domiciled in America! Think of what would befall the credit rating of those corporations should America ever fail to pay its debts.)

S&P relies on the goodwill of the rich for its business.

The S&P action is a fraud, funded by the rich. Any politician, economists or media who claim otherwise, also are frauds.

(As in America, the rich bribe your politicians with campaign contributions; the rich bribe the media via ownership; and the rich bribe the university economists with contributions to schools.)

The rich are afraid that if there are any future exits from the EU, there will begin an exit stampede of cash cows. The bankers will say anything and do anything to continue the milking.

Then, there is this article:

How Brexit Threatens to Turn the UK Into “Borisland”

Brexit is about much more than frustration about the E.U. and immigration.

It is about a shortage of decent and secure jobs; an impossibly precarious labour market; inexplicable inequalities in incomes and wealth; closed access to affordable education, and a terrible deficiency of affordable housing.

And it is about British Chancellor of the Exchequer Osborne’s single-minded austerity economics and the rule-free and tax-free space created for big banks and corporations.

Decision-making in the European Union symbolizes a largely unaccountable, elitist and undemocratic system, which is why Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn was half-hearted in his support for a Remain vote.

The recent examples of Greece, Spain and other southern European countries, all in a Brussels-induced economic lockdown, speak volumes against the political feasibility of “reforming the European Union from within.”

The sovereignty regained at the cost of deeply dividing the nation is unlikely to produce the more socially just and economically inclusive Britain that many voters sought.

The hopes of progressives are likely to be betrayed as Britain is turned into “Borisland” – a deindustrializing nation suffering from sluggish productivity growth, growing in-work poverty and rising inequalities, and with government in permanent austerity mode.

At long last, Britain has regained its Monetary Sovereignty.. Your leaders have the ability to benefit only you.

They do not need to cowtow to the greedy, foreign bankers, who care nothing for the people, but only for their own purses.

Sadly, your leaders have lied to you that austerity is necessary for economic growth, when exactly the opposite is true.

A growing economy requires a growing money supply. Austerity is like applying leeches to cure anemia.

To accomplish economic growth and citizen wellbeing, the national government of a Monetarily Sovereign government must add to the money supply. That is, your government always must run deficits, and larger the deficits the greater will be your Gross Domestic Product.  

GDP =  Government Spending + Non-government Spending + Net Exports

You will be told falsely that deficits are “unsustainable” and will cause inflation. But for a Monetarily Sovereign nation, no deficit of any size is “unsustainable,” and inflation is contained via interest rate control.

You have won the first battle, but the war remains in jeopardy. You will have to fight those outsiders, who wish to subjugate you, and to resume bleeding your economy.

And you will have to fight those insiders,  who will try to impose austerity.

The outsiders and the insiders are directed by the rich, whose sole motive is to brainwash you into allowing them to line their pockets with British gold.

Don’t allow it to happen.

Good luck to you.

=Rodger Malcolm Mitchell
Monetary Sovereignty

===================================================================================
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 afford better health care than 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 AN ECONOMIC BONUS TO EVERY MAN, WOMAN AND CHILD IN AMERICA, AND/OR EVERY STATE, A PER CAPITA ECONOMIC BONUS (The JG (Jobs Guarantee) vs the GI (Guaranteed Income) vs the EB) 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 EVERYONEFive 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 benefiting 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 CORPORATE TAXES
Corporations themselves exist only as legalities. They don’t pay taxes or pay for anything else. They are dollar-tranferring machines. They transfer dollars from customers to employees, suppliers, shareholders and the government (the later having no use for those dollars).
Any tax on corporations reduces the amount going to employees, suppliers and shareholders, which diminishes the economy. Ultimately, all corporate taxes come around and reappear as deductions from 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 corporate taxes would be an 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