Author: Rodger Malcolm Mitchell

MBA Northwestern, business turnaround expert, economist

Restore American Gory

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

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We were entertained by Trump-hats reading, “Make America Great Again.”

Then incredibly creative minds came up with:

Major Gun Rights Bill Headed for Republican Congress
Posted On 09 Jan 2017

Conservative voters are counting on Donald Trump and a Republican Congress to protect the Second Amendment, but a new bill from North Carolina Rep. Richard Hudson could indicate a much more aggressive agenda for the 115th Congress.

Hudson has introduced a national reciprocity bill that would force every U.S. state to recognize concealed-carry licenses issued in other states – a law that gun-rights groups have wanted for years.

The right-wing always is hyper-concerned about states’ rights, unless the states actually use those rights. Then, as we have discovered, shooting rights are far more important than any other rights.

“Your driver’s license works in every state, so why doesn’t your concealed-carry permit?” Hudson asked in a fact sheet accompanying the bill.

Uh, well . . . could it be that the citizens of some states don’t want a bunch of lunatics carrying guns everywhere?

The purpose of the bill isn’t necessarily to change local and state laws by federal decree, but rather to prevent situations where gun owners are arrested for unintentionally violating another state’s laws.

Actually, the purpose of the bill IS to change local and state laws by federal decree. That’s the whole idea.

It has the support of the NRA, which released a statement approving of Hudson’s legislation.

What a surprise.  The NRA favors guns over states rights. The NRA favors guns over all rights.

“Law-abiding citizens should be able to exercise their fundamental right to self-defense while traveling across state lines,” said the organization’s Chris Cox. “This is an extremely important issue to our members and we thank Congressman Hudson for leading the fight to protect our rights.”

Yes, what could possibly go wrong with gun-runners . . . uh, people carrying guns across state lines — even into airplanes, for instance? Of course, that never would happen.

The bill should have no trouble passing the House, but it could run into problems in the Senate where Republicans have a much slimmer majority. Passing legislation requires 60 votes, and the GOP only has 52 seats under their control.

There are a few Democrats who could potentially be persuaded to support a bill like this, but we’ll see. The party is in fight mode right now, so it may be obstruction as far as the eye can see.

What?? A political party devoted solely to obstruction?  Whoever heard of such a thing?

Democrats would actually do themselves a big favor by supporting this bill, though. It’s a harmless law and it’s common sense.

The party could find a way to support it without dropping their gun control messaging, and it would be an olive branch to gun owners after the disastrous Obama years.

Yes, just a harmless little law. Hardly even worth discussion.

And the states still could have gun control, except they couldn’t control guns any more than the most gun-crazy of all 50 states.

Yep, other than that, the states would have complete control.

But wait, why limit it to state law.  How about a law to force every U.S. city to recognize concealed-carry licenses issued in other cities. 

So, if Flaming Nape, TX, passes a law requiring every citizen to carry a gun, all American cities would be bound by that law.

After all, your driver’s license works in all cities.  We don’t want gun owners arrested for unintentionally violating another city’s laws, do we?

Unfortunately, there’s no indication that Democrats are interested in pulling themselves out of the far-left bubble they’ve built for themselves, so don’t hold your breath.

Oh, that terrible “far-left bubble” — you know. It’s the “bubble” that brought America the disastrous Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, civil rights bills, anti-poverty bills, equal education, the Voting Rights Act, aids to the arts, urban renewal, rural development, etc. — all that “far-left bubble” stuff the right-wing did its best to protect America from.

But those rights don’t compare in importance with the one BIGGEST right — the right to shoot at someone who pisses you off, kill a few innocent bystanders, and claim self-defense afterward.

That’s what the founders meant when they wrote “well-regulated militia.”

Question: What problem is this law intended to solve? Not enough guns in America? Not enough shootings in the most gun-crazy nation on earth? Not enough deaths and woundings from bullets?

Have millions more guns really protected us as the NRA promised? Have millions more people carrying guns made us safer? Does the idea even work?

So, O.K., let’s just do it.  Begin with allowing “law-abiding” people to carry a gun into Congress.

Then, if that seems to work without problems, then later we can expand it to allowing “law-abiding” defendants to carry guns into trials. (Why not? They haven’t yet been convicted of anything.)

Follow it up with allowing “law-abiding” people to carry guns into statehouses and into governors’ mansions, and “law-abiding” visitors to take guns into jails, and “law-abiding” kids to carry guns to kindergarten.

Baby steps, first — as long as they’re “law-abiding.”

Let’s keep America gory.

Rodger Malcolm Mitchell
Monetary Sovereignty

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THE LAWS

•Those, who do not understand the differences between Monetary Sovereignty and monetary non-sovereignty, do not understand economics.

•Any monetarily NON-sovereign government — be it city, county, state or nation — that runs an ongoing trade deficit, eventually will run out of money.

•The more federal budgets are cut and taxes increased, the weaker an economy becomes..

•No nation can tax itself into prosperity, nor grow without money growth.

•Cutting federal deficits to grow the economy is like applying leeches to cure anemia.

•A growing economy requires a growing supply of money (GDP = Federal Spending + Non-federal Spending + Net Exports)

•Deficit spending grows the supply of money

•The limit to federal deficit spending is an inflation that cannot be cured with interest rate control. The limit to non-federal deficit spending is the ability to borrow.

•Until the 99% understand the need for federal deficits, the upper 1% will rule.

•Progressives think the purpose of government is to protect the poor and powerless from the rich and powerful. Conservatives think the purpose of government is to protect the rich and powerful from the poor and powerless.

•The single most important problem in economics is the Gap between the rich and the rest.

•Austerity is the government’s method for widening the Gap between the rich and the rest.

•Until the 99% understand the need for federal deficits, the upper 1% will rule.

•Everything in economics devolves to motive, and the motive is the Gap between the rich and the rest..

MONETARY SOVEREIGNTY

Er, ah . . . about that wall, what I really meant was . . .

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

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For those of you who elected Donald Trump because he promised to do something you wanted done — Good morning. Wake up. You’ve been scammed, again. And he isn’t even President, yet.

Breaking Campaign Promise, Trump Now Says U.S. Taxpayers Will Pay for Border Wall. Posted on Jan 6, 2017, By Nika Knight

President-elect Donald Trump’s transition team has signaled to Republicans in Congress that Trump would like to fund his infamous planned U.S.-Mexico border wall through the Congressional appropriations process in April, House Republican officials told CNN Thursday.

In doing so, the president-elect appears poised to break one of his core anti-immigrant campaign promises: that Trump would build a wall to “keep the Mexicans out,” and that Mexico would pay for it. (Early in his presidential campaign, he even promised to force Mexico to build the wall.)

Early Friday morning, Trump defended his move on Twitter by alleging that Mexico would pay the U.S. back for the cost of building the wall:

✔ @realDonaldTrump
The dishonest media does not report that any money spent on building the Great Wall (for sake of speed), will be paid back by Mexico later!

Mexico’s president has vociferously and repeatedly said that the country will not pay for Trump’s promised wall. “We’re not going to pay for that fucking wall,” former president Vicente Fox added last March

On Twitter, commentators were swift to poke fun at Trump’s plan:

✔ @wkamaubell
“Hello Mexico, it’s Trump. I’m ready for you to pay for that wall… Remember the wall we discussed. Hello? Hello?”

When it comes to funding the wall through taxpayer dollars, Republicans “are considering whether to tuck the border wall funding into a must-pass spending bill that must be enacted by the end of April,” Politico reported Thursday.

Congressional Republicans therefore believe that appropriating funds for the wall, expected to run into the billions, will pass easily, arguing that Democrats “would fall in line [when] faced with the choice of funding the wall or shutting down the government,” reports The Hill.

So Mexico will pay for the wall, as Trump promised, except they will pay for it “later.” Right. Later.

And the Republicans will “tuck the funding” into another bill, and force the Democrats to approve the billions of dollars needed to pay for the wall because the Democrats are adults who don’t want to shut down the government, while the Republicans are children who don’t care.  What an admission!

Aren’t these the same Republicans who claim the government can’t afford to spend on Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, food stamps, education and other social programs? Isn’t the federal government “broke” as the previous Republican speaker of the House claimed?

Hmmm . . . In Trump’s world, there is plenty of money for a wall, but not enough for America’s poor and middle classes.

Ah, the Donald and his lies. They flow from his mouth like poop from a goose. Who are these people who still pay attention to his lies — even believe them?

He promised to show his tax returns.  That never happened.  He said he never groped women; then there was that tape of him saying he did.

And ask the students at Trump University about the Donald’s lies. They learned a lesson at that “school” — a lesson they never will forget (nor will he, after all the law suits finish).

I feel bad for all folks who were suckered into voting for him. They are the world’s patsies, the schmendricks. They are the people sending money to that Nigerian prince, who promised them millions.

They are the people who open the door to the guy who claims to have an extra truckload of asphalt, and will redo their driveway at a bargain price.

They are the people who pay a 2% annual fee on that 401K plan their company cooked up for them.  They are the dupes and doormats for the rich, buying lottery tickets they can’t really afford, then lying awake at night, dreaming about what they will do with the money.

They believe Trump’s lies, knowing in their hearts that he is lying, but hoping, hoping that somehow this time he is telling the truth.

Their disappointments will keep coming. But, to excuse their own gullibility, they will fall back on the all-purpose, “Hillary is worse,” line. “He was the lesser of two evils,” they will tell themselves, though in fact, he will prove to be the worst, ever.

You should pray for Trump’s cheated followers, while Trump and his billionaire .1% friends prey on them.

In a way, I wish the Donald would build that wall. It would be pitiful, almost laughable, as a defense against a Mexican invasion, but it would require that the federal government pump billions of stimulus dollars into the economy.

And if the public ever begins to understand Monetary Sovereignty, those could be billions of additional stimulus dollars, which would employ thousands of workers and benefit everyone — especially the rich contractors.

All things considered though, dollars invested in the Ten Steps to Prosperity (below) would accomplish more for the 99.9%.  If only the people wanted to understand.

Rodger Malcolm Mitchell
Monetary Sovereignty

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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 AN ANNUAL 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 benefitting the nation is the purpose of the federal government, which has the unlimited ability to pay for K-16 and beyond.
5. SALARY FOR ATTENDING SCHOOL
Even were schooling to be completely free, many young people cannot attend, because they and their families cannot afford to support non-workers. In a foundering boat, everyone needs to bail, and no one can take time off for study.
If a young person’s “job” is to learn and be productive, he/she should be paid to do that job, especially since that job is one of America’s most important.
6. ELIMINATE CORPORATE TAXES
Corporations themselves exist only as legalities. They don’t pay taxes or pay for anything else. They are dollar-transferring 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 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

At what point did conservatism morph into bigotry?

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

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When a black person commits a crime against a white person, you can depend on leading conservative voices to crawl out from under their rocks to change the situation from an individual criminal issue into an overall bigotry excuse — a good reason to “crack down” on every black.

Bigots with urging by the likes of the Ku Klux Klan, racist governors,  brutal sheriffs, national politicians and conservative media pundits like Fox and Breitbart, never let an opportunity for hatred go by without a call for violence.

And so it continues:

Facebook beating of disabled white teen becomes conservative rallying cry
By Kim Janssen, Contact Reporter, Chicago Tribune

A depraved attack on a mentally disabled white teen broadcast live on Facebook allegedly by four black Chicago-area residents became a national rallying cry Thursday for conservative pundits who tried to pin the blame for the attack — without evidence — on the Black Lives Matter movement.

Shown repeatedly on cable TV and shared tens of thousands of times online, the grotesque video of the 18-year-old being cut with a knife in the scalp and forced to drink toilet water led familiar right-wing talking heads including Glenn Beck, Milwaukee County Sheriff David Clarke and others to call for increased charges and to find fault with what they characterized as excessively permissive policing.

Note the joy on reliable Glenn (“Jewfish get stinky”) Beck’s face, as he relishes yet another opportunity to promulgate his conservative bigotry.

What are Beck’s examples of “excessively permissive policing? ” He has none. Perhaps he would prefer lynch mobs?

Beck urged his 1.1 million Twitter followers to “Stand up with me and demand justice in Chicago for the beating of a disabled trump supporter by BLM,” also accusing the media of “blindly encouraging” similar crimes.

Clarke, appearing on Sean Hannity’s Fox News show Wednesday, cited the case as evidence that “Rahm Emanuel has allowed Black Lives Matter and the ACLU to run the Chicago Police Department.”

“Blindly encouraging,” says Beck as he encourages mob action.

What normal human being would link Black Lives Matter and the ACLU to the actions of four black kids? Only a perverted, hate-mongering personality like Beck and his ilk.

And now comes the ever-reliable Newt Gingrich, to add more fuel to the racist fire:

Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich told Fox News, “If this had been done to an African-American by four whites, every liberal in the country would be outraged, and there’d be no question but that it’s a hate crime.”

What makes Newt believe that liberals are not outraged by such a crime? Nothing. But he says it to rile up the mentally unstable, hungering for an excuse lash out.

And there’s more:

And after Chicago police, who are under a federal investigation of their policies and practices following their shooting of black teen Laquan McDonald, later Thursday charged four defendants with a hate crime, conservative author Mike Cernovich took a victory lap. He told his 185,000 followers that their activism had led to the charges.

“Sorry you are a loser with no impact,” Cernovich tweeted at an opponent who dared suggest that the case would have been charged as a hate crime without the conservative outcry.

Hmmm . . . A tweet calling someone a “loser.”  Now where have we seen that before?

See conservatives, it’s like this.  It is well known that American police hate whites, so even an atrocious crime like this would not have been prosecuted unless the conservative community voiced disapproval.

You believe that, right?

Police spokesman, Anthony Guglielmi, said investigators believe the man was targeted because he had special needs, not because he was white.

Obviously, Mr. Guglielmi hates whites. (Oh, he is?)

Do white on black crimes elicit a “punish all whites” response?  (Hint: That was a rhetorical question.)

As we posted in “The long-term solution to rampant crime,” The problems of poverty and crime are so intertwined, there can be no long-term solution to one without a long-term solution to the other. To find the long-term solutions to poverty, see the Ten Steps to Prosperity (below).

Anyway, conservatism is a political movement that has to do with preserving (“conserving”) traditions — in the present instance, American traditions. This would include freedom of religion, political freedom, financial prudence, strict obedience to laws, a strong military and foreign policy, and democracy.

Sounds reasonable, doesn’t it? 

So, exactly when did conservatism become America’s synonym for hatred and bigotry?

Rodger Malcolm Mitchell
Monetary Sovereignty

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

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 AN ANNUAL 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 benefitting the nation is the purpose of the federal government, which has the unlimited ability to pay for K-16 and beyond.
5. SALARY FOR ATTENDING SCHOOL
Even were schooling to be completely free, many young people cannot attend, because they and their families cannot afford to support non-workers. In a foundering boat, everyone needs to bail, and no one can take time off for study.
If a young person’s “job” is to learn and be productive, he/she should be paid to do that job, especially since that job is one of America’s most important.
6. ELIMINATE CORPORATE TAXES
Corporations themselves exist only as legalities. They don’t pay taxes or pay for anything else. They are dollar-transferring 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 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.

I don’t usually do this. Actually, I never have, but . . .

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

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I don’t usually do this. Actually, I never have, but . . .

Things are different now . . . different from any time in my 81 years. I never before have felt America was is such danger.

I was born during the Great Depression. America survived that awful time.

My America also survived Pearl Harbor, WWII, the Berlin Wall, the Cold War, Korea, Vietnam. We have survived crime, drugs, assinations, booms and busts.

We survived Roosevelt, Truman, Eisenhower, Kennedy, Johnson, Nixon, Ford, Carter, Reagan, Bush I, Clinton, Bush II, and Obama.  A couple were great; a few were awful. We survived.

But Donald Trump is something we never have faced — the worst in so many categories: Not just the worst lying, cheating, hate-mongering, greed-driven criminal, but a man who doesn’t even bother to pretend otherwise.

Scandals that would destroy any normal candidate are winked at by his followers.

Secret tax returns? Who cares?
Trump University scam? No problem.
Conflicts of interest? Just look away.
Cheating employees and creditors? Doesn’t everyone?
Putin hacked our government Emails? He’s my friend.

Having lost the popular vote by 3 million, he claims to have a mandate.  His goal: The unlimited power to enrich himself, his family and his pals, and he makes no bones about it.

And because he has proved to himself that he can say anything and do anything, without fear of punishment, he feels no need to conform to moral norms. He already has said that he could shoot someone in the middle of the street, and not lose followers.

Combine no moral deterrent with great power and his monstrous ego, and you have the most dangerous man ever to be blessed with the Presidency. He has the power and the desire to become something we Americans never have had to survive: A dictator.

So, I’m going to do two things I never have done before:

First, I ask you to watch two online shows, one right after the other. The beginning show is 20 minutes long; the second is just five minutes, and the first leads directly into the second. Just click this link: Resistance to Donald Trump taking shape.

Second, after you see those shows in their entirety, click this link: INDIVISIBLE: A practical guide for resisting the Trump agenda.

Yes, Trump won the Presidency.  And yes, the Republican party (whose first act was to try to destroy ethics rules) won Congress. But you are not helpless.

You have power, especially since you are at least 3 million in the majority. And the above two links will show you exactly how you can use your power.

To paraphrase an old expression: “If not this, what? If not now, when?”

Rodger Malcolm Mitchell
Monetary Sovereignty

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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 AN ANNUAL 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 benefitting the nation is the purpose of the federal government, which has the unlimited ability to pay for K-16 and beyond.
5. SALARY FOR ATTENDING SCHOOL
Even were schooling to be completely free, many young people cannot attend, because they and their families cannot afford to support non-workers. In a foundering boat, everyone needs to bail, and no one can take time off for study.
If a young person’s “job” is to learn and be productive, he/she should be paid to do that job, especially since that job is one of America’s most important.
6. ELIMINATE CORPORATE TAXES
Corporations themselves exist only as legalities. They don’t pay taxes or pay for anything else. They are dollar-transferring 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 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