Author: Rodger Malcolm Mitchell

MBA Northwestern, business turnaround expert, economist

Why has the ACLU recently gained so many members?

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

Why has the ACLU recently gained so many members? Read why it’s more than just Trump.

First, a little background:

ACLU, other groups report post-election surge of donations
By David Crary | AP November 15

NEW YORK — In the week since Donald Trump’s election, there’s been a dramatic surge in donations to the American Civil Liberties Union, Planned Parenthood, the Sierra Club and other progressive organizations which have pledged to resist any moves by the new administration that would undercut their causes.

The ACLU unleashed feisty fundraising appeals, including one warning that if Trump implemented certain campaign promises, “We’ll see him in court.”

The result, according to the ACLU, has been the largest surge of support in its 94-year history, including roughly 120,000 donations totaling more than $7.2 million.

“We’ll need to build up the most powerful legal organization mankind has ever known to fight for us over the next four years,” wrote HIV/AIDS and gay-rights activist Peter Staley, who pledged on his Facebook page to become a monthly ACLU donor.

The ACLU’s executive director, Anthony Romero, said the infusion of new funds would help in addressing several urgent priorities, including resisting possible mass deportation efforts, protecting the civil rights of transgender Americans, and preventing “stop-and-frisk” police policies from being adopted nationwide.

Since the election, Planned Parenthood has reported an unprecedented outpouring of support, with more than 128,000 people making donations. The organization said at least 20,000 of the donations made reference to Vice President-elect Mike Pence, who as a congressman and governor of Indiana has been an advocate of tough anti-abortion restrictions.

“We will never back down, and we will never stop providing the care our patients need,” said Planned Parenthood’s president, Cecile Richards.

The Sierra Club said it had registered 9,000 new monthly donors since the election — more than it had added from Jan. 1 until Election Day.

“We don’t feel helpless at all,” said Debbie Sease, the organization’s national campaigns director.

Other organizations reporting major increases in support included the NAACP, the National Immigration Law Center, and major LGBT-rights organizations, including the Human Rights Campaign and Lambda Legal. Lambda Legal said it received support from more than 1,000 first-time donors in the four days following the election.

The Anti-Defamation League, which combats anti-Semitism and other forms of bigotry, said donations surged 50-fold the day after the election.

Another beneficiary of the election results is ProPublica, an independent, nonprofit news organization that produces investigative public-interest journalism.

Richard Tofel, ProPublica’s president and founding general manager, said online donations increased sharply the day after the election, and then skyrocketed after John Oliver — on Sunday’s edition of his HBO show “Last Week Tonight” — urged viewers to support “actual journalism” produced by ProPublica and other outlets.

“There are a lot of people who, in response to the election, feel that they need to take some sort of civic action,” Tofel said.

The ACLU published an open letter to Trump. You can read the full letter here, but a couple excerpts are:

Specifically, you promised to:

– amass a deportation force to remove 11 million undocumented immigrants

– ban the entry of Muslims and institute aggressive surveillance programs targeting them

– restrict a woman’s right to abortion services

– reauthorize waterboarding and other forms of torture

– change our nation’s libel laws and restrict freedom of expression

These proposals are not simply unAmerican and wrong-headed. They are unlawful and unconstitutional, and would violate the First, Fourth, Fifth, Eighth, and Fourteenth Amendments of the Constitution, as well as other statutes and international treaties.

If you do not reverse course, you will have to contend with the full firepower of the ACLU at your every step.

Our staff of litigators and activists in every state, thousands of volunteers, and millions of supporters stand ready to fight against any encroachment on our cherished freedoms and rights.

One thing is certain: We will be vigilant every day of your tenure as president. And when you ultimately vacate the Oval Office, we will do likewise with your successor.

Now, here is the real answer to the title question, “Why has the ACLU recently gained so many members?

The Democratic Party long had been the protector of the “common man,” the underdog,  the downtrodden, the powerless, the so-called “99%.”

It was the progressive Democrats who brought us Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, civil rights laws, bans on racial discrimination, aids to education, aids to the impoverished, the “Voting Rights Act,” and the removal of racial origin quotas for immigration.

That was the progressive Democratic Party of Roosevelt, Truman, Kennedy, and Johnson.

That progressive Party no longer exists.

Today, the Democrats are the Party of Clinton and Obama, money-hungry conservatives in Democrats clothing, who have proved to be far more interested in protecting the .1% than in following any progressive agenda.

The current Democrats have been weak against the conservatives’ false narrative that the poor are “lazy takers,” who only want “free stuff,” while the rich are hard-working “makers.”

The current Democrats have lent support to the notion that Social Security and Medicare should be cut and FICA (America’s most regressive tax) increased.

The current Democrats have been weak against the Republican refusal to consider a Supreme Court nominee or the Republican states’ destruction of voting rights for people of color.

The current Democratic Party no longer can be relied upon to fight for civil rights or the less-than-affluent.

The current Democratic leaders are more interested in aiding rich banksters than in lifting the poor.

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

The Democratic Party has lost touch with its traditional progressive base.

And that is why we see the massive influx of membership and money to progressive-leaning organizations like ACLU, Planned Parenthood, the Sierra Club, and other progressive organizations.

We now have, in effect, a one-party system, with each party caring only about money and power rather than about people.

As a result, America now has elected the ultimate money/power President, a man who plans to chip away at the rights of the moneyless, powerless people the Democrats were supposed to represent.

If you lean progressive, the Democratic leadership will do nothing for you. Democrats have failed the progressives.

Until the Democrats find a strong leader in the Roosevelt, Truman, Kennedy, Johnson mold, you would be better served to join and contribute to the ACLU et al than to support yet another toady-to-the-rich conservative Democrat.

Hundreds of thousands now have made that decision. Many more will join them.

Rodger Malcolm Mitchell
Monetary Sovereignty

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

The single most important problems in economics involve the excessive income/wealth/power Gaps between the rich and the rest.

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 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-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

 

 

 

 

 

 

What next? Kristallnacht?

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

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

During the past two years, beginning well before Trump became President, we have published posts describing the uncanny resemblances between Donald Trump and Adolf Hitler — not their physical appearances, but their actions.

For example:

  1. Astounding similarities: Of whom does this remind you? It’s happening now
  2. Hitler in America. Why a bigot can win the Presidency
  3. What if Trump had won

and several others making similar comparisons.

Predictably, a reader has invoked Godwin’s law, to tell me that by mentioning the name “Hitler” I had “lost” the argument. (Not sure which “argument.”)

But, so long as “laws,” are being quoted, I feel compelled to put forth Sanayana’s: “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.”

And therein lies the problem, for I feel quite certain that Trump’s backers do not remember Hitler’s history, a history that should serve as an object lesson for all people.

If you take a moment to read just #1 (above), you immediately will see the frightening historical parallels between Hitler and Trump.

Here is yet another bit of history for your comparison:

Wikipedia:  In the 1920s, most German Jews were fully integrated into German society as German citizens.

Conditions for the Jews began to change after the appointment of Adolf Hitler as Chancellor of Germany on 30 January 1933

From its inception, Hitler’s régime moved quickly to introduce anti-Jewish policies.

Nazi propaganda singled out the 500,000 Jews in Germany, who accounted for only 0.86% of the overall population, as an enemy within who were responsible for Germany’s defeat in the First World War and for its subsequent economic disasters

Kristallnacht or the Night of Broken Glass, was a pogrom against Jews throughout Nazi Germany on 9–10 November 1938, carried out by paramilitary forces and German civilians.

German authorities looked on without intervening.

The name Kristallnacht comes from the shards of broken glass that littered the streets after Jewish-owned stores, buildings, and synagogues had their windows smashed.

Jewish homes, hospitals, and schools were ransacked, as the attackers demolished buildings with sledgehammers. Over 1,000 synagogues were burned and over 7,000 Jewish businesses destroyed or damaged.

The (British) Times wrote at the time: “No foreign propagandist bent upon blackening Germany before the world could outdo the tale of burnings and beatings, of blackguardly assaults on defenseless and innocent people, which disgraced that country yesterday.”

The pretext for the attacks was the assassination of the German diplomat Ernst vom Rath by Herschel Grynszpan, a German-born Polish Jew living in Paris.

Kristallnacht was followed by additional economic and political persecution of Jews, and is viewed by historians as part of Nazi Germany’s broader racial policy, and the beginning of the Final Solution and The Holocaust.

Some key points:

  1. Before Hitler, Jews lived peacefully as German citizens.
  2. Jews were an infinitesimal proportion of the German population
  3. Hitler’s regime introduced anti-Jewish policies
  4. The excuse for these policies was a crime by a Jew.
  5. Hitler’s propaganda inflamed the German people who committed atrocities on the Jews, their businesses, and their homes.
  6. Not mentioned in the article was the historical fact that disabled people received harsh treatment from Hitler, who felt they could not be part of his “blond beast, master race,” and
  7. Paul Joseph Goebbels was a German politician and Reich Minister of Propaganda of Nazi Germany, one of Adolf Hitler’s close associates and most devoted followers. He was known for his  deep, virulent antisemitism, which was evident in his publicly voiced views.
  8. Hitler rounded up the Jews and “deported” them to concentration camps.

Keep those points in mind as you read this:

Hate incidents spreading in wake of Trump win

On Friday, a Muslim-American high school teacher in central Georgia received a handwritten letter regarding her hijab.

“Your headscarf isn’t allowed anymore,” read the anonymous note. “Why don’t you tie it around your neck and hang yourself with it.”

On Saturday night, a church offering Spanish-language services in Silver Spring, Md., was vandalized with the message, “Trump nation. Whites only.”

And over the weekend, several college students at the New School in New York City awoke to find swastikas scrawled on their dorm-room doors.

These are just a few of the incidents of hate speech, harassment, and intimidation that have been reported in the wake of last week’s presidential election.

As of Friday evening, the Southern Poverty Law Center had counted 201 hate incidents in the first three days after the election, citing local news stories, social media posts and submissions through the SPLC’s website. By Monday, that number had more than doubled, to 437.

“We feel strongly that this outburst of hate crimes is directly related to Donald Trump’s victory,”Mark Potok, SPLC senior fellow, told Yahoo News, noting that “a very large proportion” of these cases included direct references to Donald Trump, his campaign or the presidential election.

“My feeling is that Trump absolutely encouraged this,” Potok said, referring to the divisive rhetoric — including the claim that most Mexican immigrants are “rapists” and “criminals,” his promise to “build a wall” on the United States’ southern border and a proposed ban on allowing Muslims to enter the the country — that came to define Trump’s White House campaign.

“The man has spent the better part of 18 months attacking minorities of all kinds, so it should hardly be a surprise that people who despise minorities are now celebrating and acting out,” he said.

In fact, the recent outpouring of animosity seems to fall in line with what the SPLC and other anti-discrimination groups have described as a rising tide of hate over the past year or so leading up to the election.

On Monday, the FBI released its annual report on hate crimes, which showed an overall rise in the number of incidents nationwide during 2015, driven in large part by a 67 percent increase in anti-Muslim attacks since 2014.

The president-elect has already outraged anti-discrimination groups with his selection of former Breitbart News chairman Stephen Bannon, CEO of the Trump campaign, as chief strategist to the Trump White House.

Several advocacy organizations have launched petitions urging Trump to dump Bannon, who is credited with transforming the conservative Breitbart News site into the mouthpiece of the white nationalist “alt-right” movement.

Now consider the parallels, point by point:

  1. Before Trump, Muslims lived peacefully in America
  2. Muslims are an infinitesimal proportion of America’s population.
  3. Trump introduced anti-Muslim policies
  4. The excuse for these policies is a comparatively small number of Muslim crimes
  5. Trump’s propaganda has inflamed Americans, who are beginning to commit atrocities on Muslims, their businesses, and their homes.
  6. Trump has mocked the disabled for their lack of “perfection.”  (He also mocks women who do not meet his standards of beauty.)
  7. Trump hired Stephen Bannon, the propagandist of the white nationalist “alt-right” movement, to be his chief strategist.
  8. Trump plans to round up Muslims and deport them to (concentration camps??)

The similarities cannot be doubted, nor can anyone doubt the disaster that befell Germany (and indeed all nations making bigotry a political imperative.)

Hatred is easy to sell; fools buy it.  Compassion is more difficult, which is why group hatred generally begins with the lowest-intelligent among us. (High IQs did not create the bigotries pictured above.)

Hatred also is quite contagious and difficult to control. It seeps into every pore of the population until no one is safe.

Finally, hatred tends to devolve to antisemitism. History has told that story countless times.

When things go badly for the Trump administration, you can be sure the bigotry Trump has sown will grow into a whirlwind of hatred for “that Jew, Jared Kushner, in the White House.” Ah, the irony.

So as our sad Hitlerian saga unwinds, we ask, “What next, Donald? Kristallnacht?”

Rodger Malcolm Mitchell
Monetary Sovereignty

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

LAWS

•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.

•Liberals 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 rich and the rest.

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

•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

MONETARY SOVEREIGNTY

Bernie Sanders says the right things — but fears the big one

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

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

In our previous post, published on 11/12/16, we wrote;

Do you remember those thousands of people attending Trump rallies? Do you remember how excited they were?

They were the Democratic base, though they didn’t realize it, and Trump was telling them what they wanted to hear.

They were the working class, the less educated, the unemployed, the union members, the production line workers, the honest, compassionate, charitable people who had worked, and worked, and worked, and now no longer can afford to retire, or to send their kids to college, or to pay that outrageous college debt, or to pay their mortgage, or receive what our great economy has to offer.

Don’t search for esoteric and hidden reasons why Hillary lost. The Democratic liberal base, composed of ordinary, working class, compassionate Americans, is far, far larger than is the Republican conservative base of the rich, the bigots, and the religious extremists.

They were the traditional Democrats — the FDR, HST, JFK, LBJ liberal-leaning Democrats, who simply wanted good healthcare, food, clothing, housing, education and retirement benefits.

This massive majority would have voted for an “LBJ” Hillary, but instead were offered an “Obama” Hillary

Hillary lost for one reason, and one reason only. She allowed Donald Trump to take the Democratic base.

While Clinton had told them “Things are good, just the way they are, so stay the course,” Trump had told them “Things are bad; It’s not your fault;” and “I will fix it.”

They believed Trump, simply because things were bad for them and they desperately wanted someone to fix it.

On the following day, 11/13/16, Nation of Change published comments made by Bernie Sanders:

“I am saddened, but not surprised, by the outcome. It is no shock to me that millions of people who voted for Mr. Trump did so because they are sick and tired of the economic, political and media status quo.

“Working families watch as politicians get campaign financial support from billionaires and corporate interests — and then ignore the needs of ordinary Americans.

“Over the last 30 years, too many Americans were sold out by their corporate bosses. They work longer hours for lower wages as they see decent paying jobs go to China, Mexico or some other low-wage country.

“They are tired of having chief executives make 300 times what they do, while 52 percent of all new income goes to the top 1 percent.

“Many of their once beautiful rural towns have depopulated, their downtown stores are shuttered, and their kids are leaving home because there are no jobs — all while corporations suck the wealth out of their communities and stuff them into offshore accounts.

“Let’s rebuild our crumbling infrastructure and create millions of well-paying jobs. Let’s raise the minimum wage to a living wage, help students afford to go to college, provide paid family and medical leave and expand Social Security.

“Let’s reform an economic system that enables billionaires like Mr. Trump not to pay a nickel in federal income taxes. And most important, let’s end the ability of wealthy campaign contributors to buy elections.”

Those not only are mostly true statements , but they are absolutely true in the eyes of the working class Democratic base.

What you, Senator Sanders, didn’t say is how you really would pay for it all.

Trump offered a confused, tax-reform model, that was notable in its misdirection. You offered a more traditional approach, indicating some tax increases that almost would “pay” for it.

But, despite having Professor Stephanie Kelton on your payroll — (She understands that federal taxes do not fund federal spending) — you did not have the courage to tell the real truth. You did not explain the reality of Monetary Sovereignty .

You did not have the political courage to tell the Democratic base why FICA could and should be eliminated, providing an instant pay increase to salaried workers and an instant stimulus to business. (Step #1 of the Ten Steps to Prosperity, below).

You did not have the political courage to explain why every man, woman, and child in America could be covered by comprehensive Medicare Parts A, B, and D, fully paid for by the federal government (Step #2 of the Ten Steps).

You did not have the political courage to tell Americans that each year they could receive from the federal government, an economic stipend, a bonus to help them accumulate savings for the future or to cover bills now. (Step #3)

You did not explain how the federal government could fund free education, all the way through grades 13-16 and beyond, for every American who wanted it. (Step #4).

In short, you were on the right track, but you lacked political courage. Perhaps your fearful advisors told you the public would not accept the notion of a “free lunch.” Or perhaps, the political cowardice was of your own making.

I can understand you, Sen. Sanders, not agreeing with all 10 of the “Ten Steps.” You may have other steps in mind that you consider more important, more effective or more feasible.

But for heaven’s sake, at least be brave enough to tell people the facts. Trust your base enough to believe that most will understand and welcome the beneficial truth.

Tell them why the government has the power to improve their lives, without raising their taxes.

The Democratic base believed Trump’s ridiculous lies, that he had the courage to spew; they would have believed your beneficial facts, if only you had the same courage.

But because you so greatly feared loss, you lost. 

As did America.

Rodger Malcolm Mitchell
Monetary Sovereignty

P.S. Within a year, no one will remember voting for Trump — but we will remind you.

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

The single most important problems in economics involve the excessive income/wealth/power Gaps between the rich and the rest.

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 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-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

The one, very simple reason why Hillary lost.

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

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

Why did Hillary Clinton lose, when she should have won in a landslide?

You will hear and read all sorts of theories — the FBI, Emails, lack of charisma, minorities didn’t vote, secrecy, and on and on — but sometimes the best answer is the most obvious answer.

Do you remember those thousands of people attending Trump rallies? Do you remember how excited they were?

They were the Democratic base, though they didn’t realize it, and Trump was telling them what they wanted to hear.

They were the working class, the less educated, the unemployed, the union members, the production line workers, the honest, compassionate, charitable people who had worked, and worked, and worked, and now no longer can afford to retire, or to send their kids to college, or to pay that outrageous college debt, or to pay their mortgage, or receive what our great economy has to offer.

They were the traditional Democrats — the FDR, HST, JFK, LBJ liberal-leaning Democrats, who simply wanted good healthcare, food, clothing, housing, education and retirement benefits.

It was these liberals who created Social Security, Medicare, food stamps and the other social programs that support the working class. It is these liberals who the conservatives belittle as “socialists,” and “communists,” and “takers.”

These are the people who help a neighbor even though they need help themselves, the people who drop their last coins into the Salvation Army Santa Clause’s cup, and don’t expect applause. These are the real Americans.  These are the vast majority.

They are the Democratic base.

Trump told them two things:

  1. It’s not your fault 
  2. I will fix it.

The new Democrats forgot about their base. The Bill Clinton, Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton Democrats were not Democrats at all. They were Republicans in Democratic clothing.

They were conservatives.

They were the Bill Clinton who ran a federal surplus, thereby guaranteeing a recession that cost his base their jobs, and afterward asked for, and received $200,000 per speech.

They were the Barack Obama who wanted a “Grand Bargain,” which included cuts to Social Security and Medicare and cuts to the overall budget, all of which would impact the working class far more than the idle rich, thereby widening the Gap between the rich and the rest.

They were the Barack Obama who refused to prosecute, and still refuses to prosecute, any of the wealthy banksters who caused the Great Recession that took the homes, jobs, and savings from the Democratic base.

They were the Hillary Clinton who would be an Obama clone, and who held secret meetings with the criminal bankers, guaranteeing they could continue to rob the Democratic traditional base.

They were the Democratic National Committee that made sure Bernie Sanders would not be the candidate, despite his greater appeal to the Democrats’ traditional base.

Don’t search for esoteric and hidden reasons why Hillary lost. The Democratic liberal base, composed of ordinary, working class, compassionate Americans, is far, far larger than is the Republican conservative base of the rich, the bigots, and the religious extremists.

This massive majority would have voted for an “LBJ” Hillary, but instead were offered an “Obama” Hillary

Hillary lost for one reason, and one reason only. She allowed Donald Trump to take the Democratic base.

All the other reasons are just excuses.

Rodger Malcolm Mitchell
Monetary Sovereignty

P.S. P.S. Within a year, no one will remember voting for Trump — but we will remind you.

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

The single most important problems in economics involve the excessive income/wealth/power Gaps between the rich and the rest.

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 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-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