Donald Trump wishes to deport all undocumented immigrants, not just criminals but all, including those families that have worked, paid taxes, been assets to our economy, and broken no laws. He also wishes to deport birthright children.

Here is Trump’s America in two pictures. Will this be your America?

The following SUN SENTINEL Editorial was written by Opinion Editor Steve Bousquet, Deputy Opinion Editor Dan Sweeney, editorial writers Pat Beall and Martin Dyckman, and Editor-in-Chief Julie Anderson. It contains the usual misstatements about Social Security and its imminent “shortfall,” i.e., the Big Lie in economics. It’s the Big Lie the rich want you to believe because it sets the stage for widening the income/wealth/power Gap between the rich and you. If you believe the Lie, this permits the rich to chip away at your SS benefits while increasing your FICA taxes.

Use good sense, not slogans, on Social Security shortfall

If only the Sun Sentinel editors followed their own advice. This editorial is filled with false slogans and barely an ounce of good sense.

Social Security is not a Red-Blue issue. Although wrapped in Washington rhetoric about the budget deficit, at its heart, it’s not a political issue, either. For millions of Americans, Social Security is a matter of survival. It’s especially true for the growing number of South Florida seniors relying on Social Security checks to keep a roof over their head and food on the table. Left unaddressed, a budget shortfall could leave retirees with roughly 79% of their benefits starting in eight years.

This is all true, with one slight caveat. There is no shortfall. The federal government has infinite dollars to fund Social Security.

Key political figures would like to place the burden of that failure and any fix on the backs of beneficiaries. Cut benefits, goes the argument, because only that will solve the problem. Don’t believe a word of it.

Good advice. Don’t believe a word of it because there is no shortfall. It’s an invention of those who want to destroy Social Security or perhaps merely privatize it to the benefit of rich insurance companies.

The shortfall is serious. It is also manageable without taking money away from people who earned it. But you wouldn’t know it to hear the rising chorus of budget axe-wielders.

The shortfall is non-existent, but you wouldn’t know it from reading the Sun-Sentinel

Rep. Rich McCormick, who represents one of Georgia’s wealthiest counties, announced it was time to make “some hard decisions.” “We know how to do it,” he said. “We just have to have the stomach to actually take those challenges on.” Utah Sen. Mike Lee, once on Donald Trump’s short list for attorney general, railed against it on X, decrying it as a Ponzi scheme, a term Donald Trump once used.

Donald Trump said it. That pretty much proves it’s a lie, doesn’t it? A Ponzi scheme is a fraudulent investment operation where returns to earlier investors are paid from the contributions of newer investors rather than from profit earned by the operation of a legitimate business. Social Security would be a Ponzi scheme if benefits were paid by FICA taxes. But they are not. Federal taxes fund nothing. ALL federal spending is funded by new dollar creation.  While state and local taxes do fund state and local spending, federal taxes have much more limited purposes:

1. They help the government control the economy by penalizing what the government wishes to discourage, and by giving tax breaks to what the government wishes to reward, and
2. They help create demand for the U.S. dollar by requiring dollars be used for tax payments.

To pay its bills, the federal government sends instructions (not dollars) in the form of checks or wires to creditors’ banks, telling the banks to increase the balances in the creditors’ checking accounts. When the banks do as instructed, new dollars are added to the M2 money supply measure. This is the government’s primary method of creating dollars, and no tax dollars are involved. Because the government has the infinite ability to create laws and send instructions, it has the infinite ability to pay for anything without levying taxes. This often is referred to as “printing” dollars, but the so-called “printing” is just number manipulation in checking accounts.

Former Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke: “The U.S. government has a technology, called a printing press (or, today, its electronic equivalent), that allows it to produce as many U.S. dollars as it wishes at essentially no cost. It’s not tax money… We simply use the computer to mark up the size of the account.”

“Interesting thread,” replied Trump-whisperer Elon Musk, who has done his own railing against “entitlement” programs as he searches for $2 trillion in budget cuts on Trump’s behalf. “Everyone’s going to have to take a haircut,” said Musk, the richest man in the world. (Everyone, except Musk).

Musk not only is the richest man in the history of the world, but he gives very little to charity. Yet his first thought is to cut benefits to the poor and middle-classes.

Trump has pledged to eliminate Social Security taxes while leaving benefits untouched. It would be a well-intentioned disaster, generating pennies in benefits.

“Well-intentioned”? While unelected Musk discusses “haircuts” for those who need money most, Trump makes promises he could keep but won’t. Financially, the federal government could and should eliminate Social Security taxes. They fund nothing. But even with Trump’s control over Congress, his rich backers and ignorant media like the Sun Sentinel won’t let him do it. So Trump will pretend to try to eliminate FICA but he will surrender to “them.” Instead, benefits will be cut, probably via the same older qualification ages.

Household incomes between $32,000 and $60,000 would get an average break of just $90. Only households with income of $5 million or more would get a solid break of about $2,500.

Surprise! The rich will benefit more from the Trump administration (though it was the poor and middle-income people who voted him into office. Ah, the price of ignorance.

Worse, Medicare reserves would run dry in five years instead of 11, leading to payment cuts. Social Security checks would be shorted starting in 2032, not 2033.

There are no “Medicare reserves” because there is no Medicare Trust Fund. To quote from the Peter G. Peterson Foundation web site:

A federal trust fund is an accounting mechanism used by the federal government to track earmarked receipts (money designated for a specific purpose or program) and corresponding expenditures. The largest and best-known trust funds finance Social Security, portions of Medicare, highways and mass transit, and pensions for government employees. Federal trust funds bear little resemblance to their private-sector counterparts, and therefore the name can be misleading. A “trust fund” implies a secure source of funding. However, a federal trust fund is simply an accounting mechanism used to track inflows and outflows for specific programs. In private-sector trust funds, receipts are deposited and assets are held and invested by trustees on behalf of the stated beneficiaries. In federal trust funds, the federal government does not set aside the receipts or invest them in private assets. Rather, the receipts are recorded as accounting credits in the trust funds, and then combined with other receipts that the Treasury collects and spends. Further, the federal government owns the accounts and can, by changing the law, unilaterally alter the purposes of the accounts and raise or lower collections and expenditures.

Thus, the federal government can do whatever it wishes with the “trust funds.” It can add to them, subtract from them, or change them from the wrongly presumed mission of supporting federal expenditures. At the click of a computer key or the passage of a law, the balance in the federal “trust funds” could be changed to $100 trillion or $0, and neither would affect taxpayers.

With the clock ticking, ideas abound on how to pick current and future recipients’ pockets.

1. Lower cost-of-living increases.
2. Paying a flat amount below the average benefit, currently less than $2,000 a month.
3. Gamble the entire Social Security Trust Fund by putting it into the stock market and pray that stocks won’t slide.
4. Or let people use their Social Security benefits in an individual retirement account, so that they can personally gamble their futures on the market.
5. There’s the widows-and-orphans solution: Cut survivor benefits for minor children, widows and widowers. All were floated by the General Accounting Office. (But there are other ideas, and Florida members of Congress and senators have an obligation to seriously address them before any talk of cuts.)
6. First, significantly raise or eliminate Social Security’s cap on taxable wages. Right now, anyone earning more than $176,100 doesn’t pay payroll taxes on income over that amount. One piece of legislation addressing the cap could help extend the program’s ability to pay full benefits by 32 years, the Social Security Office of the Chief Actuary estimated last year.
7. It is just one idea among many with broad support, the University of Maryland found. Closing the billionaire borrowing tax loophole would raise $100 billion.
8. Closing just one aspect of the death tax loophole would raise another $100 billion over 10 years, largely from millionaires and billionaires.

   

The one thing missing from the list is the real solution: Have the federal government pay for Social Security the same way it pays for Congressional salaries, the White House, the Supreme Court, the military, and almost every other one of the thousand federal agencies: By voting and budgeting. There are no fake “trust funds” for the military, Congress, SCOTUS, etc. Congress and the President vote, and the money magically appears. That is exactly how Social Security and Medicare should be funded.

Don’t expect automatic sympathy for those options by the 11 billionaires and near-billionaires tapped for key posts in the incoming administration — among them, Frank Bisignano, the multi-millionaire tapped to head the Social Security Administration.

And certainly don’t expect sympathy from President Trump and his $400 billion whisperer, Elon Musk. Your financial problems mean nothing to them. Their sole concern is power, not yours, theirs.

They do not have the life experience of having to stand in line at a food bank, where increasing numbers of Florida seniors can be found. And don’t be distracted by bad arguments. The old are not robbing from the young by insisting on benefits.

Correct. FICA dollars paid by young workers do not fund Social Security or Medicare.

Fighting for the program now will keep it solvent for young people when they retire. Nor is it unfair to subject people with six-figure incomes to fork over the same payroll taxes tens of millions of lower-income Americans already pay.

It may not be unfair, but it is unnecessary. Payroll taxes are a waste of money and are recessive. They remove growth dollars from the economy.

Whatever the proposed fix, it will wind up on the Resolute Desk for Trump’s signature. He won the right to sit at that desk in part because he pledged to ease the economic burdens of ordinary people. It’s a pledge we expect him to honor.

They expect Donald Trump to honor his pledges???!!! THEY EXPECT DONALD TRUMP TO HONOR HIS PLEDGES???!!! Are these people really that naive? When will you get angry enough to pick up the phone and call your Congressperson? Ever? Rodger Malcolm Mitchell Monetary Sovereignty Twitter: @rodgermitchell Search #monetarysovereignty Facebook: Rodger Malcolm Mitchell; MUCK RACK: https://muckrack.com/rodger-malcolm-mitchell; https://www.academia.edu/

……………………………………………………………………..

The Sole Purpose of Government Is to Improve and Protect the Lives of the People.

MONETARY SOVEREIGNTY

We’ll begin by reminding you that the U.S. federal government’s finances are unlike those of state and local governments, businesses, and individuals. The federal government is uniquely Monetarily Sovereign (See Monetary Sovereignty, the Key to Understanding Economics.) It has the infinite ability to create dollars and cannot run short of them. Even if the federal government collected zero taxes, it could continue spending at double or triple the current levels forever.

THE FEDERAL  GOVERNMENT HAS AN INFINITE SUPPLY OF SPENDING MONEY

Because the U.S. government cannot run short of dollars, all concerns about the large size of the U.S. “debt” and deficit are based on ignorance and/or deceit. The federal “debt” is not a burden on the government or on taxpayers. The oft-quoted debt/GDP ratio has no meaning for a Monetarily Sovereign government. (See: Enough already with the Debt/GDP ratio) It does not indicate the government’s ability to pay its bills (infinite) nor the likelihood of insolvency (zero). Concerning healthcare for Americans, the concern should not be about cost but about coverage. Even without collecting a penny in taxes, the U.S. government has the financial ability to provide Americans with the best healthcare available. No compromises are necessary. Today, Americans must select among Medicare, Medicaid, Medicare Advantage, employer-funded insurance, and individually purchased policies. They each have disadvantages:

1. They require premiums
2. Some restrict which doctors and hospitals you can use
3. They do not cover all medical situations.

Medicare’s Advantage Over Medicare Advantage Plans

• Wider Provider Network: Original Medicare allows you to see any doctor or hospital in the U.S. that accepts Medicare.
• No Network Restrictions: You don’t need referrals to see specialists.
• Simplicity: Original Medicare is straightforward with fewer plan options to choose from.
• Flexibility: You can add Medigap (Medicare Supplement Insurance) to cover additional costs like copays and deductibles.
• No Prior Health Denials: Original Medicare generally does not deny coverage based on pre-existing conditions or prior health issues.

Medicare Advantage Plans’ Advantage Over Medicare

• Additional Benefits: Many Medicare Advantage plans offer extra benefits like vision, dental, and hearing coverage, which Original Medicare does not cover.
• Lower Out-of-Pocket Costs: Some plans have lower copays and deductibles compared to Original Medicare.
• Prescription Drug Coverage: Most Medicare Advantage plans include Part D prescription drug coverage.
• Potential Cost Savings: Some plans have $0 premiums and may offer lower overall costs for certain services.
• Managed Care and Wellness Programs: Many plans include coordinated care and wellness programs, which can be beneficial for managing chronic conditions.
• Potential Coverage Denials: Medicare Advantage plans can have more restrictive networks and may deny coverage for services not deemed medically necessary by the plan. They also may require prior authorizations for certain treatments and medications.
• No need to purchase Medigap policies for more complete coverage

Employer-funded Plans

• These use commercial healthcare insurance providers, all charging premiums paid or partially paid by employers. In reality, all premiums are paid by employees because employers consider healthcare costs when calculating employee compensation.
• Private healthcare insurance is ruled by the profit motive, which notoriously causes massive claim denials.

The federal government has the financial ability to fund every benefit provided by all of the above plans without charging premiums, denying legitimate claims, or collecting tax dollars. So why doesn’t the government do it? Why do you pay outrageous premiums and/or taxes for insurance that doesn’t cover all your needs or, on many occasions, may even reject your claims? Ignorance + Politics Very few Americans understand Monetary Sovereignty. The general population wrongly believes: 1. Wrong belief: Federal taxes and federal borrowing fund federal spending.

• Unlike state and local taxes, which fund state and local government (monetarily non-sovereign) spending, federal tax dollars are destroyed upon receipt. (See: Does the U.S. Treasury really destroy your tax dollars?) Federal taxpayers do not pay for any federal spending.
• Federal taxes have only two purposes, and neither is to provide spending funds to the government. The purposes are:
• To control the economy by taxing what the government wishes to discourage and by giving tax breaks to what the government wishes to reward
• And to assure demand for the U.S. dollar by requiring taxes to be paid in dollars.
• Tax dollars begin as part of the M2 money supply measure, but when they reach the Treasury, they cease to be part of any money supply measure. They are effectively destroyed as they disappear and cannot be measured. (See: If federal deficits are bad, why do we run deficits to cure recessions?)
• The federal government’s infinite ability to create dollars makes it impossible to measure the number of dollars the government has.
• The federal government pays all its creditors with newly created dollars. It sends instructions (not dollars) to the creditors’ banks to increase the balances in the creditors’ checking accounts. When the banks do as instructed, new dollars are created and added to the M2 money supply measure. That (not “printing”) is how the federal government creates dollars.
• The federal government never borrows dollars. Those Treasury bills, notes, and bonds do not represent borrowing. They represent deposits into T-security accounts. The government never takes dollars from the accounts, nor does the government owe the dollars. The dollars remain the property of the depositors. To pay off the misnamed “debt,” the government merely sends the dollars back to the owners, i.e., the depositors. This is not a burden on the government or on taxpayers.

2. Wrong belief: Federal deficit spending causes inflation.

• All data indicate that inflation is caused by shortages of critical goods and services, most often oil and food. (See: The cause of inflation down to the last decimal point WAG.)
• No data indicate that federal deficit spending causes inflation.
• On the contrary, all data show that federal deficit spending cures inflation by addressing the shortages that caused it.

The above graph shows no relationship between federal deficit spending (red) and inflation (blue), which demonstrates this important fact: The federal government has the financial ability to fund comprehensive, free medical insurance for every man, woman, and child, without levying taxes and without causing inflation. Why then, do we see articles like this:

Here’s how Trump and the GOP may try to weaken Obamacare November 21, 2024, From KFF Health News, By Stephanie Armour, Sam Whitehead, and Julie Rovner President-elect Donald Trump’s return to the White House could embolden Republicans who want to weaken or repeal the Affordable Care Act. Trump, long an ACA opponent, expressed interest during the campaign in retooling the health law. In addition, some high-ranking Republican lawmakers — who now have control over both the House and the Senate — have said revamping the landmark 2010 legislation known as Obamacare would be a priority. They say the law is too expensive and represents government overreach. The governing trifecta sets the stage for potentially seismic changes that could curtail the law’s Medicaid expansion, raise the uninsured rate, weaken patient protections, and increase premium costs for millions of people. 

The GOP supports wealthy businesses over poorer people. Insurance companies are massive contributors to candidates of both parties, though they favor Republicans. “Richer” and “poorer” are comparatives determined by the income/wealth/power Gap. (See: “Here we go again. The rich can hardly wait to widen the Gap.”) The wider the Gap, the richer are the rich and the poorer are the poor. Therefore, the rich continually try to widen the Gap, and one way to do that is to deny free health care to the masses. Obamacare (ACA) is a favorite target of the rich because it primarily aids the poor. You seldom will hear a wealthy person complain about the the “unaffordability” of tax loopholes enjoyed by the rich, though those loopholes are expensive and represent government overreach. You never will hear a Republican say, “We’ll cut back on ACA, and to show we’re balanced, we also will eliminate:

Private foundations that offer immediate income tax deductions of up to 30% of adjusted gross income (AGI) for contributions. (These foundations only need to distribute about 5% of their assets annually for charitable purposes, allowing the rest to grow tax-free.)

Annual gift tax exclusions and lifetime gift tax exemptions to transfer wealth to heirs without incurring significant taxes.

Instead of selling assets and incurring capital gains taxes, the wealthy can borrow against their assets, which is not taxable while the interest is.

The carried interest loophole allows hedge fund and private equity managers to classify their earnings as capital gains rather than ordinary income, resulting in lower tax rates

Real estate investors can defer capital gains taxes indefinitely by reinvesting the proceeds from the sale of property into similar properties, aka “1031 exchanges.” (When was the last time you ever heard Donald Trump complain that 1031 exchanges were “too expensive” for the government?

Wealthy individuals can use offshore trusts and accounts to shield assets from taxes and protect wealth from legal claims

These, and many other loopholes, allow the rich to save money while they complain about benefits to middle- and lower-income people. You never will hear that 1031 exchanges are “unsustainable” and “unaffordable” or that they cause inflation. Musk and Ramaswamy will not identify private foundations as inefficient or suggest revamping the carried interest exclusion, but they are shocked — shocked I tell you — about provisions like the Community Eligibility Provision (CEP), which allows schools in low-income areas to offer free meals to all students. They claim raising qualification ages is necessary to “save Medicare and Social Security.” However, they do not mention “saving” tax loopholes by cutting them. In 2011, Republicans passed a bill titled “Repealing the Job-Killing Health Care Law Act” (H.R. 2). This marked the beginning of numerous efforts to repeal or defund the ACA, with over 40 attempts made in the following years. The efforts continued through various legislative sessions, including a notable attempt in 2017 with the introduction of the American Health Care Act (AHCA), which aimed to repeal and replace the ACA. Note that ACA hasn’t killed any jobs, nor have the Republicans come up with a “better” program to replace ACA. In summary, it’s all a giant lie. Cutting the federal deficit is neither prudent nor practical. It is the opposite. It is a thinly veiled attempt to widen the income/wealth/power Gap between the rich and the rest. The federal government could and absolutely should provide free, comprehensive healthcare insurance to every man, woman, and child in America without raising taxes. But it will happen only if the public becomes more educated about Monetary Sovereignty, votes accordingly, and complains loudly. Do you care enough to complain to your Congressional representatives? Rodger Malcolm Mitchell Monetary Sovereignty Twitter: @rodgermitchell Search #monetarysovereignty Facebook: Rodger Malcolm Mitchell; MUCK RACK: https://muckrack.com/rodger-malcolm-mitchell; https://www.academia.edu/

……………………………………………………………………..

The Sole Purpose of Government Is to Improve and Protect the Lives of the People.

MONETARY SOVEREIGNTY