The self-esteemed commentator, Barry Ritholtz, wrote a post titled, “Who Will Buy Treasuries When the Fed Doesn’t” in which he described U.S. treasuries as a Ponzi scheme. Barry may not understand that a Ponzi scheme is a program in which later investors pay earlier investors, and eventually there aren’t enough later investors, and the scheme runs out.

Barry also doesn’t seem to understand that our Monetarily Sovereign government could pay off all outstanding Treasuries simply by exchanging the Treasuries, which are one form of U.S. money (in a category called “L”) with dollars, another form of U.S. money (in a category called “M1”). That redemption neither would add nor subtract money from the U.S. economy, and could be accomplished instantly at the press of a computer key. In short, U.S. treasuries are nothing at all like a Ponzi scheme. Not even close.

Over the years, I have tried to educate Barry about Monetary Sovereignty, all to no avail. Classic debt hawk.

Anyway, one of Barry’s readers, pseudo-named “Greg0658″ complained about his senator, Mark Kirk, who also happens to be my senator. I replied to Greg:

Greg0658, Sadly, Mark Kirk, like Barry, has no understanding of Monetary Sovereignty nor, despite my frequent communications with him, has he shown any inclination to learn.

To which Barry replied:

BR: Jeebus, you fucking sovereign guys are such dreadful bores.

I responded:

Did that “BR” stand for Barry Ritholtz? He thinks “sovereign guys” are dreadful bores? Naw, Barry couldn’t be that ignorant — could he?

Here are the supercilious words Barry puts at the beginning of each post: “Please use the comments to demonstrate your own ignorance, unfamiliarity with empirical data, ability to repeat discredited memes, and lack of respect for scientific knowledge.” Huh? That from you,Barry?

Is this the man who has demonstrated zero knowledge of Monetary Sovereignty, the very basis of
all modern economics?

Is this the man who does not realize that in 1971, the federal government gave itself the unlimited ability to create dollars, which meant federal borrowing and taxing no longer were necessary to fund federal spending? Is this the man, who does not understand the empirical data linking deficits and economic growth? Is this the man, who does not understand the profound differences between monetarily non-sovereign governments (i.e. Greece, Spain, Illinois, Chicago) and Monetarily Sovereign governements (U.S., Japan, Canada, China), nor when those differences occurred nor why?

Is that the BR who talks about “boring?”

I guess when one has staked his reputation on, and earns his living telling the world, the world is flat, he finds proof the world is spherical, boring. Or frightening.
Rodger Malcolm Mitchell

I suspect Barry was been afraid to publish that comment, for instead he sent me this personal Email:

I was being polite — all you single issue guys are bores
Everything posted is an excuse to point back to your own blog on the same (often) off topic issue

The fact that my comment was exactly on target escaped Barry, so I replied:

As long as the politicians, the media, the mainstream economics and you keep telling the public that the federal debt and deficit are too high, I’ll keep telling the public you don’t know what you’re talking about. You may find that boring, since you don’t understand it, but it’s the single most important economic issue in America and in the world.

You continue pepper your writing with stories about your oh-so-exciting travels — they surely have a beneficial effect on your readers and on the world — and I’ll continue to try to save them from misinformation.

And really, thank you for being so very polite.

Rodger Malcolm Mitchell

It’s Barry’s column, and if he prefers to publish foul-mouthed insults, while excluding legitimate criticism of his knowledge shortcomings, who can blame him? I expect that sometime down the road, Monetary Sovereignty will be understood and accepted by the mainstream, and Barry then will tell you he knew it all the time.

Rodger Malcolm Mitchell
http://www.rodgermitchell.com

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