Here is how the Big Lie picks your pocket (It’s a lot but it’s not even a complete list.)

The Big Lie in economics is, “Federal taxes fund federal spending.”

While state and local taxes fund state and local spending, federal taxes do not fund federal spending. The difference is that state and local governments are monetarily non-sovereign, while the federal government is Monetarily Sovereign.

Pickpocketing in Las Vegas - What is the penalty if I get caught? — **The Big Lie steals your money and your benefits**

Either the authors of the following article and the entire Congress of the United States are lying, or they really don’t understand the differences between monetary non-sovereignty and Monetary Sovereignty. Both possibilities are disgraceful.

The differences are described in detail here, but fundamentally, a Monetarily Sovereign government is the creator and issuer of its own sovereign currency, in this case, the U.S. dollar.

The U.S. is Monetarily Sovereign because it created the U.S. dollar from thin air by passing laws from thin air. Just as it never can run short of laws, the federal government never can run short of its dollars.

Even if the federal government collected zero taxes, it could continue spending forever because it has the infinite ability to create its own sovereign currency.

By contrast, state and local governments did not create the U.S. dollar.

They, like you and me, simply are users of the dollar. And unlike the federal government, they and we all can run short of dollars.

These differences mean that federal government financing is nothing at all like personal or state/local government financing, but the purpose of the Big Lie is to make you believe federal financing and personal financing are similar.

Just one of the dozens of examples: While state/local governments use tax dollars for spending, the federal government destroys tax dollars upon receipt.

Here’s what’s in the bipartisan infrastructure package
By Katie Lobosco and Tami Luhby, CNN, November 15, 2021

It will deliver $550 billion of new federal investments in America’s infrastructure over five years, touching everything from bridges and roads to the nation’s broadband, water and energy systems.

Experts say the money is sorely needed to ensure safe travel, as well as the efficient transport of goods and produce across the country. The nation’s infrastructure system earned a C- score from the American Society of Civil Engineers earlier this year.

Democrats claim the legislation pays for itself through a multitude of measures and without raising taxes.

The legislation cannot “pay for itself,” nor can spending cuts pay for the legislation, nor can tax increases pay for the legislation.

The legislation will be paid for the same way all federal legislation is paid for:

The involved federal agencies will send instructions, in the form of checks or wires, to the federal government’s creditors’ banks, instructing these banks to increase the balances in the creditor’s checking accounts.
At the instant the banks obey those instructions, new dollars are created, deposited in checking accounts, and added to the M1 money supply.
To balance their books, the banks then clear these deposits through the Federal Reserve which debits the federal government’s infinite supply of dollars. Thus federal deficit spending adds growth dollars to the economy.
Had the federal government levied an equal amount of taxes, these tax dollars would not have “paid for” what was owed — the instructions already paid for it — but the taxes would have removed growth dollars from the economy.

The Congressional Budget Office brushed aside several of those pay-for provisions, ultimately finding the package would add $256 billion to the deficit over the next 10 years.

Translation: The package would have added 256 billion growth dollars to the economy at no cost to anyone — no cost to taxpayers, no cost to our children and grandchildren, no cost to anyone. The dollars would have been created by the banks obeying federal instructions.

The legislation calls for investing $110 billion for roads, bridges and major infrastructure projects. That’s significantly less than the $159 billion that Biden initially requested in the American Jobs Plan.

Translation: But for the Big Lie, an additional $49 billion could have been used to grow the economy,

Included is $40 billion for bridge repair, replacement and rehabilitation, $16 billion for major projects that would be too large or complex for traditional funding programs, $11 billion for transportation safety, $1 billion to reconnect communities, and $39 billion to modernize public transit, according to the text.

That’s less than the $85 billion that Biden initially wanted to invest in modernizing transit systems and help them expand to meet rider demand.

That’s $46 billion in growth that will not happen because of the Big Lie.

The legislation provides a $65 billion investment in improving the nation’s broadband infrastructure, according to the text. Biden initially wanted to invest $100 billion in broadband.

Translation: 35 billion new growth dollars will not enter the economy.

And now we come to a flat-out statement of the Big Lie:

How Congress will pay for it
The legislation includes a multitude of measures to pay for the proposal — none of which would raise taxes.

But while lawmakers claim the package pays for itself, the CBO score found it would instead add billions of dollars to the deficit over 10 years and that many of the pay-for provisions would not raise as much money as Democrats said they would.

No federal spending can “pay for itself.” The federal government pays for everything by issuing instructions, which it has the unlimited ability to do.

The bottom line is that the legislation would directly add roughly $350 billion to the deficit, when taking into account $90 billion of spending in new contract authority, said Marc Goldwein, senior vice president at the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget, a nonpartisan group that tracks federal spending.

Translation: The legislation would directly add roughly 350 billion growth dollars to the economy.

The Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget (CRFB) is a group that is paid by wealthy people to promulgate the Big Lie. The primary purpose of the Big Lie is to prevent the general public from asking for federal benefits. The goal is to widen the Gap between the rich and the rest, thus making the rich richer.

According to the text and a 57-page summary of the legislation, lawmakers leaned heavily on repurposing unused Covid-19 relief funds to pay for the legislation.

Translation: Rather than creating 22 billion growth dollars for COVID relief, those growth dollars will instead supposedly be used to “pay for” Biden’s programs.

Another item in the text is $53 billion that stems in part from states opting to terminate the pandemic unemployment benefits early in hopes of pushing the jobless to return to work. Some 24 states stopped at least one of the federal unemployment programs before they officially ended in early September.

Translation: Rather than giving the $53 to the lower-income people as unemployment benefits, Congress has decided to starve these people into submission, so in desperation, they will go to poorly paying and/or unpleasant jobs they otherwise would have avoided.

This way, the rich factory owners can rule with iron hands over needy workers.

The agency also found that the Federal Communications Commission’s spectrum auctions would generate far less than the $87 billion originally claimed by lawmakers.

Translation: The agency also found that the Federal Communications Commission’s spectrum auctions would take far fewer dollars from the economy than the $87 billion originally claimed by lawmakers.

The CBO also said that the legislation will raise about $50 billion by imposing new Superfund fees and changing the tax reporting requirements for cryptocurrencies, among other measures.

Translation: $50 billion unnecessarily will be taken from the public for fees and taxes.

The package leaves out Biden’s proposal to spend $400 billion to bolster caregiving for aging and disabled Americans — the second largest measure in the American Jobs Plan.

Translation: $400 billion would have grown the economy, but why should the aged and disabled poor receive dollars when the rich have tax loopholes to exploit?

His proposal would have expanded access to long-term care services under Medicaid, eliminating the wait list for hundreds of thousands of people. It would have provided more opportunity for people to receive care at homethrough community-based services or from family members.

It would also have improved the wages of home health workers, who now make approximately $12 an hour, and would have put in place an infrastructure to give caregiving workers the opportunity to join a union.

None of the above were included because they don’t benefit the rich.

Also left on the sideline: $100 billion for workforce development, which would have helped dislocated workers, assisted underserved groups and put students on career paths before they graduate high school.

Translation: 100 billion growth dollars would have stimulated the economy, but we really don’t care about dislocated workers, underserved groups, and students.

The legislation also leaves out the $18 billion Biden proposed to modernize Veterans Affairs hospitals, which are on average 47 years older than private-sector hospitals.

Translation: There goes another 18 billion economic growth dollars, and really, why worry about our hospitalized veterans? Do they vote much?

What’s also out is a slew of corporate tax hikes that Biden wanted to use to pay for the American Jobs Plan.
Biden’s original proposal called for raising the corporate income tax rate to 28%, up from the 21% rate set by Republicans’ 2017 tax cut act, as well as increasing the minimum tax on US corporations to 21% and calculating it on a country-by-country basis to deter companies from sheltering profits in international tax havens.

Sorry Joe, but taxes don’t fund federal spending. The federal government could continue spending forever, even if it collected $0 in taxes.

CNN’s Manu Raju contributed to this report.

Apparently, CNN’s Manu Raju knows as little about economics as do Katie Lobosco and Tami Luhby.

SUMMARY
Not only is the Big Lie eliminating many billions of growth dollars from the economy, but a great many worthwhile projects and people will go unfunded.

Because the rich take advantage of the public’s ignorance about economics, they win and you lose. They manage to widen the Gap, while you lose the growth benefits of federal spending along with the specific benefits that spending could have funded.

Ignorance has its penalties.

Rodger Malcolm Mitchell
Monetary Sovereignty
Twitter: @rodgermitchell
Search #monetarysovereignty
Facebook: Rodger Malcolm Mitchell

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THE SOLE PURPOSE OF GOVERNMENT IS TO IMPROVE AND PROTECT THE LIVES OF THE PEOPLE.

The most important problems in economics involve:

Monetary Sovereignty describes money creation and destruction.
Gap Psychology describes the common desire to distance oneself from those “below” in any socio-economic ranking, and to come nearer those “above.” The socio-economic distance is referred to as “The Gap.”

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 Monetary Sovereignty and The Ten Steps To Prosperity can grow the economy and narrow the Gaps:

Ten Steps To Prosperity:

The Ten Steps will grow the economy and narrow the income/wealth/power Gap between the rich and the rest.

MONETARY SOVEREIGNTY

The single most important question in economics

Economics involves many questions, of course, but is there one question that is key? Is there one question, the answer to which opens the door to the entire study of economics?

After some thought, I believe such a question exists, and I will reveal my nomination here. You may disagree with my choice, and if so, I’d be glad to know yours, or if you feel no question is that important.

First, a bit of:

BACKGROUND

In the first eleven billion years of the universe’s existence, and the first 4 billion years of the earth’s existence, there was no such thing as the United States or the U.S. dollar.

But beginning in the 1700’s AD, men created a variety of laws. The laws were completely arbitrary and created from thin air, as all laws are. And as is true for all laws, these laws had no physical existence. They merely were concepts.

The laws could be spoken, handwritten, typed, printed, mimeographed, texted, Emailed, or delivered in any number of ways, but the laws themselves had no physical existence. They merely were an amalgam of ideas, concepts, and beliefs. Measure the Magic | ifundraiser blog

Some of those laws, which were created, from thin air, produced the political entity known as “the United States of America.” and some of those laws created, also from thin air, the U.S. dollar.

Those laws arbitrarily created millions of dollars, and arbitrarily created the value of those dollars, with regard to arbitrary amounts of silver and gold.

And now for the question that I believe to be the most important question in economics:

How Many Laws Can The U.S. Federal Government Create?

I suggest that the answer to this question is: “Infinite.”

Now “infinite” is a very big number. It is bigger than the number of glasses of water in all the oceans on earth. It is bigger than the number of stars in the sky. Infinite is bigger than the number of atoms in the known universe.

How is it possible for humans to create here on earth, something that is bigger than the oceans, stars, and the universe’s atoms? The reason is that water, stars, and atoms are physical objects, but laws have no physical existence.

Like creating numbers, the ability to create laws is limitless. You cannot see, hear, feel, taste, or smell a number or a law. You can sense representations of numbers and laws, but the numbers and laws themselves merely are concepts.

Similarly, the dollars created by laws, have no physical existence. You can see representations of dollars — dollar bills, bank statements, savings account passbooks, T-bill records, etc. — but you cannot see, hear, feel, taste, or smell a dollar. It is just a number in a balance sheet.

When you go to a store to make a purchase, you pay by presenting your credit card. Invisible dollars are taken from that card and sent to the card issuer, who in turn, sends invisible dollars to the store. Soon thereafter, invisible dollars will be taken from your checking account and sent to the credit card company, which will deposit these invisible dollars into its balance sheets.

All the while, invisible dollars will flow to and from the Federal Reserve, tidying things up. And it all will be done in thin air, with nothing but the occasional atom moving.

Because the U.S. dollar was created by U.S. laws, and because the federal government has the infinite ability to create U.S. laws, and because neither laws nor dollars have any physical existence:

I. Dollars are created by laws. The U.S. federal government has the infinite ability to create laws, so it has the infinite ability to create U.S. dollars.

We’re not even talking about an infinite ability to “print” dollars. Those printed green paper things you carry in your wallet are not dollars. They are representations of, or titles to, dollars. The real dollars are just numbers in numerous records and balance sheets all over the world.

Because the U.S. government has the infinite ability to create the laws that create dollars, and so has the infinite ability to create dollars, the government never unintentionally can run short of dollars.

And because the government has the infinite ability to create U.S. dollars:

II. The U.S. government has no need to collect U.S. dollars from anyone or anywhere.

This means the government has no need to borrow or to tax. It does not need to ask you for dollars. It does not need to ask China for dollars. It does not need to ask anyone for dollars. The federal government creates from thin air all the dollars it uses.

Even if all federal tax collections fell to zero, the federal government could continue spending forever. Not only that, but:

III. All the tax dollars you send to the federal government are destroyed upon receipt.

The amount of money that exists in the United States is divided into “M”classifications such as MZM, M0, M1, M2, and M3, according to the type and size of the account in which the instrument is kept.

The money supply reflects the different types of liquidity each type of money has in the economy. It is broken up into different categories of liquidity or spendability.

The tax dollars you, and everyone else sends to the federal government generally come from checking accounts, which are part of the money supply measure called “M1.”

When you pay taxes, you take money from your M1 checking account and send them to the Treasury where they cease to be part of any money supply measure. Effectively, your tax dollars are destroyed.

The reason is clear. Because the federal government has the unlimited ability to create dollars, it would make no sense to try to measure its money supply, which is infinite. If, say, you send $1,000 to the federal government, $1,000 + infinity = infinity. No difference.

That is why no one ever can answer the question, “How much money does the federal government have?” The only accurate answer is “Infinite.”

The Monopoly Example
If you ever have played the board game Monopoly, you know that it usually is played with four players, plus a Bank. The function of the Bank is to distribute Monopoly dollars to, and to collect Monopoly dollars from, the players, according to the rules.

But, one rule of Monopoly is that the Bank never can run short of dollars. If you were to open the game box to discover all the printed dollar certificates were missing, what would you do in order to play the game?

**How to play Monopoly without using Monopoly paper dollars. Create a table. No column for the Bank.**

One approach would be to take a sheet of paper and divide it into four columns, one column for each player.

At the top of each column you would print each player’s name, and below each name, a starting amount of money.

The illustration at the right shows that each player begins with 5,000 Monopoly dollars.

Then as each player spends and receives money, the amounts below that player’s name are changed.

Many of those dollars go to, and come from, the Bank, but the bank has no column because the Bank has infinite dollars.

In the game, when you pay dollars to the “Community Chest,” the dollars are supposed to go to the Bank, and when you receive $200 for passing “GO,” the dollars are supposed to come from the Bank.

Although the rules specify that tax dollars and other dollars go to the Bank, the above example shows that they really are destroyed upon receipt. The Bank has no column. There is no way to determine how many dollars the Bank has. It has infinite dollars.

In the real world, the federal government operates just like the Monopoly Bank: It collects dollars from the public, and it distributes dollars to the public. But once dollars are received by the Treasury, they disappear.

Though the Treasury keeps internal records, there is no way to determine how many dollars the government has. It has infinite dollars.

Since the federal government has no use for tax dollars, why does the federal government collect tax dollars?

There are three reasons: One real, one mythical, and one secret.

The real reason the government collects tax dollars is to control the economy. It taxes what it wishes to discourage and it gives tax breaks to what it wishes to reward or encourage. That is why there are so many tax breaks for the rich people who control the government.
The mythical reason the federal government collects tax dollars — a reason espoused by many economists — is to create demand for dollars with which to pay taxes. The demand for such cryptocurrencies as Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Litecoin, which are not supported by taxes, debunks this reason.
The secret reason the federal government collects taxes is to help make you believe dollars are scarce to the government. This belief keeps you from demanding more benefits like expanded Social Security, Medicare for All, poverty aids, free college for all, and an end to the FICA tax.

The rich people and rich companies are rich only because of the Gap between them and those who are not as rich. If there were no Gap, we all would be the same. No one would be rich. And the wider the Gap, the richer are the rich.

The rich always want to be richer. This is known as “Gap Psychology,” the desire to widen the income/wealth/power Gap below, and to narrow it above.

Widening the Gap below can involve either gaining more for oneself or preventing those below from gaining. Either will make one richer.

To make themselves richer, the rich bribe the key sources of your information. They bribe the politicians (via political contributions and promises of lucrative employment later). They bribe the media (via ownership and advertising dollars). They bribe the economists (via university contributions and “think tank” employment).

All these sources of information combine to tell you the Big Lie, that in order for you to receive more federal benefits, taxes must be increased.

That misinformation provides an excuse for the current battles against President Biden’s “Build Back Better” Act, which first was proposed at a $3.5 trillion level, and since has been cut in half because of the Big Lie.

The pretext was that this proposal must be “paid for” with taxes. But, as you now know, taxes do not fund federal spending.

The federal government pays for everything by merely sending instructions (checks and wires) to creditors’ banks, instructing the banks to increase the balances in creditors’ checking accounts.

When the banks do as instructed, this creates more M1 dollars, the same kind of dollars you send to the federal government as taxes.

Since the federal government has no need to ask anyone for dollars, why does it borrow dollars?

The U.S. federal government never borrows dollars. The acceptance of deposits into Treasury Security accounts (T-bills, T-notes, T-bills) is wrongly called “borrowing” and federal “debt.” It neither is borrowing nor debt. IBV's Billionaires-Only Bank Vault In London Is So Hollywood It's Ridiculous

The closest parallel to a T-security account is a safe deposit box.

When you put dollars into your safe deposit box, your bank never touches those dollars, and your bank doesn’t owe you those dollars.

They neither are loans to your bank nor are they debts of your bank.

The bank “pays you back” simply by allowing you to take back whatever dollars are in your box.

Similarly, when you make a deposit into your T-security account, the federal government never touches those dollars. The government “pays you back” by allowing you to take back whatever dollars are in your account.

Since the federal government has no need to ask anyone for dollars, why does it provide for deposits into T-security accounts? There are two real reasons and one secret reason:

The first real reason is to help the Federal Reserve to control interest rates. These accounts pay interest, the rates for which begin with Federal Reserve decisions regarding the state of the economy.
The second real reason is to provide a safe, interest-paying place for people, businesses, and nations to “park” unused dollars.
The secret reason is again to help make you believe the federal government is so deeply “in debt” it cannot afford to help narrow the Gap between the rich and the rest.

The federal government has no need to ask anyone for dollars, and has the infinite power to spend. But, doesn’t too much government spending cause inflation?

Remember that way back in the 1780s, the federal government created as many dollars as it wished and gave those dollars whatever value it wished — and it did all this by passing laws.

The federal government still has the unlimited power to:

Pass laws
Create dollars, and
Control the value of dollars.

Over the years, the government has used all three of those powers. While nos. 1 and 2 already have been explained, you may be curious about how the government controls the value of dollars. It has two primary tools:

When the government raises interest rates, more people will want to obtain more dollars to invest in interest-paying bonds, and this increased demand for U.S. dollars increases their value.
Government fiat. When the U.S. was on various silver and gold standards, the government merely would pass laws saying that a dollar could be exchanged for specific amounts of gold or silver. The U.S. Constitution gives Congress the power “To coin Money, regulate the Value thereof.” The government, by fiat, can change the exchange rate between dollars and other currencies. This is known as “devaluation” and “revaluation.”

That said, the primary driver of inflation is not interest rates, or federal fiat, or federal deficit spending, or so-called federal “debt.” The primary driver of inflation is shortages.

If the “federal deficit spending” myth were true, an increase in federal deficit spending should correspond to an increase in prices.

Changes in federal deficit spending (blue line) vs. inflation (red line). Vertical bars are recessions.

There is no historical relationship between changes in federal deficit spending (blue line) and changes in inflation (red line). Federal deficits do not cause inflations.

IV. The driver of inflation never is federal deficit spending, but rather the scarcity of key goods and services.

Like all inflations through history, today’s inflation is caused by shortages of energy, food, computer chips, supply chain resources, and labor.

Some of these are related to global warming and some are related to COVID. Many are related to inefficient government.

Contrary to popular wisdom, today’s inflation could be controlled via increased federal spending to eliminate the shortages. Federal spending to increase oil and gas drilling, renewable energy production, farmer aids, computer chip production, shipping, and the elimination of taxes that discourage employment (i.e. FICA), would reduce inflation.

Also notice in the above graph that:

V. Recessions begin with reductions in federal deficit growth and are cured by increases in federal deficit growth.

This should surprise no one because economic growth requires money growth. The most common measure of economic growth is Gross Domestic Product (GDP) a formula for which is:

GDP=Federal Spending + Non-federal Spending + Net Exports.

All three factors on the right-hand side of the equation are related to an increased dollar supply.

What happens when the federal “debt” (i.e., the net total of deficits) decreases?

1804-1812: U. S. Federal “Debt” reduced 48%. Depression began 1807.
1817-1821: U. S. Federal “Debt” reduced 29%. Depression began 1819.
1823-1836: U. S. Federal “Debt” reduced 99%. Depression began 1837.
1852-1857: U. S. Federal “Debt” reduced 59%. Depression began 1857.
1867-1873: U. S. Federal “Debt” reduced 27%. Depression began 1873.
1880-1893: U. S. Federal “Debt” reduced 57%. Depression began 1893.
1920-1930: U. S. Federal “Debt” reduced 36%. Depression began 1929.
1997-2001: U. S. Federal “Debt” reduced 15%. Recession began 2001.

Again, this should surprise no one. Just as a growing economy requires a growing supply of money, reducing federal “debt” (i.e. running federal surpluses) takes dollars from the economy and sends them to the Treasury, where they are destroyed..

By definition, GDP is reduced when dollars are taken from the economy.

Fortunately, the U.S. federal government has the ability to create infinite U.S. dollars and to control their value, i.e. prevent excessive inflation.

So, the federal government has the ability to fund Medicare for All, Social Security for All and college for all who want it. Further, the government has the financial ability to eliminate the grossly recessive employment taxes (FICA) and to help the states, counties, and cities to reduce their tax burdens.

Given this infinite power, the federal government is left with one final question: Is there a limit? We know the government has the power, but is there a limit as to how much of this power the government should use?

The problem has two parts: Financial and political.

Financially, is there a dollar limit, beyond which federal deficit spending actually harms the economy rather than benefitting it?

There may be, but no evidence exists for any limit. As the following graph shows, federal “debt” (blue line) has increased massively, while inflation (red line) has followed a comparatively modest, even trajectory.

If federal deficit spending caused inflations, the blue line (federal deficits) and the red line (inflation) would be parallel.

Claims that future federal deficit spending, in any given amount, will cause inflation are based on intuition and guesswork and not on historical precedent.

Politically, is there a point beyond which federal deficit spending gives the federal government “too much power”?Libertarians think so.

In fact, Libertarians can be trusted to object to any amount of federal deficit spending, or even any amount of federal spending at all. They think people should be “free” to pay for unaffordable health care, education, infrastructure, housing, schooling, sustenance, and retirement.

Others think local governments should do what the federal government does because, in their belief, local governments know what local people want, and after all, aren’t we all “local” people?

Sadly, while the federal government, being Monetarily Sovereign, has infinite funds, monetarily non-sovereign local governments do not. They must levy burdensome taxes in order to spend.

The question of “too much federal power” often is answered in a general sense, but when specifics are broached, the answers are not clear. I, for one, have no idea what “too much” federal power is, except when it impinges on what I personally view as a personal privilege.

Outlawing recreational drugs, liquor, abortions, certain marriages, and certain books fall into that category. Mandating vaccination to protect our species does not. But that’s just my view.

Power begets criminality, but on balance I suspect local government tend to be less honest than does the federal government for one reason: The media do a better job of investigating and shining light on federal government than on local governments, where media have less investigative power and less influence.

SUMMARY
The most important question in economics is: How Many Laws Can The U.S. Federal Government Create? The answer is “infinite.” Since U.S. dollars are created by laws, the U.S. government can create infinite dollars and can give these dollars any value it chooses.

Thus, the U.S. government has no need to collect U.S. dollars from anyone or anywhere. All the tax dollars you send to the federal government are destroyed upon receipt.

Economic growth requires money growth, which requires federal deficit growth. The insufficiency of federal deficit growth leads to recessions and depressions, which can be cured only by federal deficit growth.

The driver of inflation never is federal deficit spending, but rather the scarcity of key goods and services. Inflations actually can be prevented and cured by increased federal deficit spending to cure shortages. To date, despite massive federal deficits, particularly in the past decade, we never have reached the level of “too much federal spending.”

Rodger Malcolm Mitchell
Monetary Sovereignty
Twitter: @rodgermitchell
Search #monetarysovereignty
Facebook: Rodger Malcolm Mitchell

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THE SOLE PURPOSE OF GOVERNMENT IS TO IMPROVE AND PROTECT THE LIVES OF THE PEOPLE.

The most important problems in economics involve:

Monetary Sovereignty describes money creation and destruction.
Gap Psychology describes the common desire to distance oneself from those “below” in any socio-economic ranking, and to come nearer those “above.” The socio-economic distance is referred to as “The Gap.”

Ten Steps To Prosperity:

The Ten Steps will grow the economy and narrow the income/wealth/power Gap between the rich and the rest.

MONETARY SOVEREIGNTY

Why is Medicare the way it is?

The purpose of government is to improve and protect the lives of the governed.

Is the Medicare Advantage plan an admission that Medicare itself is unnecessarily incomplete?

Rolls-Royce Phantom Prices, Reviews and New Model Information — **Free, but with strings.**

A story: You receive a call from the wealthiest man on earth. He owns an infinite amount of money.

He tells you he’s in the mood to do a good deed.

He has picked your name randomly, not based on anything but the luck of the draw, and he is giving you a free, no-strings-attached, Rolls Royce automobile.

Well, actually, there are two small strings. You must choose between two Rolls.

One has no heater. The other has no air conditioning.

And you must wait until you are 65 years old before you pick your car.

This puzzles you, so you ask him, “Why would someone having infinite money decide that when does his good deed, he gifts you a car that is missing either a heater or air conditioner?”

And why must you wait until you’re 65?

What’s his purpose?

While you ponder that question, consider this: The federal government, being uniquely Monetarily Sovereign, has infinite dollars. It never can run short of its own sovereign currency.

The government provides you with Medicare, which comes in two basic “models,” Original Medicare and Medicare Advantage.

And you typically must wait until you are 65 to join (with certain exceptions).

But Medicare and Medicare Advantage have different options depending on many of your personal factors.

WHY? Why doesn’t Original Medicare simply cover all medical conditions for everyone?

The American Association of Retired People (AARP) published “8 Reasons to Change Medicare:

1. My prescription costs have jumped.
That happens usually due to one of two scenarios: You’ve been prescribed a new drug your Plan D policy doesn’t cover, or your current medicines have fallen off your Plan D’s formulary (list of covered medicines), Neuman says.

Each September, Part D prescription plans will send out a list of changes to drug coverage, giving you time to make sure your medicines are still covered.

If not, you can shop around for another plan or ask your doctor to apply for an exception in covering your favored medicine.

WHY? Why must a person pay extra for Part D, and why must that person shop around for a plan that covers all his medicines?

2. I’ve decided to spend my winters (or summers) in a different state.
Advantage plans typically charge more to go to doctors outside of their networks; in some cases they won’t cover any charges if it’s not an emergency.

So a Midwesterner might have to pay more to see out-of-network doctors while in Florida.

You need to read the details of your plan, or talk with a representative, to know where you stand. If you’ll be living a dual-residence existence for years to come, you might consider a switch to original Medicare, with the usual caveats.

WHY? Why the “in-network, out-of-network” rigamarole?

3. I need surgery and prefer a specific doctor.
Original Medicare allows patients to choose any doctor or hospital that accepts Medicare.

But if you’re in a Medicare Advantage plan and its surgeons don’t meet your needs, you may need a different MA plan or to switch to OM.

The people who really need to focus on whether doctors are in network are those who’ve suffered major problems like cancer and heart attack, says Joseph Antos, health care expert at the American Enterprise Institute.

“A specialist may be key to their treatment,” he says.

WHY? Why does one Medicare plan cover any doctors or hospitals that accept Medicare and the other plan doesn’t?

4. I’m super healthy and rarely need a doctor.
If you’re in original Medicare, all should be well: As a “pay-for-service” arrangement, not seeing the doctor isn’t costing you anything extra beyond your mandatory parts B and D monthly insurance premiums.

If you’re in an MA plan in which you’re paying a monthly premium on top of your standard Part B premium, that may be for a plan that offers lots of extras , such as gym memberships.

Consider switching to a lower-cost MA plan that doesn’t offer services you don’t plan to use in the coming year.

WHY? Why are there any premiums, and why does one plan not cover the “extras?

5. I’ve been diagnosed with a chronic condition.
A serious medical change should trigger a full review of your Medicare coverage. Make sure your Plan D policy pays for new prescriptions.

Consider the care you’ll need . If you want disease-specific programs, find an MA plan that offers them.

But if you will need lots of specialists, there’s an argument for OM. Making critical changes early can “really affect your pocketbook and save you money,” says Gretchen Jacobson, a vice president with the Commonwealth Fund.

WHY? Why the difference in plans? Why doesn’t one plan cover everything?

6. My income has dropped sharply.
If you are in original Medicare, your Part B monthly premium is locked in, but your Part D drug plan isn’t.

And there’s a chance you can find a lower-cost policy that covers the medicines you are on.

If you’re in an Advantage plan, consider a switch to a plan in which there is no extra payment on top of the mandatory Part B premium.

And you might qualify for help. Ask your state Medicaid office about Medicare Savings Programs. Find the state offices here or call 800-MEDICARE (800-633-4227).

WHY? Why is there a monthly premium? Why does one plan not even lock in premiums? Why the difference in costs?

7. My former employer is changing its retiree health benefits.
Some companies provide retirees with Medigap supplemental insurance, which covers many health costs not covered by OM.

If you have changes to your retiree benefit coverage, or for some reason that coverage no longer is offered, contact Medicare’s Benefits Coordination & Recovery Center (855-798-2627).

Someone can tell you whether you fall in the window in which Medigap insurers cannot deny you coverage based on preexisting conditions.

WHY? Why are some retirees not covered by Medigap supplemental? Why is there even a need for supplemental?

8. My regular doctor is no longer in network for my plan.
If you deeply want to stay with a doctor, ask directly whether he or she is moving to a different MA plan, accepting OM patients or dropping out of Medicare completely.

If you decide to make a change, make sure a short-term decision won’t affect your long-term coverage (for example, switching to original Medicare to temporarily stay with one doctor but sacrificing Medigap coveragefor the long term).

It might be safer to ask your doctor to recommend a colleague in your current plan.

I’m in need of serious dental care. Original Medicare doesn’t cover routine dental care costs, but many Medicare Advantage plans do.

If you don’t have your own dental insurance and can’t afford dentistry costs out of pocket, consider finding an MA plan that will cover a portion of the costs of your needed work.

Antos warns that figuring out what portion of your dental bills an MA plan will cover is complicated, so it helps to know what services you will use in the coming year.

WHY? Why does a person need to consult a crystal ball to guess what medical coverage will be needed at some unknown time in the future?

WHY?

HERE IS WHY: Our Monetarily Sovereign government has infinite funds. It can afford any expense, even without collecting a single dollar in taxes. It has ultimate control over the value of the dollar, i.e. inflation.

Thus, the federal government has the unlimited ability to fund comprehensive, no-deductible Medicare for every man, woman, and child in America. There is no financial reason why you, your family and everyone you know does not have free, total healthcare protection.

But . . .

At the behest of the very rich, who run America, our information leaders promulgate the Big Lie that taxpayers fund federal spending, and that the federal government is in danger of running short of dollars if spending increases without tax increases.

You have been sold the bill of goods that “there is no such thing as a free lunch,” and that federal spending causes inflation, and that the phony Medicare “trust fund” is running short of money.

The rich do this to widen the Gap between the rich and the rest, for it is the Gap that makes them rich. The wider the Gap, the richer they are.

Better “Medicare for All” plans have been proposed, but they have been rejected supposedly because tax dollars are needed to pay for it.

They aren’t. It’s the Big Lie, the sole purpose of which is to make the rich richer.

There is no other purpose.

Rodger Malcolm Mitchell Monetary Sovereignty Twitter: @rodgermitchell Search #monetarysovereignty Facebook: Rodger Malcolm Mitchell

……………………………………………………………………..

THE SOLE PURPOSE OF GOVERNMENT IS TO IMPROVE AND PROTECT THE LIVES OF THE PEOPLE.

The most important problems in economics involve:

Monetary Sovereignty describes money creation and destruction.
Gap Psychology describes the common desire to distance oneself from those “below” in any socio-economic ranking, and to come nearer those “above.” The socio-economic distance is referred to as “The Gap.”

The Ten Steps will grow the economy and narrow the income/wealth/power Gap between the rich and the rest.

MONETARY SOVEREIGNTY

The most ridiculous article you will read this week. The religion of politics.

Here are excerpts from the most ridiculous article you will read this week, and that is saying a lot these days.

White House asks Congress to pass emergency funding for disaster aid, Afghan resettlement as well as spending bill to avert shutdown
Administration officials also asked Congress to pass a short-term spending bill to avoid a government shutdown in October.
By Jeff Stein

The White House budget office on Tuesday sent Congress an “urgent” spending request asking for tens of billions of dollars in natural disaster relief and Afghanistan resettlement funding as the administration tries to respond to both emergencies.

Believe what I tell you.

The White House is asking for $14 billion in aid to respond to natural disasters that occurred before Hurricane Ida, as well as $6.4 billion to pay for the ongoing relocation of tens of thousands of Afghans who partnered with the U.S. during the war in Afghanistan.

The administration anticipates that another $10 billion will have to be approved in disaster relief for Hurricane Ida as well.

As part of the request, White House Office of Management and Budget Acting Director Shalanda Young called for Congress to approve a short-term extension in government funding so that there isn’t a partial government shutdown on October 1..

OK, I get it. Congress should examine how money is used.

And though I can’t say whether $14 billion is the right amount for previous disasters, or whether $6.4 billion is right for protecting the people who helped and believed us, or whether $10 billion is right for reducing the suffering caused by Hurricane Ida, I can say this:

The initiatives themselves are worthwhile
The government has infinite money
It’s better to err on the side of “too much” rather than too little.

There is no downside to spending “too much,” even if some of it is “wasted,” because government spending, even wasted spending, stimulates (by formula) GDP growth, and costs taxpayers nothing.

{Federal taxpayers don’t fund federal spending. Federal taxpayers don’t fund anything.)

So the same Republicans who voted for Trump’s tax cut for the rich, joined by a couple of self-proclaimed “moderate” Democrats, who “work across the aisle,” will prance and preen and pretend to be so concerned about taxpayers.

They will demand that everything be cut by 30%, and later, will blame Biden for not doing enough. Gotcha!

Breitbart and FOX will wring their hands and cry crocodile tears for the Americans who are suffering and for the Afghans who are suffering, though, in today’s bifurcated world, no one seems really to care about anyone else’s suffering.

It’s all self-serving righteousness performed on the world’s biggest pulpit.

But the most ridiculous part is the phony threat of a government shutdown.

As the upcoming game of “pretend chicken” plays out, the Republicans will huff and puff their fake fiscal integrity; the Treasury and the Federal Reserve will institute fake “extreme efforts” to keep America from falling into bankruptcy; fingers will point in all directions; and the stock market will crash long enough for the smart-money guys to pick some cheap fallen fruit.

Then, miraculously and heroically, accommodation will be reached; the phony debt ceiling once again will be lifted and rescheduled for six months hence; and the stock market dutifully will provide quick profits to those who weren’t fooled by the blather.

All will self-congratulate for saving America from the potential disaster they themselves created, and the economically uneducated voters will go on believing what they always have been told: The Big Lie that federal finances are just like personal finances so the federal debt must be reduced.

It’s like a football game in which the politicians are the players, and the people are the football. Everyone gets their kicks.

The White House’s request for short-term funding needs comes as it works on unrelated legislation for an approximately $3.5 trillion budget deal that Democrats are seeking to shape this month in Congress.

That sweeping package would overhaul the social safety net, authorize new climate change programs, raise taxes on corporations, and achieve a number of other Biden administration priorities.

If overhauling the social safety net included 100% free healthcare for every American, plus Social Security for every American, that would be the greatest use of federal financial power in the past century — perhaps ever.

Sadly, that won’t happen. Not even close. The rich don’t want it because of Gap Psychology, and the public doesn’t know the government can do it all without raising taxes.

Anyway, as everyone knows, the poor are a bunch of lazy takers, who deserve their misfortune, so why help them? Right?

The public also doesn’t understand that climate change is an extinction-level event we are leaving for our children and grandchildren to cope with, so why take any action now to reduce CO2? Let the Chinese do it first.

The Republican’s sole (fake) concern is with unborn children; they have no interest in children already born, and especially no interest in poor children already born. So they march around, displaying huge photos of fetuses, which in reality are the size of your thumb, and worry not about the fate of those unfortunate women and their subsequent babies.

It’s all God’s will.

The Democrats are so busy wallowing in the nobility of their causes, they can’t bring themselves to dare tell the truth about federal finances, or to actually play the politics game.

So they will enjoy continuing to be righteous losers, despite owning a majority of the total voters. After winning the last Presidential election by seven million votes, the Dems brilliantly have managed to position themselves as Congressional underdogs.

Meanwhile, the universally despised Donald Trump, after leading and losing an election, the swing state of Georgia, and a rebellion against American democracy, continues to be a GOP torch-bearer, because really, what else do they have?

The administration’s request for more funding for the Afghanistan relocation and disaster relief programs is likely to provoke substantial (fake) debate in Congress, where Republicans have hammered the White House for its handling of the withdrawal to end the war.

The majority of the $6.4 billion requested by the White House will go principally to fund processing sites for relocating tens of thousands of people in Afghanistan who partnered with the U.S. during the two decades of war there.

Of the $6.4 billion, the biggest chunk is for the State Department and Department of Defense relocation process for allies from Afghanistan and support for them to help them integrate into American life.

Another substantial amount of funding would go to United States Agency for International Development for Afghans at risk in the regions.

Administration officials said Tuesday the request would help plans for resettling as many as 65,000 Afghans who are expected to arrive in the U.S. by the end of September, as well as up to 30,000 Afghans expected to arrive in the U.S. over the next 12 months.

The Republicans, who blasted Biden for not extracting perhaps a hundred Americans and thousands of our Afghan partners to the tender mercies of the Taliban, soon will blast Biden for wanting to resettle the many thousands he was able to extract.

Trump will claim they all are terrorists, criminals, rapists, and unaffordable leaches on the economy, whose children might vote Democrat in future elections. If that sounds familiar, it’s what he said about Mexicans and Muslims. The plot never changes; only the cast of characters changes.

“The operation to move out of danger and to safety tens of thousands of Afghans at risk, including many who helped us during our two decades in Afghanistan, represents an extraordinary military, diplomatic, security, and humanitarian operation by the U.S. government,” Young’s letter said.

“We urge Congress to appropriate $6.4 billion to enable the success of this multifaceted, historic mission,” she wrote.

As soon we will hear that “Biden wants to import terrorists” (those same people the GOP pretended to feel so sorry for), we’ll enjoy the grandstanding about the money needed to conduct the vetting to filter out terrorists.

The disaster aid — likely more than $20 billion when the damages from Hurricane Ida are factored in — would help the administration respond to Hurricane Laura and Hurricane Delta, as well as droughts, wildfires, and flooding in other parts of the country.

Administration officials said on a call with reporters that climate change is creating more severe storms and disasters that are impacting a growing number of Americans.

One innocently might imagine disaster aid would be a no-brainer for Republicans. After all, the most hurricane damage occurred in “red” states.

But, the wildfire damage mostly occurred in blue states, and as Donald Trump has told us, global warming is a Chinese hoax, and wildfires are due to poor forest management, which could be prevented by raking the forests (and perhaps with a dose of hydroxychloroquine?)

So, the politics require that anything — ANYTHING –Biden wants to be opposed by the Trump-subservient GOP, no matter how seemingly beneficial.

In short, the entire article is political theater, It’s religious miracles and magic, performed by political clergy to entertain, the masses. But sadly, instead of being entertained, the masses think the whole thing is real.

The people not only believe, but passionately believe, as there is a direct, but inverse, correlation between intelligence and belief in the supernatural.

As this all plays out, prior to next year’s elections, just sit back and enjoy the show. Remember that none of it is real and no one is saying what they mean.

It’s all a put-on, to keep you contributing to your political religion of choice, and returning to the chapel for the holiday elections.

Rodger Malcolm Mitchell
Monetary Sovereignty
Twitter: @rodgermitchell
Search #monetarysovereignty
Facebook: Rodger Malcolm Mitchell

……………………………………………………………………..

THE SOLE PURPOSE OF GOVERNMENT IS TO IMPROVE AND PROTECT THE LIVES OF THE PEOPLE.

The most important problems in economics involve:

Monetary Sovereignty describes money creation and destruction.
Gap Psychology describes the common desire to distance oneself from those “below” in any socio-economic ranking, and to come nearer those “above.” The socio-economic distance is referred to as “The Gap.”

Ten Steps To Prosperity:

The Ten Steps will grow the economy and narrow the income/wealth/power Gap between the rich and the rest.

MONETARY SOVEREIGNTY

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