Mitchell’s laws:
●The more federal budgets are cut and taxes increased, the weaker an economy becomes.
●Austerity is the government’s method for widening the gap between rich and poor, which leads to civil disorder.
●Until the 99% understand the need for federal deficits, the upper 1% will rule.
●To survive long term, a monetarily non-sovereign government must have a positive balance of payments.
●Those, who do not understand the differences between Monetary Sovereignty and monetary non-sovereignty, do not understand economics.
●The penalty for ignorance is slavery.
●Everything in economics devolves to motive.
=====================================================================

In much of America, the electric company, casinos and horse tracks are privately owned, while streets, elementary schools and the lottery are publicly owned? Why?

The April 1, 2013 post, The myth of private enterprise superiority, reduced government and Ronald Reagan, said:

I believe the myth of universal private-sector superiority took hold when President Ronald Reagan included in his first inaugural address, the magical line, “In this present crisis, government is not the solution to our problem; government is the problem.”

It became an addictive slogan, a mantra for those who would rather not suffer the agony of thought and evaluation (though Reagan, himself a government worker, set records for increasing the size of government

The Tea Party claim, “Government must be downsized” is made without reference to facts. It is intuitive, similar to their, “Deficit spending must end.” — also intuitive and also unburdened by fact.

The April 12 post What President Obama learned from Mayor Daley said:

“To gain repeated reelection, (the 2nd Mayor) Daley paid off the local unions by giving them whatever they wanted, and paid off the aldermen, who obediently canvassed their neighborhoods for Daley votes. The ongoing payoffs cost the city’s taxpayers megabucks.

Daley was afraid to raise taxes even more, so he began to sell Chicago. First he sold the Chicago Skyway, a heavily traveled toll road. This deprived Chicago’s taxpayers of the road’s future income. The rich, new owners promptly raised tolls, a hidden tax increase, and a boon to the wealthy class.

Then Daley sold the city’s parking meters. This also deprived Chicago’s taxpayers of future income. The rich, new owners promptly raised parking fees, another hidden tax, also a boon to the wealthy class. Then Daley wanted to sell Midway airport, the 2nd busiest airport in the Chicago area.

Both the public and private sectors have their its crooks — their Daleys and Madoffs. Similarly, both sectors have strengths and weaknesses in customer service, productivity, creativity and efficiency.

The federal government built our highways, took us to the moon and defends our nation. Local governments provide police protection, clean water, streets and education.

The private sector feeds us, houses us and gives us medical care (though the public sector pays for much of it).

Saying the government (federal, state or local) is too big, is as stupid as saying the private sector is too big. The argument makes no sense, which probably is why the right wing supports it.

Privatization usually is a “Get out of jail, free” card for monetarily non-sovereign governments afraid to raise taxes or for Monetarily Sovereign governments falsely claiming taxes need to be raised. The result is a quick payment exchanged for long-term payments to wealthy investors — an endless tax on the middle- and lower-classes, without the word “tax” applied to it.

Privatization is a payoff to the rich private sector, exchanged for mega-dollars in campaign funds and promises of lucrative employment, later. It’s a gift from the 99.9% to the .1%.

We were reminded of this when an article appeared in the Chicago Tribune:

ComEd rate hike request would add $6 to monthly bills
By Julie Wernau, Tribune reporter, April 29, 2013

Commonwealth Edison said Monday that it will charge $6 more per month on average to deliver electricity to utility customers beginning in 2014 as a result of higher transmission costs and expenses it has incurred to modernize the electrical grid.

In a filing with the Illinois Commerce Commission Monday — its third under a new formula-based rate making system devised in 2011 — the utility requested $311 million in additional revenue from customers in 2014 for its role in delivering electricity, maintaining electrical lines and improving the electrical grid. That increase must be approved by the Illinois Commerce Commission.

It’s hard to understand why the private sector delivers our electricity, a product used and needed by every citizen — much like streets and elementary schools. In Illinois, we have the cockamamie system in which politicians approve pricing, while a private company delivers the electricity and maintains the electric lines, and having zero motivation for efficiency. ComEd managers are guaranteed their pay by the state, no matter the cost, and customers have no voice — neither via the ballot nor via patronage.

The above article was accompanied by this one:

ComEd ranks low in consumer satisfaction.
By Julie Wernau, Tribune reporter, April 18, 2013

Since 1999, ComEd has consistently ranked among the worst utilities in the Midwest for customer satisfaction in surveys conducted by The American Customer Satisfaction Index and J.D. Power and Associates. The company scored 69 on a 100-point scale.

The primary difference between public and private organizations is the profit motive, which can be a blessing or a curse. In a competitive business the profit motive more often is a blessing (one notable exception being the airlines, which never should have been deregulated). In a monopoly business, the profit motive is a curse (as witness the gasoline/oil business).

Governments have divided responses: To customers via elections, and to rich donors. Private companies also have divided responses — to officers, to shareholders and to customers. In the case of the privately-owned monopoly, ComEd, customers seem to come last.

Because ComEd cannot be trusted to set equitable rates, government bureaucrats set them. But the rates merely are based on what the private company says its costs are. So, in effect, the private company sets the rates. The profit motive doesn’t work, here.

Bottom-line thoughts:

1. The federal government neither is too big nor too small (nor just right). The concept is meaningless as are arguments about it. The right wing, Tea Party goal of small government is foolish at best and criminal at worst.

2. Large monopolies, whose product/service is needed by the majority of citizens, usually do better for the public with government ownership. The model is elementary education, in which public schools are government owned, but often compete with private schools.

Governments should own the providers of electricity, water, natural gas, sewage disposal, trash disposal, streets and street repair, police/army/espionage protection, education and the regulation of private business. “Own” can include government funding of private enterprises for specific tasks, but the overall project, including pricing and operational direction, should be wholly government controlled.

Turkey plans giant privatization campaign

Turkey has sold several state-owned assets worth nearly $41 billion in recent years, and the head of the country’s privatization agency said Thursday the government planned to launch an even more robust period of privatization in 2011.

Why Privatization? You have only to ask, “Who is getting rich from this?”

Rodger Malcolm Mitchell
Monetary Sovereignty

====================================================================================================================================================

Nine Steps to Prosperity:
1. Eliminate FICA (Click here)
2. Medicare — parts A, B & D — for everyone
3. Send every American citizen an annual check for $5,000 or give every state $5,000 per capita (Click here)
4. Long-term nursing care for everyone
5. Free education (including post-grad) for everyone
6. Salary for attending school (Click here)
7. Eliminate corporate taxes
8. Increase the standard income tax deduction annually
9. Increase federal spending on the myriad initiatives that benefit America’s 99%

No nation can tax itself into prosperity, nor grow without money growth. Monetary Sovereignty: Cutting federal deficits to grow the economy is like applying leeches to cure anemia. Two key equations in economics:
Federal Deficits – Net Imports = Net Private Savings
Gross Domestic Product = Federal Spending + Private Investment and Consumption – Net Imports

#MONETARY SOVEREIGNTY

Mitchell’s laws:
●The more federal budgets are cut and taxes increased, the weaker an economy becomes.
●Austerity is the government’s method for widening the gap between rich and poor, which leads to civil disorder.
●Until the 99% understand the need for federal deficits, the upper 1% will rule.
●To survive long term, a monetarily non-sovereign government must have a positive balance of payments.
●Those, who do not understand the differences between Monetary Sovereignty and monetary non-sovereignty, do not understand economics.
●The penalty for ignorance is slavery.
●Everything in economics devolves to motive.
=====================================================================

I thought I’d drop in on the Tea Party web site to see if they still exist. Not having heard any of their silly proposals lately, I was concerned for their survival.

If fear is necessary for bravery, sadness necessary for happiness, poverty necessary for affluence and losing necessary for winning, then stupidity is necessary for intelligence, which means the Tea Party is necessary for America.

And yes, they still are there, still stupid, and to prove it, still announcing their “15 Non-negotiable Core Beliefs” (with my comments appended):

1. Illegal aliens are here illegally. (It’s a tautology, but what does it mean? Shoot them? Arrest them? Deport them? Deny them and their children food, housing and medical care? Or is this just an open invitation to do to these people, anything we wish, so long as it’s really cruel?)

2. Pro-domestic employment is indispensable. (We are against unemployment and importing.)

3. A strong military is essential. (Except when it has to be cut because of budget cuts, in which case it isn’t essential.)

4. Special interests must be eliminated. (Except when the special interest is gun ownership or anti-immigration.)

5. Gun ownership is sacred. (The Bible is sacred. The Koran is sacred. Guns are sacred. They all are sacred.)

6. Government must be downsized. (Because government provides benefits to the poor and middle classes, which narrows the gap vs.the rich.)

7. The national budget must be balanced. (Combine this with the tax reductions of #10 and #11, and government spending will begin to disappear. Social Security, Medicare, poverty aid, food and drug inspections, interstate highways, the military, disaster assistance, the FBI, the CIA, the Supreme Court, Congress, the President, the courts, education, science and research & development are for wimps. We are self-sufficient macho men. Anarchy is nice.)

8. Deficit spending must end. (What? You say this is identical with #7? Gee, our bad. Anyway, we sort of ran out of ideas, and we needed fifteen “core beliefs.”)

9. Bailout and stimulus plans are illegal. (We have no idea what a “stimulus plan” is. But, we want the recession to go on, forever. It’s good for the rich.)

10. Reducing personal income taxes is a must. (Hey, see, we have a good idea!)

11. Reducing business income taxes is mandatory. (Hey, another good idea. But, what is the difference between “a must” and “mandatory”? Just askin’.)

12. Political offices must be available to average citizens. (We don’t know what “available” and “average” mean in this context, but it sounds so patriotic, we couldn’t resist.)

13. Intrusive government must be stopped. (Yes, we know every law is “intrusive” to a law breaker, but what we really mean is “intrusive in our sole opinion” — like forcing people to stop shooting each other. Way too intrusive.)

14. English as our core language is required. (Except for grandma — my grandma, that is. Your grandma better learn real fast, or else! Of course, no one can learn English, because we won’t allow our schools to teach English. Gotcha!)

15. Traditional family values are encouraged. (My traditions, that is. I really don’t give a damn about your traditions.)

With Jerry Lewis long retired, and Jay Leno about to go off the air, I was afraid we would be left with only Michele (“Be submissive wives”) Bachmann and John (“The government is broke”) Boehner for our daily helping of nuttiness.

Thankfully, the Tea Party and Justice Scalia remain with us.

Rodger Malcolm Mitchell
Monetary Sovereignty

====================================================================================================================================================

Nine Steps to Prosperity:
1. Eliminate FICA (Click here)
2. Medicare — parts A, B & D — for everyone
3. Send every American citizen an annual check for $5,000 or give every state $5,000 per capita (Click here)
4. Long-term nursing care for everyone
5. Free education (including post-grad) for everyone
6. Salary for attending school (Click here)
7. Eliminate corporate taxes
8. Increase the standard income tax deduction annually
9. Increase federal spending on the myriad initiatives that benefit America’s 99%

No nation can tax itself into prosperity, nor grow without money growth. Monetary Sovereignty: Cutting federal deficits to grow the economy is like applying leeches to cure anemia. Two key equations in economics:
Federal Deficits – Net Imports = Net Private Savings
Gross Domestic Product = Federal Spending + Private Investment and Consumption – Net Imports

#MONETARY SOVEREIGNTY

Mitchell’s laws:
●The more federal budgets are cut and taxes increased, the weaker an economy becomes.
●Austerity is the government’s method for widening the gap between rich and poor, which leads to civil disorder.
●Until the 99% understand the need for federal deficits, the upper 1% will rule.
●To survive long term, a monetarily non-sovereign government must have a positive balance of payments.
●Those, who do not understand the differences between Monetary Sovereignty and monetary non-sovereignty, do not understand economics.
●The penalty for ignorance is slavery.
●Everything in economics devolves to motive.
=====================================================================

Here is why Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid and aids to the poor will be cut, and the gap between the rich and the rest will be widened.

Boeing, billionaire Penny Pritzker among Obama’s donors
By Katherine Skiba, Tribune reporter, April 24, 2013

Illinois donors to President Barack Obama’s second inauguration included aviation giant Boeing Co., which contributed $1 million, and billionaire Penny Pritzker, who gave $250,000, according to newly filed records.

Pritzker, who is being vetted by the White House as a candidate for commerce secretary, gave $250,000 personally to the Presidential Inaugural Committee.

For those not familiar with Chicago, the Pritzkers are Chicago’s most powerful family. Few big projects are completed here without their involvement.

Wikipedia

Some observers consider Millennium Park to be the city’s most important project since the World’s Columbian Exposition of 1893. The centerpiece of Millennium Park is the Jay Pritzker Pavilion

In February 1999, the city announced it was negotiating with Frank Gehry to design a proscenium arch and orchestra enclosure for a bandshell, as well as a pedestrian bridge crossing Columbus Drive, and that it was seeking donors to cover his work. At the time, the Chicago Tribune dubbed Gehry “the hottest architect in the universe”

His hesitance and refusal to accept the commission was overcome by Cindy Pritzker, the philanthropist, who had developed a relationship with the architect when he won the Pritzker Prize in 1991. According to John H. Bryan, who led fund-raising for the park, Pritzker enticed Gehry in face-to-face discussions, using a $15 million funding commitment toward the bandshell’s creation.

This, from the Chicago Tribune:

10 LARGEST CORPORATE DONORS TO OBAMA’S SECOND INAUGURATION COMMITTEE

AT&T: $4.6 million
Microsoft: $2.1 million
Boeing: $1 million
Chevron: $1 million
Genentech, Inc.: $750 thousand
Deloitte LLP: $500 thousand
FedEx: $500 thousand
Hargrove Inc.: $500 thousand
Coca-Cola: $430 thousand
Bank of America: $300 thousand

Ask yourself three questions:
1. Why have wealthy business leaders committed so much money to President Obama’s committee?
2. How is Obama saying, “Thank you” to these wealthy business leaders?
3. Later, how will these wealthy business leaders say, “Thank you,” for Obama’s “Thank you”?

In the Washington spirit of one hand washing the other, Obama will widen the gap between the rich and the rest, and later, the rich will pay for his Obama library (in Chicago, spearheaded by the Pritzkers) and hire him and his family for all sorts of lucrative jobs, speeches, advisories, etc.

Pritzker still in line for Commerce post
Reuters, April 26, 2013

Pritzker, the 271st richest American according to Forbes magazine, was Obama’s national finance chair in 2008 and his campaign co-chair in 2012. Her personal fortune is worth an estimated $1.85 billion, putting her at the pinnacle of the top 1 percent of American households.

After a long vetting process, Pritzker remains in the running for the Commerce post.

Obama has been, and continues to be, bribed to widen the gap, and if anything, Obama is an appreciative man. And that is why Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid and aids to the poor will be cut, and the gap will be widened.

Rodger Malcolm Mitchell
Monetary Sovereignty

====================================================================================================================================================

Nine Steps to Prosperity:
1. Eliminate FICA (Click here)
2. Medicare — parts A, B & D — for everyone
3. Send every American citizen an annual check for $5,000 or give every state $5,000 per capita (Click here)
4. Long-term nursing care for everyone
5. Free education (including post-grad) for everyone
6. Salary for attending school (Click here)
7. Eliminate corporate taxes
8. Increase the standard income tax deduction annually
9. Increase federal spending on the myriad initiatives that benefit America’s 99%

No nation can tax itself into prosperity, nor grow without money growth. Monetary Sovereignty: Cutting federal deficits to grow the economy is like applying leeches to cure anemia. Two key equations in economics:
Federal Deficits – Net Imports = Net Private Savings
Gross Domestic Product = Federal Spending + Private Investment and Consumption – Net Imports

#MONETARY SOVEREIGNTY