Mitchell’s laws: The more budgets are cut and taxes inceased, the weaker an economy becomes. To survive long term, a monetarily non-sovereign government must have a positive balance of payments. Austerity = poverty and leads to civil disorder. Those, who do not understand the differences between Monetary Sovereignty and monetary non-sovereignty, do not understand economics.
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Could these people possibly get any more stupid? Just when I think they have flown off the top of the stupid chart, they set yet a new standard.

Time Magazine
IMF Approves $36 Billion Funding for Greece
By ASSOCIATED PRESS | March 15, 2012 |

(ATHENS, Greece ) — The International Monetary Fund on Thursday approved euro28 billion ($36.56 billion) in funding for crisis-hit Greece over the next four years, while Standard and Poor’s said that the country’s new bonds were still vulnerable to a default.

Greece will receive a total euro172.7 billion in rescue loans from its eurozone partners and the IMF to keep it afloat in the next few years, as dizzily high borrowing rates have blocked its ability to raise money on the international bond markets.

Greece’s problems began when it surrendered its Monetary Sovereignty. Having made itself monetarily non-sovereign, it needs not only to balance its budget, but it needs a positive cash flow (all monetarily non-sovereign governments do). But it has no way to achieve that positive cash flow.

So what is the EU/IMF solution? Lend Greece more money, to put it even deeper into debt, then demand Greece wreck its economy further with higher taxes and lower spending, i.e. austerity.

IMF spokesman Gerry Rice said “continued reform efforts to improve competitiveness and restore economic growth will be key to overcoming the crisis.”

Oh really? And how will Greece accomplish that, while paying off higher and higher debt?

Without the bailout, Greece would have been forced into a messy default of a euro14.5 billion bond repayment due on March. 20, a move that could have sent shockwaves throughout the global financial system and further destabilized the group of 17 countries that use the euro as their currency.

Translation: We screwed Greece, because we don’t want “messy” or “shockwaves” or heavens-to-Betsy, to destabilize that shining symbol of currency stabilization, the euro.

The new bailout cash was approved after Greece secured a massive debt-reduction deal with banks and other private bond holders, swapping old government bonds for new ones that have better repayment terms.

Translation: We screwed the private sector, too.

The ratings agency Standard and Poor’s assigned a CCC score — or still vulnerable to default — and said Greece’s sovereign rating would remain in selective default until the exchange was completed next month.

Translation: Forget “selective default.” Greece is dead. If we had a ZZZ rating, we’d use it for Greece.

The country has survived since May 2010 on a first rescue loan package worth a total euro110 billion ($143.63 billion). In return for both bailouts, Athens has imposed harsh cost-cutting measures, slashing pensions and salaries while repeatedly increasing taxes.

Translation: See, here’s how economics works. You increase taxes to gut the economy. Simultaneously, you cut pensions and salaries, to impoverish the people. And you slash government spending to finish the job. Then stand back and insist Greece grow its economy while paying off its debts. It should be a good plan. After all, we got the idea from the American Tea/Republican party.

Also Thursday, Finance Minister Evangelos Venizelos said he would ensure the terms of the bailout deals would be met if he is part of the next government. Venizelos is the only contender for the leadership of the majority socialist PASOK party in a vote this Sunday.

Once he takes over the party helm, he will resign as minister to focus on the election campaign. “It is hypocritical to say that you can sign commitments and then say you are not bound by them. That’s an insult to our intelligence,” Venizelos said.

That’s the insult to intelligence? How about the plan to drain blood from the patient, to cure anemia?

Meanwhile, a European Union inspector has reported rare progress in Greece’s effort to reform its large civil service — one of the key austerity measures and a condition of receiving the bailout. Horst Reichenbach, heading an EU task force sent to Greece to assist painful structural reforms, said there had been a “number of very positive developments” including an improvement in clearing tax arrears.

Translation: We’re firing lots of people and collecting more taxes from the few who still have jobs. What could possibly go wrong with that?

I award 6 dunce caps (out of a maximum of 5 — that’s how incredibly stupid this is), to the EU, the IMF, and the Greek leaders who would do this to their own people.

People of Greece: My heart truly goes out to you. You are doomed. Now if only, we here in America, can prevent our leaders from doing the same things to us. They already have begun.

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

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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 exports

#MONETARY SOVEREIGNTY

Mitchell’s laws: The more budgets are cut and taxes inceased, the weaker an economy becomes. To survive long term, a monetarily non-sovereign government must have a positive balance of payments. Austerity = poverty and leads to civil disorder. Those, who do not understand the differences between Monetary Sovereignty and monetary non-sovereignty, do not understand economics.
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Just when you think someone in the government understands Monetary Sovereignty, they open their mouth once too often. Check these excerpts:

Scottrade Daily Ticker
U.S. Economy Needs More Fiscal Stimulus: Christina Romer Defends Keynesian Economics
By Aaron Task

One of Obama’s former top economic advisers says the President deserves credit for his handling of the economy, not criticism.

“I have no doubt without the actions President Obama took and actions Chairman Bernanke and the Fed took we would be in a much, much worse situation,” says Christina Romer, former chair of President Obama’s Council of Economic Advisers. “This had all of the makings of terrible depression and the fact we are struggling but coming out is a tribute to the President’s policies.”

Specifically, Romer says the Recovery Act and other measures taken by the administration “made a difference, helped to strengthen growth and bring down the unemployment rate.”

Of course, Romer was one of the architects of those policies and, according to multiple reports, lobbied for even more stimulus than the $800 billion package signed in 2009.

True to form, Romer is still lobbying for more and is an ardent believer in the power of fiscal stimulus, a.k.a. Keynesian economics. “I absolutely think more fiscal stimulus would be very helpful,” she says. “We need faster growth [to bring down unemployment]. Fiscal stimulus could help do that.”

Hurrah! She’s right on target. Someone in Washington actually gets it. But then . . .

Notably, Romer believes short-term stimulus should be tied to long-term plans to bring down the deficit, the huge growth of which — along with the more recent rise in gas prices — explains a lot of the public’s displeasure with Obama’s economic policies. Unfortunately, there is little indication “of Congress being willing to go along with that very sensible, rational policy – what would be effective and what the economy needs,” Romer laments.

Oh, no! “Bring down the deficit” is a synonym for “create fewer dollars,” which in turn is a synonym for “austerity.” And she came so close. What a shame she missed it.

Such views are clearly in the minority in Washington and much of the economic punditry these days is seemingly dedicated to the notion that more government spending to help boost the economy — a.k.a. Keynesianism — is the absolute wrong prescription. (See: Europe’s “Going in the Wrong Direction,” Forbes Says: “The Worst of Both Worlds”)

We already spoke of Forbes and his inability to understand the difference between the monetarily non-sovereign euro nations, and the Monetarily Sovereign U.S. government.

That’s another shame. He’s a guy with a very loud bullhorn. He could help save the American economy, and create an everlasting, positive legacy for himself. Instead, he has opted lazily to parrot the same, old popular wisdom, and he will be remembered as a rich guy who, along with his magazine, spouted nonsense.

But Romer dismisses and (politely) challenges the skeptics. “Fiscal stimulus absolutely can and does help the economy,” she says, citing “unbiased” academic research and recent history. “Countries that did more stimulus in 2009 recovered more quickly from the downturn than those that did less,” Romer declares. And, yes, that very much includes the United States — even if growth isn’t what it “should” be and even if President Obama is seemingly getting very little credit for the recovery to date.

Now, if only she could divorce herself from the Tea/Republican/Forbes cut-the-deficit myth. Yes, if only.

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

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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 exports

#MONETARY SOVEREIGNTY

Mitchell’s laws: The more budgets are cut and taxes inceased, the weaker an economy becomes. To survive long term, a monetarily non-sovereign government must have a positive balance of payments. Austerity = poverty and leads to civil disorder. Those, who do not understand the differences between Monetary Sovereignty and monetary non-sovereignty, do not understand economics.
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Yahoo News
WASHINGTON (AP) — People favoring a candidate who shares their religious beliefs helped Rick Santorum capture Tuesday’s Republican presidential primary in Alabama, exit polls of voters showed. He also won among women and younger voters.

In the contest in neighboring Mississippi, Santorum did well with those caring most strongly about a contender’s religion, and those seeking a true conservative and strong moral character in their nominee.

People saying it mattered that they share religious beliefs with their candidates comprised three-quarters or more of voters in both Deep South states. Santorum, the former Pennsylvania senator who has repeatedly emphasized the pivotal role Catholicism has played in his life, won 41 percent of their votes in Alabama, while former House Speaker Newt Gingrich took 31 percent. Mitt Romney, the former Massachusetts governor, was a distant third with 23 percent of their vote.

In Mississippi, Santorum, Gingrich and Romney ran roughly evenly with that group. But among the nearly half of Mississippians saying sharing religion with a candidate was very important, Santorum won 43 percent, well ahead of his two rivals.

In another measure of the role religion was playing, Santorum captured 35 percent of white evangelical Christian or born-again voters in both Alabama and Mississippi, about the same as Gingrich but several percentage points better than Romney. Such voters accounted for 8 in 10 voters in Mississippi, the most in any state this year where voters have been surveyed, and nearly as many in Alabama.

Santorum is Catholic. The majority of voters were Baptist. Share a religion??

And exactly how does sharing a religion translate into economic growth, reduced unemployment, smaller gap between rich and poor, lower taxes or lower gasoline prices — the issues people claim are most important?

Here’s my faith: Even the voters of Mississippi and Alabama will wake up one day to realize that voting for a religion will not give them jobs, nor put food on the table, nor give them health care, nor send their kids to school, nor keep America as a democracy rather than as a theocracy. They’ll realize it will turn the U.S. into Iran.

Then goodbye Santorum and his pseudo-Taliban philosphy.

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

==========================================================================================================================================
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 exports

#MONETARY SOVEREIGNTY

Mitchell’s laws: The more budgets are cut and taxes inceased, the weaker an economy becomes. To survive long term, a monetarily non-sovereign government must have a positive balance of payments. Austerity = poverty and leads to civil disorder. Those, who do not understand the differences between Monetary Sovereignty and monetary non-sovereignty, do not understand economics.
==========================================================================================================================================

He came close, oh, so close:

Europe’s “Going in the Wrong Direction,” Forbes Says: “The Worst of Both Worlds”
By Aaron Task | Daily Ticker (Scottrade)

The EU has probably bought itself “several more months,” thanks to the Greek restructuring and the “radical measures” adopted by the European Central Bank, says Steve Forbes, chairman of Forbes Media. “You can keep kicking” the can down the road, “but crises emerge.”

In sum, Forbes fears European policymakers have failed to take the “right” lessons from the Greek tragedy.

Right now “you have the worst of both words” in Greece, he says. “The economy is going into the tank without the pro-growth reforms to get it back again.”

At this point I became so excited. Steve Forbes was about to win the race to be the first media leader who understands the fundamentals of Monetary Sovereignty.

Forbes prescription for Greece — and Europe’s other so-called PIIGS — is familiar to anyone who’s followed his work over the years: less regulation, labor reform and a “radically reformed tax structure,” featuring (of course) a flat tax. (See: “Everyone Is Making a Bungle of Things”: Steve Forbes’ Rx to Fix Greece)

The type of tax is much less important than the amount of tax. If his flat tax would collect fewer euros than the current tax, that would help the private sector. But of course, Greece still is monetarily non-sovereign, which needs to be corrected.

“They’re going in the wrong direction” in Europe, he says, citing new tax increases in Spain and Portugal and Greece’s failure to really reform its bloated public sector.

Right. Tax increases are anti-stimulus. Austerity is anti-stimulus.

“They need remedial education,” Forbes says of EU policymakers. “They’re all tied to defunct notion of Keynesianism that government spending somehow stimulates the economy — that easy money stimulates the economy. No it does not.”

Forbes compares European policymakers to medieval doctors who tried to “bleed the patient to cure the patient. So they killed the patient.”

OMG, the guy almost has it. Then he misunderstands his own analogy. Steve, think it out. Your analogy is this: Taking blood out of the sick patient is bad; taking money out of the sick economy is bad. If a patient has anemia, you have to add blood via a transfusion, i.e. add euros via a money transfusion.

Steve, think very slowly, now. If, as you correctly say, tax increases are bad, why are they bad? Because they remove money from the private sector. Anything that removes money from the private sector hurts the private sector. Hurting the private sector hurts the economy. Similarly, adding money benefits the private sector. This isn’t quantum chromodynamics.

What a shame. The guy was almost there. But his pre-Monetary Sovereignty education in economics, prevented him from taking that last step. He has no idea what happened on August 15, 1971, and how it changed economics 180 degrees. He’s still saying the same stuff he would have said in 1970 and before.

Perhaps in another year or two . . . ? Dare we hope?

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

==========================================================================================================================================
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 exports

#MONETARY SOVEREIGNTY