Twitter: @rodgermitchell; Search #monetarysovereignty
Facebook: Rodger Malcolm Mitchell

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 ultimately 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.
======================================================================================================================================================================================

Recently, Republicans have entertained us with a combination of screw loosedness, mia culpidness and downright “I-see-nothing; I-know-nothingedness”: Sarah (Russian expert) Palin, Newt (marriage expert) Gingrich, Rick (God expert) Santorum, Rick (dumber than Bush II) Perry, Michele (even dumber than Perry) Bachmann, Herman (nein, nein,nein) Cain, Ted (shut down America) Cruz, and Marco (If I had a mind, I’d make it up) Rubio to name just a few.

These are the strange people to whom the Tea/Republican Party has given its love.

Today we are treated to Chris Christie, who follows in the happy tradition. I won’t bore you with the details of his story. You’ll be treated to them daily, for the next few months.

Let’s just say that in a fit of bully anger, this Republican Presidential Candidate decided essentially to close the busiest bridge in America, so as to punish a couple of Democrats, and in the process endangered the lives of several critically ill people, while inconveniencing thousands and costing a community hundreds of thousands.

And though this scandal began months ago, Christie somehow never asked anyone about it, only recently discovered it, denies ever knowing about it, feels sad he did it though he didn’t do it, and to protect his own butt, he fired a few people, who trying to stay out of jail, now have taken the Fifth.

Whew!

Hmmm . . . Let’s see. Boss is a mean, vindictive SOB. He hires underlings in his own mold. His underlings are only too happy to screw anyone in the Boss’s way. But they slip up and are caught doing something illegal. Of course, the Boss denies everything and to protect himself, he fires everyone. It all sounds so familiar. Hmmm . . .

Song Lyrics:
Haldeman, Ehrlichman, Mitchell And Dean
(written by Bob Warren)

We’re Haldeman, Ehrlichman, Mitchell and Dean
The way we’ve been treated is really obscene
To think that a bug worth hardly a shrug
Could end up by getting us tossed in the jug

We all got the gate for no reason or rhyme
You’d think we’d committed some horrible crime
Our minds may be dirty, but our hands are clean
We’re Haldeman, Ehrlichman, Mitchell and Dean

We’re Haldeman, Ehrlichman, Mitchell and Dean
Our job was to see that the White House stayed green
We might have had flaws, like bending the laws
But God only knows it was for a good cause

There’s no power shortage where we were concerned
And what little profit resulted, we earned
For lovelier fellows you never have seen
Than Haldeman, Ehrlichman, Mitchell and Dean

We’re Haldeman, Ehrlichman, Mitchell and Dean
Our past has been fat, but the future looks lean
With backs to the wall, we’re taking the fall
But dammit, we only robbed Pete to pay Paul

Just when we were getting to be well-to-do
The Watergate turned into our Waterloo
And now everybody is out to demean
Poor Haldeman, Ehrlichman, Mitchell and Dean

Yes, we’re Haldeman, Ehrlichman, Mitchell and Dean
We’re perfectly willing to spill every bean
We’ve nothing to hide, with God on our side
He knows we were only along for the ride

But so it won’t come as terrible blow
There’s one little thing that we think you should know
Whatever we say isn’t quite what we mean
We’re Haldeman, Ehrlichman, Mitchell and Dean

Oh yes, we’re Haldeman, Ehrlichman, Mitchell and Dean
Things won’t be the same when we’re gone from the scene
But people will still recall with a thrill
Our sell-out performance on Capitol Hill

It just isn’t fair to take all of the blame
When all we were doing was playing the game
Now all of Washington’s caught in between
Haldeman, Ehrlichman, Mitchell and Dean

Economics may be the dismal science, but you can’t beat politics for entertainment.

Rodger Malcolm Mitchell
Monetary Sovereignty

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

—–

10 Steps to Economic Misery: (Click here:)
1. Maintain or increase the FICA tax..
2. Spread the myth Social Security, Medicare and the U.S. government are insolvent.
3. Cut federal employment in the military, post office, other federal agencies.
4. Broaden the income tax base so more lower income people will pay.
5. Cut financial assistance to the states.
6. Spread the myth federal taxes pay for federal spending.
7. Allow banks to trade for their own accounts; save them when their investments go sour.
8. Never prosecute any banker for criminal activity.
9. Nominate arch conservatives to the Supreme Court.
10. Reduce the federal deficit and debt

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:
1. Federal Deficits – Net Imports = Net Private Savings
2. Gross Domestic Product = Federal Spending + Private Investment and Consumption – Net Imports

THE RECESSION CLOCK

As the federal deficit growth lines drop, we approach recession, which will be cured only when the lines rise.

#MONETARY SOVEREIGNTY

Twitter: @rodgermitchell; Search #monetarysovereignty
Facebook: Rodger Malcolm Mitchell

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 ultimately 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.
======================================================================================================================================================================================

Misdirection: How the rich win the war against our democracy

There are but a handful of the rich versus hundreds of millions of the non-rich. Yet the rich are winning their war against democracy. They are taking ownership of America.

How is this possible in our nation where we non-rich have the majority of votes at every level – from the smallest towns to big cities, counties, states and the country as a whole?

Some might think it’s mere bribery, in which the rich pay the politicians, the media and the economists to parrot The Big Lie – the false notion that the federal deficit must be reduced. The Big Lie always leads to less going to the non-rich and more going to the rich (who characterize themselves as the “makers”).

There is a great deal of truth to the bribery idea. The president and all of Congress, with the connivance of the Supreme Court, are bribed by unlimited campaign contributions, plus promises of lucrative employment later (the “revolving door”).

And the rich own the media, which broadcast The Big Lie. And the universities that employ economists are bribed by large contributors to justify The Big Lie. So yes, the economist parrot The Big Lie.

Bribery is an important weapon in the war against democracy.

But still, it leaves open the question, how is it that we non-rich, outnumbering the rich by a million-to-one, still cannot see the plain results in front of our noses – the widening gap between the rich and the non-rich, the eroding quality of life for we non-rich compared to the magnifying wealth of the rich.

How is it that we non-rich refuse use our democratic voting power to take back our rights?

One stands in awe at the fervor displayed by voters in arguing about which political party is better. How, one wonders, can any person favor either party so mightily, when both parties take part in our defeat and the defeat of democracy?

And the answer is: Misdirection.

To any voter, the biggest issue should be well-being. A rational voter should ask himself, “What is this party or this politician doing (not just saying) to improve my life and the lives of those for whom I care?

But that is not what we non-rich are asking. The rich have misdirected us into fighting lesser battles.

They have misdirected us into battling about abortion and exactly how many days or months of gestation make a sentient human.

They have misdirected us into battling about guns and “stand your ground” and what the Second Amendment really means by “well-regulated militia”.

They have misdirected us into battling about gay marriage and gay adoption and gays in the military.

They have misdirected us into battling about whether the unemployed are clever slackers, and who would rather sleep than work.

They have misdirected us into fighting over creches and crosses on public land, and whether religion should be taught in the public schools.

They have misdirected us into worrying about which politician had an affair and which was divorced and which smoked marijuana in college and which still does, and whether the President was born in Hawaii and who put their genitilia on YouTube.

They have misdirected us into fighting about the details of becoming an American citizen and should it take ten years or seven years or three years, and if the parents are not citizens but the children were born here so should they be sent back? And how many border guards are needed between us and Mexico.

They have misdirected us into fighting about jail terms for different kinds of cocaine use and heroin use, and whether jail is appropriate at all.

And the rich love it. Misdirected, we don’t pay attention to the fact that the rich are stealing our lives.

We neither care nor even notice that their (not our) bribed government is giving us less and less, while giving them more and more.

We don’t seem to have much passion about the fact that the gap between the rich and the non-rich keeps growing.

As long as the rich keep us fighting about relative minutia, we won’t have energy or attention to fight for our lives. So the battle will be won, done and over – and we still will be battling over silliness, when we already have lost the war.

Pickpocketing is a form of larceny that involves stealing from a victim without their noticing. It requires misdirection.

And that is how the vastly outnumbered rich are picking our pockets, stealing our wallets and winning their war against our democracy.

Misdirection.

Rodger Malcolm Mitchell
Monetary Sovereignty

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

—–

10 Steps to Economic Misery: (Click here:)
1. Maintain or increase the FICA tax..
2. Spread the myth Social Security, Medicare and the U.S. government are insolvent.
3. Cut federal employment in the military, post office, other federal agencies.
4. Broaden the income tax base so more lower income people will pay.
5. Cut financial assistance to the states.
6. Spread the myth federal taxes pay for federal spending.
7. Allow banks to trade for their own accounts; save them when their investments go sour.
8. Never prosecute any banker for criminal activity.
9. Nominate arch conservatives to the Supreme Court.
10. Reduce the federal deficit and debt

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:
1. Federal Deficits – Net Imports = Net Private Savings
2. Gross Domestic Product = Federal Spending + Private Investment and Consumption – Net Imports

THE RECESSION CLOCK

As the federal deficit growth lines drop, we approach recession, which will be cured only when the lines rise.

#MONETARY SOVEREIGNTY

Twitter: @rodgermitchell; Search #monetarysovereignty
Facebook: Rodger Malcolm Mitchell

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 ultimately 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.
======================================================================================================================================================================================

The right-wing, Washington Times ran the following article. Here are some excerpts. Think about what this article is trying to sell you.

Washington Times
Poverty level under Obama breaks 50-year record
By Dave Boyer

Fifty years after President Johnson started a $20 trillion taxpayer-funded war on poverty, the overall percentage of impoverished people in the U.S. has declined only slightly and the poor have lost ground under President Obama.

Although the president often rails against income inequality in America, his policies have had little impact overall on poverty. A record 47 million Americans receive food stamps, about 13 million more than when he took office.

So obviously, those food stamps don’t do any good. Right? And it’s all Obama’s fault. Right again?

Read on.

About 50 million Americans live below the poverty line, which the federal government defined in 2012 as an annual income of $23,492 for a family of four.

President Obama’s anti-poverty efforts “are basically to give more people more free stuff,” said Robert Rector, a specialist on welfare and poverty at the conservative Heritage Foundation.

Giving poor people “free stuff” doesn’t help them. Right?

(Oh, by the way, the Heritage Foundation is funded by the extreme right-wing rich, whose cure for poverty seems to depend on lower taxes for the wealthy and less regulation of wealthy corporations.)

Mr. Rector said the war on poverty has been a failure when measured by the overall amount of money spent and poverty rates that haven’t changed significantly since Johnson gave his speech.

“We’ve spent $20.7 trillion on means-tested aid since that time, and the poverty rate is pretty much exactly where it was in the mid-1960s,” he said.

O.K., we get it. Spending $20.7 was a waste of money. It hasn’t helped at all because the same number of people are in poverty. So we ought to stop giving poor people “free stuff.” Right?

Then there’s this from the Census Bureau:

How the Census Bureau Measures Poverty

The Census Bureau uses a set of money income thresholds that vary by family size and composition to determine who is in poverty.

The official poverty thresholds do not vary geographically, but they are updated for inflation using Consumer Price Index (CPI-U).

So the same income — $23,492 for a family of four — defines poverty in Manhattan and poverty in Mississippi? Interesting to learn that it costs no more to live in America’s most expensive locations than in America’s least expensive locations.

But it gets even more interesting:

The official poverty definition uses money income before taxes and does not include capital gains or noncash benefits (such as public housing, Medicaid, and food stamps).

Get it? The spending to which the Heritage Foundation’s mouthpiece says does nothing to help the poor, is not even included in the definition of poverty.

Who is poorer? The family with an income of $23,492 that also receives free food stamps, free Medicaid and free housing, or the same family that does not receive this “free stuff”?

Clearly, the “free stuff” to which the Heritage Foundation objects is a huge benefit to the needy people receiving it.

That “free stuff” may prevent starvation, homelessness, sickness and death. But the Heritage Foundation seems not to care about the poor. These mean-spirited guys send out liars like Rector to tell America food stamps don’t work; free housing doesn’t work; Medicaid doesn’t work — and while we’re at it, let’s cut unemployment compensation, Social Security, Medicare and every other aid to the poor and middle classes, while “broadening the tax base.”

The cruelty of the wealthy liars is beyond comprehension. While the rich lounge on yachts, millions of people suffer on scaps, but even that suffering isn’t sufficient. The rich want to take away the scraps.

They paint the poor as lazy freeloaders, who would rather do nothing than work for a living. It’s a cruel lie, but the cold-hearted among us eagerly buy into that lie.

If a nation is measured by its treatment of its less fortunate, then America is diminishing. The fault lies not only with the rich, but even more so with the fools who believe their lies.

And the irony: Those federal benefits don’t cost anyone anything. In our Monetarily Sovereign nation, taxpayers don’t pay for federal spending.

In short, those who object to the “free stuff” that keeps people alive, don’t even pay for the “free stuff.”

How stupid is that?

Rodger Malcolm Mitchell
Monetary Sovereignty

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

—–

10 Steps to Economic Misery: (Click here:)
1. Maintain or increase the FICA tax..
2. Spread the myth Social Security, Medicare and the U.S. government are insolvent.
3. Cut federal employment in the military, post office, other federal agencies.
4. Broaden the income tax base so more lower income people will pay.
5. Cut financial assistance to the states.
6. Spread the myth federal taxes pay for federal spending.
7. Allow banks to trade for their own accounts; save them when their investments go sour.
8. Never prosecute any banker for criminal activity.
9. Nominate arch conservatives to the Supreme Court.
10. Reduce the federal deficit and debt

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:
1. Federal Deficits – Net Imports = Net Private Savings
2. Gross Domestic Product = Federal Spending + Private Investment and Consumption – Net Imports

THE RECESSION CLOCK

As the federal deficit growth lines drop, we approach recession, which will be cured only when the lines rise.

#MONETARY SOVEREIGNTY

Twitter: @rodgermitchell; Search #monetarysovereignty
Facebook: Rodger Malcolm Mitchell

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 ultimately 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.
======================================================================================================================================================================================

Allow me to share with you excerpts from today’s best “It-would-be-funny-if-it-weren’t-so-sad” story.

White House: US pullout not cause of Iraq violence

WASHINGTON (AP) — The White House is pushing back against critics who argue that the U.S. pullout from Iraq is to blame for escalating sectarian violence.

Escalating tensions in Iraq have raised U.S. concerns about al-Qaida taking firmer root inside the country, as insurgents challenge the government for control of territory.

This sad story is hilarious on several levels:

1. There was no al-Qaida in Iraq until after the US lied to Americans (so what else is new?) about the need to destroy the Iraqi government.

2. There were far more casualties caused by the invasion of Iraq than by recent sectarian violence.

3. More than 4,000 Americans were uselessly slaughtered and 32,000 uselessly wounded in the useless war with Iraq — comparable to the number of Iraqis killed since the US withdrawal in December 2011.

4. The original vote for the useless Iraqi war was:
House:
Republicans: For: 216; Against: 6
Democrats: For: 82; Against: 126

Senate:
Republicans: For: 48; Against: 1
Democrats: For: 29; Against: 21

Question: Who are the current critics of the pullout?

But the black humor isn’t finished:

March 11, 2010, 12:22 am
Five Republicans vote to pull out from Afghanistan
By Eric Zimmermann

Five House Republcians joined 60 Democrats tonight in voting to pull out U.S. forces from Afghanistan. The measure, defeated by a vote of 356-65, was introduced by Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D-Ohio) and co-sponsored by three of the Republicans who ended up supporting it: Reps. Walter Jones (R-N.C.), Ron Paul (R-Texas), and Tim Johnson (R-Ill.)

A huge majority — 336 to 65 — voted to keep Americans in the useless Afghanistan war, where more than 20,000 were killed and wounded. If this slaughter doesn’t tickle your funny bone, what about this:

U.S. wants Afghanistan to sign security deal in ‘weeks not months’

The Afghan government had ignored U.S. demands for it to sign a framework security agreement by the end of 2013.

U.S. officials say unless a deal is reached to keep upwards of 8,000 U.S. troops inside the country after 2014, the United States might instead completely withdraw from the country.

Afghanistan President Hamid Karzai has expressed skepticism at the U.S. threat for a complete withdrawal.

So, our President is begging Karzai to allow us to leave 8,000 Americans in his country, to be killed and maimed (while giving Karzai billions in aid).

Karzai is thinking about it.

And what can you say about this:

Afghanistan to Free Prisoners Despite US Objection

The decision angered US officials, who said the 88 prisoners are Taliban fighters involved in attacks that killed at least 60 American soldiers and more than 50 civilians.

Clearly, our investment of lives and money in Afghanistan and Iraq is paying dividends — for the Taliban.

So let’s put it together: Our foreign policy has been a mortal disaster. Our domestic policy has been a mortal disaster. Our immigration policy has been a mortal disaster. Our financial policy has been a mortal disaster. The gap between the rich and the rest has been growing, disastrously. Everything Congress and the current and former Presidents have touched has been a disaster.

Please raise your hands: How many plan to vote for an incumbent?

Most of you?

Now that’s funny — and sad.

Rodger Malcolm Mitchell
Monetary Sovereignty

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

—–

10 Steps to Economic Misery: (Click here:)
1. Maintain or increase the FICA tax..
2. Spread the myth Social Security, Medicare and the U.S. government are insolvent.
3. Cut federal employment in the military, post office, other federal agencies.
4. Broaden the income tax base so more lower income people will pay.
5. Cut financial assistance to the states.
6. Spread the myth federal taxes pay for federal spending.
7. Allow banks to trade for their own accounts; save them when their investments go sour.
8. Never prosecute any banker for criminal activity.
9. Nominate arch conservatives to the Supreme Court.
10. Reduce the federal deficit and debt

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:
1. Federal Deficits – Net Imports = Net Private Savings
2. Gross Domestic Product = Federal Spending + Private Investment and Consumption – Net Imports

THE RECESSION CLOCK

As the federal deficit growth lines drop, we approach recession, which will be cured only when the lines rise.

#MONETARY SOVEREIGNTY