Tag: monetarily sovereign nation

–The debt snakes slither in again. Don’t listen.

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

Mitchell’s laws:
•Those, who do not understand the differences between Monetary Sovereignty and monetary non-sovereignty, do not understand economics.
•Any monetarily NON-sovereign government — be it city, county, state or nation — that runs an ongoing trade deficit, eventually will run out of money.
•The more federal budgets are cut and taxes increased, the weaker an economy becomes. .
•Liberals think the purpose of government is to protect the poor and powerless from the rich and powerful. Conservatives think the purpose of government is to protect the rich and powerful from the poor and powerless.
•The single most important problem in economics is the gap between rich and poor.
•Austerity is the government’s method for widening the gap between rich and poor.
•Until the 99% understand the need for federal deficits, the upper 1% will rule.
•Everything in economics devolves to motive, and the motive is the Gap between the rich and the rest..

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

Adam and Eve learned that snakes are sneaky liars. They not only lie outright, but they twist the truth into lies. And so it is with the debt snakes, as during election time, they once again try to deceive the populace.

Way, way back in 2009, we published, “Federal Debt: A ‘ticking time bomb’.” Here is how the article began:

Popular faith holds that the federal debt is a ticking “time bomb,” ready to explode into inflation and high interest rates, and destroy our economy.

Here are a few references, beginning 70 years ago.

Even with the end of the gold standard in 1971, arguably the most significant economic event since the Great Depression, the language never changes — as though 1971 were a non-event.

Sept 26, 1940, New York Times: “. . . unless an end is put to deficit financing, to profligate spending and to indifference as to the nature and extent of governmental borrowing, the nation will surely take the road to dictatorship, Robert M. Hanes, president of the American Bankers Association asserted today. He said, “insolvency is the time-bomb which can eventually destroy the American system . . . the Federal debt . . . threatens the solvency of the entire economy.”

The post goes on to quote articles from 1960, 1983, 1984, 1985, 1987, 1989, 1992, 1985, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006 and 2007 (subsequently added, articles dated 2010 and 2011), all referring to the federal debt as a “time bomb.”

Just last year, Forbes ran an article titled:

“Defusing Washington’s Debt Bomb” written by Sen. Rob Portman.

Under the Constitution, only Congress can authorize the United States to borrow money to pay its bills. And since World War I, Congress, recognizing the danger of runaway borrowing, has placed a ceiling on the amount of debt Washington can accumulate.

Going over the debt limit is not the right solution. But neither is simply raising the debt limit without doing anything to address the underlying problem, especially at a time of record debt.

The American people understand this. Think about it as parents: when one of our kids goes over the limit on the credit card, we don’t just pay the bill and ask the bank to raise the limit. We take steps to address the overspending problem and make sure it doesn’t happen again.

And the beat goes on. In May, 2015,The National interest published:

Why America’s Debt Bomb Won’t Explode… Yet

Here we are, 75 (!) years after that 1940 article, still frightened, waiting for that ticking time bomb to explode.

Never mind that the U.S. federal government, being Monetarily Sovereign, never can run short of dollars to pay its bills.

Never mind that even if all federal tax collections fell to $0, the U.S. federal government could continue spending forever.

Never mind, that being Monetarily Sovereign, the federal government creates dollars ad hoc, by paying bills and does not need to borrow — ever.

And never mind that despite massive federal spending, inflation actually is below the federal goal of 2.5%, and easily is controlled by the Fed via interest rates.

monetary sovereignty

Never mind that federal deficits are surpluses for the economy and necessary for economic growth, and that federal surpluses lead to recessions and depressions:

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.

NEVER MIND THAT THERE IS NO “DEBT BOMB.” It’s a myth.

Never mind all these facts, because the debt snakes pay no attention to facts.

And here comes another one:

Kasich to push balanced budget amendment in 6-state tour
By JAMES NORD – Associated Press – Wednesday, January 21, 2015

Ohio Gov. John Kasich has kicked off a six-state tour pushing a balanced budget amendment to the U.S. Constitution with a meeting in South Dakota in which he called on state lawmakers to get behind the proposal.

“Who the heck thinks we should keep spending without any regard to the consequences?” Kasich, a Republican, asked the South Dakota gathering. “I don’t care … if you’re a Republican, a Democrat or a Martian. This is not what we should be doing as a nation. It’s irresponsible.”

Exactly why is it “irresponsible,” Governor Kasich? Will the federal government be like Greece and the other euro nations, unable to pay their debts?

No, Greece and the other euro nations are monetarily NON-sovereign. They have no sovereign currency.

Like our cities, counties, states, businesses and people, all of whom also are monetarily NON-sovereign, Greece can run short of the currency it uses.

The U.S. federal government, being Monetarily Sovereign, has the unlimited ability to create its sovereign currency, to pay its bills.

Well Governor Kasich, is it “irresponsible” (and a “ticking time bomb”) because our children will have to pay the federal debt?

No, federal taxes do not pay for federal spending. The federal government creates dollars every time it pays a bill. The federal debt has no effect on the federal taxes our children will pay.

Or is the debt “irresponsible” and a “ticking time bomb” because it will cause inflation?

No, inflation is caused by a multitude of factors, primarily oil prices and low interest rates.

Here is what Kasich’s nonprofit advocacy group, Balanced Budget Forever says:

In just over a year, five states have passed resolutions in support of a convention to set a balanced budget process in motion. Today, there are now 27 states committed to a convention.

Just 7 more states are needed to trigger change.

While a member of Congress, Kasich supported a federal balanced budget amendment and, as chair of the House Budget Committee, successfully led efforts to balance the federal budget in fiscal years 1998, 1999, 2000 and 2001, the first balanced budgets since 1969.

Yes, and those balanced budgets (actually surpluses) led directly to the recession of 2000. (Almost every recession in recent history has been introduced with reductions in federal deficit growth.)

monetary sovereignty

And we’re coming closer and closer to passing a disastrous “balanced budget” amendment, that will push America into the same horrifying austerity problem Greece suffers from.

Knowing that federal deficit spending adds dollars to the economy, and so is stimulative, and the lack of deficit spending leads to recessions and depressions, why do Kasich and his group insist that the U.S. commit financial suicide by eliminating deficit spending?

I believe there are two reasons:

1. He wishes to become President, and in the crowded Republican field, “balanced budget” gives him a talking point. He relies on the public not understanding the difference between the Monetarily Sovereign government vs. you and me (and states, counties and cities) which are monetarily NON-sovereign.

To the economically ignorant populace, debt is bad and surpluses are good. The people don’t realize that federal debt is the economy’s surplus. So Kasich can position himself as a prudent politician, when in fact, his balanced budget would lead to a recession far worse than what we had in 2008 (a severe recession cured by federal deficit spending.)

2. Recessions generally affect the populace more than the super rich. Recessions cause unemployment among the lower paid, which leads to reduced pay, which in turn, leads to higher profits for corporations and wealthy shareholders. (Note how the stock markets rose dramatically after the most recent recession, while employment lagged.)

All of this widens the Gap between the rich and the rest, and it is the Gap that makes the rich rich. (Without the Gap, no one would be rich, and the wider the Gap, the richer they are.)

So it is the super rich, who bribe the politicians (via campaign contributions and promises of lucrative employment later) to widen the Gap. The super rich also bribe the media (via ownership) and the economists (via contributions to universities and “think tanks”) to support a balanced budget — all to widen the Gap.

Now, with the Presidential campaign in full swing, we again see the debt snakes slithering in, to steal our livelihood and our children’s futures, while pretending to be oh, so frugal.

Yes, they are frugal, if being frugal means taking from the poor and giving to the rich.

While both political parties are guilty, the Tea/Republicans especially, work against anything that helps the middle and the poor — Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, food stamps, aids to housing, aids to education. Even the abortion issue has a money twist, for the rich always are able to obtain abortions, while the poor are forced to give birth to unaffordable children.

The next time you read or hear a politician, economist or media writer promote a federal balanced budget know this: Either he/she is ignorant of economics or has been paid by the rich to impoverish you and yours.

The debt snakes are slithering in again. Adam and Eve were punished severely for listening to a snake. Don’t let it happen to you.

Don’t listen to debt snakes.

Rodger Malcolm Mitchell
Monetary Sovereignty

===================================================================================
Ten 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. Provide an Economic Bonus to every man, woman and child in America, and/or every state a per capita Economic Bonus. (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. Tax the very rich (.1%) more, with higher, progressive tax rates on all forms of income. (Click here)
9. Federal ownership of all banks (Click here and here)
10. Increase federal spending on the myriad initiatives that benefit America’s 99% (Click here)

The Ten Steps will add dollars to the economy, stimulate the economy, and narrow the income/wealth/power Gap between the rich and the rest.
——————————————————————————————————————————————

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.
1. A growing economy requires a growing supply of dollars (GDP=Federal Spending + Non-federal Spending + Net Exports)
2. All deficit spending grows the supply of dollars
3. The limit to federal deficit spending is an inflation that cannot be cured with interest rate control.
4. The limit to non-federal deficit spending is the ability to borrow.

THE RECESSION CLOCK
Monetary Sovereignty

Monetary Sovereignty

Vertical gray bars mark recessions.

As the federal deficit growth lines drop, we approach recession, which will be cured only when the growth lines rise. Increasing federal deficit growth (aka “stimulus”) is necessary for long-term economic growth.

#MONETARYSOVEREIGNTY

–The rape and enslavement of Greece, codified. Who smells the meat a’cooking, and who’s next?

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

Mitchell’s laws:
•Those, who do not understand the differences between Monetary Sovereignty and monetary non-sovereignty, do not understand economics.
•Any monetarily NON-sovereign government — be it city, county, state or nation — that runs an ongoing trade deficit, eventually will run out of money.
•The more federal budgets are cut and taxes increased, the weaker an economy becomes. .
•Liberals think the purpose of government is to protect the poor and powerless from the rich and powerful. Conservatives think the purpose of government is to protect the rich and powerful from the poor and powerless.
•The single most important problem in economics is the gap between rich and poor.
•Austerity is the government’s method for widening the gap between rich and poor.
•Until the 99% understand the need for federal deficits, the upper 1% will rule.
•Everything in economics devolves to motive, and the motive is the Gap between the rich and the rest..

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

Greece should have stayed out of the eurozone. It should have remained Monetarily Sovereign, keeping full control over its own currency.

Instead, it voluntarily surrendered the single most valuable asset it had — that Monetary Sovereignty — and allowed itself to be sucked into the maw of the euro.

So the lives of the Greek people were left to the tender mercies of the International Monetary Fund, the European Commission and the European Central Bank, aka the “troika,” who represent only the rich, the bankers and the Germans.

Remember: Any monetarily NON-sovereign government — be it city, county, state or nation — that cannot run an ongoing trade surplus, eventually will run out of money.

Since many euro nations cannot run trade surpluses, they are in line to run out of euros.

And so, Greece pays the easily foreseen penalty. It has run out of money.

All this for the Big Lie — the mythical stability of a unified currency. Here now, is where that Lie, that “stability,” has led:

European Leaders Reach Agreement to Resolve Greek Debt Crisis
By JAMES KANTER and ANDREW HIGGINS

Greece and its European creditors announced an agreement here on Monday that aims to resolve the country’s debt crisis and keep it in the eurozone, but that will require further budgetary belt-tightening.

Translation: Rather than the crisis being resolved, it only has just begun. That belt tightening will involve the further pillage of Greece by the troika.

The tough terms, demanded by Germany and others, are meant to balance Greece’s demands for a loan repayment system that will not keep it mired in recession and austerity budgets, against creditors’ insistence that loans worth tens of billions of euros not be money wasted.

Translation: There is no “balance.” The terms WILL keep Greece mired in recession and austerity budgets until there is no more Greece.

An accord would end five months of bitter negotiations that raised concerns that Greece would be the first country to be forced out of the euro currency union — a development that proponents of European unity had sought desperately to avoid.

Translation: The troika, representing the rich, the bankers and Germany, do not want to lose the goose that lays golden eggs until it has drained Greece and the Greek people of everything they have.

Only when the Greek people are completely destitute, and have nothing left to give or sell, will they be released from the troika’s tentacles.

As part of Greece’s commitments, Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany said, a fund will be created to use the proceeds from selling off assets owned by the Greek government to help pay down the country’s debt. That fund would be “to the tune of” €50 billion.

Translation: All of Greece’s assets will be sold to rich buyers at bargain basement prices. (A crooked politician in Illinois, Paul Powell, who repeatedly demanded bribes, famously said, “I smell the meat a’cooking.” The troika smells the Greek meat a’cooking.)

After all the Greek “meat” is gone, the Greek people will be completely enslaved.

The agreement will call for Greece to raise taxes, pare pension benefits and take various other measures meant to reduce what critics see as too much bureaucracy and too many market protections that keep the Greek economy from operating efficiently.

Translation: The agreement will be for the Greek people to pay more taxes to the troika, receive lower pensions and be fired from their government jobs.

“We gave a tough battle for six months and fought until the end in order to achieve the best we could, a deal that would allow Greece to stand on its feet,” Primes Minister Alexis Tsipras said.

Translation: Rather than standing on their feet, the Greek people will be forced to their knees.

Summary: A financial merger without a political merger is a recipe for disaster — except for the rich and the bankers, whose loans to an unqualified borrower should have been punished, but instead are being rewarded.

(It’s always the same with the bankers. Remember how this exact scenario played out in the United States. Banks made loans to unqualified borrowers. When impoverished borrowers were forced out of their homes into destitution, the banks confiscated those homes. Then the rich and the bankers were rewarded by the Obama administration with huge bonuses.)

Germany, which failed to take Europe by force of arms, now will take Europe by force of finance.

Greece is gone. Its people will be raped, and like many rape victims, they will be blamed by the rapists.

Who’s next? France? Portugal? Line up, folks.

The Germans, the rich and the bankers smell the meat a’cooking.

Rodger Malcolm Mitchell
Monetary Sovereignty

===================================================================================
Ten 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. Provide an Economic Bonus to every man, woman and child in America, and/or every state a per capita Economic Bonus. (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. Tax the very rich (.1%) more, with higher, progressive tax rates on all forms of income. (Click here)
9. Federal ownership of all banks (Click here and here)
10. Increase federal spending on the myriad initiatives that benefit America’s 99% (Click here)

The Ten Steps will add dollars to the economy, stimulate the economy, and narrow the income/wealth/power Gap between the rich and the rest.
——————————————————————————————————————————————

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.
1. A growing economy requires a growing supply of dollars (GDP=Federal Spending + Non-federal Spending + Net Exports)
2. All deficit spending grows the supply of dollars
3. The limit to federal deficit spending is an inflation that cannot be cured with interest rate control.
4. The limit to non-federal deficit spending is the ability to borrow.

THE RECESSION CLOCK
Monetary Sovereignty

Monetary Sovereignty

Vertical gray bars mark recessions.

As the federal deficit growth lines drop, we approach recession, which will be cured only when the growth lines rise. Increasing federal deficit growth (aka “stimulus”) is necessary for long-term economic growth.

#MONETARYSOVEREIGNTY

–Greece, if you do it right, you will be among the most prosperous . . .

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

Mitchell’s laws:
**Those, who do not understand the differences between Monetary Sovereignty and monetary non-sovereignty, do not understand economics.
**The more federal budgets are cut and taxes increased, the weaker an economy becomes. .
**Liberals think the purpose of government is to protect the poor and powerless from the rich and powerful. Conservatives think the purpose of government is to protect the rich and powerful from the poor and powerless.
**The single most important problem in economics is the gap between rich and poor.
**Austerity is the government’s method for widening the gap between rich and poor.
**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.
**Everything in economics devolves to motive, and the motive is the Gap between the rich and the rest..

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

Congratulations Greece, you have voted against eternal austerity and slavery to the troika.

Now, if you do it right, you will be among the most prosperous of European nations, while the rest of the euro zone either fades into depression or follows your lead.

Greeks defy Europe with overwhelming referendum ‘No’

ATHENS (Reuters) – Greeks voted overwhelmingly on Sunday to reject terms of a bailout, risking financial ruin in a show of defiance that could splinter Europe.

Financial “ruin” is what Greece has now, and what the troika proposes — endless, ongoing, unpayable debt, impoverishing the Greeks, their children and their grandchildren, forever.

But yes, it may deservedly splinter Europe, with the wise nations re-adopting their own sovereign currencies, and the rest dying the slow death of austerity.

It leaves Greece in uncharted waters: risking financial and political isolation within the euro zone and a banking collapse if creditors refuse further aid.

A Monetarily Sovereign nation need never have a “banking collapse,” so long as it doesn’t succumb to the “borrow-borrow-borrow” siren song of the troika loan sharks.

But for millions of Greeks the outcome was an angry message to creditors that Greece can longer accept repeated rounds of austerity that, in five years, had left one in four without a job. Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras has denounced the price paid for aid as “blackmail” and a national “humiliation”.

Better late than never to come to that realization.

Officials from the Greek government, which had argued that a ‘No’ vote would strengthen its hand to secure a better deal from international creditors after months of wrangling, immediately said they would try to restart talks with European partners.

Oh, no! Oh, no! You Greeks don’t need to “restart talks with European ‘partners.'” They are not partners of yours any more than a Mafia loan shark is a “partner” with his victims.

Issue your own sovereign currency. Become Monetarily Sovereign, again. Demand that your creditors accept your currency in payment, or they will receive nothing.

Pay for health care, education, food for the poor, housing for the poor, your needed goods and services — all with your own sovereign currency.

Tell your citizens to pay taxes in their own sovereign currency.

Go back to where you were before the ill-fated euro experiment in torture began.

But euro zone officials shot down any prospect of a quick resumption of talks. One official said there were no plans for an emergency meeting of euro zone finance ministers on Monday, adding the vote outcome meant the ministers “would not know what to discuss”.

Give those fools the Greek, open-handed “Nah.”

The result also delivers a hammer blow to the European Union’s grand single currency project. Intended to be permanent and unbreakable when it was created 15 years ago, the euro zone could now be on the point of losing its first member with the risk of further unraveling to come.

Yes, the money-lenders are wetting their pants from they won’t be able to keep the Greek people in debt-slavery.

Unable to borrow money on capital markets, Greece has one of the world’s highest levels of public debt. The International Monetary Fund warned last week that it would need massive debt relief and 50 billion euros in fresh funds.

For a Monetarily Sovereign nation, borrowing from foreigners is 100% unnecessary. But that is not what they want you to believe. They want you to think you need their loans.

But, exhausted and angry after five years of cuts, falling living standards and rising taxes imposed under successive bailout programs, many appear to have shrugged off the warnings of disaster, trusting that a deal can still be reached.

The only “deal” Greece needs is a return to Monetary Sovereignty. It will require strong, smart leadership. I can suggest a couple people who could help Greece with that.

Much good luck.

Stay strong and you’ll be strong.

Rodger Malcolm Mitchell
Monetary Sovereignty

===================================================================================
Ten 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. Provide an Economic Bonus to every man, woman and child in America, and/or every state a per capita Economic Bonus. (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. Tax the very rich (.1%) more, with higher, progressive tax rates on all forms of income. (Click here)
9. Federal ownership of all banks (Click here and here)
10. Increase federal spending on the myriad initiatives that benefit America’s 99% (Click here)

The Ten Steps will add dollars to the economy, stimulate the economy, and narrow the income/wealth/power Gap between the rich and the rest.
——————————————————————————————————————————————

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.
1. A growing economy requires a growing supply of dollars (GDP=Federal Spending + Non-federal Spending + Net Exports)
2. All deficit spending grows the supply of dollars
3. The limit to federal deficit spending is an inflation that cannot be cured with interest rate control.
4. The limit to non-federal deficit spending is the ability to borrow.

THE RECESSION CLOCK
Monetary Sovereignty

Monetary Sovereignty

Vertical gray bars mark recessions.

As the federal deficit growth lines drop, we approach recession, which will be cured only when the growth lines rise. Increasing federal deficit growth (aka “stimulus”) is necessary for long-term economic growth.

#MONETARYSOVEREIGNTY

Climate change: Ask the Koch brothers and the soul of the Republican Party

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

Mitchell’s laws:
●Those, who do not understand the differences between Monetary Sovereignty and monetary non-sovereignty, do not understand economics.
●The more federal budgets are cut and taxes increased, the weaker an economy becomes. .
●Liberals think the purpose of government is to protect the poor and powerless from the rich and powerful. Conservatives think the purpose of government is to protect the rich and powerful from the poor and powerless.
●Austerity is the government’s method for widening the gap between rich and poor.
●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.
●Everything in economics devolves to motive, and the motive is the Gap.
==================================================================================================================================================================

Well, this is a surprise. All this time I had thought the Koch brothers, and indeed the entire energy industry, denied human-caused climate change, because to admit it would be to admit the burning of their fossil fuels was killing the earth.

Was I wrong to conclude that these “gentlemen” would sacrifice our entire earth, and the future of our children, just to pad their own excessive fortunes?

Here is what happened in 2012:

Everyone’s Talking About The Koch Brothers-Funded Study That Proves Climate Change Is Real
ROB WILE, JUL. 30, 2012

Over the weekend, UC-Berkeley professor Richard Muller outed himself as a “converted” climate “skeptic” in the New York Times after his Berkeley Earth Surface Temperature (BEST) project concluded the earth’s surface temperature had increased 2.5 degrees Fahrenheit in the past 250 years and one and a half degrees in the past 50 years, likely entirely because of human industrial activity.

What makes this newsworthy, according to The Guardian, is that BEST had received $150,000 from the Charles G. Koch Charitable Foundation, whose namesake also runs the climate skeptic research program The Heartland Institute.

(Muller wrot,) “How definite is the attribution to humans? The carbon dioxide curve gives a better match than anything else we’ve tried.

“Its magnitude is consistent with the calculated greenhouse effect — extra warming from trapped heat radiation. These facts don’t prove causality and they shouldn’t end skepticism, but they raise the bar: to be considered seriously, an alternative explanation must match the data at least as well as carbon dioxide does.

Adding methane, a second greenhouse gas, to our analysis doesn’t change the results.”

Well, it looks like I owe the Kochs an apology. Maybe they aren’t the miserable, selfish, right-wing evil-doers I thought they were.

Wait! Here’s more recent information:

Work of prominent climate change denier was funded by energy industry
Suzanne Goldenberg, US environment correspondent, Saturday 21 February 2015

Over the last 14 years Willie Soon, a researcher at the Harvard-Smithsonian Centre for Astrophysics, received a total of $1.25m from Exxon Mobil, Southern Company, the American Petroleum Institute (API) and a foundation run by the ultra-conservative Koch brothers, the documents obtained by Greenpeace through freedom of information filings show.

Unlike the vast majority of scientists, Soon does not accept that rising greenhouse gas emissions since the industrial age are causing climate changes. He contends climate change is driven by the sun.

In the relatively small universe of climate denial Soon, with his Harvard-Smithsonian credentials, was a sought after commodity. He was cited admiringly by Senator James Inhofe, the Oklahoma Republican who famously called global warming a hoax.

He was called to testify when Republicans in the Kansas state legislature tried to block measures promoting wind and solar power. The Heartland Institute, a hub of climate denial, gave Soon a courage award.

As is common among Harvard-Smithsonian scientists, Soon is not on a salary. He receives his compensation from outside grant money, said Christine Pulliam, a spokeswoman for the Center for Astrophysics.

Soon is not an employee of Harvard.

So let’s get this straight. Soon does not receive a salary. All his income comes from grants by the energy industry, an industry that denies human-caused climate change.

Further, in publishing his papers, Soon “neglected” to disclose he was being funded by the right-wing energy companies.

Well, I guess that settles it. Soon is an independent researcher whose work should be respected for his courage and honesty.

At least one Republican, James Inhofe even wrote a book about it, “The Greatest Hoax.” Most other Republicans agree (i.e. are bribed to agree via campaign contributions and promises of lucrative employment later).

Obama set to utter term ‘climate change’ in Florida on Earth Day trip
Martin Pengelly in New York, Saturday 18 April 2015

Announcing an Earth Day trip to Florida on Saturday, President Barack Obama used his weekly address to say “climate change can no longer be denied – or ignored”.

Attitudes to climate change among Republicans and in Florida recently made national news, after it was reported that the state’s Department of Environmental Protection had issued an unwritten policy to forbid state workers from using the term.

“We were instructed by our regional administrator that we were no longer allowed to use the terms ‘global warming’ or ‘climate change’ or even ‘sea-level rise’,” a former DEP employee was quoted as saying in a report by the Florida Center for Investigative Reporting. “Sea-level rise was to be referred to as ‘nuisance flooding’.”

Florida’s junior senator, Marco Rubio is among many leading Republican politicians who have said they do not believe climate change is caused by humans.

One would have hoped that climate change would be a scientific issue, not a political issue. Sadly, that is not the case.

Meet the Republicans in Congress who don’t believe climate change is real

Earlier this year, Politifact went looking for congressional Republicans who had not expressed scepticism about climate change and came up with a list of eight (out of 278).

Below is a roundup of some of the key climate change sceptics in the incoming 114th Congress. The list begins with committee heads, and includes all the members of the new Republican leadership teams in both the House and Senate. At the bottom are prospective 2016 presidential candidates currently on Capitol Hill.

That’s not to dismiss the rank-and-file, excited by the Republican party’s incoming hold on the committees that shape US environmental policy; their votes would be needed to hobble the Environmental Protection Agency or take other measures to stifle President Obama’s initiatives to reduce carbon emissions:

Senator Jim Inhofe, Republican of Oklahoma, Incoming chairman of the Senate committee on the environment and public works
–Senator Lisa Murkowski, Republican of Alaska, Likely incoming chairwoman of the Senate committee on energy and natural resources
–Congressman Fred Upton, Republican of Michigan, To continue to chair the House energy and commerce committee
–Congressman Rob Bishop, Republican of Utah, Likely to become chairman of the House committee on natural resources
–Senator Mitch McConnell, Republican of Kentucky, Incoming Senate majority leader
–Senator John Cornyn, Republican of Texas, Recently re-elected as Senate Republican whip
–Senator John Thune, Republican of South Dakota, Recently re-elected as Senate Republican conference chairman
–Senator John Barrasso, Republican of Wyoming, Recently re-elected as chairman of GOP policy committee
–Senator Roy Blunt, Republican of Missouri, Recently re-elected as vice-chairman of the Senate Republican conference
–Congressman John Boehner, Republican of Ohio, Speaker of the House
–Congressman Kevin McCarthy, Republican of California, House majority leader
–Congressman Steve Scalise, Republican of Louisiana, Incoming majority whip
–Congresswoman Cathy McMorris Rodgers, Republican of Washington, Recently re-elected conference chairwoman
–Congressman Greg Walden, Republican of Oregon, GOP campaign chairman
–Senator Marco Rubio, Republican of Florida, Prospective 2016 presidential candidate
–Senator Rand Paul, Republican of Kentucky, Prospective 2016 presidential candidate
–Congressman Paul Ryan, Republican of Wisconsin, Former GOP vice-presidential nominee and prospective 2016 presidential candidate
–Senator Ted Cruz, Republican of Texas, Prospective 2016 presidential candidate

monetary sovereignty
monetary sovereignty

A personal prediction: Within a few years, as the facts continue to pile in, and climate change deniers look ever more ridiculous, each of these Republicans will claim he/she always had known humans were causing global warming, and in fact it was “obvious” to them.

For the above-mentioned politician and billionaire climate change deniers, who happily sacrifice the earth and our children’s futures, just to acquire more money, I have but one question: Matthew 16: “What shall it profit a man if he shall gain the whole world and lose his own soul?”

Rodger Malcolm Mitchell
Monetary Sovereignty

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The Ten 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. Provide an Economic Bonus to every man, woman and child in America, and/or every state a per capita Economic Bonus. (Click here) Or institute a reverse income tax.
4. Federally funded, 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. (Refer to this.)
8. Tax the very rich (.1%) more, with higher, progressive tax rates on all forms of income. (Click here)
9. Federal ownership of all banks (Click here and here)
10. Increase federal spending on the myriad initiatives that benefit America’s 99% (Click here)

Initiating The Ten Steps sequentially will add dollars to the economy, stimulate the economy, and narrow the income/wealth/power Gap between the rich and the rest.
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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.
1. A growing economy requires a growing supply of dollars (GDP=Federal Spending + Non-federal Spending + Net Exports)
2. All deficit spending grows the supply of dollars
3. The limit to federal deficit spending is an inflation that cannot be cured with interest rate control.
4. The limit to non-federal deficit spending is the ability to borrow.

THE RECESSION CLOCK
Monetary Sovereignty

Monetary Sovereignty

Vertical gray bars mark recessions.

As the federal deficit growth lines drop, we approach recession, which will be cured only when the growth lines rise. Increasing federal deficit growth (aka “stimulus”) is necessary for long-term economic growth.

#MONETARYSOVEREIGNTY