–How not to market the truth. We knew it all the time.

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.
======================================================================================================================================================================================

Reader DanB wrote:

Rodger! Truly fascinating blog! You’re now attracting myriad folks with incisive, insightful views. Lively give and take! But, then, so what?

Rodger, you’re the ‘Moses’ figure here! It falls to you to devise the way to effectively ‘shock’ America into ‘MS consciousness’. How, wise man?
Nicoli Tesla also suffered ‘market-phobia’. Brilliant, but, commercially,
an idiot-savant. Thus, a towering genius died relatively unknown …..
I’ve already suggested YouTube spots. But, think you need a pro Ad-Man to ‘dump your goods, spread your word’! Otherwise, it’s a pleasing blog….

This post is my response:

You’re right about the need for marketing. A few months ago, I suggested to Professor Stephanie Kelton, Economics Department Chair at UMKC, a program with which they could educate lobbyists.

She, in turn sent me to their Marketing Department, and I prepared the following summary plan for them:

Nice talking with you. As promised, here is an outline of what I propose:

Summary

UMKC is the nation’s leader in teaching Modern Monetary Theory and Monetary Sovereignty (MMT/MS), an accurate description of modern economics. Yet, because MMT/MS not only is counter-intuitive, but actively denied by opinion leaders (politicians, media and economists), UMKC does not receive the acclaim it deserves.

The solution is not merely for UMKC professors to reveal the truth (which they have been doing for years), but to enlist opinion leaders to tell the truth.

The opinion leaders are influenced by money, and the primary sources of money are the richest 1% and major corporations. Therefore, the sources of money must be shown why MMT/MS is beneficial to them.

While facts can be presented in a classroom setting, the richest 1% and corporate executives are unlikely to attend classes. One group, however, might be persuaded to attend such classes: Lobbying agency executives.

Lobbying agencies essentially are law firms and advertising/PR agencies, whose primary motivations are to please and impress current clients, and to secure new clients. They do this by demonstrating superiority over competing agencies.

Superiority can include having special knowledge or abilities to further client’s causes. Using facts from MMT/MS can support clients by providing a reasonable and factual rational for client requests, and by countering arguments opposed to client requests.

The following proposes soliciting lobbying agencies to attend 3-day classes at UMKC.

1. The Goals:

a. Promote UMKC as having the nation’s #1 Economics Department
b. Improve America’s economy with an understanding of MMT/MS.

2. Background:

a. UMKC’s Economics Department is nation’s (the world’s?) leader in teaching Modern Monetary Theory (MMT/MS), which says such things as:

i. The U.S. government created the laws that created the dollar

ii. The U.S. is Monetarily Sovereign. Its laws give it the unlimited ability to create its sovereign currency, the dollar, which it does, simply by paying bills. It never can run short of dollars.

(1) By contrast, monetarily non-sovereign entities cannot create unlimited amounts of sovereign currency, as they do not have a sovereign currency.
(2) Examples of monetarily non-sovereign entities are: Cities, counties, states, the euro nations, businesses and individuals

iii. Neither taxes nor borrowing are necessary to pay for federal spending. Even were both eliminated, the U.S. could continue to pay all its bills. Taxpayers do not pay for federal spending.

iv. Federal “debt” is not like personal debt. It is nothing more than T-security accounts at the Federal Reserve Bank. The so-called “debt” could be paid off instantly, merely by transferring the dollars in these accounts to checking accounts – zero burden on the government or on taxpayers.

v. Not only is deficit reduction (austerity) unnecessary, but it is harmful to the economy.

b. Austerity requires a combination of tax increases and spending decreases.

i. The greatest burden of austerity falls on the middle- and lower-income groups (aka the “99%.”) Austerity leads to:

ii. Tax increases disproportionately punish the 99%.
(1) FICA
(2) “Broadening” the tax base
(3) Sales taxes
(4) Value Added Taxes (VAT)

iii. Spending decreases also disproportionately punish the 99%.
(1) Medicare cuts
(2) Social Security cuts
(3) Federal employment cuts
(4) Cuts in any federal spending, which otherwise would increase employment.

c. Since the greatest burden of austerity falls on the 99%, it widens the income/wealth gap between the 99% and the upper 1%

i. Wealth is a comparative, not an absolute

(1) If one has $1 million, but everyone else has $1 million, that person is neither wealthy nor powerful.
(2) If one has $1 thousand, but everyone else has but $10, that person is wealthy and powerful.
(3) So the upper 1% is more interested in widening the gap than in absolute dollars. This is why so many wealthy people support austerity.

d. The 1% support of austerity takes several forms;
i. Support of politicians via campaign contributions
ii. Promises to politicians of lucrative employment (the famous “revolving door.”)
iii. Ownership of the media, which endorse austerity
iv. Large contributions to universities to teach the mythical “need” for austerity.

e. The public, being brainwashed that the government:
i. Needs to cut the deficit
ii. Can run short of dollars
iii. Will be unable to pay its bills.
iv. The public also has been taught, our children owe the federal debt and government finances are like household finances.

f. If the public were taught the beneficial facts of MMT/MS, and if UMKC were responsible for the revealing these facts, credit would accrue to the Economics Department, with the potential for Nobels.

3. The fundamental idea.

a. The primary sources of propaganda – the politicians, media and universities – are controlled by money. Countering the false information requires money.

i. To influence politicians to vote against austerity
ii. To influence the media to speak out against austerity
iii. To influence university economics departments to teach MMT/MS

b. The primary sources of propaganda money are:
i. Rich individuals
ii. Corporations
iii. Large organizations (AARP, AFL-CIO, chambers of commerce)
iv. Corporate lobbying agencies

c. The reasons corporations would benefit from supporting MMT/MS are:
i. Reduced personal income taxes for corporate executives
ii. Reduced federal corporate income taxes
iii. Reduced state taxes
iv. Reduced FICA costs
v. Reduced health insurance costs
vi. Better health for everyone, including employees
vii. Reduced unemployment compensation costs
viii. Superior employees via free education
ix. Improved infrastructure and ecology
x. Reduced crime
xi. More customers with money to spend
xii. Better controls for inflation, deflation, recession

d. To educate and motivate contributors to politicians, media and universities

i. A 3-day “Executive Summary of Economics” course taught by Stephanie Kelton and other UMKC professors
ii. Considering the four primary targets – rich individuals, corporate executives, organizations and lobbying agencies – the lobbying agencies may be the most receptive to attending a class

(1) Provides information lobbying agencies don’t currently have, that would benefit clients
(2) Provides a selling point for lobbying agencies to solicit new clients and maintain existing clients
(3) The course also could provide a gateway for UMKC to gain the other three targets as students
(4) Could provide a direct Public Relations gateway to politicians and the media

4. A Plan

a. Create a 3-day course that teaches:

i. The differences between Monetary Sovereignty and monetary non-sovereignty
ii. Why the U.S. government cannot run short of dollars and needs neither taxing nor borrowing to support spending
iii. Why federal deficits are necessary
iv. Why austerity is bad for business and for the nation
v. Why deficits do not cause inflation, and how inflation is controlled

b. Obtain lists of major lobbying firms, their top executives and contact information
i. See Top 50 lobbyists: http://www.washingtonian.com/articles/people/hired-guns-the-citys-50-top-lobbyists/
ii. See Lobbyingfirms.com: http://www.lobbyingfirms.com/Directory/browse_locations.php
iii. See: Lobbying Firms: http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Lobbying_firms
iv. Top firms that can be Googled for contact information:

(1) WPP Group
(2) PMA Group
(3) Interpublic Group
(4) Williams & Jensen
(5) Van Scoyoc Assoc
(6) Livingston Group
(7) Akin, Gump et al
(8) BGR Group
(9) Blank Rome LLP
(10) Patton Boggs LLP
(11) Tiber Creek Group
(12) Duberstein Group
(13) Mehlman Vogel Castagnetti Inc
(14) Dutko Worldwide
(15) Cornerstone Government Affairs
(16) Alpine Group
(17) Ben Barnes Group
(18) Podesta Group
(19) Ryan, Phillips et al
(20) DLA Piper

c. Additionally, check with UMKC personnel for corporate and donor introductions.

d. Market the course via direct postal mail and telephone, in six steps

i. Send personalized letter to top executives at major lobbying agencies, from Professor Kelton, on UMKC stationery.
ii. Letter also to include a course flyer.

(1) Sample letter:

Dear [Mr.] [Name];

It isn’t only who you know. Often it’s what you know.

That is why the University of Missouri, Kansas City offers the 3-day course designed especially for lobbyists: Economics For Politics.

It will provide you with little-known, but powerful economic rationales for the requests you make of politicians.

The information you receive from Economics For Politics will give your clients a lobbying edge and will give you an edge when soliciting clients.

Please contact me for further information about this valuable addition to your lobbying arsenal.

Sincerely,

Stephanie Kelton, Ph.D.
Chair, Department of Economics
University of Missouri, Kansas City

iii. Two weeks later send a second letter
iv. Two weeks later make a phone call
v. Two weeks later send a third letter
vi. Two weeks later send a fourth letter
vii. Two weeks later make a second phone call

Nothing happened. A marketing person might have seen this as an opportunity to promote the UMKC name, but the UMKC marketing department didn’t respond.

The fundamental problem is: Marketing requires money and desire, but the people with money don’t desire to reveal the truth.

Previously, I had made several offers to the “Occupy” movement, to teach them how to focus their demands. No response. Also, I contacted leaders of AFL-CIO and AARP. Nothing.

Bottom line: I’m too old any more to fight battles. I enjoy writing the facts, but if the people most affected can’t bring themselves to get off their mental sofas, I’m not Moses to carry them to the promised land.

(At least he had God working for him.)

About the best I can suggest is for those who understand the truth, to band together into an organization that will pepper politicians and the media with repeated notes, Emails, phone calls and whatever. Or gather money and hire a lobbyist.

If you are younger than me (Isn’t everyone?), use your youthful energy to keep battering against the door. When you finally break through, and the populace sees that MS will benefit them, they will join you and say, “We knew it all the time.”

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. 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. 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. Federal deficit growth is absolutely, positively necessary for economic growth. Period.

#MONETARY SOVEREIGNTY

–Why has the conservative movement gone to the crazies?

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

To try to sense how the “man-in-the-street” thinks, I read and comment on various blogs — conservative, liberal and somewhere in between.

The conservative blogs, of late, have been taken over by crazies, and that is a shame. There is a great need for sane discussion from sane perspectives, but when sanity disappears and one side presents absurd arguments, the discussion disintegrates.

I’m not sure where the craziness began. Was it with Sarah Palin? Michele Bachmann? Newt Gingrich? The Tea Party? A good case could be made for any of them. Surely, it was well established by the time Herman Cain and Ted Cruz came to the spotlight.

If you still harbor any doubts that the once proud Republican party is in the hands of the crazies, I offer these examples:

Report: 5.8 Million People Lose Access To Medicaid Due To GOP Obstruction
By Elissa Gomez

“A pattern has emerged that reveals that states with the highest rates of uninsured residents are among the least likely to expand Medicaid and to establish state-based exchanges,” Gallup’s Dan Witters noted in the report.

and

Study: States That Refused Medicaid Expansion Will Lose Billions
By Ben Feuerherd

The Affordable Care Act states that the federal government is responsible for paying 100 percent of the cost of expanding Medicaid for the first three years. After that, the federal government covers 90 percent of the cost.

Accepting the expansion is a common-sense economic move by states, according to the study’s authors. They write:

States that choose to participate in the Medicaid expansion will gain considerable new federal funds. States often seek to increase their share of federal funds, lobbying for military bases, procurement contracts, and highway funds. Federal funding provides direct benefits and bolsters local economies.

As the Washington Post notes, Texas will miss out on the most federal funding [$9.2 billion], but all states who refused the expansion will lose funds offered by the federal government. Louisiana, Oklahoma and Wisconsin will pass up more than $1 billion, while bigger states like Georgia, Missouri, North Carolina and Virginia will miss out on more than $2 billion in federal funds.

It’s terrible enough for a state’s governor intentionally to throw away billions, but to do it while denying healthcare to its poorest citizens is beyond unconscionable.

And then, there’s this:

Unprecedented Attack On Evolution ‘Indoctrination’ Mounted In Missouri
DYLAN SCOTT – FEBRUARY 14, 2014

A Missouri lawmaker has proposed what ranks among the most anti-evolution legislation in recent years, which would require schools to notify parents if “the theory of evolution by natural selection” was being taught at their child’s school and give them the opportunity to opt out of the class.

State Rep. Rick Brattin (R), who sponsored the bill, told a local TV station last week that teaching only evolution in school was “indoctrination.”

“It’s an absolute infringement on people’s beliefs,” Brattin told the Kansas City Star. “What’s being taught is just as much faith and, you know, just as much pulled out of the air as, say, any religion.”

Finally, if you enjoy reading about crazies, here’s a whole pack of them, for your amusement:

This week in crazy

Yes, politicians, the media and the mainstream economists have been bribed by the upper 1%, to widen the gap between the rich and the rest. And the conservatives are more extreme in their desire to suck up to the rich than are the liberals (especially since there are almost no liberals left in government).

But the degree of right-wing craziness seems grown to a remarkable degree, often having nothing to do with economics or with anything else in human experience.

And I don’t know why.

Rodger Malcolm Mitchell
Monetary Sovereignty

—–

#MONETARY SOVEREIGNTY

Even more meaning of America. What is the source? Why does it exist?

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

Last March we published the post, “The Meaning of America,” which you might wish to read.

The word “meaning” was a pun. It not only stood for “definition” but also for “becoming cruel.”

I thought about that post today, when I read a short column in today’s Florida SunSentinel. The lead was:

“Florida ranks second among states with workers who have been unemployed for at least six months.”

It was followed by the question:

“What would help get Florida’s long-term unemployed back to work?”

At this point, one might have expected answers like, “Provide free job training and education” or “Improve the economy so that more good jobs are available, everywhere” or “Eliminate FICA, to make hiring less expensive to businesses” or “Provide federally funded Medicare for all, to lift the healthcare insurance burden off business.”

But, that is not what the people answered.

“REMOVING extended federal unemployment benefits. Is that soo hard to figure out????”
Keyla

“There are jobs out there people have got to (sic) lazy. Sorry but it’s the truth.”
Liebra

“I suspect giving them money will not work will not do it. call me silly. Gal at the dog park was unemployed for months and months. one week before here benefits were to expire she found a job. Duh.”
Hank

“I believe a person in order to receive unemployment checks should bring 20 statement letters of denial from 20 different companies every month to get a check.”
Victor

“Opening the classified ads and earnestly applying for and following up on job opportunities! Simple as that.”
James

In short, the people say the fault is not with the economy. The fault is not with the government. No, the fault is with those lazy, good-for-nothing unemployed. That is what the people have been brainwashed into believing.

In the same issue of the SunSentinel, there was a longer article that included these comments

Job-placement experts say the stigma of a lengthy layoff means job seekers have to work harder to catch the eye of an employer.

Mason Jackson, president of Broward County’s WorkforceOne, worries many people “just don’t know how to market themselves” or that their interview skills have faded “because they’ve always gotten jobs by who they know.”

Ed Patterson, of Lake County, has been without steady work for 20 months and is ready for almost any opportunity. A software specialist, he was in the banking industry, starting decades ago as a teller.

He worked his way up, ultimately making six figures, he said, before being laid off in July 2012. Today, he said, he’d go back to being a teller, “just to give me a little income.”

He’s 66 but can’t afford to retire. He’s been collecting Social Security and raiding his retirement fund to pay his bills. He sold his house — “just to get out from under it” — and lives in a rental. He’s frustrated by a job search that seems futile, saying many unemployed feel abandoned.

“I’m not out there alone,” Patterson said. “There’s a lot of people like me out there, and a lot of them have just given up.”

(Apparently, Ed is one of those “people have got to (sic) lazy.”)

You rightfully may object to basing conclusions on this small sample, but my sensing is that America has become meaner. We are the people who display proudly “Give me your tired, your poor . . .” at our front door; yet now we wish to punish those tired and poor.

We are the sons and daughters of immigrants, proud of America being a “melting pot”; yet now we wish to fortify our borders, and make the process for becoming a citizen arduous and lengthy.

We wrote into our Constitution, the 24th Amendment, prohibiting the revocation of poor people’s voting rights due to the non-payment of a poll tax; yet today, many of our states again pass laws trying to prohibit the same people from voting.

We are a people proud of taking the side of the underdog, proud of fighting against injustice, proud of America’s charities and good works. Yet now, an entire political party is devoted to meanness and selfishness. An entire party is devoted to kicking the downtrodden. And entire party is devoted to blaming the victim.

They couldn’t do it, if enough of mainstream America didn’t agree. So the question becomes: What is the source of this meanness? Why does it exist in our America and tarnish us as a nation?

Rodger Malcolm Mitchell
Monetary Sovereignty

—–

#MONETARY SOVEREIGNTY

O Canada! What are they doing to you?

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

Reader “Questioner” sent in this comment:

http://news.yahoo.com/canadian-government-set-comfortably-balance-budget-2015-211839820–sector.html;_ylt=AgtiudW_qJzeL.gvds8V8DnQtDMD;_ylu=X3oDMTBsMm1uODllBGNvbG8DYmYxBHBvcwM4BHNlYwNzcg–

Canada has a balanced budget and a surplus – will this actually be harmful for their economy since they are Monetarily Sovereign?

The above article includes these comments:

Canada’s Conservative government looks set to comfortably balance its books in 2015 or even sooner, its latest budget showed on Tuesday, with cuts in spending on the public service more than offsetting a series of modest new expenditures.

Finance Minister Jim Flaherty acknowledged the budget would be narrowly balanced this coming year, but said he preferred to have a “nice clean surplus next year”.

The government estimates a bigger-than-expected C$6.4 billion surplus in 2015-16. In the year ending March 31 of this year, the deficit is pegged at C$16.6 billion.

The Conservatives, in power since 2006, plunged into a deep deficit in 2008 as they pumped out stimulus money to deal with the recession after having cut taxes earlier. Previously, the Canadian government had an 11-year string of budget surpluses.

What is a net budget surplus? It is the central government removing more money from the private sector than the government puts back in. This reduces the private sector’s money supply. The private sector is people and businesses. Does anyone really believe it is a good idea to take money from people and businesses? Remember:

Gross Domestic Product = Government Spending + Non-government Spending + Net Exports. By formula, cuts to any of those terms, cuts GDP.

Because a large economy has more money than does a small economy, reducing the money supply makes an economy smaller. This is what the Canadian economists are so proud of.

Notice that when things got tough, the Canadian government ran a “deep deficit” to cure the recession. Why? Because to grow an economy requires growing the money supply. The “deep deficit” worked. It stimulated economic growth.

In fact, the “deep deficit” worked so well, the Canadian government will revert to taking money out of the private sector! Yikes!

But wait, what about that “11-year string of budget surpluses”? Didn’t that reduce the money supply in the Canadian private sector?

There is that one other source of money: Net Exports. For those 11 years (and much more), Canada ran trade surpluses, a positive balance of trade. It’s exports exceeded its imports. Net money was coming in:

Today, Canada no longer is running those surpluses. It has begun to run trade deficits.

In December of 2013, Canada’s trade deficit widened slightly to CAD 1.7 billion, up from CAD 1.5 billion in November, as imports rose 1.2 percent while exports edged up by 0.9 percent.

Bottom line: Canada’s politicians have decided to turn Canada into an impoverished euro nation. Despite being Monetarily Sovereign, and having the unlimited ability to create its sovereign currency, Canada pretends to be monetarily non-sovereign.

Canada’s politicians spread The Big Lie, that Canada’s finances are like personal finances, and running a surplus (taking money from people and business) is prudent economics.

And the Canadian people, accepting The Big Lie, will suffer greatly, and not understand why.

Rodger Malcolm Mitchell
Monetary Sovereignty

—–

#MONETARY SOVEREIGNTY

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this: