Guns and Abortion: Part II

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..

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

The previous post began with:

Use the words “guns” or “abortion” and immediately, the adrenalin starts to pump to the heart and limbs, but not to the brain. It would be difficult to find someone without a strong, STRONG (i.e. emotional) opinion.

If you have a strong opinion in one direction, and I have a strong opinion in the opposite direction, all the facts in the world may not sway either of us. But perhaps there is a middle ground where reason will prevail.

That post discussed guns. Now, we’ll plunge even deeper into fact-free, emotional mysticism by talking about abortion.

We (mostly) can agree that the murder of a human being is evil. But we also (mostly) agree there are exceptions:

–Soldiers kill enemy soldiers, because killing to protect the lives, health, freedoms and way of life of fellow countrymen is justified. The life of an enemy is considered to be worth less than the life of an ally.

–Police kill threatening criminals, because killing to protect the lives and safety of innocent civilians, and in self-defense, is justified. The life of a threatening person is considered to be worth less than the life of an innocent person or a police officer.

–Some states sentence people to death, because lawful killing, by definition, is justified. The life of someone planning, attempting or carrying out a homicide is worth less than that of a victim.

–You yourself might kill someone in defense of your family, yourself, or really, just about anyone whose life is being threatened by someone else. The life of a defender is considered to be more important than the life of an attacker.

Clearly then, killing even a fully developed human, let alone a 4-cell blastocyst, often is justified. It has been done millions of times, and some of the killers are considered heroes and are decorated with medals by society.

So, in discussing abortion, we need to consider some questions that have no answers:

1. At what point does the merger of an egg and a sperm, or a blastocyst, become a human being?

2. When is killing, to protect the life, health and freedom and way of life of a mother, justified?

It is a quirk of the human psyche, that beliefs can be strongest when proof is weakest. The reason: When we lack data, we resort to intuition and faith. Science relies on fact-based conclusions, which can be overturned by more or better facts and conclusions.

But intuition and faith cannot be disproved.

Thus religion, which essentially is supported by zero facts, elicits the strongest beliefs. For most of us, the religion we so fervently support, just happens, by the accident of fate, to be the one we were born into.

What our caretakers believe, we tend to believe, and not just believe, but angrily, furiously believe. But why? It is part of our tribal survival, to adopt the ways and beliefs of those around us.

Returning to question #1., when does a human life begin? If your parents are Catholic, you may believe human life begins when the sperm merges with the egg. Perhaps, even prior to that.

Or, if not then, possibly any supporting research that demonstrates a reaction to stimuli, will “prove” human life has begun.

Or, does size matter most?

Stages of Baby Growth

Month 1: Your baby is about 1/4 inch long – smaller than a grain of rice.
Month 2: Your baby is about the size of a kidney bean.
Month 3: Your baby is approximately 2 1/2 inches long by the end of this month.
Month 4: Your baby measures 4 1/2 inches in length and weighs nearly 3 ounces.
Month 5: Your baby is about 6 1/2 inches long
Month 6: He is 12 inches in length and weighs approximately 1 1/2 pounds.
Month 7: She is now about 15 inches in length and weighs around 4 pounds.
Month 8: At about 6 pounds, your baby is between 16 to 19 inches long.
Month 9: When your due date arrives, your baby will be approximately 20 inches in length and weigh, on average, about 7 1/2 pounds.

So, what do you believe? Is the life, health, freedom and way of life of a mother more or less important than the life, health, freedom and way of life of an embryo the size of a rice grain?

What about a kidney bean? Or 2 1/2 inches long? If they were in front of you — the mother sitting in front of you, and the “kidney bean” in a tiny spoon — in whose favor would you decide? Whose life and future is more important? At what point of pregnancy, is the fetus more important than the mother?

There is no right or wrong answer, but whatever month you choose we must consider the next question: When is killing justified?

We gave examples of soldiers, police, the state, someone defending his own life or the lives of others. But it can be more than defending lives. It can include other defenses.

Would you feel justified in shooting someone if he:

1. Was about to toss “Molotov Cocktails” into your home?
2. Was about to cut off one of your feet?
3. Was about to injure your child?
4. Was about to push a computer key that would cause America to lose a war, allowing Russia to rule America.

Many people would answer “Yes” to all four questions. I know I would.

Think carefully: What would you do?

Question #1. could be under the broad heading: “Serious threats to your financial assets.”
Question #2. could be under the broad heading: “Serious threats to your physical and mental health.”
Question #3. could be under the broad heading: “Serious threats to your family.”
Question #4. could be under the broad heading, “Serious threats to your happiness and your way of life.”

Getting back to the question of abortion:

–Under “Serious threats to your financial assets,” we could include: An unwanted pregnancy, delivery and unafordable cost of raising the child
–Under “Serious threats to your physical and mental health,” we could include: A dangerous pregnancy.
–Under “Serious threats to your family,: we could include: Hating the concept of motherhood so much you know you will mistreat or neglect the child.
–Under “Serious threats to your happiness and your way of life” we could Include: Being forced to deliver and raise an unwanted child.

If you answered “Yes,” you would be justified in killing a full grown man to prevent the four serious threats, remember that to a frightened desperate girl, pregnancy/delivery/parenting could be as threatening as a housefire, an amputation, child cruelty and enduring a foreign invasion.

If you were that girl, would you also be justified in killing a rice grain-size embryo or a 4″ fetus, to prevent the same serious threats?

Can you empathize?

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 Click here
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

Recessions come after the blue line drops below zero.

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

–Guns and abortion: No thinking allowed

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..

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

Use the words “guns” or “abortion” and immediately, the adrenalin starts to pump to the heart and limbs, but not to the brain. It would be difficult to find someone without a strong, STRONG (i.e. emotional) opinion.

If you have a strong opinion in one direction, and I have a strong opinion in the opposite direction, all the facts in the world may not sway either of us. But perhaps there is a middle ground where reason will prevail.

Here are my thoughts on GUNS. An article on abortion will follow.

GUNS:
Some may believe their owning their guns, and their neighbors owning their guns, and total strangers owning their guns, all combine to make us safer.

And I may believe all those guns are a danger to you and to me.

So we talk — no, shout — louder and louder, as though volume will penetrate the walls around our minds. It won’t.

So is it hopeless? Are we, as thinking adults, incapable of any agreement about gun ownership? Twenty years from now, will we still toss opinions and statistics at each other to prove what we viscerally believe and what we viscerally deny?

Or, are there at least a few things on which we can agree?

Let’s try:

1. Guns do kill people. They also wound, cripple and scare people. That is the whole point.

2. Guns do protect people. If people were to invade your house or accost you on the street, and if you are able to access your loaded gun before the other guys access their loaded guns, and if you are a better shot than the other guys, you very well might save your life and the lives of your loved ones — assuming no innocent lives are lost in a gun battle.

3. We are complex humans with complex human frailties, and one of those frailties is emotion. Because of emotion, each of us has times when we get angry, times when we are frightened, greedy, thoughtless, careless, and sometimes, downright stupid — times when we are controlled by emotion and do not act in a rational, logical, thoughtful manner.

No one is immune, not you, not me, not anyone. Think back to when you’ve done something you now, in the clear, calm light of day, wish you had done differently. Don’t think it won’t happen again. It will.

4. There are no purely “good guys” or purely “bad guys.” The bank robber might be a loving husband and parent. Your “nice” neighbor might explode into rage if your car runs over his precious flower beds.

Some people spend more time being good than being bad; for others the reverse is true. We each have our moments. So, we can’t be confident we can divide the world neatly into “good guys” and “bad guys.”

5. During our “good,” unemotional moments, having a gun can be a comforting, reasonable defensive tool. During our “bad,” emotional moments, a gun can be a danger to ourselves, our loved ones as well as to strangers.

A toddler was shot in a home near East 70th Street and South Harper Avenue around 1:45 a.m. Tuesday. Police said several people were inside the house when the gun accidentally went off.

Charged in double murder at age 8: Police accused him of using a .22-caliber rifle to shoot his father and his father’s friend as they returned home from work. No exact motive was revealed, although the boy referred to spankings in discussions with child welfare investigators.

A 12-year-old boy will be charged with first-degree murder alongside 15-year-old Shuntayvious Primes-Willis and 17-year-old Jamar E. Milton, police said. All three suspects had guns.

Man kills own son in front of pregnant wife. Samuel Yue was calm and cooperative when Fresno police officers arrested him. Moments earlier, investigators say he fired several rounds that struck and killed his son, Tom Yue. Shocked residents are trying to figure out what made their normally quiet neighbors so upset.

All of the above says:

6. Many people should own guns, but not everyone. Do you agree?

There needs to be a way to separate those who should from those who shouldn’t. At least, we should try.

Because past actions are the best predictor of future actions, people with a history of anger issues, violence, mental disturbance or crime should not own guns.

Those under 21 should not own or possess guns. Scientists have shown that the part of the human brain regulating common sense does not mature before then. Guns plus lack of common sense make for an explosive combination.

Those adults whose anger makes them lose control — they punch a hole in the wall or throw objects, beat their wives, spank their kids so hard it leaves bruises, have a physical fight, cause or almost cause an auto accident due to road rage, get angry drunk, send threatening messages — those people should not own or possess guns.

Their lack of self-control makes them an intentional or accidental danger to themselves and to others.

7. Those who already have guns should be regulated.
A. Every gun seller should access a national criminal database, to determine whether the buyer has been convicted of any violent crime. Every gun seller should register the sale with a national gun sale registry. There should be a jail sentence for sellers who fail to abide.

B. Every gun buyer should sign, under oath, that he has not been convicted of any crime involving violence, with a jail sentence for those who lie.

C. Guns should not be allowed in places where emotion can overwhelm self-control. For example:
–Anywhere alcohol is served: Obviously.
–Large crowds: Increased danger to bystanders plus the anger and madness crowds generate.
–Cars: Road rage
–Courtrooms: Everyone is angry in a courtroom.
–Near children. They are our innocents.

D. Gun owners should be required to take gun safety lessons periodically, and simultaneously to testify under oath (jail penalty), that they have not had the criminal, anger or mental issues mentioned above.

E. Enact Into Law: “Any person who commits a felony while carrying a gun, shall be sentenced to a prison term of 20 years to life, in addition to the term for the felony itself.”

None of the above takes guns from any responsible person, i.e. the “good guys.” In fact it helps protect the good guys and the good guys’ families, neighbors and strangers. We shouldn’t ignore the problem of gun deaths, pretending it doesn’t exist (It does) or hoping it will go away by itself. (It won’t).

We have the money and the intelligence to protect ourselves. We just need the will.

The above are my suggestions.

What are yours?

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 Click here
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

Recessions come after the blue line drops below zero.

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

–Are you religious? Here is a test:

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..

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

Are you religious? What are your criteria?

The heart and soul of most religions, and surely the Judeo-Christian religions, is compassion. It is the Golden Rule.

Are you religious?

Being religious is not measured by your rote knowledge of bible passages. Being religious is measured by your empathy for your fellow human beings.

Are you religious?

Being religious is not belief in, or fear of, an all-powerful spirit. Being religious is your concern for the human spirit.

Are you religious?

Someone asked Donald Trump, who claimed to be religious, to recite a bible passage. He couldn’t. Does that reveal he isn’t religious? No, it doesn’t.

Trump threatens to rip 11 million men, women and children from their homes, even children who legally are U.S. citizens, and ship them to Mexico.

It’s his utter lack of compassion, empathy and concern that reveals Trump isn’t religious.

Contrast this with the Pope’s remarks:

He urged Americans to embrace immigrants from Central and South America, saying they are only doing what anyone else would in their situation. He said their plight should invoke the Golden Rule and implored compassion from the U.S.

“This rule points us in a clear direction: Let us treat others with the same passion and compassion with which we want to be treated. Let us seek for others the same possibilities which we seek for ourselves.

“In a word, if we want security, let us give security. If we want life, let us give life. If we want opportunities, let us provide opportunities.

“The yardstick we use for others will be the yardstick which time will use for us,” the pontiff said, drawing a standing ovation from the assembled House and Senate.

Those were religious thoughts.

How ironic that those religious thoughts would receive a standing ovation from the House and Senate, the majorities of which do not believe in those thoughts at all. Quite the opposite.

Kentucky clerk Kim Davis sparked a national furor by refusing to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples. (This) propelled her to folk hero status among some on the religious right.

Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, a Baptist preacher running for president, rushed to Davis’ side, visited her in jail and held a religious freedom rally on the jailhouse lawn. Texas Sen. Ted Cruz also traveled to Kentucky to bask in her defiance.

Davis revealed that she decided last week to switch her allegiances to the Republican ticket.

Davis, who made the rounds this week on television news programs to defend her actions and tout her religious conviction, was invited to the event hosted by the Family Research Council, a conservative lobbying group, along with other “Christians who have been targeted for their religious beliefs on natural marriage.”

Is Kim Davis religious? Are preacher Mike Huckabee and Ted Cruz religious?

And Rick Santorum, who defends Kim Davis and is slated to speak at the “Marriage God’s Way” prayer rally at the Statehouse in Columbia — is he religious?

In my opinion, they are the least religious of people. They are hypocrites. Perhaps they have memorized bible passages. Perhaps they attend church weekly, daily or even hourly.

They have cloaked their lives in the mantle of religion. But they know nothing of religion. They know nothing of compassion. They have no empathy. They care nothing for the Golden Rule. They are heartless.

They are amoral judges of morality.

They are religionists, parroting selected lines from the bible, with no understanding of what the bible means. They claim to be Christians, but have no understanding of Christ.

This mayor wants to publicize who’s on welfare and where they live

If you receive government assistance in the state of Maine, (Republican) Lewiston Mayor Robert Macdonald thinks the public has a right to know about it.

In a Thursday column for the Twin City Times, Macdonald said a bill will be submitted during Maine’s next legislative session “asking that a Web site be created containing the names, addresses, length of time on assistance and the benefits being collected by every individual on the dole.”

He added: “After all, the public has a right to know how its money is being spent.”

Is Mayor Macdonald a religious man? If you paid taxes in Lewiston, would you want to know the name and address of every poor person who is “on the dole,” so you could stone their houses, and bully their children, and humiliate them all?

Mayor Macdonald believes the poor deserve such humiliation. In Macdonald’s mind, the poor are lazy slackers, who’d rather receive the pittance offered by the government, than to work for real money.

Macdonald does not care that some of the poor are sick and unable to work, while others, the working poor, have such low-paying jobs they still can’t afford to make ends meet without help.

Macdonald seems to believe poor children would rather eat junk food and live where the rich landlord won’t fix the toilets, than to lead better lives. He seems to believe poverty is the fault of the poor, and that the poor are not humans.

Macdonald delights in punishing the less fortunate. Is he a religious man? Do you agree with Macdonald?

Compassion for the poor, the hungry, the less fortunate, the stranger in your land is a necessary part of being religious.

Yet the self-proclaimed religious favor cutting Social Security for the elderly, cutting Medicare for the sick, cutting unemployment compensation for the poor, cutting food stamps for the hungry, evicting immigrants who came to us for rescue.

Even more damning, providing these benefits to the less fortunate costs us nothing. Our government is Monetarily Sovereign, producing money freely.

So now that you have read the test, you can decide. Are you a religious person, or are you a hypocritical religionist, cheering the Pope, but not meaning it, like Huckabee, Santorum, Trump and most of the U.S. Congress?

Your call.

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 Click here
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

Recessions come after the blue line drops below zero.

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

–Congress, the media, the economists: The same Big Lie since 1940. What the hell is the problem?

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..

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

Sen. Rand Paul, Kentucky Republican and 2016 presidential contender, said he could not support any bill that “continues to add to our nation’s mountain of debt. (By Tom Howell Jr. – The Washington Times – Thursday, September 24, 2015)

Congress, the media and the economists have been telling you the same Big Lie since — well, forever. What the hell is the problem?

The Big Lie, simply stated is this: “The federal debt should be reduced. Whether its federal debt or personal debt, being in debt is bad.”

But why is federal debt bad?

Will the federal government default? Will the federal debt cause inflation? Will our children have to pay the federal debt?

No, no and no.

So, what exactly is the problem with the federal debt?

Government debt threatens to send U.S. economy into death spiral, CBO warns

Rising federal debt threatens to choke economic growth within a decade, beginning a death spiral that will sap revenue from government programs even as demands grow, forcing the government to borrow even more, Congress‘ budget watchdog said in a frightening report Tuesday.

Budget cuts or tax increases now would help avert that scary scenario, leaving the economy far stronger than it otherwise would be, the Congressional Budget Office said.

The next few years will show solid improvement in the budget as the effects of the stimulus wear off.

So let’s get this straight: Tax increases make the economy stronger by . . . by what? By removing dollars from the economy?

Are we supposed to believe that reducing the money supply increases GDP??

And that federal spending, which adds dollars to the economy, should be decreased?

What branch of economics claims that adding dollars to an economy, particularly at a time of extremely low inflation, depresses the economy?

And finally, do we need the effects of the stimulus, which by definition stimulated the economy — do we need those stimulative effects to wear off?

Earth to CBO, Earth to CBO. Come in please.

And then we come to the infamous “debt ceiling,” the law that says, “Beyond an arbitrary limit, the U.S. government should not pay for what it already has bought.”

Right. Congress and the President first decide how much to spend and tax, and then the debt ceiling determines which debts they will pay, after all the spending and taxing.

Intelligent?

If that makes sense to you, feel free to join the CBO, drifting somewhere on a distant planet.

Returning to earth, here are the simple facts:

monetary sovereignty

In 1939, the federal debt was $48 billion.
In 1972, the year the U.S. government became Monetarily Sovereign, the federal debt was $436 billion — a 9-fold increase in 33 years.
Last year, the federal debt was $18 trillion — a 41-fold increase in 43 years.

Yet here we are: Despite the CBO’s ludicrous claim about a “death spiral,” the federal government still has no difficulty paying its debts (phony “debt ceiling” notwithstanding).

And despite debt-nuts’ incessant warnings about hyper-inflation, our inflation rate is as low as it ever has been — so low as to concern the Fed.

And with today’s federal tax rates at relatively low levels, nobody’s children are paying for past federal debts.

So again, what the hell is the problem? Why do we see headlines like these?

–The Treasury Department estimated (when) the government would hit its $18.1 trillion borrowing limit

–Highway trust fund runs out next summer

–Social Security disability payments will run out of money in 2016

–Medicare: Running out of time and money; The crisis is coming—with no easy fix in sight

–The United States Postal Service is in deep financial trouble

And why does the Big Lie continue to be told and believed, year after year:

FEDERAL DEBT, A TICKING TIME BOMB Sept 26, 1940, New York Times: Deficit Financing is Hit by Hanes: ” . . . 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

Our politicians, media and economists long have known that the public is economically ignorant, and will believe the same lies, even when the lies become laughably obvious.

The same warnings, since 1940 and earlier, about federal debt — yet the debt grows, and none of the warnings come true, the “time bomb” keeps ticking, and still the public believes.

Just like in the Peanuts comic strip, where Lucy repeatedly pulls the football away before Charlie Brown can kick it — and Charlie never catches on — the American public never catches on to the fact that the Monetarily Sovereign federal government cannot run short of its own sovereign dollars.

What is the purpose of the Big Lie? Very simple: Federal deficit spending benefits the poor and middle classes far more than the rich.

The rich run the government (via campaign contributions and promises of lucrative employment later), the media (via ownership) and the university economists (via university contributions).

The rich want the Gap between the rich and the rest to be widened, for without the Gap, no one would be rich, and the wider the Gap, the richer they are.

So now, as we enter the silly season of the federal debt ceiling debates, remember this: The federal debt ceiling is a Big Lie, and what the politicians, the media and the university economists tell you will be bullsh*t.

But our Charlie Brown public keeps getting fooled.

Rodger Malcolm Mitchell
Monetary Sovereignty

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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 Click here
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.
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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

Recessions come after the blue line drops below zero.

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