Tag: monetarily sovereign

–The recession is coming! The recession is coming! When, exactly?

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..

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

You may have noticed that the stock market has dropped like a boulder — for reasons that may or may not portend a recession. Stock prices are based on price predictions and the “lemming factor.”

Price predictions, in turn, are based on the wrongly predicted effects of wrong predictions, such as interest rates, Greek defaults, wars, ISIS and your grandmother’s purchases of Victoria’s Secret underwear.

In short, there are many wrong predictions multiplied by many wrong imputations of effects, which is why only frauds (including your stock broker) pretend they can predict the stock market.

By way of example, most security psychics, mystics and clairvoyants believe raising interest rates slows the economy.

It simply is not so. See: here.

But, the Fed lowers rates to “stimulate” the economy, so they falsely can claim they are “doing something” to grow the economy. (The same reason witch doctors do rain dances.)

As for the “lemming factor,” it’s much more than panicky people following other panicky people to unload a few shares of stock at the slightest whiff of a decline.

It’s panicky computers unloading gigantic amounts of stock when artificially created support levels are breached.

And this unloading begets further drops in price, which beget further unloading.

And later, when the economy has crashed, the people and the machines start buying again — all of which has little-to-nothing to do with the realities of the U.S. economy.

The lifeblood of the U.S. economy is dollars, and the fundamental (though not the largest) source of dollars is federal deficit spending.

Now, everyone has been trained to hate “deficits” and “debt,” so when you hear that the federal government is running a $500 billion Deficit, and has a $13 trillion Debt Held by the Public, you are shocked, shocked, shocked.

And when you hear: Barack Obama claims deficit has decreased by two-thirds since taking office, you are assured cutting deficits must be a good thing.

After all, why would the man brag about something he’s done to screw up the economy?

Obama said. “We’ve seen the fastest economic growth in over a decade, our deficits cut by two-thirds, a stock market that has doubled, and health care inflation at its lowest rate in fifty years.”

Deficits cut; stock market up; inflation low. Well that sounds pretty convincing. Here’s what that deficit cut looks like:

monetary sovereignty

See that cut, from $1.4 trillion in 2009 to $484 billion the first quarter of this year? Do you also see anything wrong with that claim?

Sure you do. The deficit still is higher than it was just before the “Great Recession” and before Obama became President.

“This is not to say that that large deficit was his fault, but if one used the 2008 deficit as a frame of reference, the comparison would be quite different,” said Alan Auerbach, University of California Berkeley professor of economics and law.

Princeton University economics professor Harvey Rosen said the more important question is if Obama has put the government on a path that will keep deficits stable. “And the answer is no,” Rosen said, because entitlement programs, such as Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security, have not had substantial reform.

Notice how Professor Auerbach uses the word “fault.” Why “fault,” when a federal deficit is the economy’s surplus?

Imagine Bill Gates — he of the $60+ billion wealth — is the federal government and you are his nephew. Imagine Uncle Bill Gates “government” gives you an allowance of $1 thousand a week.

His “deficit” vis a vis you is $52 thousand. Do you believe his “deficit” is too high? Would you like to see his “deficit” reduced? (“Please Uncle Bill, give me less money. I don’t want you to run a deficit.”)

And while it is unlikely Uncle Bill Gates could run short of dollars, it is absolutely, 100% impossible for the federal government to run short of dollars.

It never has and it never will. The federal government is Monetarily Sovereign, meaning it is sovereign over the dollar. It can create all the dollars it wants at the touch of a computer key.

The U.S. economy (meaning you and me) can and often does run short of dollars, but the federal government cannot and does not.

So why is Obama proud of having reduced the federal government’s “allowance” paid to us?

And why does Professor Auerbach talk about whose “fault” the deficit is?

And why does Professor Rosen speak of Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid “reform” when he really means “cuts” to these economic benefits?

And why don’t they more properly talk about the economy’s surplus or deficit?

We’ll answer those questions, but first let’s look at another graph:

monetary sovereignty

The graph shows annual percentage changes in the federal “debt” (i.e. the net number of dollars the government has sent into the economy) relative to the size of the economy. (Or the net number of dollars “Uncle” Bill Gates has given you).

Look at the graph and decide: When do we have recessions? What is the prelude to our recessions?

The prelude to recessions is when Uncle Bill Gates (the federal government) gives us (the economy) enough less this year to take us below that 0% line.

So tell me again. Why are the federal deficit and debt bad? Why do we want the federal government to run a balanced budget or even a surplus? Why do we want Uncle Bill to send us less money?

What are the reasons President Obama is so proud of reducing the amount the federal government sends you and me? What are the reasons Professors Auerbach and Rosen speak of “fault” and “reform” when discussing the federal deficit?

Some reasons may involve ignorance and some may involve intent.

For typical Americans, not educated in economics, the reasons may involve ignorance. After all, they have been brainwashed, for years and years, about the need to reduce the debt.

But surely President Obama, with all his economic advisors, and the media, with their researchers, and economists like Auerbach and Rosen — surely they are not ignorant of these two facts:

1. The federal government can pay off any size debt instantly, at the press of a computer key.
2. The federal deficit is the economy’s surplus, and is necessary for economic growth.

In fact: U.S. depressions tend to come on the heels of federal surpluses.

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.

In further fact, recessions invariably are cured by financial “stimuli,” i.e federal deficit spending.

So why the intentional misstatements, from the President and Congress, the media and the economists?

Answer: They are paid by the rich to widen the Gap between the rich and the rest.

Most federal deficit spending benefits the rich much less than it benefits the rest, so it narrows the Gap. But it is the Gap that makes the rich rich. Without a Gap, no one would be rich, and the wider the Gap, the richer they are.

So, the politicians are paid (bribed) via campaign contributions, the media are paid via ownership and the economists are paid via contributions to their universities.

When is the next (unnecessary) recession? (Unnecessary, because it could be prevented with increases in federal deficit spending, that add dollars to your pockets.)

Unless the downward trend of federal deficit spending is halted, and dramatically reversed, the recession should come no later than 2020 — perhaps sooner.

Here is a close-up of the graph, showing more clearly where we are now:

monetary sovereignty

We already have arrived at the tipping point (the zero line in the above graph) and that tipping point seems to occur three-five years in advance of a recession.

So, here is what will happen:

1. Net federal support for social programs (Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, poverty aids, etc.) will continue to decline, until we approach or even exceed a balanced budget or a surplus. (The politicians will term this “reform.”)

2. The Gap between the rich and the rest will continue to grow.

3. We will enter a recession, during which unemployment will rise and workers’ salaries will fall. (Top executive’s salaries will grow, thus widening the Gap.)

4. To combat the recession, the politicians, fearful for their jobs, will be forced to increase deficit spending.

5. Deficit spending will bring us out of the recession, at which time you again will hear calls to decrease the deficit and federal debt.

Since the U.S. became fully Monetarily Sovereign, we have had an unnecessary recession every ten years on average

They all have been caused by ignorance and intent — the public’s ignorance and our leaders’ intent.

Here we go, again.

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

–“Perhaps Germany still has some cattle cars you can use.”

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 nation has gone insane, and here is the proof:

Donald Trump is crushing his competition

The core of Trump’s campaign platform is based on his opposition to illegal immigration and his heated rhetoric describing it.

And Republican voters seem to be responding: 44% of them told CNN that Trump was the best candidate to handle the issue.

What exactly is Trump’s “cure” for illegal immigration? In addition to the impossibility and immorality of building a 2,000 mile (Berlin) wall and “forcing” Mexico to pay for it, here is the other part of his “plan.”

Bill O’Reilly confronts Donald Trump: You can’t ‘deport people who have American citizenship’

Trump called for ending birthright citizenship, or the right of anyone born in the US to American citizenship.

“That’s not going to happen because the 14th Amendment says if you’re born here, you’re an American,” O’Reilly said. “And you can’t kick Americans out. The courts would block you at every turn. You must know all that.”

Trump insisted that the Constitution did not grant citizenship to “anchor babies,” a pejorative term used to describe the children of people who enter the country illegally with the purpose of having a son or daughter who would then be granted US citizenship.

“Bill, I think you’re wrong about the 14th Amendmen. And frankly, the whole thing with ‘anchor babies’ and the concept of ‘anchor babies’ — I don’t think you’re right about that.”

O’Reilly was incredulous.

If someone is so right-wing bigoted that even Bill O’Reilly is incredulous, they must really have gone off the rails.

“I can quote it!” O’Reilly exclaimed. “You want me to quote you the amendment? If you’re born here, you’re an American — period! Period!”

The Fox host later added: “You are not going to be able to deport people who have American citizenship now. And the federal courts will never allow mass deportations without due process for each and every one.

“And do you envision federal police kicking in the doors in barrios around the country, dragging families out?”

Hmmm . . . An amoral politician, basing his popularity on fomenting hatred against a minority. Government police kicking in doors, dragging families out and deporting them.

Does that remind you of anything?

Mr. Trump, perhaps Germany still has some cattle cars you can use, when you drag the people out to deport them.

But Trump, citing unnamed lawyers, held his ground on the citizenship issue.

“Bill, I don’t think that they have American citizenship,” he said. “And if you speak to some very, very good lawyers — and I know some would disagree, but many of them agree with me — you’re going to find they do not have American citizenship. We have to start a process where we take back our country. Our country is going to hell.”

For the record, the text of the amendment would seem to favor O’Reilly’s interpretation in the dispute. It states: “All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States.”

The latest polls indicate 44% of Republicans feel Trump is the best candidate to handle the immigration issue.

44% of Republicans! If that doesn’t scare the heck out of you, then you have zero understanding of history.

But Trump is right about one thing: Our country is going to hell.

And Trump is taking us there.

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

–If Trump is the symptom, what is the disease?

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..

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

What does it mean to be an American? How would you describe an American? What kind of people are we? How do we compare with others?

On a scale of 1-10, are we:

Dishonest..1..2..3..4..5..6..7..8..9..10..Honest _______________
Mean-spirited..1..2..3..4..5..6..7..8..9..10..Compassionate _______________
Stupid..1..2..3..4..5..6..7..8..9..10..Intelligent _______________
Selfish..1..2..3..4..5..6..7..8..9..10..Generous _______________
Intolerant..1..2..3..4..5..6..7..8..9..10..Tolerant _______________
Hostile..1..2..3..4..5..6..7..8..9..10..Friendly _______________
Bigoted..1..2..3..4..5..6..7..8..9..10..Open-minded _______________
Hating..1..2..3..4..5..6..7..8..9..10..Loving _______________
Hurtful..1..2..3..4..5..6..7..8..9..10..Helpful _______________
Fearful..1..2..3..4..5..6..7..8..9..10..Brave _______________

Where on the above scales would you rank the following lines from the poem, “The New Colossus,” on the Statue of Liberty:

“Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me.
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!”

And, on the above scales, where would you rank the following lines from the Declaration of Independence?

“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.”

And the following line?

“O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave?”

Then, what about the following lines?

Trump: Deport children of immigrants living illegally in US

Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump wants to end “birthright citizenship” for (immigrants’) children.

He would push to end the constitutionally protected citizenship rights of children of any family living illegally inside the U.S.

Trump’s program for “immigration reform”: Force Mexico to pay for a permanent border wall. Mandatory deportation of all “criminal aliens” (i.e. all undocumented immigrants) and deport their children.

And the following Trump lines:

“The U.S. has become a dumping ground for everybody else’s problems. When Mexico sends its people, they’re not sending their best. They’re sending people that (are) bringing drugs. They’re bringing crime.

“They’re rapists. And some, I assume, are good people.

“I don’t think it’s a small percentage, it’s a lot.

Something has happened in America. It didn’t start with Trump. He is just a symptom of a disease.

Exactly four years ago, the lead Republican was none other than Michele Bachmann, who made such comments as:

“If we took away the minimum wage we could potentially virtually wipe out unemployment completely because we would be able to offer jobs at whatever level.”

“The thing that I think that is getting a little tiresome is, the gay community thinks that they’ve so bullied the American people and they so intimidated politicians that politicians fear them, and so they think that they get to dictate the agenda everywhere.”

And before the Donald and before Michele, there was Sarah Palin, who combined lies and ignorance into a Tina Fey performance.

“(Obama) is . . . palling around with terrorists who would target their own country.”

“Dr. Laura: don’t retreat…reload!” (Defending Dr. Laura Schlessinger, the talk radio host who used the N-word on the air 11 times in 5 minutes.)

During the recovery from WWII, Americans were proud of our compassion and of our special moral place in the world.

Our Marshall Plan (officially the European Recovery Program, ERP) was an American initiative to aid Europe, in which the United States gave $13 billion (approximately $120 billion in current dollar value) in economic support to help rebuild European economies after the end of World War II.

The plan had bipartisan support in Washington, where the Republicans controlled Congress and the Democrats controlled the White House with Harry S. Truman as president.

Can anyone imagine the possibility of such a plan today, when it has become de rigueur for any act of generosity or kindness sneeringly to be termed “liberalism” or “political correctness”?

Today, especially among the right wing, cruelty is admired as being “strength,” insults are “candor,” and bombastic lies are “honesty.”

The solution to every problem is guns, more guns, and guns everywhere. Don’t help ’em. Shoot ’em. Or wall ’em out. Or lock ’em up.

It’s not clear when the American public turned toward the cynical and the angry.

I’m tempted to say the change in America began in the 1950’s, with Republican Senator Joseph McCarthy. His fear-mongering of communism created the notorious “McCarthyism.” Innocent people were punished by an entire nation mad with fear and suspicion.

We recovered as a nation, though many individuals’ lives were ruined.

Later came Republican Richard Nixon and his political strategist Kevin Phillips, who popularized the “Southern Strategy” based on fear and bigotry:

“From now on, the Republicans are never going to get more than 10 to 20 percent of the Negro vote and they don’t need any more than that…but Republicans would be shortsighted if they weakened enforcement of the Voting Rights Act.

“The more Negroes who register as Democrats in the South, the sooner the Negrophobe whites will quit the Democrats and become Republicans. That’s where the votes are.

“Without that prodding from the blacks, the whites will backslide into their old comfortable arrangement with the local Democrats.”

The Southern Strategy took advantage of the South’s fears and worst instincts, and essentially told silently bigoted people it was smart to be bigots. Nothing to be ashamed of, they should be proud.

And the Southerners dutifully, like little robots, did exactly as Phillips said they would.

Later still came 9/11 and xenophobia.

Today’s America continues to suffer a disease. Trump is the symptom and the disease is fear and hatred. We were made afraid by 9/11 and by the Great Recession and by so many mass murders.

We fear terrorists. We fear Muslims, blacks, Mexicans, criminals and drugs and rapes and murders. We fear losing our jobs and those we think are taking our jobs. We fear gays, who “convert our children” and “take our religion.” We fear the poor, who “drain our wealth.” We fear the government.

We fear our lack of control.

And where there is fear there is hatred. And from the dark cesspools of our population emerge the fear and hate mongers — the people who preach danger from which “only they can save us.”

The libertarians preach fear of government. The Tea Party preaches fear of the poor. The religious right preaches fear of “them taking our religion.” The NRA preaches fear of “them taking our guns.”

And we have arrived here. A rich man, who spews lies and hatred and fear, leads the Republican Party, with the rest of the pack yelping behind him, sounding their own lies and hatred and fear.

Now we have leaders who actually take pride in their bigotry. Hating has become “realistic,” and those who don’t hate enough are themselves hated for being “liberals.”

Every Republican now bases his/her candidacy on the diseased twins: Fear and hatred.

And that is what has become of America. The land of the free and the home of the brave has become “the land of fear and the home of hatred.”

Our flag flies in tatters.

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 human interim species: If we can’t save the pale blue dot, how can we save ourselves?

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 human interim species: If we can’t save the pale blue dot, how can we save ourselves?

Within a hundred years, just about everyone you know, including you, will be dead. Logically, you should care nothing about what happens after that.

But you probably do.

Odds are, you would like to know that the human species will continue for many generations; many centuries. Built into our genes is the intuitive concern, not just for our own lives, but for the life of our species.

That is why, for instance, you probably care about climate change.

Most of the predicted bad effects of climate change will affect you very little. Most will not occur during your lifetime or even your children’s lifetimes.

Yet, you care.

Most species in world history were dead-end species. They evolved, and then, at a certain point, they simply died, leaving no heirs.

A few species were interim species, which eventually evolved to other species, and the line continues to today.

Every species alive today has descended from lines of interim species. These interim species neither expected to be, or tried to be, interim species.

They just tried to survive as species and to procreate under the circumstances and environment in which they lived.

When circumstances and the environment remain constant, species began to specialize, so to be better and better adapted. When circumstances and/or the environment change, species either die, adapt to the change or evolve to entirely new species.

And that is true of the human species.

Our survival has been based on our adaptability to a wide variety of circumstances and environments.

And now, despite climate change deniers, the climate really is changing, and there is a high probability the earth eventually will change so much as to be unlivable for the human species as we know it.

In short, we will become an interim species if we are lucky, and a dead-end species if we are not.

Consider that man-made climate change is but one of the eventualities we face. Atomic war, super-volcanos, meteor or comet impact, monster coronal discharge from the sun, a disease that sweeps the world, the sun grows larger until it engulfs the earth, a passing star disrupts earth’s orbit, the continents sink, a nearby supernova irradiates us — there are many possibilities for our extinction.

All species attempt to survive. Actually, the word “attempt” wrongly implies some conscious activity, when we aren’t talking about consciousness. We’re talking about the natural tenaciousness of life, clinging to the rock of existence, against the pounding waves of extinction.

Example: Some animals experience temperature-dependent sex determination. Some turtles birth more males at intermediate temperatures, and more females at extreme temperatures.

Though this seems to be a survival mechanism, it is doubtful the eggs are consciously thinking about the process. It’s automatic.

Any species, not having automatic survival mechanisms, dies.

Humans are a species, and like all species, we have subconscious survival mechanisms: Hunger, breathing, sleeping, sweating, running away, fighting back. and thinking.

And that brings us to the subject of this post.

At some point in the evolution of earth — the arrival of those eventualities we mentioned above — even our adaptability will be insufficient for survival.

We will die, evolve or transition into an interim species, but interim to what?

Depending on the nature of the eventualities, our descendants may need to survive high temperatures, acidic rain, high radiation, and polluted air and water, the destruction of the earth itself — physical insults living tissue cannot accommodate.

Things could get so bad, we may need to move to Mars or to the moons of Jupiter, Saturn and beyond — trips humans are unlikely to survive.

Built into the human genome is the urge to learn and to explore. That urge, perhaps even more than adaptability, may be an important key to our survival, for we incessantly seek improvement: “The grass is greener” syndrome.

In the name of learning and exploration, we have built computers and computer-run machines that are stronger, faster more resistant to the elements and even smarter in certain areas, than we are.

We are building ever more clever machines, that in ever more ways, can mimic and exceed our abilities to think, observe, sense, feel, act and react.

Why are we building such machines? Is it strictly a matter of our wanting convenience and economic progress, or is there a deeper urge?

Is the ongoing development of ever-more-human machines an intuitive survival process? Are we, without conscious intent, building the next species?

Consider an entity that has your thoughts and your emotions, but unshielded, can travel interstellar space. It (you) could go to Mars, surviving massive radiation and lack of water, build a colony, and be your perfect surrogate.

Are we building our descendants as our subconscious method to continue our existence?

The earth is a “pale, blue dot” in the cosmos (the barely visible white dot, nearly centered, in the topmost band):

monetary sovereignty

To say we are hanging on to life by our fingertips, would be a profound understatement. We are created to survive only on that tiny blue dot, and even then, only in very limited circumstances.

Long term, the best way for us to survive is to increase our odds, by spreading through the universe: Not one pale blue dot, but many. Not one sun, but many, or no need for a sun at all.

How will we do that? As humans we will not. Our human bodies cannot. Even our human brains cannot. But our thoughts can. Our essence can.

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is growing exponentially:

The future of artificial intelligence

The latest breakthroughs in artificial intelligence are the result of core advances in AI, including developments in machine learning, reasoning and perception, on a stage set by advances in multiple areas of computer science.

There also have been great strides in probabilistic modeling, in which computing systems consider uncertainties and make the best solution or recommendation, and machine learning, in which a computer gets better at something based on the data that it receives.

The new capabilities also are coming from advances in specific technologies, such as machine learning methods called neural networks, which can be trained from massive data sets to recognize objects in images or to understand spoken words.

Another promising effort is “integrative AI,” in which competencies including vision, speech, natural language, machine learning and planning are brought together to create more capable systems, such as one that can see, understand and converse with people.

Big technology companies are growing more dependent on building successful artificial intelligence-based systems.

“AI has become more central to the competitive landscape for these companies.”

Though some believe no machine ever can be as intelligent as a human, that really isn’t true. The AI problem is hard, but not impossible.

Think: Why do we so dearly desire to create machines that think like us? Why do we take such delight in a machine that can, for instance, recognize faces — something a month old child can do?

What is the evolutionary purpose of this delight?

Is it part of our species’ genetic desire to survive?

Many groups have been formed to help assure the survival of our species. Consider the hundreds (thousands) of environmental groups, public and private: Here and here.

Many organizations are involved in plans to protect the earth from a collision with a large asteroid.

Many others plan for pandemics.

There are peace organizations.

Astronomers look to spot threats to earth. Medical researchers look to cure threats to life. The list goes on and on, thousands of organizations, millions of people dedicated to saving the human species — each focused on a particular problem.

They face two problems:

1. Despite having the same fundamental goal — saving the human species — they aren’t coordinated.

Some want to find easier ways to desalinate water; some want to intercept giant meteors; some want to ban atomic bombs; some want to walk on Mars. All have the potential for saving the human species from extinction, but there is no central “Anti-extinction Agency.”

2. They are underfunded.

The reason they aren’t coordinated and are underfunded is: Despite our standing tiptoe on the precipice known as the “pale, blue dot, there is little emotional concern that the extinction of our species is a real danger.

So, rather than increase funding for the various sciences that could help prevent extinction, we underfund them. Then when something bad happens, and it will, we will be caught short, and if it’s bad enough, our species will end . . .

. . . unless by then, we have created AI sufficiently powerful to do what we logically should, and if necessary, to take our place.

Logic dictates that taking preventative action should be in proportion to the penalty for not taking it. Death of our species is a pretty strong penalty.

And given all the possible threats and all the possible actions, the development of AI should be at the top of our action list, for ultimately it could provide a pathway to all other solutions.

Bottom line: I suggest that the development of AI is of overriding existential importance, both near-term and long-term.

Near-term it can help us anticipate, prevent and cure species-ending disasters..

Long-term, it can be our proxy, spreading through the universe.

Atomic energy was funded by the federal government. It did not wait for private industry.

NASA was a federally funded program that took us to the moon. The U.S. did not wait for private industry. (Now, many years later, privately funded spaceflight still is in its infancy).

Similarly, the federal government should fund AI as a massive “NASA-like,” “Manhattan Project-like” program, and not wait for private industry.

If you think AI represents a “Terminator” type existential threat, remember this: We already face several existential threats of our own making.

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
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

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