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We’ve harped on this so long my “harp” almost is broken, so it is refreshing to hear another blog’s harp. Some excerpts from an excellent article.

The Democratic Party Must Undergo a Dramatic Transformation to Lead America into the Future
By Michael Payne

The departure of Hillary Clinton gives the Democratic Party the great opportunity to truly reinvent itself and move into the future with a new sense of purpose and direction.

The same can be said of Barack Obama who presented himself as an agent of change but most certainly wasn’t up to the task by any stretch of the imagination. These two should be like the last of that breed of politicians within the Democratic Party.

Obama’s legacy, if you wish to elevate his lack of action to “legacy” status, will be that he borrowed a Rube Goldbergian, right-wing program (Romneycare) for his “signature” achievement, tried to foist on us his right-wing “Grand Bargain” (i.e. cut social spending and raise taxes), and created the Simpson-Bowles committee to attempt a suicidal, right-wing “balanced budget.”

The committee’s recommendations were strongly supported by  JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon, who along with all his fellow, rich banksters, never was prosecuted by the right-wing Obama administration. Need I say more?

Oh yes, he deported more immigrants than any President in history. Why? Because the right-wing wanted him to. See a pattern, here?

We assume these right-wing “achievements” will be well documented in Obama’s overpriced ode to failure: the Obama Presidential library.

Here’s what, in my opinion, the Democratic Party must do:

*Attack GOP voter suppression. Don’t wait until the next election when it will be too late. Democrats, time and time again, have watched the GOP prevent qualified voters from casting their ballots and just haven’t found the ways to put a stop to this politically evil process.

*Expose the Republican Party for what it is; an albatross around the neck of America, a party with no vision, possessing a badly damaged moral and directional compass.

It is a completely immoral compass. Just think of the all-consuming dishonesty of the man they elected President.

*Stop the current Democratic movement toward the Right and move back to the center left where Democrats do best. Acting like a more liberal version of Republicanism is certainly not working; ask Hillary Clinton about that.

*Never, ever allow someone like the overly aggressive war hawk, Hillary Clinton, to be the party’s candidate for president.

*Democrats must be far more proactive in connecting with the American people; communicate, communicate and communicate.

Obama’s message was whispered weakly from afar and above. Trump’s messages, though lies, were strong and straight to the people.

*Never again let someone like the incompetent Debbie Wasserman Schulz head the DNC; pick someone like former Gov. Howard Dean who used his “50-state strategy,” to strengthen the Democratic Party’s infrastructure and recruitment of solid candidates in all levels of organization in every state.

*Develop key goals and objectives that relate to America’s most critical problems.

First, identify those key problems. Start with the widening Gap between the rich and the rest. Then refer to the Ten Steps to Prosperity ( below).

*When Democrats return home they need to be constantly talking directly to their constituents, arranging town hall meetings, discussing problems and solutions; how to make things better for all Americans.

Bernie Sanders connected in that way with people; he should be the leader of this movement but he needs to surround himself with some younger, very energetic individuals who have the promise to rise to leadership roles in the party.

For the next president, Sen. Elizabeth Warren would be a great candidate and could well be the first female president.

Scores of Democrats need to be talking with reporters day in and day out and constantly doing interviews on CNN and MSNBC, telling all who will listen about their ideas for solving this country’s problems.

They should make clear to people what will happen to many of them when these very necessary social programs are torn apart. The media will provide them coverage because they love the controversies and it increases their ratings.

My state, Illinois, has a Democratic Senator who has occupied his seat since 1997: His name is Dick Durbin. Have you heard of him?  After almost 20 years in his office, and what did we get?

Have you ever heard him speak? He’s the Minority whip. Do not expect him to do any whipping. He is a Democrat, a nice, harmless, well-meaning nebbish, who would rather apologize than take a stand. Almost twenty years of whispers.

The facts of Monetary Sovereignty should be should be a magic wand for Durbin and the Democrats. MS tells us that deficits are necessary and beneficial, and the federal government never can run short of dollars — exactly in line with the liberal agenda — the authentic liberal agenda of spending for the underdog.

However, a certain amount of courage is necessary to explain the truths of MS to the public, and courage has not been the Democrats’ strong point since Lyndon Johnson.

It’s not ignorance. Stephanie Kelton, the MMT economics professor from UMKC surely informed everyone of the facts. No, it’s cowardice.  So, lacking courage the Dems were crushed in the last election.

We are left to pray that the likes of Sanders, Warren, Schumer et al, will grow a pair and win back the nation by explaining the Monetary Sovereignty facts, and telling people “your Social Security, Medicare, and aids to the less fortunate are possible without raising your taxes and without inflation.”

Is this too much to hope?

Yes, it actually is, if the American left-leaning public continues to suffer in silence, refrains from complaint, spreads its legs and lets it all happen to them.

Jeez, people, don’t just sit there.  In this instance, emulate the right-wing. Pick up the phone; write letters; do something. Fight for your life.

Or, the Trumps of the world simply will take it.

Rodger Malcolm Mitchell
Monetary Sovereignty

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The single most important problems in economics involve the excessive income/wealth/power Gaps between the have-mores and the have-less.

Wide Gaps negatively affect poverty, health and longevity, education, housing, law and crime, war, leadership, ownership, bigotry, supply and demand, taxation, GDP, international relations, scientific advancement, the environment, human motivation and well-being, and virtually every other issue in economics.

Implementation of The Ten Steps To Prosperity can narrow the Gaps:

Ten Steps To Prosperity:
1. ELIMINATE FICA (Ten Reasons to Eliminate FICA )
Although the article lists 10 reasons to eliminate FICA, there are two fundamental reasons:
*FICA is the most regressive tax in American history, widening the Gap by punishing the low and middle-income groups, while leaving the rich untouched, and
*The federal government, being Monetarily Sovereign, neither needs nor uses FICA to support Social Security and Medicare.
2. FEDERALLY FUNDED MEDICARE — PARTS A, B & D, PLUS LONG TERM CARE — FOR EVERYONE (H.R. 676, Medicare for All )
This article addresses the questions:
*Does the economy benefit when the rich can afford better health care than can the rest of Americans?
*Aside from improved health care, what are the other economic effects of “Medicare for everyone?”
*How much would it cost taxpayers?
*Who opposes it?”
3. PROVIDE AN ANNUAL ECONOMIC BONUS TO EVERY MAN, WOMAN AND CHILD IN AMERICA, AND/OR EVERY STATE, A PER CAPITA ECONOMIC BONUS (The JG (Jobs Guarantee) vs the GI (Guaranteed Income) vs the EB) Or institute a reverse income tax.
This article is the fifth in a series about direct financial assistance to Americans:

Why Modern Monetary Theory’s Employer of Last Resort is a bad idea. Sunday, Jan 1 2012
MMT’s Job Guarantee (JG) — “Another crazy, rightwing, Austrian nutjob?” Thursday, Jan 12 2012
Why Modern Monetary Theory’s Jobs Guarantee is like the EU’s euro: A beloved solution to the wrong problem. Tuesday, May 29 2012
“You can’t fire me. I’m on JG” Saturday, Jun 2 2012

Economic growth should include the “bottom” 99.9%, not just the .1%, the only question being, how best to accomplish that. Modern Monetary Theory (MMT) favors giving everyone a job. Monetary Sovereignty (MS) favors giving everyone money. The five articles describe the pros and cons of each approach.
4. FREE EDUCATION (INCLUDING POST-GRAD) FOR EVERYONEFive reasons why we should eliminate school loans
Monetarily non-sovereign State and local governments, despite their limited finances, support grades K-12. That level of education may have been sufficient for a largely agrarian economy, but not for our currently more technical economy that demands greater numbers of highly educated workers.
Because state and local funding is so limited, grades K-12 receive short shrift, especially those schools whose populations come from the lowest economic groups. And college is too costly for most families.
An educated populace benefits a nation, and benefitting the nation is the purpose of the federal government, which has the unlimited ability to pay for K-16 and beyond.
5. SALARY FOR ATTENDING SCHOOL
Even were schooling to be completely free, many young people cannot attend, because they and their families cannot afford to support non-workers. In a foundering boat, everyone needs to bail, and no one can take time off for study.
If a young person’s “job” is to learn and be productive, he/she should be paid to do that job, especially since that job is one of America’s most important.
6. ELIMINATE CORPORATE TAXES
Corporations themselves exist only as legalities. They don’t pay taxes or pay for anything else. They are dollar-transferring machines. They transfer dollars from customers to employees, suppliers, shareholders and the government (the later having no use for those dollars).
Any tax on corporations reduces the amount going to employees, suppliers and shareholders, which diminishes the economy. Ultimately, all corporate taxes come around and reappear as deductions from your personal income.
7. INCREASE THE STANDARD INCOME TAX DEDUCTION, ANNUALLY. (Refer to this.) Federal taxes punish taxpayers and harm the economy. The federal government has no need for those punishing and harmful tax dollars. There are several ways to reduce taxes, and we should evaluate and choose the most progressive approaches.
Cutting FICA and corporate taxes would be a good early step, as both dramatically affect the 99%. Annual increases in the standard income tax deduction, and a reverse income tax also would provide benefits from the bottom up. Both would narrow the Gap.
8. TAX THE VERY RICH (THE “.1%) MORE, WITH HIGHER PROGRESSIVE TAX RATES ON ALL FORMS OF INCOME. (TROPHIC CASCADE)
There was a time when I argued against increasing anyone’s federal taxes. After all, the federal government has no need for tax dollars, and all taxes reduce Gross Domestic Product, thereby negatively affecting the entire economy, including the 99.9%.
But I have come to realize that narrowing the Gap requires trimming the top. It simply would not be possible to provide the 99.9% with enough benefits to narrow the Gap in any meaningful way. Bill Gates reportedly owns $70 billion. To get to that level, he must have been earning $10 billion a year. Pick any acceptable Gap (1000 to 1?), and the lowest paid American would have to receive $10 million a year. Unreasonable.
9. FEDERAL OWNERSHIP OF ALL BANKS (Click The end of private banking and How should America decide “who-gets-money”?)
Banks have created all the dollars that exist. Even dollars created at the direction of the federal government, actually come into being when banks increase the numbers in checking accounts. This gives the banks enormous financial power, and as we all know, power corrupts — especially when multiplied by a profit motive.
Although the federal government also is powerful and corrupted, it does not suffer from a profit motive, the world’s most corrupting influence.
10. INCREASE FEDERAL SPENDING ON THE MYRIAD INITIATIVES THAT BENEFIT AMERICA’S 99.9% (Federal agencies)Browse the agencies. See how many agencies benefit the lower- and middle-income/wealth/ power groups, by adding dollars to the economy and/or by actions more beneficial to the 99.9% than to the .1%.
Save this reference as your primer to current economics. Sadly, much of the material is not being taught in American schools, which is all the more reason for you to use it.

The Ten Steps will grow the economy, and narrow the income/wealth/power Gap between the rich and you.

MONETARY SOVEREIGNTY