Tag: monetary sovereignty

The bullies and cowards go insane

Bullies are cowards in tough-guy clothing.

The Republican party, and its leader, Donald Trump, have a well-deserved reputation for bullying and  cowardice.

Example: Being so frightened of unknown “bad guys,” the right-wingers all want to have guns, and not just have guns, but carry guns everywhere. And not just any guns, but high-powered, semi-automatic guns with large magazines, capable of killing as many people as possible in seconds.

Example: Being so frightened of Mexican “criminals, drug dealers and rapists,” the right wing wants to build a gigantic wall across the entirety of America’s long southern border (based on fear-mongering lies about Mexican immigrants).

Example: Being so frightened of non-citizens, Trump and his fellow xenophobes want to deport all aliens and even to deport their American-born children (who by law are citizens).

Example: Being so frightened of Muslim terrorists,  Trump and his right-wingers want to prevent any Muslims (except rich Muslims) from coming to America (a violation of the U.S. Constitution).

So the reactions of the bullies and the cowards to the terrorism in France should come as no surprise:

Trump Calls For Limits On Immigration In Response To Nice Attacks

Donald Trump responded to the attack in Nice, France, by calling for a crack down on immigration into the United States from “terrorist areas” and saying that if he would declare war against the Islamic State if he were president.

Then, in typical Trump fashion, the leader of the Republicans began to babble generalities:

“Obama is allowing a lot of people to come in. We have no idea who they are. They’re from Syria, maybe, but they have no paperwork many times. They don’t have proper documentation. I would make it – I would not allow people to come in from terrorist nations. I would do extreme vetting,” he said.

“A lot of”? “From Syria, maybe”?  “No paperwork many times”? Do we really have “no idea” who they are?  And exactly which nations are “terrorist nations.”

His panic is palpable. This is the man who, if President, should be the calm, controlled leader of the free world, instead maintaining his persona as frightened bully.

When told that the recent shooting in Orlando was carried out by an American, Trump responded with yet another fear-mongering generalization: “The second generation turns out to be very bad for whatever reason.”

Really? The second generation is “very bad”? Based on how many “very bad” people? In the fearful imagination of a cowardly bully, a tiny number becomes an entire second generation of people.

When asked if he would ask Congress to declare war on the Islamic State as president, Trump said, “I would. I would. This is war.”

That was the response of the cowardly draft-dodger, who criticized a real war hero (John McCain), but who himself wriggled out of the military by getting a medical deferment for “bone spurs in his feet” (which appeared suddenly and mysteriously just two years after he received a 1A physical evaluation).  Ever the frightened bully who would be President.

Ever the frightened, fear-mongering bully who would be the leader of America.

And lest you think Trump is an aberration, there’s this:

Gingrich: We Should ‘Test’ Every US Muslim, Deport Them If Believe in Sharia

“Let me be as blunt and direct as I can be,” the former House speaker said. “Western civilization is in a war.

We should frankly test every person here who is of a Muslim background, and if they believe in Sharia, they should be deported. Sharia is incompatible with western civilization.”

Gingrich did not expand on what this test would involve, how it would be applied to the 3.3 million Muslims living in the United States or where the U.S. could deport American Muslims who are citizens.

The proposal would likely violate Constitutional protections of the free exercise of religion and of due process.

“The first step is you have to ask them the questions. The second step is you have to monitor what they’re doing on the Internet. The third step is, let me be very clear, you have to monitor the mosques.”

If ever you have wondered how the entire nation of Germany went insane when it blindly followed Hitler into the Holocaust, you now have your answer.

Then, it was the Jews who were persecuted. Now, the right wing wants to persecute Muslims and non-citizens. It always is the same reason: A crazed, power-hungry, megalomaniacal leader, preys on the fears of the people, and leads them into hatred, immorality, deportation, and eventually, murder.

In all the world, the only thing more dangerous than a coward with power is the maddened mob who follows the coward with power.

We only can pray America will not become that nation. America should not need to suffer the nightmares of Nazism and McCarthyism only to face Trumpism.

Rodger Malcolm Mitchell
Monetary Sovereignty

===================================================================================
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 afford better health care than 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 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 benefiting 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-tranferring 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 an 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

You understand The Big Lie. You just don’t know it, yet.

The Big Lie in economics is:

Federal Taxes Fund Federal Spending

Unlike state and local governments, whose taxes do fund spending, the federal government is Monetarily Sovereign. It has total sovereignty over the dollar. It can create as many dollars as it wishes, any time it wishes.

You read and hear the Big Lie almost every day.

Each time someone asks “Who’s going to pay for that?” when discussing a federal program, they express the Big Lie. The answer to their question is: The federal government will pay for it by creating dollars, ad hoc.

Obamacare is based on the Big Lie because it requires people to pay the federal government for services. The federal government neither needs nor uses such payments.

The Big Lie hides the fact that all federal tax dollars are destroyed upon receipt.

The federal government “has” no dollars. Rather it sends instructions to banks (in the form of checks or wires), telling the banks to increase the balances in checking accounts. When the banks do as instructed, dollars are created.

The concept, “federal taxes destroy dollars,” is counterintuitive and difficult to explain, particularly since state and local taxes do not destroy dollars. At first blush, the average person cannot imagine why the federal government taxes, if it destroys tax dollars.

(The reasons are psychological, and allow the government to control the citizenry by rationing services.)

Interestingly, I’ve found that everyone knows federal taxes destroy dollars, without knowing they know it.

Here’s the essence of a conversation I had just yesterday, with a friend:

RM: Federal tax dollars are destroyed as soon as they are received by the government.

Friend: No they aren’t. They are spent by the federal government. Taxes are how the government pays for spending.

RM: Do you think the federal government can run out of dollars?

F: No, the government always can print more dollars.

RM: If that is the case, the federal government doesn’t need to tax. It could stop taxing tomorrow and simply create the dollars it needs.

F: But that would cause inflation.

RM: Why would the end of federal taxation cause inflation?

F: Because if the government simply printed dollars, the dollar supply would go up, which would cheapen the dollar, and that’s inflation.

RM: So what you’re saying is: Federal spending causes inflation by increasing the dollar supply, and federal taxes prevent inflation by reducing the dollar supply.

F: Yes.

RM: Which shows you understand that federal tax dollars are destroyed upon receipt. If they still existed, they wouldn’t offset federal spending, and couldn’t prevent inflation.

And by the way, this isn’t true of state and local taxes, which are deposited in banks.  Dollars exist only when they are circulating in the economy. The federal government has no dollars. It destroys every dollar it receives.

The fact that the federal government not only has no need for taxes, but actually destroys tax dollars upon receipt, is the single most important concept in all of economics.

It is the foundation of Monetary Sovereignty. It is what makes the Ten Steps to Prosperity (see below) possible.

Not understanding why the Big Lie (Federal Taxes Fund Federal Spending) is in fact, a lie, has led to the euro disaster. It’s why many states, counties, and cities teeter on the edge of financial disaster, while the federal government never has any difficulty paying its bills.

It’s why the UK was wise in retaining its pound, and not surrendering to the euro.

It’s why many states, counties, and cities teeter on the edge of financial disaster, while the federal government never has any difficulty paying its bills.

In short, everyone believes federal tax dollars are destroyed upon receipt. They just don’t know they believe it.

To claim that eliminating federal taxes would cause inflation is simply another way to say federal taxation destroys dollars.

It’s the first big step toward understanding economics.

Rodger Malcolm Mitchell
Monetary Sovereignty

===================================================================================
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 afford better health care than 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 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 EVERYONE Five 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 benefiting 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-tranferring 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 an 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

Two problems, one solution: Gun violence and the Gap

Often, in an argument, much can be learned by looking closely and honestly at the other side, to see what elements of truth might lie there.

Consider, for instance, Gun Violence

What if the weapons manufacturers and their paid lobbyists, the NRA, are right after all? What if it’s true that “guns don’t kill people; people kill people”?

What if limiting gun purchases and stronger gun-control laws don’t work?  What if allowing everyone own a gun makes you safer?

I personally don’t believe these things, but what if they were true?

Hold that thought, as we move to the next problem:

The Gap between the rich and the rest.

Have you noticed that the wealthier parts of town have fewer gun murders than do the less-affluent neighborhoods?

Why?

Is there a genetic difference between poor babies and rich babies, that makes poor babies more desirous of shooting  people?

Is there a genetic difference between poor babies and rich babies, that makes rich babies grow up to be more honest and compassionate?

Does a genetic difference cause rich babies to grow up more ambitious and harder working? Is it a genetic difference that causes poor fathers to run away from home more often, leaving poor children without role models?

Are there cultural and traditional differences? Is there a common culture among poor blacks, poor whites, and poor Latinos,  a common culture that is different from the common culture of all rich people (some of whom are black, white and Latino)?

What is the one common element among poor blacks, poor whites, and poor Latinos? The answer is clear.

The single common element among all poor people is they all are poor.

Poor people may be black, white or brown, more or less intelligent, lazy or hard working, happy or sad, caring or uncaring, honest or dishonest, good parents or bad, ruthless or compassionate, religious or not — but the one thing they all have in common is a lack of money. 

And therein lies the solution to two problems: Gun killings and the Gap.

Because all poor neighborhoods, of all colors and faiths, are more subject to gangs and gun violence, and the only common element among all poor neighborhoods is poverty, then one partial solution to gun violence is to reduce poverty. 

Rather than try to attack gun violence at the level of gun ownership, or blather on about Constitutional rights, perhaps we simply should attack the most fundamental cause.

If we reduce the Gap between the rich and the rest, we automatically can reduce gang warfare and shootings.

I don’t need to keep a gun for protection. I live in an upscale community where gun violence is quite rare. Some of my neighbors may have or even carry guns; I don’t know which ones may.

But, mathematically, I would increase my odds of being shot if I kept a loaded gun in the house or carried one in the street.

I’m sure there are plenty of drugs in our schools, but drug gang warfare is non-existent and shootings unheard of.

It’s not that my neighbors and I are morally superior, or more intelligent, or harder working.  Far from it.

The difference is we don’t have to commit street crime in order to make ends meet.

I have no trouble paying for food, clothing, and lodging. I don’t need to rob anyone, and my neighbors don’t need to rob me.

The vast majority of the few burglaries in our town are committed by people who come from a neighboring town, where poverty is far more common.

You seldom hear of a rich man committing burglary or robbery. Rich people may commit white-collar crime, but not gun crime.

Yes, there can be exceptions, but historically the most common gun crimes are committed by the poor, so a partial solution to gun crime is to reduce the number of poor people.

The best protection you can give to your family and yourself is not to own a gun, but rather to help lift the poor.

This may be counter-intuitive to those who despise the poor, and who attribute to the poor all sorts of demeaning characteristics.

But this much is true: If you lived in an area where there were no poor, you wouldn’t need to own or carry a gun for protection.

(And no, carrying a gun will not protect you from a government-orchestrated military takeover. So puleeze, no conspiracy theories.)

Here we have a straightforward  partial solution to gun violence and to the Gap, all rolled into one. No need to even argue about the 2nd Amendment.

Simply institute the Ten Steps to Prosperity (below).

It’s a much more moral and surer way to protect your family and yourself.

Rather than writing to your Congressperson, asking for a loosening of gun laws, ask him/her to read the Ten Steps and to implement them.

Protect your self and your family by helping others.

Rodger Malcolm Mitchell
Monetary Sovereignty

===================================================================================
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 afford better health care than 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 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 benefiting 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-tranferring 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 an 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

How to protect your child in shooting-gallery America

The right-wing Supreme Court has decided that everyone in America — you, your neighbors, strangers in the street, the angry guy in the car tailgating you who just flipped you the bird — everyone is entitled to carry a  gun “for protection.”

So, you may wonder how you will protect your children.

Yes, you pack heat everywhere you go, and some of you give your children guns, because they seem mature for their years.

But for the rest of you who worry that your children might be shot when you’re not around, here are some solutions you might consider.

(The following also is for you folks who wisely will run away when the shooting starts, like those Dallas folks did.)

Send your kid to school with this bullet-proof backpack:

monetary sovereignty


Or, consider this bullet-proof blanket in stylish orange: Believe me, no one will laugh when your kid is the only one left alive.

monetary sovereignty

For the youngest members of your family, we offer this stroller in both black and blood red:

monetary sovereignty

Don’t wait for the country to come to its senses and pass gun control legislation. That could take decades. And you don’t believe in it, anyway. We all need guns to protect ourselves against the government, or something.

Hey, look at that guy walking toward your little daughter’s school, with a rifle slung over his shoulder.

Hmmm . . . that’s an awfully big magazine on his gun. Why does he need such a big magazine on a semi-automatic, high-powered weapon? He must have a good reason. Maybe, he’s hunting a whole herd of deer.

Sure, he’s just exercising his Constitutional rights. (And if there is one thing you know about the Constitution, it’s the second half of the 2nd Amendment.)

But what do you know about that guy? Is he a “good guy” or a “bad guy”? How can you tell?

Gee, wasn’t that Dallas killer a “good guy” before he became a “bad guy”?

Well, you can’t hang around here. You have to go to work now. But you’re not worried. You bought your daughter a bullet-proof backpack.

She’ll be O.K., because you’re a good parent.

shooting-gallery america

You’ve done all you can to protect your children in shooting gallery America.

Rodger Malcolm Mitchell
Monetary Sovereignty

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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 afford better health care than 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 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 benefiting 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-tranferring 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 an 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