Trump University; Trump Institute. The beat goes on.

You may have heard about Trump University, the pretend university that was supposed to teach innocent victims students all of Donald (“The Art of the Con”) Trump’s business secrets, in exchange for thousands in tuition.

That so-called “university” is gone now, as is the money Trump’s victims students paid into it, leaving behind a trail of lawsuits.

But, have you heard about the Trump Institute and Mike and Irene Milin?

The Daily Beast: Trump’s Get Rich Seminar Partnered With Couple Prosecuted for Fraud

When Donald Trump was setting up Trump Institute, he turned to Mike and Irene Milin, who were known to law enforcement officials for a host of get-rich-quick schemes and alleged real estate scams.

They were prosecuted by the Texas attorney general for deceptive trade practices, and sued by the makers of Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous, to name just two of the Milins’ many legal entanglements.

The Milins’ oft-investigated National Grants Conferences, in effect, became the blueprint for Trump Institute.

The two seminar businesses used some of the same speakers and shared office space in Boca Raton, Florida.

“Trump Institute operated itself in much the same manner as National Grants Conferences”: After a promise of easy riches and a free seminar, customers were cajoled into doling out more and more money to get the key to unlocking wealth.

Of course. Who else would Trump turn to for help but hucksters? Does the phrase “birds of a feather” come to mind?

The Milins launched National Grants Conferences in 1998, promising customers lucrative grants from the government, which they could not fulfill.

Before that, the couple basically got run out of each state in which they set up a different iteration of the same shady practice.

Similarly, Trump Institute promised to make people into savvy real estate investors, thanks to advice from The Donald himself. The customers never met the straw-haired impresario, however. They only got to see a cardboard cutout of his likeness.

NGC went bankrupt just two years after the partnership began, after being dogged by a major complaint from 34 attorneys general across the United States.

Trump University would also earn a reputation as a fraud operation and both New York State and former students have brought charges against the Republican frontrunner as a result.

Part of Trump Institute’s education materials, supposedly based on Trump’s “wisdom”, were actually plagiarized from an obscure 1995 real estate textbook.

Read the linked articles if you want a more in-depth understanding of Trump’s serial con jobs.

Trump University, Trump Institute, Mike and Irene Millin — ah, Donald Trump is a true American treasure, the closest thing to P.T. Barnum since . . . well, since P.T. Barnum.

“There’s a sucker born every minute,” and they are voting for Trump to be President of the United States.

How did the Republican Party, those uber-religious people who congratulated themselves on their honesty and family values, manage to nominate a wife-cheater, con-artist bigot to be their candidate?

It began with Nixon’s Southern Strategy and the rise of the Tea Party, both of which eliminated any pretense of being the “moral majority.”

But that’s another story.

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

The vast, unrecognized power of Monetary Sovereignty: Where do we go from here?

Consider this short article to be a “where-do-we-go-from-here” think piece.

The UK has voted to leave the European Union. The EU bankers, hoping to discourage the departure of their cash cows (aka “EU member nations”), will debate the best ways to exact the most excruciating vengeance on the UK.

What the UK has done is what all nations should do: Preserve its national sovereignty, particularly its Monetary Sovereignty (MS).

The euro nations committed a devastating error by exchanging their sovereign currencies and their government financial prerogatives for the mouthful of ashes known as the EU. They looked at the EU, and said, “Take me,” and taken them the EU gladly has — taken them for huge sums of money, while the populace suffers.

The EU even has taken over the political sovereignty of its member nations. Read this denial in the Politico web site:

There are no imminent plans to create an EU army. The creation of EU headquarters would integrate national operational headquarters and command-and-control centers, facilitate planning and enhance coordination of civilian and military EU missions.

“. . . integrate national operational headquarters and command-and-control centers, facilitate planning and enhance coordination of civilian and military EU missions” is exactly what America’s Pentagon does. It is the definition of military headquarters.

The EU doesn’t need to “create” an army. Armies already exist. All the EU wants to do is to run those heretofore national armies.

The euro nations did not (and most nations, including the UK, still do not) recognize the vast power of their political and Monetary Sovereignty:

  1. An MS nation never can run short of its own sovereign currency. It has the unlimited power to pay any invoice and service any debt denominated in its currency.

    The cities, counties, states, businesses, and individuals of a nation are monetarily NON-sovereign, and do not own the powers of MS.

  2. An MS nation has the unlimited power to protect the value of its sovereign currency (inflation) by regulating both the Supply and the Demand for that currency. Demand is a function of Risk and Reward, and the Reward for owning a currency is Interest.

    That is why the Fed raises interest rates, i.e increases the Reward when inflation looms.

  3. An MS nation never needs any sort of income. It never needs to levy taxes if the ostensible purpose is to pay for goods and services. It pays its bills by creating its sovereign currency, ad hoc. (Certain taxes can have economic control functions, but all taxes disappear upon receipt.)

    An MS nation also never needs to borrow or to earn a profit.

  4. An MS nation never needs austerity, i.e the reduction in deficit spending or the creation of “balanced budgets.” On the contrary, deficit spending is the method by which an MS nation creates national prosperity, and balanced budgets create recessions and depressions.

    An MS nation has the unlimited power to prevent those recessions and depressions.

  5. An MS nation has the power to eliminate poverty and to support a middle class, and to narrow the Gap between the rich and the rest. (See: The Ten Steps to Prosperity).

    An MS nation has the unlimited power to feed, clothe, house, educate, and protect the health of its people in two ways: By a direct infusion of cash to the populace (a la Social Security) and by paying businesses to provide services to the populace (a la Medicare).

  6. An MS nation has the unlimited power to maintain and modernize its infrastructure, and to fund research and development in all fields of science and technology.
  7. While individual businesses may benefit from export, an MS nation has no need to export. Exporting involves sending the fruits of scarce and valuable labor and physical assets to other nations, in exchange for money, of which the MS nation has an unlimited supply.

    (Imagine manufacturing automobiles and sending them abroad in exchange for air.)

These are the fundamental facts, and the vast, largely unrecognized powers of Monetary Sovereignty.

And now, allow us to drift to speculation. Where do we go from here?

……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

Monetary Sovereignty is the most valuable asset any nation can have. Like all assets, some of its value lies in its scarcity. Some nations don’t have it, and none seems to recognize its power.

If every nation not only were MS, but had leaders who understood and used the powers of MS, fewer nations would be motivated to exchange their scarce goods and services for money, i.e. there would be less motivation to export. (Why trade scarce resources for money that can be created freely?)

MS nations simply could support their own businesses and their economies without the need to ship scarce resources abroad.

(The U.S. consistently runs huge trade deficits — import more than we export — yet never runs short of dollars. Its Monetary Sovereignty allows it to create unlimited, economically stimulative dollars, to replace the dollars sent abroad.)

Though MS nations do not need to export, they all need to import, which with every nation being MS, could create a conundrum: No nation needing to export, but every nation needing to import.

In such a case, nations might be tempted to return to barter — nations paying for foreign goods and services, with domestic goods and services.

But because barter is inefficient, the world could invent a common, scarce product (CSP), for instance — dare I say it? — gold, silver, platinum and the like, to act as a surrogate for barter.

(The euro was sold as a CSP controlled by the EU. It might have worked had the financial merger of European nations been supported by a political merger, i.e. a United States of Europe. In such an arrangement, the citizens and their states (not greed-driven bankers) would have had a voting voice in the use of their money.

This is not to say a united states of “anything” is a perfect solution. Far from it, especially if expanded to encompass the entire world. The notion of one-world-rule is frightening to contemplate.)

When a CSP is inconvenient to use, as are the metals, credits based on CSP are created. Thus, one might visualize a bifurcated money system, with CSP credits being the currency of international trade, and sovereign currencies being used locally.

Yet, even that clear division would not endure, as sovereign currencies inevitably would be exchanged with CSP credits. This would bring us right back to the fact that Monetarily Sovereign nations could produce and acquire CSP credits in unlimited amounts, thus reducing the motivation for export.

The same would be true for an international currency, like bitcoin.

In the future, not just nations, but smaller political entities — states, counties, cities, even businesses and individuals — could become Monetarily Sovereign. Small, tentative steps have been taken, the missing link being widespread acceptance.

(Visualize McDonald’s wishing to stimulate sales, so it issues millions of $0.10-off electronic coupons for the purchase of any McDonald’s products. Is McDonald’s sovereign over the coupons? Is there a limit to McDonald’s issuance of the coupons? Are the coupons money?

Where are we headed and where will it all end? There never may be an ending point: Money may continue to evolve, as each solution begets a new problem. Clearly, the citizens of the first nations to discover and use the power of MS will benefit most.

Equally clear, the “secret” will not remain hidden. It is out there today, for all to see — the solution to many of our financial and personal problems.

If those problems are hunger, homelessness, poverty, illiteracy, disease, scientific progress, the infrastructure, the environment, and/or the Gap between the rich and the rest, Monetary Sovereignty provides solutions.

We have only to understand it and have the will to use it.

=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

A letter to our good friends, the British

Dear friends,

Congratulations on ridding yourselves of the unelected, wealthy bankers who have been running your country without your say so.

We discussed this at “What will Brexit mean”? and at “Brexit: How Obama bailed, then failed”

Be assured that your newfound freedom of self-determination has angered and frightened the above-mentioned wealthy bankers. They will not relinquish you, their cash cow, lightly.

During the weeks and months to come, you will be subject to repeated pressures to reverse your vote.

For example:

(LONDON)— Standard & Poor’s has stripped the United Kingdom of its top credit grade in the wake of the vote to leave the European Union.

The rating agency downgraded the country’s sovereign rating by two notches, from AAA to AA, saying the vote is a “seminal event” that “will lead to a less predictable, stable and effective policy framework in the U.K.”

It is also keeping a negative outlook on the rating, which means it could downgrade the country further.

It added in a report published Monday that the outlook reflects the risk to the economy and public finances, as well as the pound’s role as an international reserve currency.

It also cited “risks to the constitutional and economic integrity of the U.K.” as Scotland’s strong vote to remain in the EU could raise the prospect of another referendum on Scottish independence.

Do you see what is happening here?  S&P, which is owned by the rich, has begun the drumbeat for a reversal of Brexit.

And everything it says is lies.

  1. There is not a “less predictable, stable policy framework.” Quite the opposite, without the EU ruling for itself rather than for the people of Britain, policy should be more predictable.There will be no contradictions of motive. All decisions can be for the people, and the profitability of the ECB will not be an divisive issue.
  2. And here comes the threat: “It could downgrade the country further.” (Come back under our thumb, or else we’ll cut your credit rating — OR ELSE.)
  3. “The pound’s role as an international reserve currency” is a truly ironic concern. Where was this concern when the EU wanted Britain to leave the pound and join those tragic unfortunates who surrendered the single most valuable asset any nations have — their Monetary Sovereignty?In any event, leaving the EU will not affect the pound’s role as an international reserve currency. It actually will boost the pound’s role by strengthening the British economy.
  4. Then even more irony: ” . . . risks to the constitutional and economic integrity of the U.K.” Where in the constitution does it say that unelected, wealthy bankers and their compliant clerks should rule and overrule your constitutionally elected government?What is the “economic integrity” of having foreigners run your government?

S&P supposedly measures creditworthiness, i.e. the ability and willingness to service one’s debts. How has leaving the grasp of the EU bankers reduced Britain’s ability and willingness to service its debts?

(S&P is one of the rating organizations that reduced America’s credit rating below that of corporations domiciled in America! Think of what would befall the credit rating of those corporations should America ever fail to pay its debts.)

S&P relies on the goodwill of the rich for its business.

The S&P action is a fraud, funded by the rich. Any politician, economists or media who claim otherwise, also are frauds.

(As in America, the rich bribe your politicians with campaign contributions; the rich bribe the media via ownership; and the rich bribe the university economists with contributions to schools.)

The rich are afraid that if there are any future exits from the EU, there will begin an exit stampede of cash cows. The bankers will say anything and do anything to continue the milking.

Then, there is this article:

How Brexit Threatens to Turn the UK Into “Borisland”

Brexit is about much more than frustration about the E.U. and immigration.

It is about a shortage of decent and secure jobs; an impossibly precarious labour market; inexplicable inequalities in incomes and wealth; closed access to affordable education, and a terrible deficiency of affordable housing.

And it is about British Chancellor of the Exchequer Osborne’s single-minded austerity economics and the rule-free and tax-free space created for big banks and corporations.

Decision-making in the European Union symbolizes a largely unaccountable, elitist and undemocratic system, which is why Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn was half-hearted in his support for a Remain vote.

The recent examples of Greece, Spain and other southern European countries, all in a Brussels-induced economic lockdown, speak volumes against the political feasibility of “reforming the European Union from within.”

The sovereignty regained at the cost of deeply dividing the nation is unlikely to produce the more socially just and economically inclusive Britain that many voters sought.

The hopes of progressives are likely to be betrayed as Britain is turned into “Borisland” – a deindustrializing nation suffering from sluggish productivity growth, growing in-work poverty and rising inequalities, and with government in permanent austerity mode.

At long last, Britain has regained its Monetary Sovereignty.. Your leaders have the ability to benefit only you.

They do not need to cowtow to the greedy, foreign bankers, who care nothing for the people, but only for their own purses.

Sadly, your leaders have lied to you that austerity is necessary for economic growth, when exactly the opposite is true.

A growing economy requires a growing money supply. Austerity is like applying leeches to cure anemia.

To accomplish economic growth and citizen wellbeing, the national government of a Monetarily Sovereign government must add to the money supply. That is, your government always must run deficits, and larger the deficits the greater will be your Gross Domestic Product.  

GDP =  Government Spending + Non-government Spending + Net Exports

You will be told falsely that deficits are “unsustainable” and will cause inflation. But for a Monetarily Sovereign nation, no deficit of any size is “unsustainable,” and inflation is contained via interest rate control.

You have won the first battle, but the war remains in jeopardy. You will have to fight those outsiders, who wish to subjugate you, and to resume bleeding your economy.

And you will have to fight those insiders,  who will try to impose austerity.

The outsiders and the insiders are directed by the rich, whose sole motive is to brainwash you into allowing them to line their pockets with British gold.

Don’t allow it to happen.

Good luck to you.

=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

Brexit: How Obama “bailed then failed”

I received this letter written by someone named “Mike,” whom I do not know, other than he lives in the UK

Hi everyone.

Thoughts on this subject have been asked for, so here goes!

Brexit – where do I start? Some background first….

When the UK joined in the early 70s and voted to remain in 1975, we joined what was then called the European Economic Community (EEC) or Common Market. There were no political connotations, it was simply a free trade area.

Over the years since then, the EEC morphed into the European Union (EU) which created a European Parliament, a European Court, a European Currency (the Euro) with a European Central Bank, a European Foreign Service and many other institutions and trappings of a sovereign state.

On the stocks at the moment is a proposal to create a European Armed Force in ‘opposition’ to NATO.

Many of us (52% as it turns out) were deeply disturbed by this as we found that our laws, passed by Parliament, were being overturned by the EU; that the decisions of our courts were being overruled by the European Court and by the European Court of Human Rights; and that we were powerless to prevent anybody with “European Citizenship” from travelling to the UK and, if they could not find work, from drawing our Welfare Benefits.

In fact, because Britain is more prosperous than any other country in the EU (yes, even Germany), many hundreds of thousands did come here from Poland, Romania, Bulgaria, Italy, Portugal, Greece and, amazingly, France – there were a net 300,000 last year alone – causing great strain on our housing stock, schools and hospitals.

While we attempted to negotiate with the other EU countries a deal which would alleviate our difficulties, concessions were derisory and we could see further problems arising if the flood of refugees from the Middle East and Africa were eventually granted EU citizenship as Germany, in particular, was suggesting.

There was also on the table a proposal that Turkey would join the EU which would eventually add a further large population entitled to travel here.

These issues have been a festering problem in British politics ever since the premiership of Margaret Thatcher but they came to prominence when the financial crash provoked problems within the Euro Zone.

The weakest economies – mainly in the south of Europe and, principally, Greece – collapsed and became reliant on the strongest economy, Germany.  The EU economy within the Euro Zone faltered and stagnated and calls to free the UK from all this became louder.

In an attempt to stifle these calls, David Cameron said that he would make a further effort to negotiate a deal and, once these negotiations were over, we would have an In/Out Referendum. We’ve had it and you know the result – we want out.

It’s a result that Pam and I voted for – principally on the constitutional issue. We didn’t vote for a European Union in 1975 and we don’t like what the Common Market has turned into. The nearest analogy that I can think of in US terms is States’ Rights and we didn’t like our rights being surreptitiously removed.

Incidentally, and I hate to have to say this, but President Obama did the Remain in Europe campaign, himself and the US no favours by saying that we would have to go to the end of the line for a trade deal with the USA if we left the EU.

Were we back of the line after Pearl Harbor; in Korea; during the Cuban Missile Crisis; with President Reagan in facing down Gorbachov; during Operation Desert Storm; or after 9/11?

We don’t expect favours or thanks but a little consideration would be welcome.

Of course, we recognise that there is going to be a downside: the financial institutions, having lost their bets on Britain staying in are screaming but they’ll get over it; the eurocrats and their masters in the EU are furious but if they want to go on trading with us, they’ll have to calm down and come to a sensible deal.

I suspect that a short-term slimming down of our economy is a price worth paying to get back control of the country.

Mike

Here is my response:

You are correct.

The EU was invented by the rich, insatiable bankers who always want to grab more and more money and power.

At least the UK was smart enough to keep their own currency (i.e. remained “Monetarily Sovereign”).

Greece, France, Italy, et al surrendered the single most valuable asset any nation can have — their Monetary Sovereignty — and so have been at the mercy of the rapacious bankers, who have been bleeding them ever since.

Way back in 2005, I spoke at the University of Missouri, Kansas City, where I said, “Because of the Euro, no euro nation can control its own money supply. The Euro is the worst economic idea since the recession-era, Smoot-Hawley Tariff. The economies of European nations are doomed by the euro.”

That goes for the EU.  Nations can have free trade without giving up their Monetary Sovereignty. But the bankers feel that doesn’t allow them to steal enough.

As for Obama, he is a pseudo-liberal, a right-winger in disguise. He opted for cutting Social Security and Medicare, begged for a “Grand Bargain” that would have widened the gap between the rich and the rest, and brought into existence the Simpson/Bowles Committee designed to cut all social spending.”

Now, he backs the EU, because it is a feeding trough for bankers.

(Obama always has been a flunkie for the bankers. Presumably, they will return the favor and support him and his family in luxury, for the rest of their lives.)

In his role as bank stooge, he bailed out the banks, then failed to prosecute a single lawbreaking bankster. He long will be remembered as the “bailed and failed” President.

The UK people made a great move, and if they get a wise Prime Minister, they will prosper well beyond any of the EU nations, which will continue to be bled by the banksters.

Congratulations and Godspeed to the UK.

The EU is nothing more than a direct money transfer system from the people to the bankers. The people are impoverished while the bankers grow richer.

The Brexit allows the UK to regain its Monetary Sovereignty. It has the power to do whatever is best to grow its economy and to benefit its people (and that, after all, is the fundamental purpose of government).

Britain will not need to adhere to any ridiculous “debt” limits or unlimited immigration, or the negation of its laws, as it creates the money to pay for jobs, food, housing, education, infrastructure and all other aids for its people. It will be able, if it wishes, to end poverty in the UK.

The greedy bankers will scream at the loss of a cash cow. Surrogates for the rich, like Obama, will tell the English they would be better off as slaves to the EU. The bankers will do everything possible to punish the populace for refusing to be Greece.

But if England stands firm against these criminals, that nation will become a shining beacon of economic freedom and human success.

We only can pray the next U.S. president will be as smart in his/her dealings with the bankers. America does not need another “bail and fail” President.

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