Tag: monetary sovereignty

The obesity / intelligence feedback loop and how to stop it

Twitter: @rodgermitchell; Search #monetarysovereignty
Facebook: Rodger Malcolm Mitchell

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Question: Are there feedback mechanisms between obesity and low intelligence? That is, does obesity contribute to low intelligence, and does low intelligence contribute to obesity?

And if such feedback mechanisms exist, what are the economics implications?

Here are extracts from articles exploring the issues:

A mother’s weight during pregnancy can shape her child’s mental and physical health.
Laura Bell, Science News, January 23, 2016, p. 22

Elinor Sullivan, a postdoctoral fellow at Oregon Health & Science University in Portland fed macaque monkeys regular chow, (while) other macaques dined American-style, with a hefty 32 percent of calories from fat and ready access to peanut butter treats. Over time, the second group of monkeys grew noticeably fatter.

Then they all had babies.

Sullivan noticed odd behavior in the plump moms’ offspring. At playtime, they often slinked off by themselves. When handled by keepers, the infants tended to vocalize anxiously, and the males became aggressive. They were prone to repetitive habits, like pacing.

In their carefully controlled world, the only difference between those monkeys and others at the facility was their mothers’ extra pounds and indulgent diet. The behavior was so striking that Sullivan changed the course of her research.

“It made me start thinking about human children,” and the twin epidemics of obesity and behavioral problems such as attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder.

Her research noted that the progeny of female monkeys eating a high-fat diet were more likely to experience altered brain development and suffer anxiety.

Not long after, researchers worldwide began compiling evidence linking the heaviness of human mothers to mental health in their children.

One headline-grabbing study of more than 1,000 births, reported in 2012, found that autism spectrum disorders showed up more often in children of obese mothers than in normal-weight women (SN: 5/19/12, p. 16).

Over the course of a generation, obesity (defined as a body mass index of 30 or higher) rates among U.S. women have soared.

More than 1/3 of U.S. women are obese. More than 1/2 of reproductive age women are obese. More than 8 percent of reproductive-age women are extremely obese. Source: ACOG

Summary: An increased number of American women of childbearing age are obese. The children of obese mothers have an increased likelihood of behavioral problems, such as attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder, anxiety, altered brain development and autism, and both obesity and brain-related problems are epidemic.

Excess weight can inflame the immune system, upset the balance of hormones and even alter the microbial flora tucked inside the intestine. If shared by the fetus, any or all of these changes can affect the baby’s development. Further complicating matters, the fetus is probably being exposed to the effects of fattening, and perhaps inflammatory, foods.

One study published in 2013 in the journal BMJ analyzed medical records of more than 37,000 people born in Scotland between 1950 and 1976. After accounting for socioeconomic status, gender, weight at birth and many other variables, the researchers found that children born to obese mothers had a 35 percent higher mortality rate from birth to 2012.

“Independent of birth weight, a child can grow up with increased blood pressure, obesity and risk of diabetes,” Lucilla Poston, head of the division of women’s health at King’s College London, says.

One study published in 2015 even raises the possibility that a child’s normal cognitive development might be slightly impaired by mom’s high BMI.

Excess fat causes inflammation, which has an adverse effect on brain development.

Even after accounting for socioeconomic status, gender, and weight at birth, children born to obese mothers had a 35 percent higher mortality rate.

In the United States, obesity disproportionately affects low income and minority women. Children born in less affluent neighborhoods face more stress, heightened exposure to pollutants and less access to wholesome foods.

Given the correlation of obesity with poverty, children of obese parents also might have educational disadvantages.

That said, the latest studies attempt to overcome those biases. And they still find reason for concern. Lisa Bodnar, a nutritional epidemiologist at the University of Pittsburgh, describes a “small but growing literature” suggesting that obesity in a mother is associated with lower cognition and other mental health challenges in children.

In November 2015, Sullivan and colleagues reviewed the evidence in Hormones and Behavior, making the grim prediction that, given persistent rates of obesity and pervasiveness of high-calorie foods, “the prevalence of neurodevelopmental and mental health disorders will continue to rise in future generations.”

“We think of obesity as the state of chronic inflammation,” Sullivan says. “Many of the neurotransmitters in the brain are very sensitive [to inflammation] in early development.”

“When you consider the spectrum of conditions that have been linked to maternal obesity,” says immunologist Ilhem Messaoudi of the University of California, Riverside, “one of the things that links all these diseases is inflammation.”

Child’s possible mental health risks from mother’s obesity:
–Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder
–Autism spectrum disorder
–Anxiety/depression
–Food addiction
–Cognitive impairment
–ADHD
Source: H.M. Rivera, K.J. Christiansen and E.L. Sullivan/Front. Neurosci. 2015

Overweight mothers tend to raise children who grow up to be overweight themselves, and excessive weight gain during pregnancy, especially in the first months, is also linked to her child’s obesity risk.

With little sign that the obesity epidemic is abating this generation’s greatest health threat could leave an unexpected legacy.

In September, a team of Australian researchers reported on a mouse experiment that found the offspring of two obese parents fared worse than if either parent alone was obese.

Obesity has many causes, including physical, psychological and environmental. Some of these causes seem related to one’s parents, either via heredity or via home environment.

In plain English, fat parents tend to have fat kids, and fat kids have a greater tendency to be mentally challenged. (Note the words “tend” and “tendency.” There are numerous exceptions.)

With more than 1/2 of reproductive age women being obese: The number of obese children will increase as will the number of mentally challenged children and adults.

Low intelligence causes obesity? What research shows

Experts say a controversial new study adds to a growing body of evidence linking low intelligence to weight problems. It shows that men who score low on IQ tests in adolescence are more likely to be overweight in middle age.

Researchers in Sweden compared the waist-hip ratios of more than 5,000 40-year-old men to their scores on IQ tests taken when they were around 18 years of age. The researchers found a strong inverse relationship between the ratios, which scientists use to gauge obesity and heart disease risk.

The fattest men had the lowest IQ scores.

The study’s author, Uppsala University’s Dr. Jerzy Leppert, said men with limited “intelligence resources” might find it hard “to absorb all the messages that reach them. Their parents usually have the same problem with low IQ, which further limits their ability to adopt more healthy way of life.”

Less-intelligent people make poorer food choices, Dr. Robert H. Eckel, professor of medicine at the University of Colorado School Medicine, told CBS News.

More statistics:

The greater your weight, the lower your IQ, say scientists

A new five-year study of more than 2,200 adults claims to have found a link between obesity and the decline in a person’s cognitive function.

The researchers found that people with a Body Mass Index – a measure of body fat – of 20 or less could recall 56 per cent of words in a vocabulary test, while those who were obese, with a BMI of 30 or higher, could remember only 44 per cent.

The fatter subjects also showed a higher rate of cognitive decline when they were retested five years later: their recall dropped to 37.5 per cent, whereas those with a healthy weight retained their level of recall.

And then there is the relationship between low intelligence and poverty. While logically, low intelligence might doom people to low-paying jobs and poverty, there is ample evidence that poverty can doom people to low intelligence:

Poverty and Intelligence

The study suggests that being under financial burden tends to put mental stress on the subjects; which in turn leaves them unable to think properly, or perform as well as they could have in an optimal situation.

Being under such duress all the time, near constantly, would obvious affect the day-to-day mental performance of the poor. In such cases, it becomes near impossible for the poor to rise out of poverty based only on their meager earnings and external pressure.

Several feedback mechanisms are in place.

1. Fat women and men will rear fat children, who themselves will rear fat children.

2. Fat children have more than average mental problems, and these problems will lead to poorer food choices and more obesity.

3. Mental problems can cause poverty and poverty can cause mental problems.

Obesity, poverty and mental problems all are related, with each tending to increase the other two.

More than half of reproductive-age women are obese and have a greater tendency to rear obese children who are mentally challenged. If this pattern continues worldwide, the human species will continue to divide into the “haves” and the “have-nots.”

The “haves” will increase their comparative physical and mental health, power and wealth.

The Gap will widen until there is no middle class at all. The world will be divided into royal princes and their slave paupers.

That is the direction we are headed.

Is there a way to intervene and cut off the feedback mechanism?

Yes. Institute the Ten Steps to Prosperity.

Rodger Malcolm Mitchell
Monetary Sovereignty

 

===================================================================================
Ten Steps to Prosperity:
1. Eliminate FICA (Click here)
2. Federally funded Medicare — parts A, B & D plus long term nursing care — for everyone (Click here)
3. Provide an Economic Bonus to every man, woman and child in America, and/or every state a per capita Economic Bonus. (Click here) Or institute a reverse income tax.
4. Free education (including post-grad) for everyone. Click here
5. Salary for attending school (Click here)
6. Eliminate corporate taxes (Click here)
7. Increase the standard income tax deduction annually Click here
8. Tax the very rich (.1%) more, with higher, progressive tax rates on all forms of income. (Click here)
9. Federal ownership of all banks (Click here and here)
10. Increase federal spending on the myriad initiatives that benefit America’s 99% (Click here)

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

10 Steps to Economic Misery: (Click here:)
1. Maintain or increase the FICA tax..
2. Spread the myth Social Security, Medicare and the U.S. government are insolvent.
3. Cut federal employment in the military, post office, other federal agencies.
4. Broaden the income tax base so more lower income people will pay.
5. Cut financial assistance to the states.
6. Spread the myth federal taxes pay for federal spending.
7. Allow banks to trade for their own accounts; save them when their investments go sour.
8. Never prosecute any banker for criminal activity.
9. Nominate arch conservatives to the Supreme Court.
10. Reduce the federal deficit and debt

No nation can tax itself into prosperity, nor grow without money growth. Monetary Sovereignty: Cutting federal deficits to grow the economy is like applying leeches to cure anemia.
1. A growing economy requires a growing supply of dollars (GDP=Federal Spending + Non-federal Spending + Net Exports)
2. All deficit spending grows the supply of dollars
3. The limit to federal deficit spending is an inflation that cannot be cured with interest rate control.
4. The limit to non-federal deficit spending is the ability to borrow.

THE RECESSION CLOCK

Recessions begin an average of 2 years after the blue line first dips below zero. A common phenomenon is for the line briefly to dip below zero, then rise above zero, before falling dramatically below zero. There was a brief dip below zero in 2015, followed by another dip – the familiar pre-recession pattern.
 Recessions are cured by a rising red line.

Monetary Sovereignty

Vertical gray bars mark recessions.

As the federal deficit growth lines drop, we approach recession, which will be cured only when the growth lines rise. Increasing federal deficit growth (aka “stimulus”) is necessary for long-term economic growth.

————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————-

Mitchell’s laws:
•Those, who do not understand the differences between Monetary Sovereignty and monetary non-sovereignty, do not understand economics.
•Any monetarily NON-sovereign government — be it city, county, state or nation — that runs an ongoing trade deficit, eventually will run out of money.
•The more federal budgets are cut and taxes increased, the weaker an economy becomes..

•Liberals think the purpose of government is to protect the poor and powerless from the rich and powerful. Conservatives think the purpose of government is to protect the rich and powerful from the poor and powerless.

•The single most important problem in economics is the Gap between rich and the rest..
•Austerity is the government’s method for widening the Gap between rich and poor.
•Until the 99% understand the need for federal deficits, the upper 1% will rule.
•Everything in economics devolves to motive, and the motive is the Gap between the rich and the rest..

MONETARY SOVEREIGNTY

How the Rich Use the Big Lie to Cheat You: Chapter V: Taxes

Twitter: @rodgermitchell; Search #monetarysovereignty
Facebook: Rodger Malcolm Mitchell

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“Nothing is certain but death and taxes.” You’ve heard it so many times it has become ingrained in our psyches that there must be taxes.

But why?

“To pay for the government,” comes the ready answer.

None of us likes paying taxes, but few of us even can imagine a government that does not levy taxes.

And it’s all part of the Big Lie. In it’s simplest version, the Big Lie is: “Federal taxes fund federal spending.”

We’ve discussed the Big Lie so many times, we won’t go deeper into it here, other than to say this: Monetarily non-sovereign governments like states, counties, and cities do need taxes to fund spending. The Monetarily Sovereign U.S. government neither needs nor uses taxes to fund spending.

Even if all federal tax collections fell to $0, the U.S. government could continue spending, forever. That is a fundamental econnomics truth, which you can read about at any of the numerous posts detailing the features of Monetary Sovereignty.

Why then, do we have taxes?

Some history: Being Monetarily Sovereign, the U.S. government has the unlimited ability to create its own sovereign currency. But it was not always so.

The one thing every government has is the ability to pass laws. And some of these laws may reduce the nation’s own Monetary Sovereignty. (The euro nations passed laws completely eliminating their Monetary Sovereignty.)

Deciding to be on a gold standard, where each unit of a nation’s sovereign currency must be matched by a unit of gold, cancels the nation’s unlimited ability to create its money.

During much of our history, the U.S. government has been on some sort of metal standard, and at those times, we were not Monetarily Sovereign. Our government needed to ask our citizens or foreigners for dollars.

This all changed on August 15, 1971 (“the Nixon shock”), when we freed ourselves from the restrictive chains of a gold standard.

Why then, do we still have taxes?

There are four reasons — the first two of which are offered by Modern Monetary Theory (MMT) — reasons MS disputes:

1. To provide Demand for, and therefore, Value to, the dollar.

There is some debate about whether Professor Randy Wray (UMKC), a leading proponent of MMT, believes taxes are necessary for this purpose, or merely helpful. He seemingly has supported both positions.

There can be little doubt that requiring Americans to pay their taxes with dollars, does help increase the Demand for dollars.

There is much doubt, however, about whether taxes are necessary to create Demand. The massive size of America’s economy, America’s huge export and import business, the availability of Treasury Securities as safe-harbor investments, the dollar’s position as a world reserve currency, and the worldwide trust in America’s full faith and credit, all combine to create Demand for the dollar — without the need for taxes.

2. Related to point #1.: The use of taxation to prevent inflation, another position supported by MMT.

In the formula Demand/Supply = Value, increasing Demand and/or reducing Supply will defeat inflation. Taxation reduces inflation partly by increasing the Demand for dollars, but mostly by decreasing the Supply of dollars.

Federal tax dollars are sent to the U.S. Treasury, where they are destroyed. Some critics of MS claim tax dollars are not destroyed, but the evidence for destruction is quite clear. If tax dollars were not destroyed, the U.S. Treasury would have billions of dollars. Yet there are no accounting records that show the U.S. Treasury to have any dollars at all.

Try to find the answer to the question, “How many dollars does the U.S. Treasury have”? and you will come up empty. The U.S. Treasury does not own tax dollars, and cannot provide spending money to the other branches of the government.

To pay a bill, the government (i.e. its agencies) sends instructions (not dollars), in the form of checks or bank wires, to the creditor’s bank. The instructions tell the bank to increase the balance in the creditor’s checking account.

At the moment (not before) the creditor’s bank obeys those instructions, dollars are created. Banks are the mechanism for all dollar creation, much of it is on the instructions of the U.S. government. (Banks also create dollars by lending.)

While taxation reduces inflation by reducing the money supply, taxing cannot efficiently be used as an inflation-prevention or cure device.

Preventing and curing inflation requires a mechanism that can be applied quickly, will act immediately, and can be implemented in small, measurable increments.

Taxation, by contrast, is slow, political and does not lend itself to small, measurable increments.

Visualize the U.S. Congress, faced with impending or actual inflation, trying to force all political parties to pass tax laws that can be implemented in small, measurable increments, and immediately will affect inflation.

If you were in Congress, which tax change would you be able to get through all the vested interests, and have immediate, incremental, measurable effects?

By contrast, the Fed instantly can raise interest rates by tiny increments, and these higher rates quickly will increase the Demand for dollar-denominated securities and for dollars themselves.

(MMT disagrees, claiming that higher rates increase business costs, thereby inflating prices. But the proof, as is said, is in the pudding. The Fed effectively has used interest rate to controls inflation, for a hundred years).

3. The third purpose of taxes is to guide behavior. “Sin” taxes on alcohol and cigarettes, reduce the usage of these harmful products by making them more expensive.

4. The fourth, most important reason we still levy unnecessary taxes, is to widen the Gap between the rich and the rest.

Consider the most extreme case of an unnecessary tax designed to widen the Gap: The FICA tax. This tax supposedly funds Social Security and Medicare, though no tax funds federal spending. FICA is a tax that applies only to wages, salaries, tips and self-employment income, and for most of the tax, it applies only to wages below $119K.

FICA does not apply to all sorts of income other than wages, salaries, tips and self-employment income (interest, capital gains and various forms of passive income — i.e. the income the very rich have)

In short, the rich pay a negligible amount of FICA, if at all, compared with their incomes. FICA is the perfect tax for widening the Gap between the rich and the rest.

Now consider sales tax. While there is no general federal sales tax, the federal government does levy taxes on alcohol, tobacco, guns, and ammunition. The cost of purchasing these products constitutes a greater percentage of middle- and low-incomes than of high incomes. In that way, these federal sales taxes widen the Gap (although the primary purpose is to control and limit consumption).

More serious, however, are local sales taxes. Being monetarily non-sovereign, Cities, counties, and states claim they need sales taxes to fund spending. These sales taxes constitute a huge proportion of middle- and low incomes and are greatly regressive.

Are local sales taxes really necessary, as the local governments claim? Yes and no.

Yes, if local tourism, business taxes, property taxes and other forms of income are insufficient to pay for local government spending.

No, if the federal government will simply use its unlimited ability to create dollars, and use those dollars to pay economic bonuses. (See Prosperity Step #3: Provide an Economic Bonus to every man, woman, and child in America, and/or every state a per capita Economic Bonus.)

SUMMARY:
1. Federal taxes do not fund federal spending. They are destroyed upon receipt. Federal spending is funded ad hoc, with new dollars created at federal agency instructions.
2. Federal taxes cannot function as an inflation control. They are too slow, too political and not precise or incremental enough. The Fed successfully has used interest rates to control inflation.
3. To justify federal taxes, the rich have co-opted Congress, the media, the economists. The purpose: To widen the Gap between the rich and the rest.

Federal taxes can, and should be, dramatically reduced, while spending on social issues is increased. That is, the deficit should be increased. This is the point of the Ten Steps to Prosperity.

Rodger Malcolm Mitchell
Monetary Sovereignty

 

===================================================================================
Ten Steps to Prosperity:
1. Eliminate FICA (Click here)
2. Federally funded Medicare — parts A, B & D plus long term nursing care — for everyone (Click here)
3. Provide an Economic Bonus to every man, woman and child in America, and/or every state a per capita Economic Bonus. (Click here) Or institute a reverse income tax.
4. Free education (including post-grad) for everyone. Click here
5. Salary for attending school (Click here)
6. Eliminate corporate taxes (Click here)
7. Increase the standard income tax deduction annually Click here
8. Tax the very rich (.1%) more, with higher, progressive tax rates on all forms of income. (Click here)
9. Federal ownership of all banks (Click here and here)
10. Increase federal spending on the myriad initiatives that benefit America’s 99% (Click here)

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

10 Steps to Economic Misery: (Click here:)
1. Maintain or increase the FICA tax..
2. Spread the myth Social Security, Medicare and the U.S. government are insolvent.
3. Cut federal employment in the military, post office, other federal agencies.
4. Broaden the income tax base so more lower income people will pay.
5. Cut financial assistance to the states.
6. Spread the myth federal taxes pay for federal spending.
7. Allow banks to trade for their own accounts; save them when their investments go sour.
8. Never prosecute any banker for criminal activity.
9. Nominate arch conservatives to the Supreme Court.
10. Reduce the federal deficit and debt

No nation can tax itself into prosperity, nor grow without money growth. Monetary Sovereignty: Cutting federal deficits to grow the economy is like applying leeches to cure anemia.
1. A growing economy requires a growing supply of dollars (GDP=Federal Spending + Non-federal Spending + Net Exports)
2. All deficit spending grows the supply of dollars
3. The limit to federal deficit spending is an inflation that cannot be cured with interest rate control.
4. The limit to non-federal deficit spending is the ability to borrow.

THE RECESSION CLOCK

Recessions begin an average of 2 years after the blue line first dips below zero. A common phenomenon is for the line briefly to dip below zero, then rise above zero, before falling dramatically below zero. There was a brief dip below zero in 2015, followed by another dip – the familiar pre-recession pattern.
 Recessions are cured by a rising red line.

Monetary Sovereignty

Vertical gray bars mark recessions.

As the federal deficit growth lines drop, we approach recession, which will be cured only when the growth lines rise. Increasing federal deficit growth (aka “stimulus”) is necessary for long-term economic growth.

————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————-

Mitchell’s laws:
•Those, who do not understand the differences between Monetary Sovereignty and monetary non-sovereignty, do not understand economics.
•Any monetarily NON-sovereign government — be it city, county, state or nation — that runs an ongoing trade deficit, eventually will run out of money.
•The more federal budgets are cut and taxes increased, the weaker an economy becomes..

•Liberals think the purpose of government is to protect the poor and powerless from the rich and powerful. Conservatives think the purpose of government is to protect the rich and powerful from the poor and powerless.

•The single most important problem in economics is the Gap between rich and the rest..
•Austerity is the government’s method for widening the Gap between rich and poor.
•Until the 99% understand the need for federal deficits, the upper 1% will rule.
•Everything in economics devolves to motive, and the motive is the Gap between the rich and the rest..

MONETARY SOVEREIGNTY

If you wonder how the Holocaust happened . . .

Twitter: @rodgermitchell; Search #monetarysovereignty
Facebook: Rodger Malcolm Mitchell

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If you wonder how the Holocaust happened . . .

If you wonder how a nation of otherwise intelligent, law-abiding people could have fallen for ridiculous lies and been made insane with hatred and bigotry against an entire group of people . . .

If you believe such a monstrous thing could not happen in America . . .

Read this:

Latest polling sheds light on South Carolina primary
02/16/16 By Steve Benen

The State newspaper in Columbia published the results of its new poll, conducted by Public Policy Polling.

1. Donald Trump: 35%
2. Ted Cruz: 18%
2. Marco Rubio: 18%
4. John Kasich: 10%
5. Jeb Bush: 7%
5. Ben Carson: 7%

The same data found that 60% of South Carolina Republicans support a ban on Muslims entering the United States; 29% support shutting down mosques; 47% want to see a national Muslim database; and one in four GOP voters in the state are on board with outlawing Islam altogether.

Any questions?

Rodger Malcolm Mitchell
Monetary Sovereignty

 

===================================================================================
Ten Steps to Prosperity:
1. Eliminate FICA (Click here)
2. Federally funded Medicare — parts A, B & D plus long term nursing care — for everyone (Click here)
3. Provide an Economic Bonus to every man, woman and child in America, and/or every state a per capita Economic Bonus. (Click here) Or institute a reverse income tax.
4. Free education (including post-grad) for everyone. Click here
5. Salary for attending school (Click here)
6. Eliminate corporate taxes (Click here)
7. Increase the standard income tax deduction annually Click here
8. Tax the very rich (.1%) more, with higher, progressive tax rates on all forms of income. (Click here)
9. Federal ownership of all banks (Click here and here)
10. Increase federal spending on the myriad initiatives that benefit America’s 99% (Click here)

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

10 Steps to Economic Misery: (Click here:)
1. Maintain or increase the FICA tax..
2. Spread the myth Social Security, Medicare and the U.S. government are insolvent.
3. Cut federal employment in the military, post office, other federal agencies.
4. Broaden the income tax base so more lower income people will pay.
5. Cut financial assistance to the states.
6. Spread the myth federal taxes pay for federal spending.
7. Allow banks to trade for their own accounts; save them when their investments go sour.
8. Never prosecute any banker for criminal activity.
9. Nominate arch conservatives to the Supreme Court.
10. Reduce the federal deficit and debt

No nation can tax itself into prosperity, nor grow without money growth. Monetary Sovereignty: Cutting federal deficits to grow the economy is like applying leeches to cure anemia.
1. A growing economy requires a growing supply of dollars (GDP=Federal Spending + Non-federal Spending + Net Exports)
2. All deficit spending grows the supply of dollars
3. The limit to federal deficit spending is an inflation that cannot be cured with interest rate control.
4. The limit to non-federal deficit spending is the ability to borrow.

THE RECESSION CLOCK

Recessions begin an average of 2 years after the blue line first dips below zero. A common phenomenon is for the line briefly to dip below zero, then rise above zero, before falling dramatically below zero. There was a brief dip below zero in 2015, followed by another dip – the familiar pre-recession pattern.
 Recessions are cured by a rising red line.

Monetary Sovereignty

Vertical gray bars mark recessions.

As the federal deficit growth lines drop, we approach recession, which will be cured only when the growth lines rise. Increasing federal deficit growth (aka “stimulus”) is necessary for long-term economic growth.

————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————-

Mitchell’s laws:
•Those, who do not understand the differences between Monetary Sovereignty and monetary non-sovereignty, do not understand economics.
•Any monetarily NON-sovereign government — be it city, county, state or nation — that runs an ongoing trade deficit, eventually will run out of money.
•The more federal budgets are cut and taxes increased, the weaker an economy becomes..

•Liberals think the purpose of government is to protect the poor and powerless from the rich and powerful. Conservatives think the purpose of government is to protect the rich and powerful from the poor and powerless.

•The single most important problem in economics is the Gap between rich and the rest..
•Austerity is the government’s method for widening the Gap between rich and poor.
•Until the 99% understand the need for federal deficits, the upper 1% will rule.
•Everything in economics devolves to motive, and the motive is the Gap between the rich and the rest..

MONETARY SOVEREIGNTY

 

When did Justice Scalia visit your house?

Twitter: @rodgermitchell; Search #monetarysovereignty
Facebook: Rodger Malcolm Mitchell

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Simple question. When did Justice Scalia visit your house?

What? Never?

What about Justice Thomas, Justice Alito or any of the other Supreme Court members?

Again, never? Don’t feel bad. They never have been to my house either.

Here’s a little hint: Don’t wait up for them. They’re not coming. Not today. Not tomorrow. Not ever . . . unless you’re rich.

And that is the point.

Some Justices may be able to resist the allure of money and moneyed people. Justice Scalia was not one of those. He delighted in hanging with the rich and famous.

SunSentinel, 2/15/16: CREEK RANCH, Texas
When Texas millionaire John Poindexter invited Justice Antonin Scalia to his remote ranch near the Mexican border, it was for a private party with about 35 other guests, a weekend of hunting and sightseeing on his painstakingly restored and cultivated 30,000-acre spread.

Are you a Texas millionaire? Do you own a “painstakingly restored and cultivated 30,000-acre spread”? Do your friends? If not, no need to wonder why Justice Scalia never paid a visit.

(Despite the proximity to Mexico, it’s doubtful whether any non-celebrity Mexicans were among the guests, either.)

Poindexter became concerned and went to (Scalia’s) room, which has its own outdoor fire pit and a wall of windows overlooking the 22-room adobe ranch hotel, a lake and surrounding peaks of the Chinati Mountains.

It was Scalia’s first visit to the storied ranch, and his death is already becoming part of the lore at Cibolo Creek, a site steeped in Southwest history and frequented by what Poindexter’s consultant George Van Etten called “a lot of Hollywood people and captains of industry.”

Guests have included Mick Jagger, Julia Roberts, and Tommy Lee Jones.

Poindexter said he invited Scalia to the ranch on the suggestion of a mutual friend, a lawyer, who came with Scalia.

He declined to identify the lawyer or any of the other guests, except to say that they were “very substantial business people,” but not big names in politics.

“There is no political angle here,” he said. “It was strictly a group of friends sympathetic to the justice’s views.”

See, it’s like this. There was no political angle. Just people who were sympathetic to Scalia’s political views.

These rich people had plenty of time to express their political views to a sympathetic jurist, who would be ruling on cases of great financial importance to these rich people.

Of course, a man like Scalia would not be swayed by such ex parte communications. The common ethics rule goes something like this:

A judge shall not initiate, permit, or consider ex parte communications, or consider other communications made to the judge outside the presence of the parties or their lawyers, concerning a pending or impending matter.

If a judge inadvertently receives an unauthorized ex parte communication bearing upon the substance of a matter, the judge shall promptly notify the parties of the substance of the communication and provide the parties with an opportunity to respond.

Clearly, the Honorable Justice Scalia would scrupulously avoid any hint of unethical behavior (though what is the purpose of meeting a group of people “sympathetic to the justice’s views”?)

Scalia engendered criticism in the past over his choice of partners on hunting trips. In 2001, he went on a pheasant hunting trip with the dean of a Kansas law school who was the lead attorney in two cases that were about to come before the Supreme Court.

And in 2004, he went duck hunting with then-Vice President Dick Cheney — flying with him on a plane that served as Air Force 2 — while the high court was considering a case that challenged the secrecy of an energy task force led by Cheney.

Is Scalia so rude as not to know how to say “Thank you” to his benefactors?

Scalia simply enjoyed killing ducks and flying Air Force 2, and hey, what’s the good of being a judge if you can’t accept gifts from the plaintiffs who come before you?

“I spent quite a bit of time talking to him — about nothing official, just pleasantries: Texas scenery, outdoors, what life is like in Washington,” Poindexter said. “He didn’t come to have a long conversation about jurisprudence.”

Right. You invite a leading Supreme Court justice for a free weekend, to hobnob with “substantial people” who have similar views, and then you talk about Texas scenery.

Sounds reasonable.

Then there was Justice Thomas joining Scalia at the trough:

When the conservative financier Charles Koch sent out invitations for a political retreat in Palm Springs later this month, he highlighted past appearances at the gathering of “notable leaders” like Justices Antonin Scalia and Clarence Thomas of the Supreme Court.

A leading liberal group, Common Cause, filed a petition with the Justice Department on Wednesday asking it to investigate whether Justices Antonin Scalia and Clarence Thomas should have recused themselves in the case, involving Citizens United, because of their attendance at past retreats organized by the conservative financier Charles Koch, whose company operates a foundation that is a major contributor to political advocacy groups.

You remember Citizens United, don’t you? That’s the case in which Scalia ruled that “money is free speech, and the more free speech the better.”

Apparently, rich people are entitled to more free speech than other people, so they can spend all they want to sway elections.

Although Scalia may have been one of the more blatant flouters of normal judicial ethics, he was not unique:

At the Supreme Court, conflicts of interest are just a day at the office

Justice Samuel A. Alito’s sister is a high-powered labor attorney who represents management in disputes with workers. Justice Elena Kagan’s brother, a teacher at an elite public school in New York, has protested the school’s admissions process because of low minority enrollment. And Justice Stephen G. Breyer’s son co-founded a tech company that broadcasts civil court proceedings.

Does having relatives involved in labor disputes, affirmative action battles and cameras in courtrooms affect how Supreme Court justices decide cases and manage their institution? They say no, and we’re supposed to take them at their word.

But is “trust us” really good enough for the nation’s highest court?

A confluence of recent events has made the Supreme Court the most powerful, least accountable public institution in the country. It is time to make the justices more accountable to the American people.

In spite of this vast power, the justices have little accountability. Not only do they decide for themselves when to recuse themselves from cases in which they have conflicts; they also aren’t bound to a code of ethics the way the rest of the federal judiciary is.

They can decide how much information on investments and travel to release in their annual financial disclosure reports, and they determine when and where people can demonstrate near their building.

Unlike the consensus required to make changes in Congress, the Supreme Court is largely in charge of its own rules — and Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. himself could usher in most of the vital changes needed, including tightening requirements on recusals, requiring the justices to adhere to the Code of Conduct for U.S. judges, posting disclosure reports online, providing advance notice for public appearances and permitting live audio and video in the courtroom.

Will the Supreme Court of the United States ever adopt the ethics rules by which all other judges in America are bound?

My prediction: Not with Roberts or any other conservative as Chief Justice. By nature, liberals are more tuned to fairness and ethics — that’s what makes them liberals — so we probably will have to wait until then.

There is a blog that addresses the issue: http://fixthecourt.com/ You absolutely should read it and keep it at ready access.

Meanwhile, do you see why laws always seem to benefit the rich at the expense of the rest of us?

Not only are the politicians bribed with campaign contributions and promises of well-paying jobs, and the media are bribed via ownership, and the economists are bribed by contributions to their universities, but the Supreme Court itself is bribed by conflict-of-interest.

Yes, it always has been this way, and yes, both parties are subject to this bribery at your expense, but does that make it O.K.?

Rodger Malcolm Mitchell
Monetary Sovereignty

 

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Ten Steps to Prosperity:
1. Eliminate FICA (Click here)
2. Federally funded Medicare — parts A, B & D plus long term nursing care — for everyone (Click here)
3. Provide an Economic Bonus to every man, woman and child in America, and/or every state a per capita Economic Bonus. (Click here) Or institute a reverse income tax.
4. Free education (including post-grad) for everyone. Click here
5. Salary for attending school (Click here)
6. Eliminate corporate taxes (Click here)
7. Increase the standard income tax deduction annually Click here
8. Tax the very rich (.1%) more, with higher, progressive tax rates on all forms of income. (Click here)
9. Federal ownership of all banks (Click here and here)
10. Increase federal spending on the myriad initiatives that benefit America’s 99% (Click here)

The Ten Steps will grow the economy, and narrow the income/wealth/power Gap between the rich and you.
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10 Steps to Economic Misery: (Click here:)
1. Maintain or increase the FICA tax..
2. Spread the myth Social Security, Medicare and the U.S. government are insolvent.
3. Cut federal employment in the military, post office, other federal agencies.
4. Broaden the income tax base so more lower income people will pay.
5. Cut financial assistance to the states.
6. Spread the myth federal taxes pay for federal spending.
7. Allow banks to trade for their own accounts; save them when their investments go sour.
8. Never prosecute any banker for criminal activity.
9. Nominate arch conservatives to the Supreme Court.
10. Reduce the federal deficit and debt

No nation can tax itself into prosperity, nor grow without money growth. Monetary Sovereignty: Cutting federal deficits to grow the economy is like applying leeches to cure anemia.
1. A growing economy requires a growing supply of dollars (GDP=Federal Spending + Non-federal Spending + Net Exports)
2. All deficit spending grows the supply of dollars
3. The limit to federal deficit spending is an inflation that cannot be cured with interest rate control.
4. The limit to non-federal deficit spending is the ability to borrow.

THE RECESSION CLOCK

Recessions begin an average of 2 years after the blue line first dips below zero. A common phenomenon is for the line briefly to dip below zero, then rise above zero, before falling dramatically below zero. There was a brief dip below zero in 2015, followed by another dip – the familiar pre-recession pattern.
 Recessions are cured by a rising red line.

Monetary Sovereignty

Vertical gray bars mark recessions.

As the federal deficit growth lines drop, we approach recession, which will be cured only when the growth lines rise. Increasing federal deficit growth (aka “stimulus”) is necessary for long-term economic growth.

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Mitchell’s laws:
•Those, who do not understand the differences between Monetary Sovereignty and monetary non-sovereignty, do not understand economics.
•Any monetarily NON-sovereign government — be it city, county, state or nation — that runs an ongoing trade deficit, eventually will run out of money.
•The more federal budgets are cut and taxes increased, the weaker an economy becomes..

•Liberals think the purpose of government is to protect the poor and powerless from the rich and powerful. Conservatives think the purpose of government is to protect the rich and powerful from the poor and powerless.

•The single most important problem in economics is the Gap between rich and the rest..
•Austerity is the government’s method for widening the Gap between rich and poor.
•Until the 99% understand the need for federal deficits, the upper 1% will rule.
•Everything in economics devolves to motive, and the motive is the Gap between the rich and the rest..

MONETARY SOVEREIGNTY