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

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

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

•The single most important problem in economics is the Gap between rich and the rest.r.
•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..
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There were 12,282 gun deaths this year according to Gun Violence Archive.

And according to Mass Shooting Tracker there have been at least 353 mass shootings in America so far this year, with still almost a month to go. (A mass shooting is defined as “four or more people shot in an event, or related series of events, likely without a cooling off period.”.)

You don’t hear much about mass knifings, mass baseball battings, mass stranglings, mass throwing-off-of-cliffings, etc. for the simple reason that guns are uniquely designed to commit mass violence. They are the tool of choice when one wishes to commit large-scale mayhem.

There are more guns in America than people. And control over gun sales is minimal. Anyone can go to a gun show and buy the most lethal weapons there, and no one will ask questions.

You can tattoo the words, “I’m a mass murderer” on your forehead, and still buy guns from your next-door neighbor or from a stranger in the street, — and no test, no registration required. It’s all legal.

You need a license and skill-testing to drive a car, and an official title to buy one. Not so with guns.

And you need not belong to a “well-regulated” militia or a well-regulated anything.

Why?

Because in its most recent interpretation of the 2nd Amendment to the Constitution, the right wing of the Supreme Court decided that of all the phrases in the U.S. Constitution, the following uniquely has no meaning whatsoever: “A well-regulated militia being necessary to the security of a free state. . . “

They are “throw-away” words, to be ignored — the only meaningless phrase in the Constitution.

Little did the Amendment’s authors know.

Normally courts, and especially the Supreme Court, parse every sentence, every phrase, every word in the law when making a judgment. Guns are unique in the right wing world.

It was not always thus. In its earlier manifestations, the words “well-regulated militia” were taken quite seriously.

Conflict and compromise in Congress produce the Bill of Rights

James Madison’s initial proposal for a bill of rights was brought to the floor of the House of Representatives on June 8, 1789, during the first session of Congress. The initial proposed passage relating to arms was:

The right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed; a well armed and well-regulated militia being the best security of a free country but no person religiously scrupulous of bearing arms shall be compelled to render military service in person.

On July 21, Madison again raised the issue of his bill and proposed a select committee be created to report on it. The House voted in favor of Madison’s motion, and the Bill of Rights entered committee for review. The committee returned to the House a reworded version of the Second Amendment on July 28.

On August 17, that version was read into the Journal:

A well regulated militia, composed of the body of the people, being the best security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed; but no person religiously scrupulous shall be compelled to bear arms.

In late August 1789, the House debated and modified the Second Amendment. These debates revolved primarily around risk of “mal-administration of the government” using the “religiously scrupulous” clause to destroy the militia as Great Britain had attempted to destroy the militia at the commencement of the American Revolution.

These concerns were addressed by modifying the final clause, and on August 24, the House sent the following version to the Senate:

A well regulated militia, composed of the body of the people, being the best security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed; but no one religiously scrupulous of bearing arms shall be compelled to render military service in person.

The next day, August 25, the Senate received the amendment from the House and entered it into the Senate Journal.

However, the Senate scribe added a comma before “shall not be infringed” and changed the semicolon separating that phrase from the religious exemption portion to a comma:

A well regulated militia, composed of the body of the people, being the best security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed, but no one religiously scrupulous of bearing arms shall be compelled to render military service in person.

By this time, the proposed right to keep and bear arms was in a separate amendment, instead of being in a single amendment together with other proposed rights such as the due process right. As a Representative explained, this change allowed each amendment to “be passed upon distinctly by the States.”

On September 4, the Senate voted to change the language of the Second Amendment by removing the definition of militia, and striking the conscientious objector clause:

A well regulated militia, being the best security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed.

The Senate returned to this amendment for a final time on September 9. A proposal to insert the words “for the common defence” next to the words “bear arms” was defeated. An extraneous comma added on August 25 was also removed.

The Senate then slightly modified the language and voted to return the Bill of Rights to the House. The final version passed by the Senate was:

A well regulated militia being the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed.

The House voted on September 21, 1789 to accept the changes made by the Senate, but the amendment as finally entered into the House journal contained the additional words “necessary to”:

A well regulated militia being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the People to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed.

On December 15, 1791, the Bill of Rights (the first ten amendments to the Constitution) was adopted, having been ratified by three-fourths of the states.

In United States v. Miller (1939), the Supreme Court ruled that the federal government and the states could limit any weapon types not having a “reasonable relationship to the preservation or efficiency of a well-regulated militia”.

It is clear that the drafters of the 2nd Amendment wanted the existence of a “well-regulated militia” to be the basis for the public keeping and bearing arms.

After all, what fool would want everyone to carry highly lethal weapons with no supervision, no education and no licensing, whatsoever. The authors of the Constitution were smarter than that.

However:

In District of Columbia v. Heller (2008), and McDonald v. Chicago (2010). In Heller, the Supreme Court resolved any remaining circuit splits by ruling that the Second Amendment protects an individual right.

Justice Scalia, writing for the Court in Heller:  The right of the whole people, old and young, men, women and boys, and not militia only, to keep and bear arms of every description, not such merely as are used by the militia, shall not be infringed, curtailed, or broken in upon, in the smallest degree; and all this for the important end to be attained: the rearing up and qualifying a well-regulated militia, so vitally necessary to the security of a free State.

If you believe this was an example of turning and twisting words to come to an illogical conclusion, I agree with you.

Why then, after 200+ years of judicial thought in one direction, did the right wing of the Supreme Court do an about-face, and change the meaning of the 2nd Amendment?

It has to do with the right wing’s traditional appeasement of business.

Gun industry execs admit business booms following mass shootings, as sales ‘just went crazy’ after Sandy Hook massacre

The dirty little secret behind mass shootings across the country is that the gun industry is cashing in on them.

And the executives admit it.

“The gun business was very much accelerated based on what happened after the (2012) election and then the tragedy that happened at Sandy Hook,” Ed Stack, the chief executive of Dick’s Sporting Goods, said in September 2014.

“You can see after a tragedy, there’s also a lot of buying,” Jeff Buchanan, the chief financial officer of Smith & Wesson, said two years ago.

The seemingly callous comments were made not to the public, but behind closed doors at various industry events, according to The Intercept website.

The key element is money:

James Debney, Smith & Wesson’s chief executive, told investors in 2013 that “the tragedy in Newtown and the legislative landscape” resulted in sales that were “significantly up.”

“Fear and uncertainty that there might be increased gun control drove many new people to buy firearms for the first time.”

 

Fear and uncertainty. Fear and uncertainty. Those are the keys to gun sales.

The armament manufacturers and their paid stooges at the NRA absolutely love a mass murder. It’s money in their pockets.  It’s the next best thing to an all-out war.

And what has been the mantra of the Republican party? Fear and uncertainty. Fear of immigrants: Central, South American and Mexican. Fear of Syrian immigrants. Fear of Muslims. Fear of ISIS. Fear of gays. Fear of blacks. Fear of Jews. Fear of Catholics. Fear of gangs. Fear of the government.

Fear of THEM!

Republican fear mongering, on behalf of weapons manufacturers, has terrorized those who feel threatened by various elements in their lives. So terrorized are Americans, that whenever someone speaks of any type of sensible gun control, the reaction is rage and hatred.

Cleverly, the weapons makers, in cahoots with the Republican party (the notorious “military / industrial complex”), have created a highly profitable arms race, not only internationally, but right here in America.

Guns kill. The more guns, the more killing. So because more people have guns, you need guns to protect yourself. And when you buy guns, other people need to buy guns to protect themselves against you.

And then you need to buy even more guns, to protect yourself against them. It’s a self-replicating, tit-for-tat, endless system.

Fear and uncertainty — and money. That has replaced the “well-regulated militia” in our Constitution.

Wars are profitable, even domestic wars. And by pitting Americans against Americans and immigrants, the right has created a very profitable war, indeed.

Money is why guns are not more controlled.

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 add dollars to the economy, stimulate the economy, and narrow the income/wealth/power Gap between the rich and the rest.
——————————————————————————————————————————————

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

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

THE RECESSION CLOCK

Vertical gray bars mark recessions. Recessions come after the blue line drops below zero and when deficit growth declines.

As the federal deficit growth lines drop, we approach recessions, each of which has been cured only when the growth lines rose.

Increasing federal deficit growth (aka “stimulus”) is necessary for long-term economic growth.

#MONETARYSOVEREIGNTY

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 add dollars to the economy, stimulate the economy, and narrow the income/wealth/power Gap between the rich and the rest.
——————————————————————————————————————————————

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

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

THE RECESSION CLOCK

Vertical gray bars mark recessions. Recessions come after the blue line drops below zero and when deficit growth declines.

As the federal deficit growth lines drop, we approach recessions, each of which has been cured only when the growth lines rose.

Increasing federal deficit growth (aka “stimulus”) is necessary for long-term economic growth.

#MONETARYSOVEREIGNTY