Tag: Ten Steps to Prosperity

RRPP: Reward the Rich; Punish the Poor. The GOP doctrine

Twitter: @rodgermitchell; Search #monetarysovereignty
Facebook: Rodger Malcolm Mitchell
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It takes only two things to keep people in chains: The ignorance of the oppressed and the treachery of their leaders..
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BACKGROUND:

As readers of this site know, the primary financial goal of the rich is to widen the Gap between the rich and the rest.

It is the Gap that makes them rich. Without the Gap, no one would be rich — we all would be the same — and the wider the Gap, the richer they are.

For the rich, depriving you of money is just as important as taking more money for themselves. The result is the same. The Gap widens. The rich grow richer.Image result for take from the poor and give to the rich

When you see arguments against federal support for the poor and middle-income groups, understand that these are mere disguises for making the rich richer. That is what widening the Gap does.

The Big Lie (that our Monetarily Sovereign government’s deficits and debt are “unsustainable”) is based on the desire by the rich to widen the Gap.

The truth: The U.S. federal government never can run short of dollars, never can find any spending “unsustainable,” and has total control over inflation. The rich do not want you to understand what Monetary Sovereignty means.

The rich want you to become part of a large supply of desperate people, willing to work hard jobs for starvation wages.

THE TRUMP BUDGET:

A website called “News.Mic” published their estimates of what the latest Trump/Republican budget would do to widen the Gap.  As you read this summary, visualize who voted for Trump and how his budget would affect them:

  1. Increase military spending $54 billion.
  2. Spend an extra $4.1 Billion for his border wall
  3. Cut $9.2 billion — or 13.5 percent — from the Education Department’s budget, to reduce or eliminate grants for teacher training, after-school programs and aid to ­low-income and first-generation college students.
  4. Shift $1.4 billion to charter schools and private school vouchers.
  5. Cut the Environmental Protection Agency’s budget by 31%, costing 2,300 employees their jobs, while opening the door for increased global warming.
  6. Cut $100 million in spending on research and international programs on combating climate change.
  7. The Washington Post provides the following list of agencies that would disappear. You may recognize some of them:
  8. Cut the State Department 28.5%. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said, “the level of spending that the State Department has been undertaking … is simply not sustainable.”
  9. Cut $6 billion from the National Institutes of Health, which could cripple important scientific research that requires NIH funding, which could decimate biomedical research in a number of areas and stagger academic institutions around the country that depend on NIH grant money to keep their scientific research programs afloat.
  10. Overall, cut $15.1 billion cut from the Department of Health and Human Services, which includes the Food and Drug Administration and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, as well as Medicare and Medicaid.
  11. Cut 13.2% from the Housing and Urban Development department, and eliminate the Community Development Block Grant Program, which helps fund Meals on Wheels (the service for people age 60+that are homebound and unable to cook or shop for themselves).
  12. Cut 21% from the Department of Agriculture, which would hurt farmers and rural communities.
  13. Cut $2.5 billion from the Labor department. Job training programs — including those aimed at helping seniors, disadvantaged young people and unemployed Americans.

In all, budgets for 14 agencies (including NASA, Transportation, Education, Justice, and Labor) would be cut.

Only three agencies would receive more: Veterans Affairs ($1.4 billion), Homeland Security ($0.8 billion), and Defense ($52.3 billion).

If you were to summarize the thrust of Trump’s budget, it would be: Reward the Rich (especially defense contractors) and Punish the Poor.

RRPP.

As you know, the excuse for this Gap-widening exercise always is the typical line: “The federal government’s deficit spending is ‘unsustainable.'” The federal government, which creates U.S. dollars ad hoc, by spending, supposedly will run short of its own sovereign currency (aka The Big Lie).

You who voted for Trump, but now see him for the fraud he is, and who now regret your vote — you are to be congratulated for recognizing fact. It takes courage and character to admit one’s mistakes.

You who voted for Trump, but refuse to admit your mistake, and still support Trump — well I predict you folks will get something you didn’t bargain for — and it will hurt.

To use Trump’s favorite Twitter word: Sad.

Rodger Malcolm Mitchell
Monetary Sovereignty

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

MONETARY SOVEREIGNTY

Rush Limbaugh’s health care plan

Twitter: @rodgermitchell; Search #monetarysovereignty
Facebook: Rodger Malcolm Mitchell
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It takes only two things to keep people in chains: The ignorance of the oppressed and the treachery of their leaders..
………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

Rush Limbaugh is a very smart man. He has become fabulously wealthy hosting a popular radio show millions of people invest their precious time to hear.

So, it is instructive to see a smart man’s plan to provide health care to those millions of his listeners.

What follows are excerpts from Limbaugh’s own website:

CALLER:  I thought that Trump wanted to get rid of Obamacare. Apparently that’s not what they want to do right away. But if the government was so good at running the health care or dictating health care, why isn’t the VA or the American Indian plan a shining example of what government can do?

RUSH: Great question. They can’t.

CALLER: How long is it gonna take before somebody either asks Paul Ryan that or the American people just say, “Why isn’t the VA a shining example?” I mean there is government health care right there staring you in the face. I don’t understand it. I don’t get it.

RUSH:You have just demonstrated that when the government administers health care institutions, they’re a disaster, okay? So why do you think they want to continue to exercise that kind of control and power over health care when every example of them doing it is pretty bad?

CALLER: Because I don’t think it really has anything to do with health care. I think it’s just the redistribution of wealth, the power. That’s all I can think of. I don’t understand how they — if they can’t handle the limited amount of veterans that are in the VA system — and I realize that’s a lot of people, but it’s a limited amount compared to the population of the country, how are they gonna get 300 million people?

Let’s stop here to remind you that the VA is a government RUN hospitalization program while the dreaded Obamacare is a government FINANCED insurance program.

Seemingly, Limbaugh and his CALLER don’t understand the difference between actually managing health care, like a hospital does, vs. paying for health care like an insurance company does.

Mr. Limbaugh: VA = hospital; Obamacare = insurance company.  Get it?

I also should mention that one of the biggest problems facing the VA is underfinancing by the Republican Congress, which wants America to believe that our Monetarily Sovereign federal government somehow can run short of its own sovereign currency, the dollar.

The Limbaughs of the world have been making this false claim for at least 77 years. They were wrong in 1940; wrong in all the following years, and still are wrong, today.

RUSH: Well, but you don’t have to focus just on the VA. You can look at Medicare and Medicaid. Does anybody want them expanded as the American health care? Well, yes, some people do! They’re the exact people you’re talking about.

RUSH: Well, what do you think liberalism is, in part? About making these people feel good about the messes that they’ve made, all because they care and they have great compassion.

And they’re great at using other people’s money, which is what Medicaid and Medicare are, to take care of people and keep ’em away from you.

If put everyone on Medicaid and Medicare then you can assume they’re gonna have health care, problem solved. You don’t have to hear them complain anymore, you don’t see ’em, you don’t run into ’em.

If we can unwind the above gibberish, it seems to mean that Medicare and Medicaid are bad plans. Why? Well, although they do provide good health care, “they use other people’s money.”

To Limbaugh, providing health care is meaningless, if you use other people’s money — which Medicare and Medicaid don’t. They use government money, created by the federal government. No “other people” involved.

You must understand that Limbaugh is a multi-millionaire, who can afford any health care he wants. He doesn’t care about your health.  He cares about his money. So he creates a false narrative to make you think he cares about your money and your health.

Medicare and Medicaid are government financed insurance programs, which pay for excellent care and are much loved by the people who use them.

There goes Limbaugh’s VA example, right down the toilet.

RUSH: I think we’re gonna need to give Trump time. The thing we have to understand, folks, Donald Trump is not — he may be a political neophyte in terms of experience, but he’s not stupid, and he’s not dumb. And he has a track regard of getting done what he wants done more often than not.

Actually, Trump has a rather poor track record “for getting things done.” Following his disastrous bankruptcies and thousands of lawsuits, when trying to do things himself, and his disastrous and crooked Trump University, for which he was fined millions, he pretty much has done nothing other than give his name to other people who did get things done.

As for giving him time, how much time does he need? In addition to that $25 million Trump University scam, he already has:

–Called climate change a Chinese hoax and hired a climate change denier to head the Environmental Protection Agency
–Lied that 122 vicious prisoners, released by the Obama Administration from Gitmo, have returned to the battlefield.” (The correct number is 9.)
–Falsely claimed Obama tapped his phones
–Falsely claimed he won the popular vote because there were 3 million illegal votes against him.
–Falsely claimed there were more people at his inauguration than at Obama’s
–Banned Muslims from countries that haven’t sent terrorists, rather than from countries that have.
–Refused to reveal what must be incriminating tax returns.
–Wishes to deport good people who have lived here illegally, but never have committed a crime, because . . . well, just because.
–Tells us we all will be safer when mentally ill people can carry guns
–Denied he groped women after boasting that he did.
–Is reluctant to condemn intimidation against immigrants, Muslims, and Jews.

Well, why continue? You get the idea. Donald Trump has lied to the American people more than 100 times in just his first month in office.

So what is it that we are supposed to “give him time” to do?

And he knows there’s no benefit to him by telling everybody “I reformed health care. We got rid of Obamacare, we’ve replaced it and it’s great” when it isn’t. If it’s close, he might be able to get away with touting it as such.

But, folks, there’s a huge obstacle still remaining in this, and until this thing is dealt with, I don’t know how you fix this.

And that is this preexisting condition business. We’re talking about reforming health insurance, and when we get to that, we’re not even talking insurance.

Image result for trumpcare

And now you will see the heart of Limbaugh’s “plan”: Don’t cover people who have pre-existing conditions.

Yep, that’s the plan, folks. If you have cancer, heart disease or any other serious medical problem, you are out of luck.

Providing health care for people with preexisting conditions is the equivalent of selling somebody a homeowner’s policy for a hundred dollars while the fire is burning their house down.

It just doesn’t happen, yet in health care we’re doing it. And it screws up all of the actuarials.

And nobody in Washington has the guts to eliminate coverage for preexisting conditions. But the Democrats don’t want to. That’s exactly the kind of thing they want health care to be.

Right. Private insurance won’t cover people with pre-existing conditions, but the federal government can and should. That is a primary benefit of Medicare.

My health care fix, do you know what it is? I’m so simple-minded in these things. I’m not complex at all. I have no desire to run anybody else’s life. I don’t care whether somebody can run theirs or not; that’s their responsibility and their problem.

I’m not interested in making sure you don’t screw up other than what I do here, but I do not live under any illusions that I should tell everybody how to live.

My health care reform plan is real simple. For everybody who can, and we would have to have a very, very honest assessment of that, you buy your own.

Ah yes, he’s just a “simple-minded” man. How modest of him.

That “very honest assessment” is Medicare and ACA. What he’s describing is exactly what he’s advocating against.  He just isn’t clever enough to realize it.

You can either get it from your employer as part of your deal there, or you don’t and you go out and make your own deal.

There are insurance companies all over this country selling health insurance, and they’re competing with one another, and you buy what you need.

And if you’re 25 and you don’t want to buy the kind of health insurance where you go to the doctor 15 times a year, you don’t. If all you want to buy is insurance for when you have a car crash or some other calamity, that’s what you buy, and you’re not responsible for anybody else.

Huh? How is anyone supposed to know if or when they will be involved in a car crash or other calamity? What kind of decision-making is that?

And what does the phrase “you’re not responsible for anybody else” mean?  Where in Medicaid or Obamacare does it say you’re responsible for “anybody else.”?

And everybody else does the same thing. You buy what you want. And then what you can’t buy, you insure.

This is one of the screwier comments.  You buy the insurance you want, and then what you can’t buy, you insure.  What does that mean?

And that would be catastrophic, terminal diseases, long-term care. If you want to invest when you are 25 years old in a retirement home that has health care, you buy it then and start making payments on it. Your responsibility, you do it.

“But Mr. Limbaugh, Mr. Limbaugh, what about the people that can’t afford it?” That’s where we are a compassionate country. And people who can’t, we have a plan, but we’re not gonna assume nobody can pay for it on their own anymore!

Limbaugh, who is widely known for his compassion says, in essence, “If you can’t afford it, that’s your tough luck.  I’ve got mine.”

To me, there ought be no guarantee, just like no hotel is the same, health care, where is it written that no matter where you go to get health care it’s just as good as where anybody else goes?

You know that’s not the case already. You know there are places that specialize in treating cancer that are better at it by reputation than other places, but not everybody gets to go to those places. It’s just the way it is.

In Limbaughland, the rich should get better hotels and better cancer treatment than do the poor. “It’s just the way it is.”

And even now, with government running it, we don’t even promise people that they’ll get the best. And how do you know what the best is anyway until there’s competition and the best is determined by who has the most customers and who sells the most service and who does the best job by virtue of the market telling everybody that?

Does health care really work that way? Would you want to go to a hospital that cuts costs so it can cut prices? Would you rather go to a hospital that has the most up-to-date (though expensive) equipment, or a cheap hospital?

We’re not talking about cars or sofas. We’re talking about your health.  We’re talking about life or death.

Health care is anything else you buy. In my plan, the prices would start plummeting left and right. My plan would be introducing market competition. If people are in the health care business, you think doctors are doing what they do just for the service?

You think people that run hospitals don’t want to make money? Everybody wants to make money in everything they do. And competition is one of the greatest ways of weeding out the good and the bad, and it’s a way of making everybody better.

No, it isn’t a way of making everyone better. It’s a way of making everyone worse. Patients are not capable of judging hospitals the way they judge wallpaper. Cheaper isn’t better.

Clearly, Limbaugh neither knows nor cares to know anything about the health care world. To him it’s all, money, money, money.

When I was a kid, I went to the dentist when necessary, left the dentist’s office, he sent a bill. Parents paid the bill, that was it. Same thing with the pediatrician. There were house calls, although I’m not making a stink about that.

The point is, you could afford it. If it was something catastrophic, then of course there was insurance available or you made a deal with the hospital to pay it off over time, what have you. If you can’t pay for it, you pay for it in installments or what have you. But why did that system fade away?

It faded away because it didn’t work.  The fact that it faded away should have been a clue for Limbaugh. Doctors and hospitals eventually began to reject people who couldn’t pay for services.

One wonders what Limbaugh’s reaction would be if his station manager told him they couldn’t afford his pay.

Well, here’s the Breitbart piece, ladies and gentlemen. “Seven Reasons Why Obamacare 2.0 Is All But Guaranteed to Impose Crushing Costs on Voters, Hurt Trump’s Base, and Hand Power Back to the Democrats.”

Okay, that’s the headline of the Breitbart piece. Let me ask you a question. I mean, the way I react when I see a headline like this, if it’s this bad, how in the world can the people in charge of it not know it’s this bad? If it is this bad, then why do the Republicans want to hand power back to the Democrats? Why do the Republicans want to hurt Trump’s base?

I can’t wait to learn the answer.

Now, that I can answer. Why do Republicans want to impose crushing costs on voters? Does any of this make sense? And why do Republicans want to hand power back to the Democrats? And why does Trump want to do that? Trump supposedly signed on to this.

Number 1. “The bill’s provisions increase health care costs for Trump voters in critical states.”

Senior citizens — who vote regularly in mid-term elections — will see their health care costs increase under the Republicans’ bill. Plus, Obamacare 2.0 phases out credits for people who start earning more than $75,000. Why? Because screw the voters and they’re on their own? What a great message to send to the middle class!”

So Breitbart claims here that this Obamacare repeal and replacement bill actually targets senior citizens in Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin and makes their tax credits less effective and raises their health care costs. Those are three blue states that Trump won. Why would the Republicans do that? Do you think that’s in the bill?

Hint: You will see that Limbaugh’s argument is quite simple: Trumpcare is so awful that no sane political party would support it. Therefore it isn’t what you think it is, though he has no idea what it is.

Number 2. Conservative author Daniel Horowitz says that the bill is a gift to illegal aliens. Why and how? Well, he says that “Illegals can get health care through identity theft and fraud, because Obamacare 2.0 makes it impossible to check enrollees’ immigration status.”

Oooh, how awful. The federal government, which can afford anything, might pay for the health care of illegal immigrants rather than allowing them to die in front of a hospital’s doors.

And those federal payments not only would save lives but also help stimulate our economy and provide consumers of our products. But who wants that if we can be cruel and stupid at the same time?

Do you think the Republican Party still believes this business that if they don’t do something about shoring up their support from the Hispanic community, they’re political toast? I think they still believe it, no matter what happened here with Trump.

And so can you see them putting in an Obamacare replacement bill a little provision that nobody may find that says illegals do not have to prove immigration status in order to enroll in health care?

Do you think them capable of this? The Republicans, I’m asking. And would Trump sign off on this? I’m just asking.

Get it. Now Limbaugh moves past ignorant to crazed. He hints that the Republicans will insert secret provisions that no one can find (except the immigrants) to appeal to immigrants.

Number 3. “Obamacare 2.0 will be labeled as ‘Trumpcare,’ and Democrats and their media allies will highlight every hard case” they can. After this thing’s enacted, they’re gonna run around the country and they’re gonna be doing story after story after story, person after person after person denied treatment and blame it on Trump and the Republicans for hurting the poor and the elderly.

Uh, yes. That is exactly what a political party does, and thank goodness for it.  How else will the public realize the full witlessness of Trumpcare?

And now for one tiny lucid moment from Limbaugh:

Nobody in the federal government worries about the cost of anything. If they did, there wouldn’t be a 20 freaking  trillion dollar federal government debt. Why should they worry about the cost of anything, and they shouldn’t worry about the “freaking trillion-dollar national deficit” either.

Actually, nobody in our Monetarily Sovereign federal government should worry much about costs, and should not worry at all about the so-called “national debt.”

The national “debt” is nothing more than the total of deposits in T-security accounts at the Federal Reserve Bank.  That fearsome national debt is just bank accounts.

Unfortunately, Limbaugh who writes about things economic, seems not to understand one of the basics of economics.

Let me ask you a question. I’ve spent, well, 43 minutes minus six, 37 minutes talking about this. Do you know any more about it now than you did when I started?

Yes, I know that you, Mr. Limbaugh, care nothing for the 99%, the people who listen to your show, and I know you are beholden to the 1%, the people who want to keep the 99% down.

And I know you don’t understand economics, though you blow about it constantly.

And I know the right-wing would rather commit political suicide than to help American men, women and children achieve healthy lives.

But I guess I always knew that. Trumpcare only confirmed it.

And by the way, the real solution to medical care in America: Step #2 of the Ten Steps to Prosperity (below): FEDERALLY FUNDED MEDICARE — PARTS A, B & D, PLUS LONG TERM CARE — FOR EVERYONE

Rodger Malcolm Mitchell
Monetary Sovereignty

………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

MONETARY SOVEREIGNTY

The season of Schadenfreude approaches. Trump version

Twitter: @rodgermitchell; Search #monetarysovereignty
Facebook: Rodger Malcolm Mitchell
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It takes only two things to keep people in chains: The ignorance of the oppressed and the treachery of their leaders..
………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

There is a German word that has no synonym in the English language.

You know that good feeling when a guy speeds past you and gives you the finger as he drives by, and later, up the road, you see that same guy stopped by a cop?  That feeling is called “Schadenfreude.”

Or it’s when you learn that the former football hero in your high school, who kicked your butt, and had all the adulation from the girls, now years later, comes begging you for a menial job in your company. That’s “Schadenfreude.”

Or when you’ve told people, over and over and over again, that the guy they planned to vote for was lying, bigoted sack of sh*t, who would hurt them if he ever is elected — but they vote for him anyway, and he gets elected, and he hurts them just as you said he would — you know that feeling? That’s “Schadenfreude.”

It’s something like that lovely “Nah, nah, I told you so” feeling.

I thought about Schadenfreude when I read about President Trump’s Environmental Protection head, Scott Pruitt, who has absolutely no intention of protecting the environment, thus damaging the future world of all those children and grandchildren of Trump voters  (though my Schadenfreude is completely ruined by the knowledge my own children’s world will be damaged, too. Darn!)

Then there are the black voters and brown voters and gay voters and elderly voters and female voters, who voted for Trump or didn’t even bother to vote at all, and now their worlds will be ruined by Trump’s bigotry against them. Plenty of good Schadenfreude for me there.

Schadenfreude is one of those feelings we all deny having but secretly find absolutely delicious. So I deny having had any wonderful, marvelous feelings of Schadenfreude when I read the following excerpts from an article in the 3/12/17 Chicago Tribune:

Health bill may hurt Trump’s supporters
Analysis finds older, rural, poorer votersat risk of losing out
By Noam N. Levey, Washington Bureau

WASHINGTON — Americans who swept President Donald Trump to victory — lower-income, older voters in conservative, rural parts of the country — stand to lose the most in federal health care aid under a Republican plan to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act, according to a Washington Bureau analysis of county voting and tax credit data.

Among the hardest hit under the House bill are 60-year-olds with annual incomes of $30,000. In nearly 1,500 counties nationwide, such a person stands to lose more than $6,000 a year in federal insurance subsidies. Ninety percent of those counties backed Trump, the analysis shows.

And 68 of the 70 counties where these consumers would suffer the largest losses supported Trump in November.

Oh, this is just too great!

Er, ah, what I really mean to say is I truly am sorry (snicker) for those folks who were taken in by those right-wing charlatans.  How could these poor people (giggle) have known Trump would hurt them?

Most affected by the GOP plan would be parts of Alaska, Arizona, Nebraska, Oklahoma and Tennessee, where Obamacare subsidies have been critical to making insurance affordable. All five states went for Trump.

Also hit hard would be parts of key swing states that backed Trump, including Michigan, North Carolina and Pennsylvania.

Meanwhile, higher-income, younger Americans — many of whom live in urban areas won by Democrat Hillary Clinton — stand to get more assistance in the GOP bill.

Faring best would be the nation’s wealthiest residents, who would see a substantial tax cut with the elimination under the House GOP bill of two levies on high-income taxpayers. These taxes — on individuals making more than $200,000 and couples making more than $250,000 — were included in Obamacare to help offset the cost of assisting lower-income Americans.

What? The Trump-led Republicans, aka the “party of the rich,” plan to hurt the poor and help the (titter) wealthy? Who could (guffaw) have predicted it?

Excuse me. I don’t mean to laugh at your pain. (Chuckle) Not at all.

The disproportionate impact of the GOP plan threatens to undercut one of Trump’s core promises that he would take care of all Americans even if the health care law is repealed.

Only a small share of the electorate receives Obamacare subsidies, but the loss of aid could deprive tens of millions of a lifeline.

“People don’t realize that all it takes is one lost job and your goose is cooked,” said John Thompson, 59, of North Carolina.

Thompson said he voted Republican for three decades. He was let go from his work in 2013, however, and he found the only way to get health coverage was through Obamacare, whose insurance marketplaces opened in 2014.

“It literally saved my life,” said Thompson, who was diagnosed with cancer shortly afterward. Thompson is now back at work. But the Obamacare aid made him re-think his support for the Republican Party.

“People like me are going to get screwed,” he said of the GOP health care plan. “That’s just the reality.”

Yes, John, that is the reality. And I don’t mean to be cruel, but it’s not as though you weren’t warned. I mean, Trump practically begged you not to vote for him.

But you ignored his incessant lying about nearly everything, the grabbing women by the crotch, the bigotry against people of color, against immigrants, against Muslims. You ignored Trump University, his phony “birther” scandal, his cheating of his employees, the repeated warnings by every newspaper editor in America.

You ignored the pain Trump threatened to inflict on helpless minorities and on children. The list goes on and on — you ignored all that so long as you were taken care of.

And surely you remember how you stubbornly refused to listen to the people you demeaned as “libtards”? Remember them, the people who tried to help you with your health insurance coverage?

Instead, as you think about your hatred for Obama and for “Crooked Hillary,” does the phrase “from the frying pan into the fire” come to mind? Welcome to the fire, John.

And now John, as you are “rethinking” your support for the Republican party, and all your eggs are starting to hatch, I will do my best not to revel (snigger) in your pain.

I will be an adult and offer you my sincerest sympathy — more than sympathy — empathy, because your troubles only are beginning. Your world is about to come crashing down.

And it’s  your own damn fault.

But, I don’t have Schadenfreude, because you have learned something. You have learned not to be a stooge for a con artist, and you have learned not to join in the mob bigotry. And you have learned to use your brain rather than letting someone else use your brain.

And you have learned that if you lie down with swine, you will be treated like swine and be like swine.

You have learned these things, haven’t you, John?

John, haven’t you?

Ah, ’tis the season of Schadenfreude — but of course, not for me.

(Smirk)

Rodger Malcolm Mitchell
Monetary Sovereignty

………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

MONETARY SOVEREIGNTY

Healthcare plans: Ignorance and treachery

The lead to our recent posts never has been more appropriate than with regard to the current discussion of health care:

“It takes only two things to keep people in chains: The ignorance of the oppressed and the treachery of their leaders.”

Wisconsin Representative, Paul Ryan, the GOP’s version of an insurance genius, the man who came up with the latest “repeal and replace” plan, described his “Patients’ Choice Act” this way:

My plan, The Patients’ Choice Act, ensures universal, affordable health care for all Americans. Under The Patients’ Choice Act, patients and doctors would control their health care decisions – not insurance companies and federal government bureaucrats.

Of course, it does no such thing, because if you go to the “Short Summary” you will read the following:

“(My plan) creates State Health Insurance Exchanges to give Americans a one‐stop marketplace to compare different health insurance policies and select the one that meets their unique needs.”

According to the genius, insurance companies no longer will control health care decisions because you will be able to compare insurance policies. HUH??

(And by the way, why would you have to compare policies unless you will have to pay for less-than-complete coverage?)

And:

“(My plan) gives Americans the same standard health benefits as Members of Congress, so all Americans have a wide range of choices”

See, it’s like this: Federal government bureaucrats will not control your health care decisions, because you will receive the same standard health benefits that federal government bureaucrats created and control for Congress. Huh??

And:

Creates a non‐profit, independent board to risk adjust among participating insurance companies to penalize companies that “cherry pick” health patients and reward insurers that encourage prevention/wellness and cover patients with pre‐existing conditions.

In other words, Federal bureaucrats will tell insurance companies whom they must cover, what coverages to offer, and what to charge.  Huh??

But it gets worse, much worse. The GOP insurance genius even is clueless about how insurance actually works:

Insurance 101 For Paul Ryan: The Healthy Are Supposed To Help Pay For The Sick
Obamacare is in a “death spiral” because the insured are sharing the risk, explains congressman.
By Mary Papenfuss

Paul Ryan is aghast that healthy individuals are paying into an insurance pot that’s used when people are sick. But … that’s exactly the way insurance works.

Twitter positively erupted Thursday to school Mr. Health Insurance on the concept.

Everyone pays into the pot and draws on it when they’re sick. Younger people, who tend to be healthier than older people, pay for health insurance like everyone else.

They’ll rely on it when they need it, probably more when they’re older and there are younger, healthier people filing in behind them.

It’s the same with car insurance. Some people pay for decades and never get into an accident and never collect on their coverage.

Yes, Mr. Ryan, that’s how insurance works — fire insurance, liability insurance, all kinds of insurance. Each year, we pay into it hoping we won’t use it this year.

O.K., so the Republican insurance genius says he wants to replace Obamacare with a plan that doesn’t allow insurance companies and federal government bureaucrats to control health care decisions — except that is exactly what his plan does.

And the insurance genius objects to young people paying for insurance they may not need, except that is how insurance works.

But it continues to get worse:

“Economic analysts across the political divide agree that the tax code is stacked in favor of the wealthy . . . (My plan) provides an advanceable and refundable tax credit of $2,300 per individual or $5,700 per family. “

Sounds swell, except the GOP insurance genius didn’t know about two problems:

  1. That $2,300 per person and $5,700 per family isn’t enough to cover even current, let alone future health care insurance of the quality Members of Congress receive, and
  2. It’s not even money; it’s a tax credit, and the poorest among us don’t benefit from a a tax credit. They need actual money. The whole point of Obamacare was to cover those who can’t afford health care.

And, it continues to get worse and worse, because the entire Ryan plan is based on reducing costs for the federal government (which being Monetarily Sovereign, has the unlimited ability to pay) and instead piling costs onto doctors, insurance companies, and the public.

“The Patients’ Choice Act would give every American the opportunity to choose the health care plan that best meets their individual needs.”

Except, few of us know in advance, what our individual needs will be. Accidents and sickness come unexpectedly. Do you know whether you will have a heart attack this year? A stroke? Cancer? A serious car accident? A rare illness you never heard of?

The whole concept of “individual needs,” when applied to health care insurance, is ridiculous and misleading.

“It will utilize state‐driven exchanges to facilitate real competition between private plans and give Americans—for the first time—a choice of health care plans.  This solution will actually fix the incentives in the health care system so that health providers and insurers provide higher quality plans at lower cost.”

Said another way, doctors, hospitals, and insurance companies will have to cut costs while providing better service.

What does that tell you about the future availability of doctors, hospitals, and insurance companies?

Right. There will be fewer. So, services will be scarcer.  And what happens when services are scarcer? Right. Quality decreases and prices increase — exactly the opposite of what the GOP insurance genius expects.

Obamacare, with all its warts (and it has many), was an attempt to provide health care to the millions of us who cannot afford to pay for health care. The Republicans — the party of the rich — hate it, not only because it is “Obama,” but because it narrows the Gap between the rich and the rest.

The rich don’t want that.

So the party of the rich proposes a plan that:

  1. Saves money for the only entity in America that has no need to save money — our Monetarily Sovereign federal government
  2. Burdens financially the private sector, i.e. the burdens economy
  3. Eliminates coverage for the millions of our poorest.
  4. Widens the Gap between the rich and the rest

The GOP plan truly is based on “the ignorance of the oppressed and the treachery of our leaders.”

What should the plan be? See Steps #1 and  #2 of the Ten Steps to Prospertity (below): ELIMINATE FICA, and FEDERALLY FUND MEDICARE — PARTS A, B & D, PLUS LONG TERM CARE — FOR EVERYONE

The federal government can afford, and should pay for, what you and our fellow citizens cannot. That is the purpose of a Monetarily Sovereign government.

Rodger Malcolm Mitchell
Monetary Sovereignty

………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

MONETARY SOVEREIGNTY