Mitchell’s laws: The more budgets are cut and taxes inceased, the weaker an economy becomes. To survive long term, a monetarily non-sovereign government must have a positive balance of payments. Austerity = poverty and leads to civil disorder. Those, who do not understand the differences between Monetary Sovereignty and monetary non-sovereignty, do not understand economics.
I, who used to vote mostly Republican, because I believed the conservatives had a better handle on business and economics, now find myself disagreeing with the conservative movement on almost every major issue:
Treatment of gays: I favor allowing gays to marry (who does it hurt?) and do not feel being gay is an “abomination” or whatever other insults the pious right throws at it. Love is better than hate.
Treatment of immigrants: I favor making U.S. citizenship much easier. I would do a background check for criminality, then let them in. It costs us far more trying to keep them out. (Hello, Arizona) We all are immigrants, and it was much easier back then. Current laws are exclusionary for no reason.
Birth control: I favor abortion rights in the first trimester, and yes, let’s do stem cell research rather than protecting microscopic cells doomed to die, anyway. Or, we can let girls have babies they can’t care for, thereby guaranteeing yet another generation of poverty and crime.
Religion in public venues: Any step toward theocracy, even a tiny step, is a move toward disaster. If you want to pray, close your eyes and pray. God will hear you. Don’t force me to listen to you.
Attitudes about aid to the poor. Recent sneering about “food stamp President” is symptomatic of distaste for people less fortunate. No, the poor are not lazy bums. They are you, but for the grace of God.
Gun control: No more BS. Guns account for most of the murders in America. The 2nd Amendment begins, “A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State . . .” I see the guns and the killing, but where is the well regulated Militia to control those guns? The pious right resists any sort of regulation.
Payroll tax cut: FICA should be eliminated, forever. It has no purpose in a Monetarily Sovereign nation. Although most taxes are bad, this may be single worst tax of all. Why is the pious right so resistant to cutting it?
Unemployment insurance: Extend it. What’s the alternative? Let the people starve? Either give them money or give them jobs, but don’t let them die – or riot.
Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid: Why do we talk about limiting them? They are the crown jewels of a modern society. Our Monetarily Sovereign government can afford to pay for these services and the people can’t. I favor free Medicare for every U.S. resident (not just citizen) and untaxed Social Security.
The wealth gap: Cut social services and don’t tax the wealthy? Really? Well, I do agree with not taxing the wealthy – or the un-wealthy, for that matter — but we should expand social services.
Campaign contribution limits: That right wing Supreme Court is simply nuts about the rich. Simply nuts.
Preemptive war: Previous wars belonged to the Democrats, but more recently the Republicans have taken over. George Bush was a lying fool, who cost thousands of Americans their lives and limbs, all in the name of right wing “patriotism” (and to show his father something). What is there about the right that they keep waving the flag?
The environment: We need it; our kids need it. I favor strict pollution controls along with federal aid to affected industries and more federal support for energy research.
I was a conservative, but if all of the above makes me a liberal, so be it. Come to think of it, every great social initiative was passed by liberals. The conservatives have, of late, become the party of hate. Who are these people who vote Republican these days? Why are they so filled with venom?
Rodger Malcolm Mitchell
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. Two key equations in economics:
Federal Deficits – Net Imports = Net Private Savings
Gross Domestic Product = Federal Spending + Private Investment and Consumption + Net exports