Found this on social media recently. A picture is worth a thousand words:
Sunday, August 27, 2023
Thursday, March 30, 2023
Trumpty Dumpty Had A Great Fall
Well, it finally happened today. The Donald has become the first (former) president to be indicted for a crime. In his case, the primary charge (possibly a felony) was one related to the infamous Stormy Daniels hush money scheme, of all things. And he also faces potential charges related to his attempts to overturn the 2020 presidential election. It is really NOT looking good for the washed up plutocrat turned reality TV star turned wannabe politician turned wannabe dictator turned disgrace of epic proportions.
All the king's horses and all the king's men, won't be able to put Trumpty together again. Believe me.
UPDATE: Trump was arrested and arraigned on April 4, 2023, and charged with 34 felony counts of falsifying business records, and that's just what they have so far. His next court date is December 4, 2023. Scratch that, it is the next court date for THESE particular charges. A civil case against him related to rape allegations is coming up before then on April 25. Looks like all of that Teflon has finally worn off of the Don for good, and for the first time in his life he is finally being held accountable for something.
And far from rallying around their fallen idol like they would have in the past, most of his supporters were strangely out to lunch when it happened.
He is rapidly falling away and falling apart now, and it is only going to get worse for him going forward. Really sucks to be him now. Sad! Believe me.
Wednesday, January 6, 2021
We Condemn Trump And His Deplorable Fan Club's Insurrection
Today, soon-to-be-ex-president Trump sank to a new low even for him. He egged on a group of sore-loser stochastic domestic terrorists among his deplorable fan club to storm the U.S. Capitol in a desperate attempt to overturn the legitimate 2020 presidential election results by force. They rioted, looted, attacked law enforcement and even shot at people, killing at least one. And Donald even had the GALL to call them "patriots"! Seriously, I believe there is another word that comes to mind instead--TRAITORS. Or perhaps BROWNSHIRTS, as in early 1930s Germany.
Unprecedented, or as Donald himself would like to say, "UNPRESIDENTED". Even his own party has now turned on him. What them took so long, though?
We wholeheartedly condemn Trump and anyone who participated or encouraged such lawless and reckless behavior. It was literally terrorism what they did, as well as sedition and insurrection. All of which are very serious federal felonies, one more thing to add to the ever-growing rap sheet of the Trump Crime Family. And he needs to be removed via the 25th Amendment yesterday and prosecuted for ALL of his misdeeds. It will happen in two weeks anyway.
Meanwhile, the Democrats now officially control BOTH houses of Congress thanks to the Georgia runoff election, as well as the presidency starting January 20, 2021. President-Elect Biden and Vice-President-Elect Kamala Harris will be sworn in, regardless.
As you like to say, Donald, "YOU'RE FIRED!" Now go clean out your desk and GTFO. Don't let the door hit you in the arse on the way out, loser. And your new jumpsuit will match your orange complexion nicely.
Friday, November 6, 2020
You Lost, Donald. Accept it.
Wednesday, September 9, 2020
The Electoral College's Dirty Little Secret
As I noted in a previous post back in 2016, one of the reasons the Founders, especially Alexander Hamilton, designed the Electoral College was as a supposed fail-safe to prevent a dangerous and unqualified demagogue (especially one with foreign entanglements) from becoming President of the United States. (The 2016 election most ironically proved otherwise) Hamilton basically laid out the Federalist case for the Electoral College thusly, albeit combined with the sort of sneering elitism that even the most rabid Trump supporters would ironically claim to dislike today.
But there was also a much darker reason behind the creation of the Electoral College. To put it bluntly, it was explicitly designed to protect--wait for it--SLAVERY. In fact, that was the only way to get the Anti-Federalists in the southern slave states to sign on to the Constitution at all. That is why less-populous states get a disproportionately large amount of electoral votes (since slave states often had as many slaves as free citizens and each slave only counted as 3/5 of a person in the census and was not allowed to vote). And to this day, the Electoral College remains a bastion of white (sorry, "rural") privilege for the same reason. Not all that surprising, really.
Thus, the Electoral College is obsolete and currently serves no useful purpose anymore. In fact, the winner-take-all aspect, over and above the small state bias, was the primary reason Trump won the 2016 election despite getting nearly 3 million fewer votes than Hillary, so it actually does more harm than good to this country. Allocating electoral votes proportionally in each state instead of winner-take-all would go a long way to fixing it, and indeed Hillary would have won the electoral vote by changing just this aspect of the system. It would also make it harder to effectively cheat as well. But it would not solve all problems, and would in fact create a new problem--third-party candidates throwing the election into the House of Representatives when no one gets 270 majority--unless candidates with a de minimis amount of the popular vote (say, 5%) are then denied any electoral votes and/or only the top two or three candidates actually counting.
Therefore, all things considered, the very best and simplest solution is to abolish the Electoral College altogether, and elect the president by straight national popular vote going forward. And yesterday is not soon enough, since it clearly gives Trump an unfair advantage this time as well.
Of course, abolishing it entirely would require a constitutional amendment, and would thus be quite a long shot indeed, but there is a way to make it irrelevant by 2020. The National Popular Vote Interstate Compact (NPVIC) is the way to do it, making it so that that only the winner of the national popular vote would win 270 electoral votes and become President, while still technically keeping the Electoral College in place. Sign and share!
Thursday, August 20, 2020
Dear Donald, Stop Sabotaging The US Postal Service!
We know you are deliberately sabotaging the United States Postal Service, which until just a week or two ago has been the wonder of the world, in order to sabotage mail-in voting and thus desperately attempt to rig the election in your favor since you know you will lose otherwise. BIGLY. Sad. It is so transparent what you are trying to do, and the delays and errors caused by wilfully and unnecessarily tampering with our mail system are more than a mere inconvenience. People's lives literally depend on the USPS functioning properly even in normal times, let alone during a pandemic. In fact, such deliberate tampering with the mail system is literally a FEDERAL FELONY OFFENSE, as if you really needed to make your miles-long rap sheet even longer. Seriously.
Thus, we at the TSAP hereby demand that you do all of the following yesterday:
- Reverse the cynical "Friday Night Massacre" firings of the top brass at the USPS, and replace the current Postmaster General with a non-crony non-campaign donor.
- Restore full funding to the USPS. If your GOP refuses or drags their feet, use your executive pen to do so in the meantime.
- Do us all a YUUUGE favor and RESIGN.
- Don't let the door hit you on the way out.
Saturday, June 27, 2020
Is America Headed For Civil War Or Collapse?
The powder keg has been building for decades now, and recent events have been both a consequence (our national failure to mount anything close to an effective response to COVID-19 before it was too late) and a spark (recent civil unrest from pent-up rage over both persistent racial injustice and increasing police-state authoritarianism, along with the toxic effects of the lockdowns). Throw in record levels of unemployment and economic anxiety followed by the cliff that results from the impending and abrupt ending of the extra $600 per week in unemployment benefits come July 31 (unless extended further).
But the biggest flashpoint of all is yet to come in a few months from now: the 2020 presidential election. Whichever side wins, the other side loses, and plenty of people on the losing side will be very, very angry.
It is probably not too late to stop a full-blown civil war and/or collapse before the Rubicon is crossed, but that window is closing very, very fast indeed.
So what do we need to do to save the Republic (again) before it is too late? I mean, we really don't want to give the reich-wing accelerationists like the Boogaloo movement the satisfaction, right? For starters:
- Immediately implement Universal Basic Income (UBI) for all, no strings attached, via federal or central bank money creation. Start it at $2000 per month for everyone over 18 and $1000 for everyone under 18, for three months, then drop it to half that amount ($1000 and $500, respectively) indefinitely.
- Immediately implement single-payer Medicare For All. Yesterday. And along with that, increase much-needed funding for hospitals and healthcare providers across the board.
- For both above items, include anyone with a SSN or ITIN, regardless of citizenship or immigration status. No means test, no discrimination, no perverse incentives. And no bank account required--use debit cards whenever needed.
- Free college (and trade school) for all, thus improving stagnant economic mobility.
- Implement the rest of Rodger Malcolm Mitchell's Ten Steps to Prosperity as well. That includes, among other things, progressively taxing the very rich 0.1% very heavily to reduce inequality.
- Implement the Green New Deal, including a federal job creation program.
- Implement much-needed and long-overdue reforms to police nationwide, rooting out structural racism and abuses of power. Yesterday. What are we waiting for?
- Extend any moratoriums on evictions and foreclosures for an additional 30 days or until the aforementioned UBI payments reach everyone, whichever is longer.
- It should go without saying, but DO NOT LOCK DOWN EVER AGAIN! Even in the worst COVID-19 hotspots, mandatory mask requirements and bans on very large gatherings are sufficient to prevent a worst case scenario at this point.
- And of course, we must go back to actually being a Constitutional Republic rather than an unconstitutional empire. No more over-bloated military and unnecessary wars of choice to make the rich richer.
Tuesday, June 2, 2020
America Is Literally Burning. Stop Fighting Fire With Gasoline!
(The problem is actually twofold, involving an intersection of both 1) institutional racism and the resulting gross racial disparities at all levels of the criminal "justice" system, as well as 2) a more general overcriminalization of people for victimless "crimes" and gross overmilitarization of police, along with a general lack of accountability for rogue cops. And both need to be tackled simultaneously. Yesterday.)
But when protestors foolishly play into the hands of outside agents provocateur (everyone from extremists to recreational troublemakers to false flags and even undercover cops) infiltrating the otherwise peaceful protests to turn them violent and destructive, then it becomes something far different and highly toxic, and counterproductive to the cause. And by taking the bait of Trump and his buddies--the ultimate master baiters (pun intended)--who are also pouring gasoline on the fire, that is like cutting off one's nose to spite one's face. So please don't fall for it.
The last thing America needs right now is a full-blown civil war. Which is where we are unfortunately heading if this continues to escalate much longer. And it is what the "alt-right", white supremacists, and other right-wing extremists like the Boogaloo movement seem to really want to happen, hence their sending outside agitators to infiltrate protests.
(Hear that? That's the sound of Putin having a good belly laugh at America's expense.)
And while we really hate to be a wet blanket, please remember that while the right to peacefully protest is sacrosanct in what is supposed to be free society, the COVID-19 pandemic is still going on, and you still need to take precautions nonetheless since the virus doesn't care about your or anyone's politics. Wear a mask, carry hand sanitizer, stick to smaller groups, and try to keep as much physical distance as possible out there. Don't deliberately get in anyone's face either. And if you have any sort of questionable symptoms at all in the least, please sit this one out and stay home protesting virtually. In other words, please use common sense. That advice applies to both the George Floyd / Black Lives Matter protestors as well as any anti-lockdown protestors, by the way.
To quote Rodney King himself during the 1992 LA riots: "Can we all just get along?"
Friday, April 3, 2020
Is The Cure Worse Than The Disease?
Thus, the TSAP does NOT support the more extreme measures lasting more than a few weeks, nor even the less extreme ones lasting more than a few months at most. And for NO length of time do we support arresting or jailing or shooting people for leaving their homes, suspending habeas corpus or the Constitution, or any form of martial law. Period.
Wednesday, February 26, 2020
The Crash Of 2020 Has A Silver Lining
(And not even the FERAL Reserve can delay the inevitable for much longer, it seems.)
But as bad as it gets, better that it should happen several months before the 2020 presidential election rather than after. A big crash and/or recession before the election would virtually guarantee Trump's defeat, and by extension (hopefully) Bernie's victory. And so would finally mark the end of America's 40 year failed experiment with neoliberalism, that was started by Reagan and self-destructed by Trump. Bookended by two unlikely "dark horse" yet celebrity candidates, Reagan and Trump, that both cut their teeth in Hollywood before entering politics late in life, and who both said they would "Make America Great Again" (right!), this will be the end of an era--or more accurately, the end of an ERROR on January 20, 2021. Then we can finally pick up where we left off in 1980 when Carter almost won re-election but for the Reagan campaign's October Surprise dirty tricks (a conspiracy theory that actually turned out to be true, by the way). Yes, you read that correctly.
And thus, America's long, dark night of the soul will finally be over. Not just the past four years, but the past 40 as well. That is, of course, only if enough Americans actually get off their butts and VOTE--not just in the general election, but also in the primaries as well. The basket of deplorables will sure as hell vote regardless, so all progressives and even the fence-sitters need to get out and vote as well.
Friday, January 3, 2020
Did Trump Just Start A War With Iran?
We are well aware that General Soleimani was not a good person by any stretch of the imagination, nor is his own Revolutionary Guard Quds Force particularly cuddly either. They have in fact been officially designated as a terrorist organization by the United States Department of State years ago due to their notoriously rogue activities in the region, including their support for violent militias in Iraq. But when the "leader" of the USA decides to go rogue himself and arbitrarily assassinate a leader of a sovereign nation that we are NOT actually at war with, that is a dangerous and irresponsible escalation that threatens to unleash a conflagration across the whole region, if not even further. At the very least, it will delay any hope for peace in the region by at least a generation, and at worst can perhaps even trigger World War III.
And of course we can kiss goodbye practically forever any chance of reviving the Iran nuclear deal that, while imperfect, was in fact working to keep Iran from getting their hands on The Bomb for the foreseeable future--before Trump pulled out of it of course. If Iran didn't have a reason to want nukes in the past, well they sure do now! This latest stunt thus clearly does FAR more harm than good, and we at the TSAP condemn his reckless and irresponsible actions.
(As for motives, can you say, "Wag the Dog"?)
Wednesday, December 18, 2019
Trump Has Been Impeached
Trump will then be tried by the Senate in January to decide his fate. And while the Republican-dominated Senate does not likely have enough defectors to have the votes to actually remove him from office, things can always change and stranger things have happened before. And regardless of what the Senate decides, the fact remains that Trump now has an indelible stain on him for all time. In the history books as well as his obituary, impeachment will forever be one of the first things mentioned and recalled about him. Really sucks to be him now!
And even if he "wins" in the Senate, his days are still numbered regardless Come the 2020 election, it is now exceedingly unlikely that he could possibly win with such a stain. Especially if we get a recession before the election. And once he is finally out of office either way, and no longer a sitting president, he will then be vulnerable to criminal charges for his too-numerous-to-mention misdeeds (for which secret and sealed indictiments most likely already exist) at both federal and state levels. Ruh roh.
Looks like you should have done a Nixon and pre-emptively resigned when you had the chance, Donald. Now it's too late for you to save face, regardless of what happens next. Sad!
Friday, December 13, 2019
We Affirm Our Zero-Tolerance Policy Against Anti-Semitism (And All Other Forms Of Racism and Bigotry Too)
Thus, we the TSAP hereby vow to NEVER make that sort of unfortunate mistake by omission, and hereby condemn anti-Semitism in the very strongest of terms, just as strongly as we do racism in general. And the reader is put on notice that we will NEVER tolerate any overt or covert anti-Semitism in our party, period, no matter how much one tries (in vain, by definition) to dress it up in any sort of leftist or social justice rhetoric. Bigotry by any other name still stinks.
Therefore, using any of the following red flag words, phrases, or references will get your comments promptly deleted, and severe and/or repeat offenders will be banned permanently:
Obviously, any known slurs against Jews ("y*d", "k**e", "h**b", "Chr*st-ki**er", etc.), or any permutations thereof
Using the word "Jew" or "Jewish" itself as a pejorative or insult
Adding pejorative modifiers such as "dirty", "cheap", or "money-grubbing" to same
Blood libel or vilification of any kind
Stab-in-the-back legends vilifying Jews
Calling for violence of any kind against Jews or Israel
Inciting pogroms of any kind
Any Holocaust denial (including "soft" denial or minimization, or JAQ-ing off)
Any Holocaust jokes, or any jokes about gas chambers, ovens, or death squads in relation to anyone Jewish
Any other jokes demeaning to Jews
Any praising of Hitler or the Nazis (or neo-Nazis)
Any praising of the KKK or white supremacists or white nationalists, including the "alt-right" and neo-Confederates
Any praising of known Holocaust deniers
Any praising of Hamas or Hezbollah (or al-Qaeda or ISIL, for that matter)
Falsely accusing any Jew of being a Nazi collaborator, or repeating such unproven or debunked claims
Putting (((triple parentheses))) around anyone's name, as a code for "Jew"
Obsessing over (((George Soros))), for example
"14 (Words), or 14/88"
"311" (unless clearly referencing the band)
"88" (without clear explanation)
"America First" (depending on context)
"Anglo-Israelism" (when giving it any credence)
"The Bad War" (in reference to WWII)
"Cultural Marxism" (as a slur)
"Death to Israel"
"From the river to the sea"
"Globalist" (as a slur)
"Gotta pay the Jews if you wanna sing the blues"
"Hexagram" (instead of "Star of David")
"Heil Hitler", "Sieg Heil", or "Hail Victory"
"Hitler was the good guy"
"Hitler was a socialist"
"Hitler was a Rothschild"
"Hitler was Jewish"
"Hoaxocaust" or "HollowHoax"
"Hooknose" (or any caricatures thereof)
"Hymietown"
"Infowars"
"Illuminati" (in reference to Jews)
"ISIS = Israeli Secret Intelligence Service"
"Israel (or Jews) was behind 9/11"
"Jews caused the financial crisis"
"Jews have us hypnotized"
"Jews killed Jesus"
"Jews own Hollywood"
"Jews will not replace us!"
"Jewish Slave Trade"
"Jewish Cabal"
"Jewish Media (Elites)"
"Judeo-Bolshevism"
"The Jew York Times"
"Khazars"
"Kosher Tax"
"Loy-yahs"
"Money boys up in New York" (dog whistle)
"Protocols of the Learned Elders of Zion" (if claiming that this long-debunked canard is true)
"Red Diaper Doper Babies" (RDDB)
"Rootless cosmopolitans" (in reference to Jews)
"Rothschilds" (in reference to conspiracy theories)
"Unite the Right"
"War on Christmas"
"White Genocide" (conspiracy theories)
"White Power" or "White Pride"
"Winston Churchill was the real bad guy"
"Wipe Israel off the map" (or any variations thereof)
"You will not replace us!"
"Zionazis"
"Zionist Conspiracy"
"ZOG" (Zionist Occupied Government)
Images of swastikas, Confederate flags, or any other recognized hate symbols, period
Any other anti-Semitic canards or tropes
Please note that anti-Zionism per se, when included as part of a broader anti-colonial framework, is not prohibited here. The same goes with supporting some forms of Zionism but not others. Criticism of Israel (and/or support for Palestinians) is fine as along as it is nuanced and grounded in reality, but be sure to be specific about exactly which individuals, policies, and/or political parties you are criticizing, and why. Vaguely using "Zio(nist)" or any permutations thereof as a veiled slur against Jews in general will not be tolerated, and of course the same goes for any specious claims that Israel has no right to exist at all.
For the record, the TSAP supports the "two-state solution", which is shorthand for 1) revert back to the the pre-1967 borders of Israel and Palestine, 2) officially recognized Palestinian statehood for Gaza and the West Bank, 3) end any non-consensual Jewish settlements in Palestinian territories, and 4) both Israel and Palestine have a right to exist, period. And we vehemently oppose Benny "The Butcher" Netanyahu and his right-wing Likud Party, while also opposing Hamas and Hezbollah all the same.
As for criticism or negative views of patriarchal religions, that is fine, but do NOT single out Judaism. Keep in mind that the most prominent and populous branches of Judaism are typically among the most progressive and least patriarchal of all the Big Five mainstream religions nowadays.
As for conspiracy theories in general, you may share them, but please don't drag the Jews into it, and don't use any dog-whistles either. Seriously, don't do it!
And while the TSAP loves to criticize the big banks, Wall Street, usury, and oligarchs in general, along with their nefarious system, we ask that you NOT appropriate such ideas for scapegoating Jews or dog-whistling your virulent hatred of same. Keep in mind that most banksters and oligarchs are WASPs, not Jews. So let's not pretend otherwise, OK? That old trope really didn't age very well at all.
After all, as a party that supports Bernie Sanders and Marianne Williamson, we would really be suicidal to ignore anti-Semitism on the left, right, or anywhere else on the political spectrum. Though in the USA, it seems to be far more prevalent on the right wing in recent years. And it has no place in our party.
We ignore it at our own peril, and everyone else's.
Thursday, November 14, 2019
Just Print The Money
A) Bernie Sanders
B) Elizabeth Warren
C) Kamala Harris
D) Joe Biden
E) Donald Trump
Give up? Scroll down to find the answer:
The answer, believe it or not, is E, Donald Trump. Yes, THAT Donald Trump. Meanwhile all of the other 2020 candidates (sorry Bernie, but even you don't get a pass on this one) are apparently too cowardly to utter those words when asked how they will "pay for" the various high-ticket items on their wish list.
Back in 2016, then presidential candidate Donald Trump said a lot of outrageous and controversial things and too many gaffes to count. But one in particular stands out in light of recent posts and current events, namely, the one in which he implied he would default on the national debt if he couldn't negotiate a better deal. Now that is clearly not something for a politician or candidate to even joke about, let alone actually do. But it was what he said after he was criticized for it and he backpedaled on it which was actually much more noteworthy:
This is the United States government. First of all, you never have to default because you [just] print the money. I hate to tell you. So there’s never a default.And that second "gaffe", ladies and gentlemen, was actually NOT a gaffe at all. Why? Because it is actually TRUE, believe it or not. Even a stopped clock is right twice a day, after all.
Wait, what? You read that correctly. Modern Monetary Theory (MMT) has actually been arguing this for years now, as has Rodger Malcolm Mitchell and his own theory of Monetary Sovereignty (MS). That is, a Monetarily Sovereign government like our own federal government and many others (but unlike the euro nations or any US state or local government) has the inherent and unlimited power to create money by fiat. The only limits such a government has are those it chooses to impose on itself, such as the remaining arcane and archaic rules left over from when we actually had a gold standard before we got off of it in 1971. The world changed in that year, but our "leaders" have apparently not gotten the memo.
You might want to sit down before you read any further. Taxes do NOT actually pay for federal spending, rather, the government simply creates the money they spend ad hoc with a few clicks of a computer as they go along. Nor is there any physical need for them to borrow money, but they do so anyway by issuing Treasury securities (i.e. T-bills, T-notes, and T-bonds) whenever they create new money that is unmatched by taxes in order to match it with borrowing--all because of those arcane and archaic rules that they could remove with a stroke of a pen if they chose to. That is, IF they actually chose to.
So where do our tax dollars actually go then? Well, one could argue that those dollars are effectively taken out of the economy and needlessly destroyed. And yes, some of those dollars are ultimately destroyed in practice if not in theory. But it is worse than that, for at least at some point before destruction, they first have to make a pit stop at the privately-owned FERAL Reserve, where they do little more than further enrich the bankster oligarchs. Again, all because of those arcane and archaic rules.
And that big, scary number that we see on the National Debt Clock? Well, nowadays the national debt is literally just an accounting gimmick. What it really consists of are deposits in federal Treasury security accounts, not debt in the way that private debt is. Effectively, it is really a national savings account, and so-called "deficit" spending is simply when the government puts more money into the economy (via spending) than it takes out (via taxes and fees). Thus, a deficit for the federal budget is actually a surplus for the rest of the economy, and vice-versa.
Of course, Rodger Mitchell has an even better, more fundamental idea that makes it so the government would never need to borrow a single penny ever again, and it doesn't require raising taxes OR cutting spending. Not only that, but it would guarantee that Social Security and Medicare, and any other program, would remain fully funded indefinitely as well without the use of FICA taxes (or any other tax for that matter). The solution, in his exact words:
The best way is to eliminate the federal budget deficit and debt: Ending government borrowing. The government has the unlimited ability to create and spend money without borrowing. The process will be:
1) Congress will create an account called "Money."
2) Congress will determine how much money this account contains. The process will be similar to the way Congress now determines the debt ceiling.
3) Federal agencies will write checks against this account according to budgets decided by Congress. If any federal agency needed additional funds, Congress would decide whether or not to allow this spending, in the same way that Congress votes for additional spending by the military et al.
This would eliminate concerns about "our grandchildren paying for the federal debt." There would be no federal debt.And as long as such money were created without any interest or related fees attached to its creation (as per Ellen Brown), such a solution would actually work. Modern Monetary Theory indeed supports such an idea. Congress can already spend money into existence rather than lend it into existence, all they would have to do now is officially decouple such spending from taxes and Treasury securities. (And since he mentioned the debt ceiling, that is another thing we should really get rid of as well in the meantime, since it does far more harm than good.)
Before that, there actually is a painless (albeit unconventional) method of paying off the existing debt in one fell swoop. Not just this year's deficit, but ALL of the cumulative $21 trillion of the debt. It's called the Noble Solution (named after its creator, Richard E. Noble) and does not involve any significant tax hikes or spending cuts. So what is it? It's something we never would have advocated just a few years ago: printing (electronically creating) money out of thin air to pay it off all at once. After all, FERAL Reserve has been creating money out of thin air for decades now (including that recent whopping $16 trillion secret bailout of the banks, which eventually rose to nearly $30 trillion) so we might as well put this practice to productive use. Money is really nothing more than an accounting entry nowadays, so let's make the entry and be done with it for good.
But wouldn't that lead to hyperinflation? In a word, NO. Noble points out that while creating such money is undoubtedly inflationary, using it to pay off the debt (which is in Treasury bonds and is thus already part of the money supply) would be deflationary in that it would shrink the money supply by an equal amount. Thus, the two effects would cancel each other out, as paper (electronic data) would be exchanged for paper (data). Besides, inflation and hyperinflation is NOT caused by money creation, but rather by shortages of food and/or energy, leading to reverse causation. Of course, we would have to bypass the FERAL Reserve to avoid creating more debt in the process, such as #MintTheCoin. Or better yet, nationalize the FERAL Reserve entirely and return the power of money creation to its rightful owners, our elected representatives in Congress and the Department of the Treasury. America would then be "free and clear" for the first time in history since Thomas Jefferson. And it would cost us NOTHING.
Not like it really matters, since as we already noted, the "debt" is not even really debt at all, but simply deposits in Treasury securities. And as Mitchell notes, since the federal government has infinite money, it does not actually touch those deposits at all, but simply returns the existing money in those accounts to the account holders by transferring it, while adding newly-created interest dollars to whatever amount is there. Thus, to "pay off" / extinguish the debt completely, the only new money that needs to be created is the interest, and that new money will stimulate the economy. You read that right.
Alternatively, Joseph M. Firestone points out that the very same effect can also be had more gradually, with Congress passing an Act (such as the very next budget or appropriations bill) that removes those arcane and archaic rules entirely, and mandates/guarantees than any new deficits as well as any outstanding Treasury securities (i.e. national debt) be funded / paid for automatically with the very same ad hoc money creation that they already do in practice, but no longer needing to match it with new borrowing or tax revenues. Thus, the federal government would no longer need to borrow even one penny (i.e. issue any new Treasury securities) unless they truly wanted to for reasons unrelated to the federal budget. And according to Rodger Mitchell, such bonds do, in fact, have other useful, unrelated functions (i.e. providing a safe haven for investors to park their money, and an effective platform for the government to control both short and long-term interest rates, and thus the demand for dollars). But the point is they would no longer HAVE to do so just to meet their current and future fiscal obligations, so the national debt would stop increasing and gradually decrease as any existing Treasury securities mature and/or are redeemed. And thus the 100% contrived political issue (and cudgel) that is the national debt / deficit would quickly become a dead issue, and we can finally focus on other, real priorities for a change.
You know, things like Universal Basic Income, Medicare For All, free college, improvements to education, rebuilding our crumbling infrastructure, and stuff like that. All of which can be readily "paid for" with the stroke of a pen and the click of a computer key. No taxes or borrowing required. And if the "inflation dragon" ever does happen rear its ugly head again, simply raising interest rates will quash it, as will the practice of draining excess bank reserves and "sterilizing" cash inflows at the FERAL Reserve (which again, really should be nationalized to to become truly FEDERAL) when the newly-created dollars pass through many hands and then the banks and make an inevitable pit stop there. Problem solved. And any inflation that is driven by food and energy shortages can be resolved by simply redirecting federal spending to incentivize the producers of such to produce more, by buying such products at a premium and selling (or giving them away) at a loss. Hey, it's infinite money, remember?
So what are we waiting for?
Wednesday, November 13, 2019
When Will The Trump Bubble Burst?
The massive federal "deficit" spending (which to be honest, is really a non-problem for a Monetarily Sovereign government like ours) from 2018 onwards is of course fueling the economy right now in spite of Trump's general wrecking-ball economic and non-economic policies. More federal "deficit" spending = more money supply = more growth dollars = more economic growth, as a general rule. But eventually even that will not be enough to stop the damage being done by Trump's recklessness, especially since so much of that new money creation is going to the where in least needs to go (into the hands of the rich and mega-corporations, Wall Street instead of Main Street. Especially if the Republicans decide to actually start cutting Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, and other vital programs while cynically using the "deficit" hysteria as a cudgel. Yes, they will actually have the chutzpah to try that at some point.
You can really only do so much damage before papering over it no longer works anymore.
Wednesday, October 9, 2019
Trump's Syria Withdrawal Is Reckless And Treacherous, But...
We at the TSAP thus condemn Trump's withdrawal for the way he is doing it and the timing of it. But...
That said, sometimes even a stopped clock can be right twice a day. As we have noted time and time again, we need to get the hell out of out of not just Syria, but also the decades-long quagmires of Iraq and Afghanistan, the latter of which is longer than Vietnam at this point. ISIL, though clearly still in existence as a terrorist group (kinda like al-Qaeda and the Taliban, etc.) is nonetheless defeated territorially compared to 2014. Time for other countries/actors to step up to the plate and do whatever remains of the heavy lifting now. Long past time for that, in fact.
And we also need to stop suborning Saudi Arabia’s unconscionable mass-murdering proxy war in Yemen as well (though Trump seems cool with that for now).
"Endless war" is NOT a sustainable strategy. In fact, it is not even a strategy at all, but a concept, and an absurd one at that. The only people who benefit from it are the oligarchs and the military-industrial complex, as the late Maj. Gen. Smedley Butler once famously noted in his 1935 book War Is A Racket. (Of course, WWII was the exception that proves the rule.)
For Iraq and Afghanistan, we need to get out yesterday. For Syria, it is more nuanced and complicated thanks to Turkey's latest incursion into Syria, and of course what that means for the Kurds (spoiler alert: it isn't good). Thus, being a bit less hasty with withdrawing the 1000 or so troops in Syria specifically would probably be the least-worst idea right now. And in all of these countries, a post-withdrawal Marshall Plan would also be a good idea as well to help deal with the aftermath.
Like the song says, if we go it will be trouble, if we stay it will be double. And those who fail to learn from history are doomed to repeat it.
UPDATE: Just 24 hours after he recklessly shunted troops to the side in Syria (he didn't actually remove them yet from Syria, but plans to) to pave the way for the Turks to invade and slaughter the Kurds (which they are apparently doing right now), he ordered 1800 troops to Saudi Arabia, because reasons, perhaps to provoke Iran. This man is extremely dangerous right now, amd clearly unfit for command even as dogcatcher, let alone President of the United States.
Tuesday, September 24, 2019
The Donald Is Circling The Drain
With dirty tricks like that, he makes even Tricky Dick Nixon look like an angel by comparison!
Of course, the House can only charge him with such "high crimes and misdemeanors", and it is up to the Senate to actually try him and vote on whether or not he should be removed, which requires a two-thirds majority to do so. But even if they don't have the votes to remove him before the 2020 election, it is just a little over a year away, and him having this sort of a dark and ominous cloud hanging over him would certainly NOT help him win re-election at all.
And now with his stupid trade war really starting to bite hard and wreak havoc with both the national and global economy, and his latest foray into the asinine War on Vaping, he is pissing off more and more of his erstwhile supporters, making it even more likely that he will be creamed in 2020 either way.
The jig is up, Donald. Now go do us all a favor and RESIGN, yesterday. Don't let the door hit you on the way out. Or as you like to say, "YOU'RE FIRED!"
UPDATE: It looks like Trump threw Pence under the bus as well. So we may very well get a two-for-one impeachment special as a result. Plus, if Trump eventually does a Nixon and pre-emptively resigns in hopes of Pence pardoning him, he will surely be out of luck now. Hey, that's karma!
Thursday, August 8, 2019
How To Prevent--And Cure--The Next (Or Any) Recession Or Depression (Updated)
He notes that every single recession and virtually every depression in history has been preceded by a cut in federal deficit spending, or worse, a federal surplus. That is not coincidence, since cutting the federal deficit slows the growth of the money supply, and surpluses actually shrink the money supply, all else being equal. (Federal deficit spending = spending new dollars into existence.) A growing economy requires a growing supply of money, and when the money supply fails to keep up with the demand for money for too long, the economy reacts by shrinking. Thus, barring a truly massive increase in private debt (i.e. more money lent into existence by banks), deficit cuts ultimately result in recessions and surpluses result in depressions or at least really long and deep recessions. And recessions and depressions can only be cured by increasing the money supply dramatically, typically by increasing federal deficit spending. That's it.
And this makes perfect sense, since GDP is literally nothing more than a money measure. To wit, GDP = Federal Spending + Nonfederal Spending + Net Exports. Kinda hard to grow that without sufficiently growing the money supply as well.
Everything else is basically a sideshow, but that said, sometimes sideshows can be significant too. Take the current Trump Trade War, for example. This lose-lose, negative-sum game would have been recessionary by now had it not been for the massive growth in the federal deficit occurring at the same time, and eventually it may still cause the next recession in spite of the deficit. But if the Republicans decide to cut federal spending because of manufactured deficit hysteria, that will cause a far worse recession or depression, on top of the consequences of the trade war. And Wall Street recklessness can indeed cause financial crises, which of course can have knock-on effects on Main Street as well, as we have seen numerous times already. Though even that is most likely due to the fact that stock market crashes--or any other asset price crash--will shrink the money supply, all else being equal. And that is especially true when there is a "credit crunch" where banks suddenly refuse to lend as much as before, as we have seen in the wake of both the 1929 and 2008 stock market crashes (but not 1987).
What about oil and gasoline prices? True, 10 out of the past 11 recessions have been preceded by sharp increases in fuel prices. And that makes sense in a country in which oil is the lifeblood of the economy. But even this is more nuanced than one may think. Neither increases in interest rates alone nor increases in fuel prices alone seem to be enough to cause a recession by themselves unless such increases are truly extreme, which is very rare. But the simultaneous combination of significantly large increases in both (that is, a sharp hike in the Fed Funds Rate by more than 2.00-2.50% AND at least a doubling of crude oil prices within a year or two) appears to be sufficient to cause a recession. Of course, given how rare it is for recessions to not be preceded by cuts in deficit spending, it is not clear if sufficient deficit spending can be enough to prevent an oil-induced recession while interest rates are also hiked to prevent or cure inflation. But at the very least, increasing federal deficits will cure such recessions once the inflation dragon is defeated.
The Fed recently cut the Fed Funds Rate by 0.25 percentage points (25 basis points), while noting that there would not likely be any more cuts this year. And the stock market lurched downward upon that announcement, and lurched down again the following day thanks to Trump's further escalation of the trade war, and yet again following China's predictable retaliation. Cutting interest rates is basically like pushing on a string, and in any case it may be too late to fully prevent the next recession that is largely induced by Trump's trade war.
Overall, we know what causes virtually all recessions and depressions. That means we also know how to prevent and cure them as well. That is, when recession hits, or ideally before it hits, we should increase federal deficit spending, or at least refrain from cutting it. It's really not rocket science.
Sunday, July 28, 2019
It's (Still) Mueller Time!
Sunday, June 16, 2019
No War With Iran!
The timing alone is suspicious, as Trump has every reason to "wag the dog" to deflect from his ever-mounting scandals including, but not limited to, Russiagate. Also, the evidence is lacking and what little there is, just doesn't really seem to add up. And we know that Trump has been hell-bent on provoking Iran ever since pulling out of the nuclear deal last year. Time will tell, of course, but this really has "false flag" written all over it.
Besides, going to war with Iran would most likely be a disaster of epic proportions, and certainly not something to take lightly. And even if Iran does somehow turn out to be the culprit, the fact remains that the ships attacked were not even American tankers (they were Norwegian and Japanese), and fully zero Americans were harmed in the process. In fact, this was apparently a "property damage only" (PDO) incident. So let's NOT fall for this would-be modern-day Gulf of Tonkin incident and get sucked into yet another decades-long quagmire again.
The best foreign policy can be summed up in four words: "first, do no harm". Seriously, this is not a game, and the stakes have never been higher now.
UPDATE: Just a few days later on June 20, Iran confirmed that they shot down an unmanned American spy drone (again, PDO) that they claim was flying in their airspace, while the Trump administration claims it was over international waters. Time will tell who is telling the truth, perhaps even both if, for example, it turns out that the drone entered Iranian airspace first but was subsequently shot down over international waters. Maritime borders can be tricky and nuanced. Regardless, this is still not a good reason to go to war with Iran.
It is exceeding unlikely that the Orange Cheeto in Chief actually wants a shooting war with Iran. He himself has said as much. He would rather just bluff to make himself look tough while distracting from his myriad scandals closing in on him in the late stage of his failed presidency. And his puppetmaster Putin apparently doesn't want him to go to war with his buddy Iran, either. But now that Iran apparently called his bluff, and Bolton and Pompeo are still itching for war, the United States is now in a very precarious situation thanks to Trump's stupid bear-poking saber-rattling routines, and a war may still happen inadvertently in spite of him canceling it at the last minute. He is clearly like a crackhead playing with matches and gasoline, and every day he seems more and more unfit for the office of dogcatcher, let alone for the office of the Presidency.