To Both Parties: Stop Playing "Chicken" With The Economy!

The elephant and jackass corporate duopoly in Congress are at it again.  They are, for the gazillionth time, playing a dangerous game of "chicken" with the "debt ceiling" and therefore with the economy.  Even merely hinting that the US government might default on its obligations is enough to cause real and broad economic damage.  And to add insult to injury, they also risk a government shutdown at the same time.  And to them we say, KNOCK IT OFF!  Yesterday!

We are officially being "governed" by overgrown children now, it seems.  In both parties, no less.

Not only is it a stupid and dangerous game to play, but it is 100% unnecessary.  The USA is the only country on Earth that has a separate vote for the debt ceiling and the budget, and one of only two countries that even has a formal "debt ceiling" at all.  And being Monetarily Sovereign, the USA would only default on the debt if it wanted to, since they could literally just print (or keystroke) the money.  Really.  (Just like that "gaffe" that Trump made back in 2016.)  And even the "debt" itself isn't really debt like occurs in the private sector or households--it is literally nothing more than deposits in Treasury security accounts, which are functionally equivalent to glorified savings accounts for investors.  That's it.  Otherwise, they simply keystroke money into existence every time they pay a bill, all while pretending otherwise of course.

And only due to arcane and archaic rules left over from the now-defunct gold standard (that functionally ended on August 15, 1971), which no longer make sense, is there any reason for this sort of utterly pointless dog and pony show, which means there really are only political reasons for it.  Which thus means there are no good reasons for it.  All they have to do is add the following text to any budget appropriations bill, per Dr. Joseph M. Firestone:

Paging Dr. Firestone indeed!  That would render "teh debt" a non-problem overnight.  And if Congress won't do that, the White House can always simply direct the US Treasury to #MintTheCoin.  Due to a little-known loophole in the law, the US Mint is allowed to mint platinum coins in literally ANY denomination as legal tender.  That means they can mint a trillion-dollar coin, or even a $100 trillion coin for that matter, and use such seigniorage as revenue to pay any bills.  The current White House, however, does not seem to be even the least bit interested in doing so, alas.

The US Constitution makes it crystal clear that the government must never call the public debt into question.  So what are we waiting for?

UPDATE:  The predictable howling about how the platinum coin loophole doesn't really exist (and that using the face value of such a coin as revenue is somehow technically illegal) is back again, and it is neither true nor necessarily in good faith.  This particular criticism appears to hinge entirely on the technical legal definition of "bullion coin" and the relative lack of precedent, but that doesn't mean it is necessary illegal.  Simply call it a "proof coin", and the face value is valid regardless of the value of the metal used to make it.  And the Federal Reserve would have no choice but to accept it as legal tender when deposited at the New York Fed, and thus fill the Treasury's own spending account there with the equivalent amount of paper/electronic dollars of revenue for spending.  Problem solved.  Next.

By the way, if the loophole doesn't really exist, then why did Republican Senator Mike Lee introduce a bill explicitly to close that very same loophole?

Even failing that, other things the President can do is invoke the 14th Amendment to nullify the debt ceiling, issue a new and special kind of bond to make an end-run around the debt ceiling, or even simply issue more debt in the short-term interim as the "least illegal" option under the Constitution, as the Constitution clearly prohibits defaulting on the debt.

In other words, President Biden can end this madness all by himself if he wanted.  So what is he waiting for?

The TSAP Denounces Vaccine Mandates

With President Biden's latest disturbing executive orders issued today, we at the TSAP hereby reaffirm our opposition to any vaccine mandates or "passports" or coercion of any kind, period.  As we have noted before, these vaccines are not only experimental (regardless of the recent federal quickie rubber-stamping of the Pfizer vaccine), but they are also revealed to be about as "leaky" as the flu shots, meaning that one can still catch and spread the virus even if fully vaccinated (while natural immunity seems to be far superior).  Either one or both of these two facts (and we have both) is sufficient to demolish the case for any such mandates and passports, since the rug is completely pulled out from under the argument that the vaccines are to "protect others".  Thus, these vaccines are best thought of as a means of self-protection, especially for vulnerable people, and therefore should be strictly voluntary.  You know, kinda like how flu shots have historically been.

And that's before we delve into all of the emerging safety concerns of these vaccines, especially for children, teens, and young adults.  When they ultimately try to force these things on your kids (and they will if we let them), that has to be a real hard red line for We the People, and fast!  If not, the inevitable agony of regret will be the least of our problems. 

If there was ever a hill to die on, this is it!

But on a more fundamental level, it ultimately comes down to the basic human rights of bodily autonomy and integrity.  Seriously, whatever happened to "my body, my choice"?  (Notice how that very concept is under attack in more ways than one these days.)

Imagine it is 2030 now, and you are looking back at what you did or failed to do in 2020 and 2021.  Would you be proud or ashamed of yourself?  When in doubt, ask yourself that question every single day.

UPDATE:  Looks like the ACLU finally broke their silence a few days ago on this very pressing issue--and not in a good way.  They basically reversed their pre-2020 stance against vaccine mandates and coercion, and are now acquiescing to these demands.  Thus, they can now be officially said to have SOLD OUT to the medical-fascist establishment once and for all.  

Also, it seems that the effectiveness of the Pfizer vaccine (and remember, this is the "gold standard" of COVID vaccines, no less) plummets much more rapidly than anyone predicted.  One study in Qatar found that it drops from a peak of 72% (not 95% like originally claimed) down to essentially ZERO infection protection within a mere five months after the second dose, waning slowly at first, and then collapsing all at once.  For severe, critical, or fatal COVID, the effectiveness (fortunately) drops much more gradually from a peak of an actual 95% down to about 72% or so at six months, with very wide variation.

Israeli data for Pfizer are not much better, and their current experience with giving a third booster dose to the masses willy-nilly seems to actually be backfiring and spiking the curve even further (much like what happens during the break-in phase after the first dose), so booster shots are hardly a real solution to the problem of rapidly waning vaccines, except maybe for those folks who are extremely vulnerable or immunocompromised.  For the masses, it would seem that, ironically, the very best booster of all would actually be--wait for it--natural infection with the virus itself, as according to the Israeli data, that provides a whopping 27 times better infection protection than vaccination alone.  In other words, it seems that that the only way to true and robust "herd immunity" was the ultimately inevitable natural infection of healthy people all along.  Just like practically every other pandemic in history.

Meanwhile, these vaccines seem to be "the leading cause of coincidences" these days...

The Progressive Case For Mask-Free Kids And Schools

WARNING:  You may wanna sit down when reading this, as this article will slaughter so many sacred cows that it will lead to the mother of all barbecues!

It's September 2021, back to school time for millions of children and teens, and if your thought we would not still be having this inane and insane masks for kids debate 18 months after the start of the pandemic, you would unfortunately be very wrong indeed.  The debate is greater than ever before, and largely split along party lines (Republicans against forced masking, Democrats in favor) because reasons.  I mean, you KNOW things are bad when Ron and Rand Paul end up sounding like the voice of reason!

The progressive left is VERY foolish to cede the moral high ground to the right on this issue.  And it WILL come back to bite them, perhaps as soon as the 2022 midterms.  Just like it always does eventually.  

There are of course some genuine progressive voices desperately shouting into the wilderness to "Unmask Our Kids" yesterday, but they keep on getting silenced and censored by the thought police.  A prime example is this excellent article (preserved in archive on the Wayback Machine) in Forbes online magazine by a progressive teacher (and founder of Zigazoo) named Zak Ringlestein.  He notes how traumatic and toxic it is to children's mental health to subject them to prolonged forced masking, antisocial distancing, and the whole New Abnormal agenda in general.  And he also notes how utterly classist it is in its effects towards poorer children, if not its intent.  The cowards over at Forbes abruptly took the article down, of course, because well, you already know why.

As we have noted before in previous articles, there is absolutely NO scientific reason to support forcing anyone to wear face masks in general, and that applies a fortiori for children.  Not as PPE, not as source control, not as anything at all beyond mere symbolic window dressing and placebos, since we know now that the COVID virus is truly airborne just like cold and flu viruses.  Not only have mask mandates (in schools or in the community) not done a LICK of good in stopping the virus or even making a noticeable dent in the epidemic curves for anyone in the real world, but for children (who are at less risk from COVID than they are from the flu, and are statistically unlikely to be COVID superspreaders either), masks are likely to be more harmful to their physical and mental health and social development when used regularly for prolonged periods of time.

You really want to reduce airborne virus transmission in schools?  Ventilate, ventilate, ventilate!  If you lack high-tech air system upgrades, don't wait, just open the damn windows and doors.  Problem solved.  Next.

"But we can't do that!  What if there might be an active shooter at some undefined point in the future?" Well, unless all windows and doors are literally bulletproof, which they usually are not, keeping them closed 24/7 is really just security theater.  Kinda like how masks are really just public health theater.  And neither one sees the forest for the trees.

Friendly reminder to adults who are still scared:  N95 or greater masks are currently abundantly available for self-protection, and are at least somewhat effective in that regard if fit-tested and used properly.  And any adults who still feel the need to use them as an extra layer of protection when around children are perfectly free to do so.  Voluntarily.

Clearly, all of these mandates fail the Martian test:  that is, could you explain it to a Martian without sounding like an idiot? (You can't.)  And they also fail the 2030 test:  that is, would you still be willing to follow these mandates in 2030, since the virus is endemic and will almost certainly still be around in 2030, 2040, 2050, and beyond?  And given the long-term health, developmental and economic consequences already baked into the cake from the past 18 months of restrictions, all of these mandates also fail the Iroquois seven generations test as well.

There is nothing at all even remotely leftist or progressive about forcing masks on anyone, especially children.  Unless by "leftist" you really mean totalitarian, and by "progressive" you really mean technocratic, of course.  Nor is it even particularly communitarian either, given how utterly corrosive it is to genuine community, unless of course by "communitarian" you really mean communist or antisocial. And it is certainly not in any sense utopian, unless by "utopian" you really mean, well, dystopian.

There is nothing green either about producing billions or trillions of disposable "paper" (actually, polypropylene plastic) masks only to see a good chunk of them end up in the Earth's oceans.  Unless by "green" you really mean greenwashing and ecocidal.

And contrary to a very poorly written article in Ms. Magazine of all places a year ago, there is certainly nothing at all feminist about forcing anyone to cover their faces.  Unless by "feminist" you really mean "inadvertently emulating certain countries and groups that one claims to dislike, to one degree or another", and not seeing the irony of it all.

And finally, take a look at the rest of the world.  The USA is one of a very few countries that forces masks on children under the age of 12, let alone as young as two!  And many of those few other countries that did at some point have now since relented (and hopefully repented!), making the USA a rather lonely country in that regard.  But in one way that is sadly not a surprise, given the great American pastime of scapegoating children and teens for adult problems.  And yes, that even includes Florida at the local school district level, with "rebel without a clue" teachers and administrators openly defying their governor, Ron DeSantis, who is doing his very best to put an end to this complete and utter madness once and for all.

Make no mistake, at this point, no one can intellectually honestly say that these mandates are really about science.  They are all about power and control above all else.  And worse, they are ultimately a convenient segway into COVID vaccine mandates for kids as well.  And that, ladies and gentlemen, is truly scary indeed, given how woefully undertested these experimental gene therapy "vaccines" really are, particularly for children.  If there was ever a hill to die on, this absolutely has to be the one!

UPDATE:  When the pro-mask crowd inevitably trots out this slanted review of their favorite cherry-picked studies, be sure to point out that those studies are either 1) modeling studies and not real-world studies, 2) look only at adults and say literally nothing at all about children or schools, 3) have very weak effect sizes and/or low-quality, 4) have not been consistently replicated, 5) conflict with literally decades of research evidence to the contrary, 6) short-term studies that found short-term effects that did not really pan out in the real world in the long run, 7) do not address the potential long-term harms of prolonged forced masking, or 8) all of the above. 

Take a look instead at this excellent article that sums up the latest actual science on the matter of masks for kids.  Spoiler alert:  it does NOT make the pro-mask side look like winners at all, to put it mildly. 

As for the latest cherry-picking CDC "study" of the effects of mask mandates in schools, well, let's just say that if you torture the data enough, they will confess to anything.  There are so many confounding variables not controlled for, not least of which are contact tracing (or lack thereof) and virus testing rates, since according to the CDC's own rules, if both people were wearing masks at the time, that is not considered an "exposure" and thus not automatically tested.  Yes, really.  And more tests generally means more "cases", particularly if there are no symptoms.  

This is what passes for "The Science" these days.

Also see here as well.  And lest you still think masks somehow work for and eradicated the common flu (!), see here as well.  We really got a nice bridge we'd like to sell you.

FEBRUARY 2022 UPDATE:  Seriously, this needs to end, and yesterday is not soon enough!  To any teachers and staff reading this who are still worried, there are indeed some very cheap and low-tech ways to fight airborne viruses in classrooms that do NOT depend on masks or antisocial distancing.  Build a DIY Corsi-Rosenthal box air purifier, open the windows/doors for fresh air, and relax and take a chill pill already!  (And UV air disinfection also works well too, which has been known for over 80 years now.)

Oh, and now we see that the actual data from the updated version of the widely-acclaimed Bangladesh mask study shows that masks simply don't work at all in the real world, period.  That, plus the Danish mask study, plus the past 100+ years of research are enough to conclude that any perceived benefits were basically spurious all along.  We already knew they didn't work in 1918, and they sure as hell don't work now.

The Mother Of All Fiscal Cliffs?

With extended and expanded unemployment benefits set to end abruptly on Labor Day, the federal eviction moratorium already ended just days ago, and the coming showdown between the two right wings of the corporate duopoly in Congress over the debt ceiling this month, we have the trifecta of a massive "fiscal cliff".  Though unemployment rates are down from their peak, the economy is still reeling and fairly weak from the pandemic and particularly the lockdowns and shutdowns that did some serious damage all while failing to stop the virus in any meaningful sense.  And a sudden drop in federal dollars can easily do further damage to the economy as well, just when it needs money to heal.

At the same time, inflation is still heating up, and there are persistent shortages of many things including labor.  Thus, we have a recipe for stagflation if current trends continue, even if the longer-term trend is towards deflation.  

So what is the solution?  Voila:

1. End the enhanced unemployment benefits with all of their perverse incentives, but phase them out a bit more gradually instead.  But yes, 18 months really is more than enough.  Restore unemployment benefit rules to the pre-pandemic status quo ante, in other words.
2. Instead of an eviction moratorium, which is unfair to landlords when done for this long, use federal dollars to make direct payments to landlords to make them whole in that regard, in return for refraining from evicting tenants.  Do that for as long as reasonably necessary.  Any future moratoriums shall exist only as long as it takes for the funds to be disbursed.
3. Do another round of one-off stimulus payments to all Americans, period.  And don't discriminate this time!  Anyone with an SSN or ITIN should be able to get a cool $2000 yesterday, period. 
4. Implement Universal Basic Income (UBI) to one degree or another, with no strings attached.  Better yet, give everyone an account at the Federal Reserve to make such payments easier.
5. Now is the time for the Federal Reserve to raise interest rates to at least 1.0% yesterday, then incrementally higher as necessary until inflation drops below 3%, then cut rates once more.  That is the best way to quash inflation without causing yet another recession.
6. If we truly must raise taxes, then aim for the top 1% and especially the top 0.1% and 0.01%, with NO LOOPHOLES this time.  And implement a financial transactions tax on Wall Street as well.
7. End the utterly pointless and destructive song-and-dance and games of "chicken" over the debt ceiling, that no other country in the world does but the USA, by simply abolishing that limit entirely or deeming that limit to be automatically raised every time a budget is passed.  Like every other country on Earth does.
8. Above all, DO NOT SHUT DOWN AGAIN!  Seriously.  And end all mandates in regards to masks and vaccines as well.  Those are counterproductive, illiberal, and also not good for the economy either.  Ditto for any sort of travel restrictions and vaccine "passports" too.

Problem solved.  But that would make too much sense, of course.

UPDATE:  It looks like the states that cut off such expanded unemployment benefits a few months early in June have NOT seen any better job growth than the states who maintained such benefits through Labor Day.  Thus, the problem of a labor shortage is much deeper than that, and is really more of a wage shortage.  All the more reason to raise the minimum wage to at least $15/hour and/or implement UBI.

Also, the latest federal vaccine mandates will only make labor shortages that much worse.  You think you're short staffed now?  Just wait two weeks!