[boriscleto]

[reeftool]

Actually, the fiscal cliff could be a good thing and wake up voters that we might be better served by electing responsible people who are willing to deal with issues rather than loudmouths with an opinion.

[GeneV]

Krugman nails it again. http://www.nytimes.com/2012/12/07/opinion/krugman-the-forgotten-millions.htm...5fI3FhblUtB5A& The public thinks that the fiscal cliff means we go broke or there is a big deficit. In reality, it means the opposite. The deficit is cut too much and the economy tanks. Unemployment goes through the roof.

[jeffkrol]

Krugman nails it again. http://www.nytimes.com/2012/12/07/opinion/krugman-the-forgotten-millions.htm...5fI3FhblUtB5A& The public thinks that the fiscal cliff means we go broke or there is a big deficit. In reality, it means the opposite. The deficit is cut too much and the economy tanks. Unemployment goes through the roof.

funny..just read that before looking here:

And, to his credit, President Obama did include a modest amount of stimulus in his initial budget offer; the White House, at least, hasn’t completely forgotten about the unemployed. Unfortunately, almost nobody expects those stimulus plans to be included in whatever deal is eventually reached.

So why aren’t we helping the unemployed? It’s not because we can’t afford it. Given those ultralow borrowing costs, plus the damage unemployment is doing to our economy and hence to the tax base, you can make a pretty good case that spending more to create jobs now would actually improve our long-run fiscal position.

Nor, I think, is it really ideology. Even Republicans, when opposing cuts in defense spending, immediately start talking about how such cuts would destroy jobs — and I’m sorry, but weaponized Keynesianism, the assertion that government spending creates jobs, but only if it goes to the military, doesn’t make sense.

No, in the end it’s hard to avoid concluding that it’s about class. Influential people in Washington aren’t worried about losing their jobs; by and large they don’t even know anyone who’s unemployed. The plight of the unemployed simply doesn’t loom large in their minds — and, of course, the unemployed don’t hire lobbyists or make big campaign contributions.

So the unemployment crisis goes on and on, even though we have both the knowledge and the means to solve it. It’s a vast tragedy — and it’s also an outrage.

[jeffkrol]

–How the rich are screwing you, and how you can fight back

Shortly afterward, I followed up with:

there is one additional reason why the leaders lie to us, and it too has nothing to do with education, and will not be cured by education: They don’t trust us to use the information, properly.

They think, if the populace understood Monetary Sovereignty, the people would demand all sorts of free things, and this not only would close the gap (horrors!), but also could cause inflation. They think Congress would not be able to resist the calls for help, and so would spend uncontrollably.

The fault with that sort of thinking is that Congress always has the perfect bogeyman: Inflation. All Congress needs to say is, “We are in an inflation we can’t control by other means, so we have to level off our spending.” Done. Bernanke could name it the “Inflation cliff.”

Of course, that would happen many years down the line, after we have free Medicare for all, free schooling for all and a Social Security that pays an living benefit.

But the rich would hate it. How would they prove they are rich?

So that is how the rich are screwing you — by bribing and threatening our leaders with political support or non-support. How can you fight back?

Short of picking up pitchforks and torches, you can pick up paper and typewriter. You can contact your local newspaper and your national politician. You can tell them you know that the government cannot run short of dollars, and that it could provide free Medicare for everyone, and a living Social Security benefit, and eliminate FICA — all while cutting taxes.

You can tell the politicians, if they vote for these things, you’ll vote to keep them in office, but otherwise you’ll vote against them. And tell your newspaper you know about Monetary Sovereignty, and what they are publishing is bullsh*t, and you’ll keep writing until they come clean. Teach them anger and fear.

You can start or join a group that protests against austerity, i.e. cuts in social spending, cuts to the deficit and any tax increases. March in the streets. Tell one coherent story. “NO TO AUSTERITY. NO TO BUDGET CUTS. NO TO TAX INCREASES. NO TO LIES.”

Get angry. Cause fear among the politicians.

The rich are doing it to you. They rely on your lethargy and passivity. They depend on your being sheep. So far, they have been right.

Extreme right.

Rodger Malcolm Mitchell

And WHO is this crazed man, believer in that "economic theory that shan't be named"???

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:Rodgermitchell
Rodger Malcolm Mitchell is a business man and an economist -- a turn-around expert, who enters companies in trouble and rebuilds them. He began his career in 1956, where he became the advertising manager and purchasing director for Booth Fisheries, Chicago, then the largest frozen seafood company in America.

Mr. Mitchell left Booth in 1968 and joined Arthur Meyerhoff Associates, an advertising agency, whose largest account was the Wm. Wrigley Jr. Company, of chewing gum fame. Mr. Mitchell became a Vice President and shareholder in Meyerhoff as well as the Management Superviser on the Wrigley account. At $50 million, Wrigley was one of the largest advertising accounts in Chicago. "I probably learned more about business from Mr. Meyerhoff than from anyone. His most important lesson was to focus rather than to pursue multiple ideas, simultaneously. He mantra was, 'Good ideas are a dime a dozen.' His teaching helped me save distressed companies, the owners of whom nearly always tried to do too many things at once."

In 1980, Mr. Mitchell sold his shares of Meyerhoff to the BBDO Advertising Agency, and became the lead partner in Murlas Commodities, a company on the edge of bankruptcy. Under Mitchell's leadership, Murlas became one of the largest commodity brokerages in Chicago, with more than 150 brokers.

By 1989, Mr. Mitchell became disenchanted with the fundamental premise of commodities trading. As he explained it, "No matter how hard we tried, the mathematics of commodity futures required that eventually, all customers lost. For every winner, there was a loser, but because commissions were paid to the commodity exchanges and the brokers, each trade had a slightly higher loss than profit. It was identical with Las Vegas, but disguised as legitimate investing. Eventually, the heartache of watching people lose their money, despite all our efforts, took its toll, and I got out." The company no longer exists.

The next company was National Law Resource. Not only was the company on the brink of bankruptcy, but the then owner of the company was deeply in debt to the IRS and even had mortgaged his mother's home, which the bank was about to repossess. Mr. Mitchell joined MLR as an equal partner, and built it into the largest used law book company in the world. After Mr. Mitchell sold his half of the company, in 1996, the company declined sharply.

In 1996, Mr. Mitchell joined Management Simulations, Inc (as of 2008, Capsim Management Simulations, Inc.) The company had fallen on hard times. Both owners had physical problems, sales were barely existant, and unbeknownst to the owners, the bookkeeper had stolen a large amount of money from the business. Knowing Mr. Mitchell's history of saving companies, they asked for his help. He discovered the theft, then built the company into the largest supplier of business simulations to schools, in the world.

In 1996, Mitchell wrote the book, THE ULTIMATE AMERICA, which he later republished under the title, FREE MONEY, PLAN FOR PROSPERITY. The books were based on three facts:
1. A growing economy requires a growing supply of money.
2. All money is a form of debt.
3. The Federal Government has the unlimited ability to create money.

These three fundamental truths, and subsequent research, led to Mr. Mitchell's assertion that federal taxes could and should be eliminated. Further discussion can be found on Mr. Mitchell's web site, www.rodgermitchell.com [1]

[jeffkrol]

I tell similar stories about conversations with lawmakers, including one with the chairman of the congressional black caucus, who listened to Warren and I explain government finance for about an hour and then looked at us and said, "I can't say that." Not "I don't agree with that" or "you are wrong," but "I can't say that."

Still, I think there are people like Bernie Sanders who genuinely believe that the government has to get the money from "somewhere" and that it really is not all that different from a household (except, perhaps, that it can remain solvent longer than you or I).

Stephanie Kelton (Chair of the economics department at the University of Missouri, Kansas City)
Side trip on Ms. Kelton.........

In the current environment, Wall Street's clout is so great that it controls the political discourse in Washington. Why else, asked Stephanie Kelton, an economics professor at University of Missouri-Kansas City, would we be talking about deficit reduction rather than economic growth right now?
Her answer is that the contraction of Social Security would serve Wall Street's interests by driving more retirement money into private accounts, so for them it's the top priority.
One of the ways Wall Street so often prevails is because its leaders "act as if they're the smartest people in the room," Kelton noted. They say: "Trust us. We know what we're doing." Outsiders are more likely to question that kind of thinking, Kelton said.
"The revolving door between Wall Street and that Treasury secretary position is very important to break," she said.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/11/25/geithner-replacement-treasury_n_2170951.html

You know what they say.. "Follow the money"................