True Christianity and capitalism have never mixed and will never mix. The GOP voters had better get used to life in a third world nation. Thanks to FDR, few GOP voters have gone hungry a day in their life. When they have a capitalist dictatorship in office, they will get to see exactly how well the trickle down theory works, as their children get sent off to wars to destroy democracies and their own standard of living gets cut in half if not more. Where torture will be normal and organs will be harvested. Where the entire press will be owned by the wealthy and be telling the people how lucky they are. Those who dare speak out will be punished. What a polluted world to leave their children. Even though there will be no left-wing intellectuals in office, the right wing peasants will still blame them.
Maybe the IRS should just start auditing the rich to hell with what Congress wants. Then stop going after the poor. I don't know if they can do this but if I was head of the IRS I most certainly would. Need a bit of guts here.
Ms. Stokes. auditing the wealthy requires lots of money to pay the government attorneys who must litigate against the private attorneys hired by the rich. This, MAGA Mike understands.
Gerald, according to Thom, the return on auditing the rich is about seven times more than the cost. So it doesn't cost taxpayers and it keeps the rich more honest! They don't seem to like jail for themselves.
Mike Johnson (F) MAGA/RF-West, is more dangerous than our national debt ever could be. He conveniently forgot to mention that fact while he gleefully dragged out the national debt corpse from the GOP prop closet. What a farce. If people actually get their undies in a bunch over this meaningless rerun of a stunt and simultaneously not have the holy shits over just about everything else going on in our country - well, we're in trouble.
Thom's words are spot on in defining this specimen: Smarmy.
He is as dangerous as Agent Orange, if not more so. He's the exact thing the billionaire cartel have been hoping for - Donald Trump without the baggage.
Ah Calvinism, the rule of the elect. Jean Cauvin, cum Calvin, the son of Gerard Cohen cum Cauvin, born during the reformation movement,, jumped in the new movement, and preached a version that borrowed heavily from orthodox Judaism. The notion of predestination, being that "god" has selected, before birth, who was favored, by endowing them with wealth. Thus a "good Jew" was rich and a "bad Jew" was poor. Famous Calvinists in American History are the Robber barons like John Davidson Rockefeller and Andrew Carnegie, Cornelius Vanderbilt, and Jacob Astor was a member of the Reformed Congregation of the Jewish faith until his death.
"Who keeps the world, both old and new, in pain or pleasure? Who makes politics run glibber all? The shade of Bonaparte's noble daring? Jew Rothschild and his fellow Christian Baring. (p.42 the Money Lenders, by Anthony Sampson)
Yes Mr. Farrar. You are running in good company with your comment about Calvinism. Are you familiar with THE PROTSTANT ETHIC AND THE SPIRIT OF CAPITALISM by the German Max Weber? He was one of the four most important social theorists in the latter 19th century, along with Emile Durkheim (French), Vilfredo Pareto (Italian) and, of course Karl Marx (ex-patriot German).
I know of Max Weber, but never read him. Never heard of Vilfredo Pareto
I turned to wikipedia and found this. It seems that he was a proto fascist
criticized the government of the Italian statesman Giovanni Giolitti for not taking a tougher stance against worker strikes. Growing unrest among labor in the Kingdom of Italy led him to the anti-socialist and anti-democratic camp.[13] His attitude towards Italian fascism in his last years is a matter of controversy.
Renato Cirillo wrote that Vilfredo Pareto had frequently been considered a predecessor of fascism as a result of his support for the movement when it began. However, Cirillo disagreed with this interpretation, suggesting that Pareto was critical of fascism in his private letters.[23]
Pareto had argued that democracy was an illusion and that a ruling class always emerged and enriched itself. For him, the key question was how actively the rulers ruled. For this reason, he called for a drastic reduction of the state and welcomed Benito Mussolini's rule as a transition to this minimal state so as to liberate the "pure" economic forces.[24]
When he was still a young student, the future leader of Italian fascism Benito Mussolini attended some of Pareto's lectures at the University of Lausanne in 1904. It has been argued that Mussolini's move away from socialism towards a form of "elitism" may be attributed to Pareto's ideas.[25] Franz Borkenau, a biographer, argued that Mussolini followed Pareto's policy ideas during the beginning of his tenure as prime minister.[26]: 18
Karl Popper dubbed Pareto the "theoretician of totalitarianism",[27] but, according to Renato Cirillo, there is no evidence in Popper's published work that he read Pareto in any detail before repeating what was then a common but dubious judgement in anti-fascist circles.[14]
Also I have to reiterate my opinion of Marx. He was not a socialist but a proto Libertarian. There was no such thing or movement in his time.
I base this opinion on his deeds, not his words. Words are cheap, deeds are solid.
Marx hectored the editors of South Carolina newspapers, to free the slaves and hire them back at market wages, thus produce cheaper cotton. His partner, Frederick Engels, had inherited a textile mill, and had to resort to buying, cheaper and lesser quality Egyptian Cotton, and thus minimize his profits. Marx was an elitist.
He was supported by The League of Just Men, the financial elite of London.
More proof that he was free trader. He opposed the Corn Laws, an import tariff the exchequer of the treasury had levied on imported grain (Only in America is maize called corn).
Marx believed that Gold was the standard of value; Pages 45-46, . 0. Kuschpeta, The Banking and Credit System of the USSR, Tilburg Studies in Economics, 1978, MaRTINUS Nijhoff Social Sciences Div, Leidenl Boston, 284 pages.
The father of Libertarianism, is Fred Koch, who got his ideas from Joe Stalin, while building oil wells and refineries for him in the 1930's, he came back with some Stalinist Ideas, like "if You don't work you don't eat", Article 12, 1936 Soviet Constitution., also gold as the standard of value and a 100% gold standard, which will lead to a permanent depresssion, because there just is not enough gold to cover all of the money needed for a healthy economy (the USSR is proof).
Not knowing anything about Max Weber,I turned to wikipedia, and extracted this
defended the provisions for emergency presidential powers that became Article 48 of the Weimar Constitution. These provisions were later used by Adolf Hitler to subvert the rest of the constitution and institute rule by decree, allowing his regime to suppress opposition and gain
dictatorial powers. Sound like a 1918 William Barr.
I kind of resent being placed in the company of people with whom I would not associate and do not memorialize.
As I said many times, I may nibble on a pie or a pizza, but will not swallow the whole thing.
When looking forideas, I treat the library of humanity, as one does a supermarket, A little of this, a little of that, but not the whole thing
Some people, especially teens, think a little bit of colon or perfume is great, but then take a bath in it. A little bit of garlic makes a good tomato sauce, but too much and you throw it in the garbage.
Mr. Farrar. I do not dispute your claims about those theorists nor do I identify your positions with Fascism. I have read enough of your comments to not make that mistake. Like them or not they gave birth to modern social theory. The good and the bad. I am saying that you are running in good company. My apology if it sounded more than that.
There is much more to be said about those men than in your reply. Weber claimed that because Calvinists believed God had preordained whether or not an individual was saved or condemned and no good deeds in this life could change that. They worked very hard to be personally successful because if they were, this would indicate to them that they were blessed by god. And this would indicate to all who was going to heaven (them) and who was condemned to hell. This would encourage the development of Capitalism, and Individualism said weber. This is his greatest contribution. I have briefly stated his major work highly summarized. Many offer it as an alternative to Marx. I think what you said about Calvinism aligns with Weber's claim. Weber was never in a position of power in the government. He was only an advisor who spent most of his life at Heidelberg, I think. In his college days he engaged in many drunken duals using blades and lived with what were considered honorable facial scars the rest of his days. He loved beer. You left out Durkheim. I do not know how you might view him. I know you do not align with Marx. Durkheim, Pareto and Weber were academic scholars. Marx was free-lance. Occasionally an editor. He read several languages. shortly before he died, he was studying general Chinese, as was Weber. He was financially supported most of his life by Engels who, as you pointed out, inherited wealth. Both Marx and Weber wanted to find out why Capitalism developed in the West, but not in China. Neither lived to do it. Although Marx did write enough to fill a large bookshelf.
Thanks Mr Dobbertin. I understand your previous comment now.
A couple of things, it wasn't just Engels that supported Marx, Engles did not have the resources to subsidize Marx profligacy, but it was the "League of Just Men" a collective of finance capitalists.
Marx held the same view as Alexander Hamilton and the dudes who wrote the Constitition, which American mythology have lionized and turned into demi gods,so much so that a book has been printed with their letters and arguments, and "capitalists" have created and sustained organizations, like the Federalist Society, to promote the ideation that the provenance of America and indeed civilization is rule of the elect.
To Marx, the enemy was the middle class, whom he called the bourgeoisie, he talked of labor as an oppressed proletiariat, and indeed it was, until workers organized into unions.
If the Marxists read with critical understanding, and I doubt that anyone who quotes Marx and Adam Smith, ever read their works (doing so requires a supply of toothpicks to keep the eyelids open), does not realize that he only talked about the bourgeoisie and proletariat and not at all about the ruling class,
It takes money to start a business, employ people and produce things that people will buy, and that is not capitalism.
Capital is money, a medium of exchange, Capitalism is not entrepreneurialism, Capitalism is simply the primacy of debt, aka finance capitalism, paradoxically the occupation of the League of Just Men.
What Marx had in mind as regards capitalism and the bourgeousie was Scrooge, and the textile manufacturers, and mine owners. Which is another pararox, because textile manufacturers, paid low wages and employed children to service the looms, a very dangerous job.
Here I confess that my 14th great grandfather founded a dynastry on woolery, from owning flocks of sheep, to waulking, fulling, dyeing and after Henry VII imposed a tariff on export of raw wool, to textile manufacturing, which cost the lives of two distant (very distant) cousins, who were murdered over the likes of damming a stream to operate a textile mill. . Wealthy enough to buy stock in the Virginia Company of London, and finance a third sons, voyage to Virginia to found his own dynastry.
Although this was two centuries before Marx, I am sure that my ancestors would be part of the bourgeoisie that he railed against, and in fact hired children to do jobs like waulking (which as treading on raw wool in tubs of urine, to purge the lanolin.
The Virginia Company, East India Company and all such monopolies were the creation of investors, (called adventurers of the time), who pooled their resources and petitioned the crown for a charter, by which to purse adventurers to bring in resources that would benefit England and the crown.
The purpose of the Virginia Company was to find gold and silver, but there was none to be found in the James River valley, and it almost folded after the starving time, when John Rolfe showed up with a purse full of Turkish tobacco seeds. and from there grew plantations.
These people weren't capitalists. That came later, with the industrial revolution.
The irony is that Marx would hold ind disdain, the very people who idolize him, and commit murder and crimes in his name,like the Bolsheviks and the radical leftists who plaque this country, in my book they are as bad as the MAGAts, but at least are diverse and eqalitarian in sentiment, but too fucking extreme, non thinking and ignorant. Bleeting sheep, just like the MAGAts.
And I am not a middle of the roader, moderate.
For instance, take reparations. I am for reparations in the form of government support for education and providing people who live in ghettos, decent homes, and encourage the movement of enterprises into communities to provide jobs that not only provide jobs, but
personal dignity, and healthy living, the idea of dropping shit loads of money onto people is preposterous and counter productive, we know all we need to know about human behavior and mentality, that showering people with money, only creates more civil and social problems, and people are fools, live in the moment, and run out waste money on useless shit, like Jewelry, expensive cars, furs and other trash. Then it's gone, and they are back where they started and this is irrespective or race or ethnicity.. humans are feckless and live in the moment, with no regard for the future. That's why humanity is in irrevocable deep shit today.
Mr. Farrar. I read The Federalist Papers years ago when I was still teaching. It was not entirely possible to understand them unless one reads the history of the period as well. And one must keep a copy of the Constitution right there on the desk next to the Federalist Papers. while reading them.
You are correct about reading THE WEALTH OF NATIONS by Adam Smith. His pin factory almost put me to sleep many afternoons. He used the phrase "The invisible hand of the market" only once, almost as a throwaway comment in all those hundreds of pages. Today's Economists (who serve the business community) have stretched out the meaning of the phrase way beyond what Smith meant, to the point where they are implying that he was saying what THEY want to say. Which is: the government should leave the "market" alone, not interfere with it and it will always make things work out for the best for us all in the end. That means no constraints on business, no regulations, no taxes. These Economists simply do not talk about how Smith spoke of how he was afraid of how unrestrained Capitalism could do great harm to all of us. They love his throwaway phrase "the invisible hand of the market."
As for "reparations" the damage which was done to Black people was too immense and thorough and too far in the past for there to be reparations. Dead people cannot be recompensed. They're dead. But their progeny can and should be given affirmative action, at least. I agree with you. What we should do is create the best possible institutions for guaranteeing all Americans "the right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness." I would change that to read "life, liberty and property." Which is what John Locke (from whom the phrase was borrowed) originally said. The many slave owners among the Founding Fathers were joined by conservative non-slave owners in their refusal to quote Lock accurately. So they said we have the right to try to be happy, to pursue happiness. But we have no right to be happy. They said there is no universal right to the property which they all knew is the thing that makes life easier, happier.
I see nothing wrong with affirmative action to help insure that Blacks women, and other minority groups among us are not left behind. Affirmative action is not "reparations" or a "quota System." Affirmative action only insures that members of minority groups will not be passed over and ignored. They will be included in the quest for happiness. They will be given a fair and equal shot at it.
Well it didn’t take long to see where Mike Johnson’s true alliances lie, with Koch and the rest of the oligarchs, Grover Nordquist and his starve and strangle government until it chokes and dies anti-tax crusaders, and Mike’s buddies over at The Heritage Foundation.
The GOP gets poor people to buy in to gutting the IRS. Poor families get audited by the IRS at a high rate. Poor hate the IRS also. This results the majority of poor voting the GOP in to office.
Jane. I have been audited by the IRS three times in my life even though I have been a middle class wage earner all that time. Audited once while in Graduate school. Can you believe it? A Federal tax expert told me that the probability of a wage earner being audited once was less than once in a lifetime. The probability of twice was infinitesimal. The probability of three times was zero, unless I am an embezzler. I am not. Never have been. But I was a draft resister and a member of SDS during the Vietnam War. Coincidence maybe?
A colleague, a USNA graduate, 30 year veteran, who had been a military judge who tossed evidence obtained by torture, was audited and although his violation was nebulous, they fined him $25,000 because, they said as a judge, he made a good example.
Even the judiciary. Which reminds me, the media and no one has asked why Chutkan has not thrown Trump in jail for violating her orders. Political fear, external pressure from DOJ (Garland). $15,000 in fines, are chump change to Trump, an equivalent of $.15 cents to us, and no deterrent at all. Putting him in prison wold be a good example, but I fear that, because of politics and fear he will skate.
Not a coincidence, FBI probably has a dossier on you, ask for it under FOIA.
I met, on line, a convert to Islam, lived in Si,lver Springs, WA, County Sheriff calls him the Sheik of Silver Springs, runs a camp for kids, probably Muslim.
He converted after Wounded Knee II. he had been an agent for the FBI, and after Wounded Knee II, he was so disgusted that he converted. his screen name was WindRiverShoshoni.
The IRS, FBI, Secret Service DHS, CBP, Sheriffs and police are conservative institutions and naturally attract those inclined to the right, and it has only gotten worse, to the extent that you can't trust them anymore. As an example, the FBI totally ignored the threat from the right, focusing their infiltration and investigations on leftists. and I suspect that the left is still their top self selected priority. Following in the footsteps of that gay transvestite J.E. Hoover.
Mr. Hartman. This is an extremely important topic, about which Americans are mislead, lied to by our politicians and Economists. The idea that the U.S. is "IN DEBT" when it generates a deficit as a result of the federal government spending more money than it collects in taxes; IS A MYTH. The U.S. government is a SOVEREIGN nation state. What this means is that it, the federal government, creates the currency we use. It prints the money we use. We are allowed to use that money for our financial transactions. But we do NOT OWN that money, the federal government does. We are allowed to use it.
The feds determine how much money is in existence at any particular time. The federal govt. can increase the amount of CURRENCY available by printing more of it and introducing it into circulation.
We are mislead into believing the amount of money in circulation can be increased by lowering the prime interest rate and thus encouraging citizens to borrow money to buy things. Conversely we are told that when the Prime interest rate is raised, this shrinks the amount of money in circulation by discouraging people from borrowing and buying. However: THIS IS ALL SMOKE AND MIRRORS. The money "created" by manipulating the prime rate is what I call "FANTOM MONEY." It is not real money, not CURRENCY. It is money which changes hands from lender to borrower. But not currency. It works like this:
Let's say I put $100 dollars from my wages into the local bank. The bank can now claim it has $100. My neighbor Mr. O. borrows $100 dollars from the bank to buy a toaster. The appliance store puts the $100 into the bank. The bank now says it has $200. My neighbor Ms. M. borrows $100 from the bank to buy a floor lamp. The appliance store puts that $100 into the bank. The bank now says it has $300. My neighbors and the bank are creating FANTOM MONEY not currency. Now multiply these transactions by billions. Our economy runs on borrowed money, on credit, billions of dollars in transactions continuously. Only the federal government can create CURRENCY. That is part of the government's exclusive privilege as a SOVEREIGN state. We do our business with both FANTOM MONEY and CURRENCY.
From time to time too much FANTOM MONEY accumulates in the system in spite of the Federal Reserve's attempt to limit it. When too much has accumulated the economy cools off as financial transactions slow down for lack of real CURRENCY. The banks can lend only a fraction of the total amount of real currency in their reserves, usually around 85%. This percentage is set by government regulation and it changes as conditions change. In other words the bank must always keep at least 15% in its vault in the form of currency.
If enough actual currency is not in circulation. the economy slows down. This happens periodically and is euphemistically called the "business cycle" by Economists. If the public feels insecure about the money they have placed into the banks they might panic and demand that the bank return the money, they withdraw it from the bank. If enough people demand a withdrawal the bank might not have enough currency in its reserves to be able to return the public's money. This is called a "run on the bank." We recently saw some large banks from New York to California close because they could not grant depositors "their" money. One bank had to be purchased by a larger institution and another went "bankrupt." The "bank runs" during the 1929-1930 business collapse was the beginning of the greatest depression in American History. The reason we came out of that depression is Roosevelt's spending on both domestic social programs and the military for WWll. Roosevelt pumped huge amounts of CURRENCY into the economy. The dollar has no inherent value. It has value only because 330 million Americans and billions around the world, have faith in it. Faith that it can be used reliably in financial exchanges from toasters to aircraft carriers, from billions of pairs of shoes to automobiles, etc.
From 1817 to 1930 the U.S. has suffered six depressions. Every one of them, without exception, occurred shortly after the U.S. government reduced the deficit. A 29% reduction in 1817. A 36% reduction in 1929, this was the Pres. Hoover depression called "The Great Depression"; our greatest depression ever. The biggest deficit reduction was under Pres. Jackson :100%. It was followed by the greatest depression up until that time in 1837, which helped to ignite the war between the states. From 1960-61 until 2008-09 we have had eight "business cycle" downturns, or depressions. By my calculation that is one depression or downturn every 7.5 years. Without exception they have all come after the government tried to reduce the deficit. The best source for this topic is THE DEFICIT MYTH by Stephanie Kelton, 2001.
The proper course of action should be to follow the advice of John Maynard Keynes and "prime the economy" by pumping currency into it carefully, in such a way as to hold unemployment at a constant zero. I could go on with more clarifying details for this comment; especially with regard to rates of profit as compared to rate of national economic expansion. See CAPITAL In the 21st Century by Thomas Picketty 2014. for prodigious details. Also I have skipped discussing the dangerous habit the U.S. government has of "borrowing" money from the wealthy in order to "balance" the budget. But, enough for now.
We almost had the national debt paid off under Clinton, what Bush Junior got us into the Iraq war. I don't like seeing huge amounts of money wasted on interest on the national debt annually or huge trade deficits annually. I think we could put our financial house in order by taxing the rich more and building self supporting poor farms and prisons. There should be no homeless on the streets. With fair trade, zero population growth, socialized healthcare and reducing the military budget in half, we could make America once again the envy of the world?
Mr. Johnson. That's my point: there is no such thing as the "National Debt." Clinton drained the economy of so much real money and borrowed so much from the wealthy that he pushed us into a depression. He also took welfare away from the poor and vastly swelled our prisons. To add a cherry on the frosting we must now pay taxes to the gov't. so it can pay back the wealthy, with interest. Clinton was a Corporate-Loving Republican in Democrat's clothes. He repeated the performance of Grover Cleveland, who was unique until Clinton arrived on the scene. Now there have been at least two Republicans in Democrat's clothes.
First, and foremost, our economy has been undermined by our "allies." Not only a monetary problem, but also a national security emergency. We are at the mercy of price fixing and price gouging by OPEC/Saudi/Russia, and the Treasury could recoup trillions. Saudis own our largest domestic oil refineries, control domestic companies like Exxon.
Second, paying back the wealthy with interest. Treasury has the capacity to arbitrage, buying low interest debt in places like Japan, Switzerland and Sweden, to retire high interest debt.
Daniel, I'm reposting my reply to Mr Dobbertin, as you might miss it.. Discuss?
Mr Dobbertin. a good post almost but I must correct some misunderstandings. My source if Modern Money Mechanics, FRBNY, now out of print,was once free for the asking, but you can find it here: chrome-extension://efaidnbmnnnibpcajpcglclefindmkaj/https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/4a/Modern_Money_Mechanics.pdf
The US Treasury does indeed print money, and the US Mint stamps out coinage, coinage is real money, printed money is sold to Federal Reserve for Cost of Printing, which then sells it to member banks, which then uses it to meet demand from small businesses and street vendors and vending machines demand for paper money. Most money is transmitted via twisted paris and wireless transactions in the form of 0's and 1's.
The US and the West are indeed on a debt money system, it is more accurate to call it a Debt money, not fantasy money, but it is officially the Federal Reserve system.
Member financial institutions, Banks, Credit Unions, Savings and Loans are required to hold reserves. most reserves are held by Fed Regional banks,. Reserves are govenment securities, corporate bonds, and time accounts (checking accounts)
The Fed sets the reserve base, it can be as little as 0.25 and high as the Federal Reserve Open Market committee sets it.
Money is created when anyone or any entity, including the government, borrows from a financial institution.
Let's say the reserve base is set at 10%, that means that the bank can lend out any amount, so long as they have 10% of the loan in reserve with the Regional Fed (there are 12 of them)
In visual form, using the Jimmy Stewart movie , It's a Wonderful Life. A person walks into the bank and wants to borrow $100. The banker looks in his drawer, to see if he has $100, he does, so he loans the customer, $100 and counts out bank notes (Notes printed by the bank) this is debt money,not fantasy money, fantasy money is found in monopoly games, but I understand people need a concept that isn't so difficult that they can't wrap their heads around it.
There is a fact about debt money, that is not easily understood. Any money created out of debt, is wiped off the books (goes out of existence) when debts are paid down and paid off.
In 2019, I paid off my mortgage,and in doing so the remainder of my debt disappeared,went off the books.
What doesn't disappear, and which is the primary driver of inflation, is the interest on the debt.
When I went in debt to pay my house, my cars, whatever, the bank did not have to pull all of the money for the mortgage or loan, out of it's vaults, only the fraction of the reserve set by the Fed. That is why it is called a Fractional Reserve System. The rest was a book keeping entry, as a credit to the bank. Your debts are a financial institutions assets and go in the Credit column of its books , it's customers savings accounts are considered liabilities, and that is why the Fed doesn't include them in its reserve calculations. Checking accounts are assets, savings accounts are liabilities.
Again, and I emphasize, the only currency the Federal Government creates is coinage, Paper and electronic money are created out of debt, by banks in a book keeping maneuver, as debt creates money so does paying off the debt extinguishes the money.
I acknowledge your education and experience in your fields, please acknowledge mine. This is a subject I researched for my MBA, majors in finance and accounting. I've researched and written a 156 page on International Financial Institutions, including the Bank for International Settlements, the Banking System of the USSR, and Bank of Israel. By the way the system I would opt for is Israels, circa 1984. I have no idea what it looks like today.
Here is a copy and paste: Many Israeli's are invested in Patam accounts(Local resident's foreign currency accounts). These accounts provide insurance and a hedge against devaluation(through inflation) of the Shekel. Wouldn't it be nice if American's could invest in SDR (IMF-Special DrawingRights) accounts as can certain multinational corporations and banks. In fact Patam accounts (dollars) have moved so fast that in Israel they act like money in the banking system (Economic Review, 53, May 82, Bank of Israel.
Our currency is Fractional Reserve (which I explained) a Debt Money System, not a Phantom money system, though it amounts to the same, only the Government isn't creating the money, financial instiutions via the Federal Reserve create the money, but not the money to pay the interest hence inflation. Raise the amount of interest due the Federal Reserve debt money system, and you raise the inflation floor.
Jerome Powell's interest rate increases will only increase and accelerate inflation in the future.(it takes time for the system to work it's way through the economy), time for the debts (public and private) to come due
Mr. Farrar. I have copied the source for the Modern Money Mechanics, now out of print, which you printed. I intend to get it if I can and read it. Hope I can make sense of it. It was difficult for my old eyes to read as I copied it out of your comment.
It is on wikipedia commons and you can download it, free. It is one hell of a dry read, and you need some background in money and finance. One thing you won't see in it is, that money created out of debt, "vanishes" as the debt is paid down and paid off, however if one reads carefully, one realizes that.
The pamphlet was a required reading in my first finance course, when I mentioned that in class, an Army Captain also in the class, challenged me. I looked at the professor and he nodded and told the Captain I was correct.
Money created out of debts (public, corporate and private) go out of existence when debts are paid down and paid off, and also when one files bankruptcy .
Have you never asked why is it that financial institutions can buy and sell mortgages, car, airplane and boat loans?
The answer is simple, so long as they recover their original reserve (the 10% or so they have to have to loan money) and received interest payments, they have recovered their original investment plus interest, the rest is simply wiped off the books, double entry accounting.
The institution the buys the loan, soon recovers their original investment,plus interest, and the game goes on and on, they can buy and sell a loan or a mortgage over and over, and not lose a penny but make a profit, and if the borrower defaults, then they recover the property which was the basis of the loan, and make a huge profit selling it and starting all over.
Of course financial institutions need the law on their side, they have the sheriff who can seize property if the holder doesn't pay taxes, payments on the mortgage or loan,or obey the laws.
ICYMI, now comes my exposition. You and I don't actually own property, we simple hold title in Fee Simple.
Fee feudal) Simple is a device that originated with Edward I. his barons rose up against him, because the King (the sovereign) held allodial rights to all of England. Allodial rights are the right of conquest. And the barons were sore pissed because the King, being sovereign with allodial rights) all too frequently disposed his barons of their titles and fiefdoms, to bestow them on a court favorite.
The answer he came up with is to grant them title in Fee Simple, meaning the land and the feudal title, Duke and Baron) were his and his heirs in perpetuity, so long as he paid his taxes, provided for defense of the realm with weapons, armor and men at arms, pledged fealty (another word with a feudal stem) , and obeyed the law of the land, which was the King's law.
Failure to do so, resulted in eviction from he land and title.
And the word sheriff is a derivative of shire reeve (reave) or reave of the shire, whose job was to collect taxes, and evict those that didn't obey the King's laws.
And that is why it is the sheriff is used to foreclose and evict delinquents and law breakers.
Not all counties and states exercise this authority, but enough do, and that is where sheriff's obtain the authority to confiscate money and titled property, of people accused of breaking the law of the Sovereign,which apparently are the several states, as delegate to the counties the responsibility of enforcing the allodial law.
The Constitutional sheriffs and Peace Officers are a joke, they aren't empowered to enforce or abide by the Constitution.
The oath of office for sheriff's (shire reeve) varies state to state, county to county, but sometimes goes like this: "On my honor, I will never Betray my integrity, my character Or the public trust. I will always have the courage to hold myself and others accountable for our actions. I will always maintain the highest ethical standards and uphold the values of my community, and the agency I serve."
And like this: "“I, (employee name), do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States and the Constitution of the State of ... "
note the "and the Constitution. of the State of........" which means that the constitution of the state supersedes the Constitution of the United States.
FYI the Constitution ratified in 1790, as amended, actually acknowledges the sovereignty of the several states., that is why it takes a Constitutional amendment to grant rights to everyone.
Individual states can elect or not elect to pass laws, acknowledging rights, regulate industries, limit or regulate such things as guns, but if they go beyond the Constitution as defined by six radical theocratic fascists, the laws will be nullfiied.
The federal government was not able to outlaw automatic fire weapons, but found a work around by requiring a permit, an exhausive application process, and then paying a heavy tax, to purchase and own an automatic fire weapon.
They could do the same for semi automatic, rapid fire weapons and large magazines.
Self loading, semi automatics, like those used for hunting, and shotguns have or had, magazines with limited rounds, I had a 30.05 with a magazine of four rounds, most semi automatic shotguns also have a four or five round limit.
I am a Keynesian, haven't always been. 40 years ago I was a Friedmanite, a devotee of the Austrian School and Koch's Foundation for Economic Education (FEE)until I started working on my MBA and did extensive soure research, had a foot locker full of documents and reports from the Fed,BIS, many banks and books as well like . 0. Kuschpeta, The Banking and Credit System of the USSR, Tilburg Studies in Economics, 1978, MaRTINUS Nijhoff Social Sciences Div, Leidenl Boston, 284 pages
Anway Keynes properly said, that a sovereign nations debts are owed to itself, and the way to prosper is by spending money, even during a depression. FDR's success is proof, Japan survived a devastating depression by spending money it didn't have, and plowing most of it into education, which of course international financial institutions, absolutely fear, all they want is a positive return on investment, and have created domestic chaos in P.I.G. nations like Portugal and Greece by forcing them to cut domestic spending, especially social spending and divert the payments to them, the debt holders.
Being friends with my Econ 101 professor, a Friedmanite, I tried to educate him, his response was "I only know economics, not money", Imagine that.
I ask you not to befuddle minds with your misunderstanding of how national currency works (and it works the same for all members of the Bank for International Settlements (BIS), to wit:France, England, Germany, Netherlands, Belgium and so on.
The BIS was created in 1929, to handle and isburse German's reparation payments from WWI, it's first President was Paul Warburg, who was also the author of the Federal Reserve Act (Title 12 USC) and it's first president.. His brother Max was the genius who came up with the idea of secreting Lenin into Russia in a closed RR car
Representatives of member banks, report to the BIS first Monday of each month, to occupy identical offices laid out identically, to finish reports and receive instructions.
Including Jerome Powell or a designee.
The BIS is the boss of central banks or Central bank of central banks. As a grad student I was able to recieve copies of their gold covered, annual report for three years running, dry but eye opening, including the critique of the USSR which they declared a failed experiment in need of restructuring then who showed up but
Gorbachev (Reagan knew that Russia was in the infancy of dismantling)..
Gorbie was rewarded with a handsome retirement, a dacha on Lake Geneva, and his own NGO, the Green Cross.
Mr. farrar. Two things: it almost looks as though Greece has in effect given up its sovereignty when it agreed use the euro and get rid of its own currency. Does this sound right?
Can you recommend a good book to act as an introductory text for banking and finance?
Any entity that uses an international monetary unit has in effect give up it's own sovereignty, but they are forced to by the structure of international trade. An entity, be it an individual or a nation, can't engage in international commerce unless it has access and uses a monetary unit, that is accepted by the vendor. The Afghan Afghani (AFN) is of no value in international trade, what they import must be paid for in internationally recognized currency. And such currency has varying values, and values are always fluctuating.
In most nations, the national currency is used for internal purchases, but in some places they will accept Dollars, and EU's.I traveled the Pan American hiway from Juarez to Panama on a brief case of 300 $1.00 bills. Did not have to convert anything, but they were very glad to take the dollar, as I am sure that I overpaid
I can't point to one book or a series of books, my 40 year old monolith has 157 references, ranging from books, news papers and magazines.
Back in 1984, the Federal Reserve had a list of free publications, took up most of the space in my footlocker,but they soon realized that educating the public was a mistake, as I started posting excerpts like the Association of Primary Dealers in Government Securities (APDGS) on the nascent internet, including what I know about Modern Money Mechanics, and soon there was a proliferation of books and articles and they stopped making Modern Money Mechanics free for the asking. Mostly it was grad students in finance that asked for the publications.
Obama not passing Medicare for all when he had the chance, I consider him a GOP also. What would you do to raise the standard of living for the workers?
I will be kind, Obama was a novice, a fish out of water, when it comes to money, finance, economics he was a blank slate, that and thanks to the likes of Rahm Emanuel, now in Bidens cabinet and a real scum bag, along with Larry Summers,He was at the beck and call of AHIP, Association of Health Insurance Providers).
They had access to the White house during the construction of the ACA,but single payor advocates like Bernie were excluded.
The result if a 600 page bill, that doesn't solve the problem, has issues, but is beloved by AHIP because it enriches.
All congress had to do was change a few words in the Medicare enabling legislation from"eligibility starts at age 65" to eligibility starts at Birth, but that would have inflamed AHIP and they would declare war on the DNC.
And of course the corrupt Rahm Emanuel who slops at the trough of the elect (privatized education in Chicago, a major agenda item of Betsy DeVoss, would have no part of it, and called progressives "fucking retards" Fuck face Rahm is Biden's ambassador to Japan.
The enemies of democracy are even embedded into the Biden administration.
Thank Mr. Farrar, I have been wondering what happened to Rahm Emmanuel der Wunderkind. Bacteria on the bottom of shallow lakes eat away at the flesh of human corpses dropped there by criminals. This produces gas which bloats the corpse and eventually causes it to float to the surface. Expect Mr. Rahm Emanuel to float up again in the future.
Well Gerald, I'm waiting for a professor to answer. Either that or you don't know or you are a troll who uses artificial intelligence? This is a very important question and you seem to be very knowledgeable about economics.
Mr.. Johnson. I am sorry I do no understand what you are referring to. I do not know what you are asking. If I were to take a shot in the dark I would say that Obama-Care was a gift to the Insurance industry and a dishonest service to Americans. We need Single payer Gov't. medical coverage. This combined with Pro-labor-union legislation would be a start. There are too many areas to list here.
No, I am not a "troll who uses artificial intelligence." Although I have used computers in my work for over half a century. I began my work long before the advent of readily available electronic computers. I am a real, live, actual human being who is honestly and sincerely trying to understand the world we live in and to figure out my place in it. I take these discussions seriously. I admit that I get it wrong more often than I like. But I have spent my entire professional adult life working on this never-ending life project. What can you say about yourself?
Mr Dobbertin. a good post almost but I must correct some misunderstandings. My source if Modern Money Mechanics, FRBNY, now out of print,was once free for the asking, but you can find it here: chrome-extension://efaidnbmnnnibpcajpcglclefindmkaj/https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/4a/Modern_Money_Mechanics.pdf
The US Treasury does indeed print money, and the US Mint stamps out coinage, coinage is real money, printed money is sold to Federal Reserve for Cost of Printing, which then sells it to member banks, which then uses it to meet demand from small businesses and street vendors and vending machines demand for paper money. Most money is transmitted via twisted paris and wireless transactions in the form of 0's and 1's.
The US and the West are indeed on a debt money system, it is more accurate to call it a Debt money, not fantasy money, but it is officially the Federal Reserve system.
Member financial institutions, Banks, Credit Unions, Savings and Loans are required to hold reserves. most reserves are held by Fed Regional banks,. Reserves are govenment securities, corporate bonds, and time accounts (checking accounts)
The Fed sets the reserve base, it can be as little as 0.25 and high as the Federal Reserve Open Market committee sets it.
Money is created when anyone or any entity, including the government, borrows from a financial institution.
Let's say the reserve base is set at 10%, that means that the bank can lend out any amount, so long as they have 10% of the loan in reserve with the Regional Fed (there are 12 of them)
In visual form, using the Jimmy Stewart movie , It's a Wonderful Life. A person walks into the bank and wants to borrow $100. The banker looks in his drawer, to see if he has $100, he does, so he loans the customer, $100 and counts out bank notes (Notes printed by the bank) this is debt money,not fantasy money, fantasy money is found in monopoly games, but I understand people need a concept that isn't so difficult that they can't wrap their heads around it.
There is a fact about debt money, that is not easily understood. Any money created out of debt, is wiped off the books (goes out of existence) when debts are paid down and paid off.
In 2019, I paid off my mortgage,and in doing so the remainder of my debt disappeared,went off the books.
What doesn't disappear, and which is the primary driver of inflation, is the interest on the debt.
When I went in debt to pay my house, my cars, whatever, the bank did not have to pull all of the money for the mortgage or loan, out of it's vaults, only the fraction of the reserve set by the Fed. That is why it is called a Fractional Reserve System. The rest was a book keeping entry, as a credit to the bank. Your debts are a financial institutions assets and go in the Credit column of its books , it's customers savings accounts are considered liabilities, and that is why the Fed doesn't include them in its reserve calculations. Checking accounts are assets, savings accounts are liabilities.
Again, and I emphasize, the only currency the Federal Government creates is coinage, Paper and electronic money are created out of debt, by banks in a book keeping maneuver, as debt creates money so does paying off the debt extinguishes the money.
I acknowledge your education and experience in your fields, please acknowledge mine. This is a subject I researched for my MBA, majors in finance and accounting. I've researched and written a 156 page on International Financial Institutions, including the Bank for International Settlements, the Banking System of the USSR, and Bank of Israel. By the way the system I would opt for is Israels, circa 1984. I have no idea what it looks like today.
Here is a copy and paste: Many Israeli's are invested in Patam accounts(Local resident's foreign currency accounts). These accounts provide insurance and a hedge against devaluation(through inflation) of the Shekel. Wouldn't it be nice if American's could invest in SDR (IMF-Special DrawingRights) accounts as can certain multinational corporations and banks. In fact Patam accounts (dollars) have moved so fast that in Israel they act like money in the banking system (Economic Review, 53, May 82, Bank of Israel.
Our currency is Fractional Reserve (which I explained) a Debt Money System, not a Phantom money system, though it amounts to the same, only the Government isn't creating the money, financial instiutions via the Federal Reserve create the money, but not the money to pay the interest hence inflation. Raise the amount of interest due the Federal Reserve debt money system, and you raise the inflation floor.
Jerome Powell's interest rate increases will only increase and accelerate inflation in the future.(it takes time for the system to work it's way through the economy), time for the debts (public and private) to come due.
Mr.Farrar. There is a key paragraph in your response which I do not understand. Can you clarify it and help me?
"When I went into debt................the bank did not have to pull all of the money for the mortgage or loan, out of its vaults, only the fraction of the reserve set by the Fed..............The rest was a book keeping entry, as a credit to the bank."
I understand the rest. My savings account is a liability because the bank must pay interest to me, plus, the bank must give me the money if I demand it. The loan they gave me is an asset for the bank because I must pay interest to them on it. This interest goes in their profit column . Furthermore, the bank can sell my loan to another institution and make some money from that sale.
Your words, which I have quoted above are what I am trying to understand. Can you please expand on them? For instance: are you saying that if I borrow $100 the bank gives me $85 from ITS VAULT and the other $15 comes from the Fed's reserve? Or is there a different interpretation of your words? Please help me to get it right.
I doubt “that people in our military had told him they thought our national debt was a bigger threat to us than Russia or China.” Maybe some lowly enlisted person in the reserves, but commissioned officers are supposed to be apolitical.
Anecdotal accounts (excuse me - lies) such as "someone somewhere said x to me" are the lifeblood of the GOP and their ilk. Reality is never, ever, on their side. So they make shit up. Just like Reagan's repulsive "welfare queen" bit.
Now, if in fact "someone" in our military did say that (and believed it), they would have no business being a part of the US military. Back to Basic for made up person.
Our military is not a military of idiots - so for Mike Johnson to somehow conjure one at random is as preposterous as is his cynical abuse of the Israel/ Gaza situation in order to stump for defunding the IRS.
26 years a mustang (enlisted to officer) and a spec ops team leader. I can honestly say that the military is full of self willed idiots. That is why the majority of military were, probably still are fully inclined to the right.Not literal idiots, but brainwashed by peers and ignorant of reality.
The culture is monastic,and closed,your friends are the people you work with, little exposure to the real world, I'm sure that Fox and social media has polluted many a military mind.
I totally agree that we need to tax the Billionaire takers enough to recreate what used to be called the "middle class." Oddly, nobody has pointed out that a quick way to reduce the deficit is to simply collect the dodged taxes that cause the deficit in the first place. So of course, MAGA Mike will go for the throat of the IRS.
My only issue with the lyrics to this choir music is that it cherry picked around the Democrats who have contributed to the problem by wasting their majority in both houses by not passing laws that would have turned things around. Citizens United is our #1 threat to our democracy. But let us not forget that Clinton orchestrated shifting the US away from manufacturing toward hedge funds and financial services by exporting so much manufacturing that it has now threatened national security. Not smart to send the manufacture of parts you need to build ships, jets, rockets, tanks, guidance systems, etc. to countries that compete with you. Obama did little to change that either. Then Biden arrived on the scene like a doddering Hopalong Cassidy, and manufacturing is beginning to return stateside.
Of course, in 2024, I will be surprised of Biden can still get on his horse? I doubt it. Oh, he can still lead, but his energy level will limit what he can accomplish even if there is a Blue Wave. We still at year 3 have well over 100 unfilled political appointments. A 2024 ticket like Newsom/Warren would bring awesome energy needed to restore all the sabotage this article notes, and then, kill Citizens United before it kills democracy.
But the DNC doesn't want to alienate the mega donors, like J { Morgan and Goldman Sachs,and Chamber of Commerce, and yegads, oh horror, Elizabeth Warren talks and acts like a progressive,and financial institutions, especially loan sharks (pay day lenders) hate her
If she appears on the ticket, even MSNBC will whip out the long knives., because she is a threat to MSNBC's source of income, AHIP, PhRMA and financial instutions.
You wil never see an expose, negative exposure or a documentary on MSNBC, CBS, ABC, NBC, much less PBS about Health Insurance illicit gains or PhRMA.
BTW I've been keeping a spread sheet on all the Drugs advertised on MSBNC and am up to 101, probably missed a few.
It is true that neither elected officials nor the MSM want to risk alienating mega donors upon whom they depend for survival. However, as any successful person will know, if you do not take risks nothing changes - including one's own fortune.
How that change might occur is in a heads-I-win/tails-you-lose situation. If taking the moral high ground gives the 1-Percenters no space for blowback they become the proverbial deer in the political headlights - unable to move in any direction. The Christofascist nationalists look only to the Old Testament for moral guidance which can sometimes undermine their claims to being Christians at all. "Love thy neighbor as thyself." and "Let he who is without sin cast the first stone." takes all the steam out of MAGA hatred, but only if that triggers their sense of personal shame or humility. That is a very tough challenge these days.
Since about 1980, there appears to only be one party. Fascist light and fascist Stout. Shipping factory jobs including pharmaceutical jobs to a dictatorship, was not very wise at all. I suspect Biden is in on it, he's been in office so many years and this was all planned by the rich greedy capitalists about 40 to 60 years ago. We do need a new Democratic ticket with younger and more open minds. Not like the young GOPS though.
1. Witness tax cheating? Your pathway to riches. The IRS Whistleblower Office pays awards to eligible individuals whose information is used by the IRS. The percentage depends on several factors, but generally falls between 15 and 30 percent of the proceeds collected and attributable to the whistleblower's information. https://www.irs.gov/compliance/whistleblower-office
2. Qui tam. Whistleblower cases under the False Claims Act (also known as qui tam lawsuits) cases can lead to substantial recoveries by both the government and the whistleblower. In general, the most successful cases are ones in which the government takes an interest and “intervenes.” Typical kinds:
Health Care Fraud
Pharmaceutical Companies
Medical Devices and Implants
Upcoding and Unbundling/Fragmentation
Kickbacks
False Certifications and Information
Lack of Medical Necessity
Fraudulent Cost Reports
Grant or Program Fraud
Medicare Advantage Risk-Adjustment Fraud
Does Your Plan’s Risk Adjustment Strategy Violate the False Claims Act?
Medicare Part D Fraud
Medical Loss Ratio Fraud
Fraud in the Financial Industry
Municipal Transactions
FHA Mortgages
Yield Burning
3. In common law jurisdictions a private attorney can bring a lawsuit in the public interest, i.e., benefiting the general public and not just the plaintiff, on behalf of a citizen or group of citizens.
Congress codified the private attorney general principle into law with the enactment of Civil Rights Attorney's Fees Award Act of 1976, 42 U.S.C. § 1988. Congress levelled the playing field so that private citizens, who might have little or no money, could still serve as "private attorneys general" and afford to bring actions, even against state or local bodies, to enforce the civil rights laws.
While there is a private attorney general act in the United States, a private non-attorney citizen can't act as a "private attorney general" for all purposes.
4. SEC. Provides monetary awards to eligible individuals who come forward with high-quality original information that leads to a Commission enforcement action in which over $1,000,000 in sanctions is ordered. The range for awards is between 10% and 30% of the money collected.
Thank you Mr. Solomon. Your knowledge is huge and your work experience priceless.
I suspected for a number of years that an enemy of mine had bad-mouthed me to the IRS hoping to simply harass me. But not to actually collect as a result of a Qui tam. The IRS obliged him. Did you ever sit in on a qui tam for a native American tribe?
Inspired by Thom's blog, we created this interactive RELATIONSHIP MAP to see how billionaires have rigged the system to cut their taxes with help from the Supreme Court and mercenary Republican politicians. Follow the money. Click on any person or group on the map for more details to see their role.
Thank you for laying this out as it is. The danger we are in from MAGA Mike was clear to me from the start. I would rather have Santos in than MAGA Mike. Presumably he cannot take over presidency if something happens to Biden and Harris. Mike is a Christo-fascist and as such will use the Bible to justify every vicious thing that he does. His is not a loving Christ, but a vengeful one.
New sign for the war room. It's The Pentagon, Stupid!
How rich (pun intended) that anyone from the military would have all that to say about the budget, because they have RULED it since World War II. Carter increased their budget, and then Reagan DOUBLED that increase. Here comes Santa Claus!
From Senator Grassley's website:
The DOD last year failed its fifth audit and was unable to account for over half of its assets.
"Sens. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) and Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), along with Sens. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), Rand Paul (R-Ky.) and Ed Markey (D-Mass.), today introduced a bipartisan bill to require the Department of Defense (DOD) to pass a full, independent audit in fiscal year 2024. The Audit the Pentagon Act of 2023 would further direct any DOD component that fails to complete a clean audit to return one percent of its budget to the Treasury."
"The DOD – which consumes more than half of the nation’s discretionary budget and controls more than $3.1 trillion in assets – is the only federal agency that has been unable to pass an independent audit, despite the fact all federal agencies have been required by law to conduct annual audits since 1990."
That 1% seems like a token, and probably is. There are other personal consequences when you are in the military and don't do your job. They involve losing rank, pay, and privileges; that might bring about some changes. The GOP tax dodgers and thieves always want to claim the military, until it's time to personally pay their fair share for them. AND in most cases, they don't pay in blood or time served---theirs or their children.
Yes alis, you bring up an extremely important, hidden topic: pentagon funding. According to the Office of Management and Budged OMB pentagon funding in 2022 was $766 billion. However, the National Income and Product Accounts NIPA ( the most complete and definitive source on US national income) the figure is higher $925 billion. When one adds in 5 more categories not included in the OMB account, the figure doubles to $1.536.9 trillion, twice the OMB amount. Here are those 5 hidden categories:
1)military Medical Insurance $5.7 billion
2)Veteran's Related Expenses $180.2 billion
3)Space Consumption and Gross Investment Expenditures $15.2 billion
4)Grants to foreign countries $29.4 billion
5)Net Interest Attributed to the Military $381.4 billion
These figures are taken from "Monthly Review" magazine November 2023.
I suggest you slow down. The military is not composed of rich people sucking off the governments teat.
Most enlisted, have to rely on foot stamps to feed their family
Here is the current pay scale and the highest paid officer is an O-10 and his pay is $17,575.10 a month, sure is a lot of money, it seems, but not when you consider his or her responsibilities, neither you nor me could shoulder those responsibilities and no where near thay of a CEO of Fortune 400 company.
Now if you are talking about Contractors like Raytheon, Oshkosh, Boeing, McDonnell Douglas, well that is another story.
However the MIC has been careful to ensure that each and every congressional district has at least one military or military dependent company, if it is only makingcockpit handles or honeycomb cardboard shock absorbing pads.
Cripple the DOD and you have just caused a major depression and provided fuel for the fire, that is the new MAGAt Republican party.
William, I am a veteran. I didn't state that the troops were getting rich. "Rich" was in reference to the attitude expressed, considering how much of our debt is because of military spending. Spending on the military industrial complex. To add insult to injury, they cannot tell us where half of their budget was spent. Everyone knows it sure as hell didn't go to the troops. AND you can bet that payroll didn't fail THEIR audit!
And on that I agree. My career included being responsible for putting together a budget, which would be sent to higher headquarters and weaved into their budget and so on up the line, until my small part became part of the defense budget.
There were no audits, in truth, an audit is impossible, because, just about everything military, including personnel, are expendable and it is impossible to keep records on expendables.
Stores, like Kroger can, they have scanners, which add and subtract from inventory. Their is no way to keep track of military supplies. Can you imagine a soldier signing out for X number of bullets, or cannon shells, even parachutes. Parachutes are equipment, and some form of control is exercised over parachutes, but they do get damaged, and often in operations after getting the troop to the ground, they are abandoned, of necessity.
During my 26 year career, I was everything from an enlisted slug, doing a job, which only required paper, carbon paper, typewriter ribbon, food and quarters, to commanding a spec ops team., in which everything we used was expendable, and the only real controls were over weapons, serial numbers had to be accounted for, even the parachutes were expendable, when damaged we didn't turn them in, because they couldn't be safely repaired and re used, if a suspension line broke, the chute was unserviceable.
The record keeping from soldier, sailor, marine, airman to headquarters is impossible.
Imagine an artillery crew or a machine gunner, trying to keep tabs on every piece of ammo expended. I am trying to visualize the pilot of an A10, or a crew served weapon, trying to keep track of the thousands of rounds of ammo expended, and when back at base, reporting to the company or squadron commander, the amount of ammunition spewed by a mini gun (the "gatling" gun, electronically fired, that spits out 6,000 rounds of minute and what you hear is not the pop of a gun, or the rat a tat of a sewing machine, but a brrrrrrrrrrrrrr.
There is some validity, in principle, to your complaint but in real life it is totally impracticable, and trying to comply would harm national defense, which is something that our enemies like Putin, Kim, Xi and Iran would embrace.
True Christianity and capitalism have never mixed and will never mix. The GOP voters had better get used to life in a third world nation. Thanks to FDR, few GOP voters have gone hungry a day in their life. When they have a capitalist dictatorship in office, they will get to see exactly how well the trickle down theory works, as their children get sent off to wars to destroy democracies and their own standard of living gets cut in half if not more. Where torture will be normal and organs will be harvested. Where the entire press will be owned by the wealthy and be telling the people how lucky they are. Those who dare speak out will be punished. What a polluted world to leave their children. Even though there will be no left-wing intellectuals in office, the right wing peasants will still blame them.
Maybe the IRS should just start auditing the rich to hell with what Congress wants. Then stop going after the poor. I don't know if they can do this but if I was head of the IRS I most certainly would. Need a bit of guts here.
Ms. Stokes. auditing the wealthy requires lots of money to pay the government attorneys who must litigate against the private attorneys hired by the rich. This, MAGA Mike understands.
Gerald, according to Thom, the return on auditing the rich is about seven times more than the cost. So it doesn't cost taxpayers and it keeps the rich more honest! They don't seem to like jail for themselves.
America. Listen.
YOU are responsible for your country. This has nothing to do with Russia or any nation.
Your Democracy is defunct it has been for a long time.
You have a 2 party system. One is middle of the road the other is against the Constitution.
After the revolution in France we had separation of Religion and Politics.
I in my naivety thought the USA had the same.
It seems i was deluded?
Ms. Stokes. Deluded? So it seems. But you are not alone.
Mike Johnson (F) MAGA/RF-West, is more dangerous than our national debt ever could be. He conveniently forgot to mention that fact while he gleefully dragged out the national debt corpse from the GOP prop closet. What a farce. If people actually get their undies in a bunch over this meaningless rerun of a stunt and simultaneously not have the holy shits over just about everything else going on in our country - well, we're in trouble.
Thom's words are spot on in defining this specimen: Smarmy.
He is as dangerous as Agent Orange, if not more so. He's the exact thing the billionaire cartel have been hoping for - Donald Trump without the baggage.
Ah Calvinism, the rule of the elect. Jean Cauvin, cum Calvin, the son of Gerard Cohen cum Cauvin, born during the reformation movement,, jumped in the new movement, and preached a version that borrowed heavily from orthodox Judaism. The notion of predestination, being that "god" has selected, before birth, who was favored, by endowing them with wealth. Thus a "good Jew" was rich and a "bad Jew" was poor. Famous Calvinists in American History are the Robber barons like John Davidson Rockefeller and Andrew Carnegie, Cornelius Vanderbilt, and Jacob Astor was a member of the Reformed Congregation of the Jewish faith until his death.
"Who keeps the world, both old and new, in pain or pleasure? Who makes politics run glibber all? The shade of Bonaparte's noble daring? Jew Rothschild and his fellow Christian Baring. (p.42 the Money Lenders, by Anthony Sampson)
Yes Mr. Farrar. You are running in good company with your comment about Calvinism. Are you familiar with THE PROTSTANT ETHIC AND THE SPIRIT OF CAPITALISM by the German Max Weber? He was one of the four most important social theorists in the latter 19th century, along with Emile Durkheim (French), Vilfredo Pareto (Italian) and, of course Karl Marx (ex-patriot German).
I know of Max Weber, but never read him. Never heard of Vilfredo Pareto
I turned to wikipedia and found this. It seems that he was a proto fascist
criticized the government of the Italian statesman Giovanni Giolitti for not taking a tougher stance against worker strikes. Growing unrest among labor in the Kingdom of Italy led him to the anti-socialist and anti-democratic camp.[13] His attitude towards Italian fascism in his last years is a matter of controversy.
Renato Cirillo wrote that Vilfredo Pareto had frequently been considered a predecessor of fascism as a result of his support for the movement when it began. However, Cirillo disagreed with this interpretation, suggesting that Pareto was critical of fascism in his private letters.[23]
Pareto had argued that democracy was an illusion and that a ruling class always emerged and enriched itself. For him, the key question was how actively the rulers ruled. For this reason, he called for a drastic reduction of the state and welcomed Benito Mussolini's rule as a transition to this minimal state so as to liberate the "pure" economic forces.[24]
When he was still a young student, the future leader of Italian fascism Benito Mussolini attended some of Pareto's lectures at the University of Lausanne in 1904. It has been argued that Mussolini's move away from socialism towards a form of "elitism" may be attributed to Pareto's ideas.[25] Franz Borkenau, a biographer, argued that Mussolini followed Pareto's policy ideas during the beginning of his tenure as prime minister.[26]: 18
Karl Popper dubbed Pareto the "theoretician of totalitarianism",[27] but, according to Renato Cirillo, there is no evidence in Popper's published work that he read Pareto in any detail before repeating what was then a common but dubious judgement in anti-fascist circles.[14]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vilfredo_Pareto
Also I have to reiterate my opinion of Marx. He was not a socialist but a proto Libertarian. There was no such thing or movement in his time.
I base this opinion on his deeds, not his words. Words are cheap, deeds are solid.
Marx hectored the editors of South Carolina newspapers, to free the slaves and hire them back at market wages, thus produce cheaper cotton. His partner, Frederick Engels, had inherited a textile mill, and had to resort to buying, cheaper and lesser quality Egyptian Cotton, and thus minimize his profits. Marx was an elitist.
He was supported by The League of Just Men, the financial elite of London.
More proof that he was free trader. He opposed the Corn Laws, an import tariff the exchequer of the treasury had levied on imported grain (Only in America is maize called corn).
Marx believed that Gold was the standard of value; Pages 45-46, . 0. Kuschpeta, The Banking and Credit System of the USSR, Tilburg Studies in Economics, 1978, MaRTINUS Nijhoff Social Sciences Div, Leidenl Boston, 284 pages.
The father of Libertarianism, is Fred Koch, who got his ideas from Joe Stalin, while building oil wells and refineries for him in the 1930's, he came back with some Stalinist Ideas, like "if You don't work you don't eat", Article 12, 1936 Soviet Constitution., also gold as the standard of value and a 100% gold standard, which will lead to a permanent depresssion, because there just is not enough gold to cover all of the money needed for a healthy economy (the USSR is proof).
Not knowing anything about Max Weber,I turned to wikipedia, and extracted this
defended the provisions for emergency presidential powers that became Article 48 of the Weimar Constitution. These provisions were later used by Adolf Hitler to subvert the rest of the constitution and institute rule by decree, allowing his regime to suppress opposition and gain
dictatorial powers. Sound like a 1918 William Barr.
I kind of resent being placed in the company of people with whom I would not associate and do not memorialize.
As I said many times, I may nibble on a pie or a pizza, but will not swallow the whole thing.
When looking forideas, I treat the library of humanity, as one does a supermarket, A little of this, a little of that, but not the whole thing
Some people, especially teens, think a little bit of colon or perfume is great, but then take a bath in it. A little bit of garlic makes a good tomato sauce, but too much and you throw it in the garbage.
Mr. Farrar. I do not dispute your claims about those theorists nor do I identify your positions with Fascism. I have read enough of your comments to not make that mistake. Like them or not they gave birth to modern social theory. The good and the bad. I am saying that you are running in good company. My apology if it sounded more than that.
There is much more to be said about those men than in your reply. Weber claimed that because Calvinists believed God had preordained whether or not an individual was saved or condemned and no good deeds in this life could change that. They worked very hard to be personally successful because if they were, this would indicate to them that they were blessed by god. And this would indicate to all who was going to heaven (them) and who was condemned to hell. This would encourage the development of Capitalism, and Individualism said weber. This is his greatest contribution. I have briefly stated his major work highly summarized. Many offer it as an alternative to Marx. I think what you said about Calvinism aligns with Weber's claim. Weber was never in a position of power in the government. He was only an advisor who spent most of his life at Heidelberg, I think. In his college days he engaged in many drunken duals using blades and lived with what were considered honorable facial scars the rest of his days. He loved beer. You left out Durkheim. I do not know how you might view him. I know you do not align with Marx. Durkheim, Pareto and Weber were academic scholars. Marx was free-lance. Occasionally an editor. He read several languages. shortly before he died, he was studying general Chinese, as was Weber. He was financially supported most of his life by Engels who, as you pointed out, inherited wealth. Both Marx and Weber wanted to find out why Capitalism developed in the West, but not in China. Neither lived to do it. Although Marx did write enough to fill a large bookshelf.
Thanks Mr Dobbertin. I understand your previous comment now.
A couple of things, it wasn't just Engels that supported Marx, Engles did not have the resources to subsidize Marx profligacy, but it was the "League of Just Men" a collective of finance capitalists.
Marx held the same view as Alexander Hamilton and the dudes who wrote the Constitition, which American mythology have lionized and turned into demi gods,so much so that a book has been printed with their letters and arguments, and "capitalists" have created and sustained organizations, like the Federalist Society, to promote the ideation that the provenance of America and indeed civilization is rule of the elect.
To Marx, the enemy was the middle class, whom he called the bourgeoisie, he talked of labor as an oppressed proletiariat, and indeed it was, until workers organized into unions.
If the Marxists read with critical understanding, and I doubt that anyone who quotes Marx and Adam Smith, ever read their works (doing so requires a supply of toothpicks to keep the eyelids open), does not realize that he only talked about the bourgeoisie and proletariat and not at all about the ruling class,
It takes money to start a business, employ people and produce things that people will buy, and that is not capitalism.
Capital is money, a medium of exchange, Capitalism is not entrepreneurialism, Capitalism is simply the primacy of debt, aka finance capitalism, paradoxically the occupation of the League of Just Men.
What Marx had in mind as regards capitalism and the bourgeousie was Scrooge, and the textile manufacturers, and mine owners. Which is another pararox, because textile manufacturers, paid low wages and employed children to service the looms, a very dangerous job.
Here I confess that my 14th great grandfather founded a dynastry on woolery, from owning flocks of sheep, to waulking, fulling, dyeing and after Henry VII imposed a tariff on export of raw wool, to textile manufacturing, which cost the lives of two distant (very distant) cousins, who were murdered over the likes of damming a stream to operate a textile mill. . Wealthy enough to buy stock in the Virginia Company of London, and finance a third sons, voyage to Virginia to found his own dynastry.
Although this was two centuries before Marx, I am sure that my ancestors would be part of the bourgeoisie that he railed against, and in fact hired children to do jobs like waulking (which as treading on raw wool in tubs of urine, to purge the lanolin.
The Virginia Company, East India Company and all such monopolies were the creation of investors, (called adventurers of the time), who pooled their resources and petitioned the crown for a charter, by which to purse adventurers to bring in resources that would benefit England and the crown.
The purpose of the Virginia Company was to find gold and silver, but there was none to be found in the James River valley, and it almost folded after the starving time, when John Rolfe showed up with a purse full of Turkish tobacco seeds. and from there grew plantations.
These people weren't capitalists. That came later, with the industrial revolution.
The irony is that Marx would hold ind disdain, the very people who idolize him, and commit murder and crimes in his name,like the Bolsheviks and the radical leftists who plaque this country, in my book they are as bad as the MAGAts, but at least are diverse and eqalitarian in sentiment, but too fucking extreme, non thinking and ignorant. Bleeting sheep, just like the MAGAts.
And I am not a middle of the roader, moderate.
For instance, take reparations. I am for reparations in the form of government support for education and providing people who live in ghettos, decent homes, and encourage the movement of enterprises into communities to provide jobs that not only provide jobs, but
personal dignity, and healthy living, the idea of dropping shit loads of money onto people is preposterous and counter productive, we know all we need to know about human behavior and mentality, that showering people with money, only creates more civil and social problems, and people are fools, live in the moment, and run out waste money on useless shit, like Jewelry, expensive cars, furs and other trash. Then it's gone, and they are back where they started and this is irrespective or race or ethnicity.. humans are feckless and live in the moment, with no regard for the future. That's why humanity is in irrevocable deep shit today.
Mr. Farrar. I read The Federalist Papers years ago when I was still teaching. It was not entirely possible to understand them unless one reads the history of the period as well. And one must keep a copy of the Constitution right there on the desk next to the Federalist Papers. while reading them.
You are correct about reading THE WEALTH OF NATIONS by Adam Smith. His pin factory almost put me to sleep many afternoons. He used the phrase "The invisible hand of the market" only once, almost as a throwaway comment in all those hundreds of pages. Today's Economists (who serve the business community) have stretched out the meaning of the phrase way beyond what Smith meant, to the point where they are implying that he was saying what THEY want to say. Which is: the government should leave the "market" alone, not interfere with it and it will always make things work out for the best for us all in the end. That means no constraints on business, no regulations, no taxes. These Economists simply do not talk about how Smith spoke of how he was afraid of how unrestrained Capitalism could do great harm to all of us. They love his throwaway phrase "the invisible hand of the market."
As for "reparations" the damage which was done to Black people was too immense and thorough and too far in the past for there to be reparations. Dead people cannot be recompensed. They're dead. But their progeny can and should be given affirmative action, at least. I agree with you. What we should do is create the best possible institutions for guaranteeing all Americans "the right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness." I would change that to read "life, liberty and property." Which is what John Locke (from whom the phrase was borrowed) originally said. The many slave owners among the Founding Fathers were joined by conservative non-slave owners in their refusal to quote Lock accurately. So they said we have the right to try to be happy, to pursue happiness. But we have no right to be happy. They said there is no universal right to the property which they all knew is the thing that makes life easier, happier.
I see nothing wrong with affirmative action to help insure that Blacks women, and other minority groups among us are not left behind. Affirmative action is not "reparations" or a "quota System." Affirmative action only insures that members of minority groups will not be passed over and ignored. They will be included in the quest for happiness. They will be given a fair and equal shot at it.
Well it didn’t take long to see where Mike Johnson’s true alliances lie, with Koch and the rest of the oligarchs, Grover Nordquist and his starve and strangle government until it chokes and dies anti-tax crusaders, and Mike’s buddies over at The Heritage Foundation.
The GOP gets poor people to buy in to gutting the IRS. Poor families get audited by the IRS at a high rate. Poor hate the IRS also. This results the majority of poor voting the GOP in to office.
We poor use the Earned Income Tax Credit and that gets us audited, even tho we are entitled to it.
Jane. I have been audited by the IRS three times in my life even though I have been a middle class wage earner all that time. Audited once while in Graduate school. Can you believe it? A Federal tax expert told me that the probability of a wage earner being audited once was less than once in a lifetime. The probability of twice was infinitesimal. The probability of three times was zero, unless I am an embezzler. I am not. Never have been. But I was a draft resister and a member of SDS during the Vietnam War. Coincidence maybe?
A colleague, a USNA graduate, 30 year veteran, who had been a military judge who tossed evidence obtained by torture, was audited and although his violation was nebulous, they fined him $25,000 because, they said as a judge, he made a good example.
Even the judiciary. Which reminds me, the media and no one has asked why Chutkan has not thrown Trump in jail for violating her orders. Political fear, external pressure from DOJ (Garland). $15,000 in fines, are chump change to Trump, an equivalent of $.15 cents to us, and no deterrent at all. Putting him in prison wold be a good example, but I fear that, because of politics and fear he will skate.
Not a coincidence, FBI probably has a dossier on you, ask for it under FOIA.
I met, on line, a convert to Islam, lived in Si,lver Springs, WA, County Sheriff calls him the Sheik of Silver Springs, runs a camp for kids, probably Muslim.
He converted after Wounded Knee II. he had been an agent for the FBI, and after Wounded Knee II, he was so disgusted that he converted. his screen name was WindRiverShoshoni.
The IRS, FBI, Secret Service DHS, CBP, Sheriffs and police are conservative institutions and naturally attract those inclined to the right, and it has only gotten worse, to the extent that you can't trust them anymore. As an example, the FBI totally ignored the threat from the right, focusing their infiltration and investigations on leftists. and I suspect that the left is still their top self selected priority. Following in the footsteps of that gay transvestite J.E. Hoover.
Mr. Hartman. This is an extremely important topic, about which Americans are mislead, lied to by our politicians and Economists. The idea that the U.S. is "IN DEBT" when it generates a deficit as a result of the federal government spending more money than it collects in taxes; IS A MYTH. The U.S. government is a SOVEREIGN nation state. What this means is that it, the federal government, creates the currency we use. It prints the money we use. We are allowed to use that money for our financial transactions. But we do NOT OWN that money, the federal government does. We are allowed to use it.
The feds determine how much money is in existence at any particular time. The federal govt. can increase the amount of CURRENCY available by printing more of it and introducing it into circulation.
We are mislead into believing the amount of money in circulation can be increased by lowering the prime interest rate and thus encouraging citizens to borrow money to buy things. Conversely we are told that when the Prime interest rate is raised, this shrinks the amount of money in circulation by discouraging people from borrowing and buying. However: THIS IS ALL SMOKE AND MIRRORS. The money "created" by manipulating the prime rate is what I call "FANTOM MONEY." It is not real money, not CURRENCY. It is money which changes hands from lender to borrower. But not currency. It works like this:
Let's say I put $100 dollars from my wages into the local bank. The bank can now claim it has $100. My neighbor Mr. O. borrows $100 dollars from the bank to buy a toaster. The appliance store puts the $100 into the bank. The bank now says it has $200. My neighbor Ms. M. borrows $100 from the bank to buy a floor lamp. The appliance store puts that $100 into the bank. The bank now says it has $300. My neighbors and the bank are creating FANTOM MONEY not currency. Now multiply these transactions by billions. Our economy runs on borrowed money, on credit, billions of dollars in transactions continuously. Only the federal government can create CURRENCY. That is part of the government's exclusive privilege as a SOVEREIGN state. We do our business with both FANTOM MONEY and CURRENCY.
From time to time too much FANTOM MONEY accumulates in the system in spite of the Federal Reserve's attempt to limit it. When too much has accumulated the economy cools off as financial transactions slow down for lack of real CURRENCY. The banks can lend only a fraction of the total amount of real currency in their reserves, usually around 85%. This percentage is set by government regulation and it changes as conditions change. In other words the bank must always keep at least 15% in its vault in the form of currency.
If enough actual currency is not in circulation. the economy slows down. This happens periodically and is euphemistically called the "business cycle" by Economists. If the public feels insecure about the money they have placed into the banks they might panic and demand that the bank return the money, they withdraw it from the bank. If enough people demand a withdrawal the bank might not have enough currency in its reserves to be able to return the public's money. This is called a "run on the bank." We recently saw some large banks from New York to California close because they could not grant depositors "their" money. One bank had to be purchased by a larger institution and another went "bankrupt." The "bank runs" during the 1929-1930 business collapse was the beginning of the greatest depression in American History. The reason we came out of that depression is Roosevelt's spending on both domestic social programs and the military for WWll. Roosevelt pumped huge amounts of CURRENCY into the economy. The dollar has no inherent value. It has value only because 330 million Americans and billions around the world, have faith in it. Faith that it can be used reliably in financial exchanges from toasters to aircraft carriers, from billions of pairs of shoes to automobiles, etc.
From 1817 to 1930 the U.S. has suffered six depressions. Every one of them, without exception, occurred shortly after the U.S. government reduced the deficit. A 29% reduction in 1817. A 36% reduction in 1929, this was the Pres. Hoover depression called "The Great Depression"; our greatest depression ever. The biggest deficit reduction was under Pres. Jackson :100%. It was followed by the greatest depression up until that time in 1837, which helped to ignite the war between the states. From 1960-61 until 2008-09 we have had eight "business cycle" downturns, or depressions. By my calculation that is one depression or downturn every 7.5 years. Without exception they have all come after the government tried to reduce the deficit. The best source for this topic is THE DEFICIT MYTH by Stephanie Kelton, 2001.
The proper course of action should be to follow the advice of John Maynard Keynes and "prime the economy" by pumping currency into it carefully, in such a way as to hold unemployment at a constant zero. I could go on with more clarifying details for this comment; especially with regard to rates of profit as compared to rate of national economic expansion. See CAPITAL In the 21st Century by Thomas Picketty 2014. for prodigious details. Also I have skipped discussing the dangerous habit the U.S. government has of "borrowing" money from the wealthy in order to "balance" the budget. But, enough for now.
We almost had the national debt paid off under Clinton, what Bush Junior got us into the Iraq war. I don't like seeing huge amounts of money wasted on interest on the national debt annually or huge trade deficits annually. I think we could put our financial house in order by taxing the rich more and building self supporting poor farms and prisons. There should be no homeless on the streets. With fair trade, zero population growth, socialized healthcare and reducing the military budget in half, we could make America once again the envy of the world?
Mr. Johnson. That's my point: there is no such thing as the "National Debt." Clinton drained the economy of so much real money and borrowed so much from the wealthy that he pushed us into a depression. He also took welfare away from the poor and vastly swelled our prisons. To add a cherry on the frosting we must now pay taxes to the gov't. so it can pay back the wealthy, with interest. Clinton was a Corporate-Loving Republican in Democrat's clothes. He repeated the performance of Grover Cleveland, who was unique until Clinton arrived on the scene. Now there have been at least two Republicans in Democrat's clothes.
First, and foremost, our economy has been undermined by our "allies." Not only a monetary problem, but also a national security emergency. We are at the mercy of price fixing and price gouging by OPEC/Saudi/Russia, and the Treasury could recoup trillions. Saudis own our largest domestic oil refineries, control domestic companies like Exxon.
Second, paying back the wealthy with interest. Treasury has the capacity to arbitrage, buying low interest debt in places like Japan, Switzerland and Sweden, to retire high interest debt.
Daniel, I'm reposting my reply to Mr Dobbertin, as you might miss it.. Discuss?
Mr Dobbertin. a good post almost but I must correct some misunderstandings. My source if Modern Money Mechanics, FRBNY, now out of print,was once free for the asking, but you can find it here: chrome-extension://efaidnbmnnnibpcajpcglclefindmkaj/https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/4a/Modern_Money_Mechanics.pdf
The US Treasury does indeed print money, and the US Mint stamps out coinage, coinage is real money, printed money is sold to Federal Reserve for Cost of Printing, which then sells it to member banks, which then uses it to meet demand from small businesses and street vendors and vending machines demand for paper money. Most money is transmitted via twisted paris and wireless transactions in the form of 0's and 1's.
The US and the West are indeed on a debt money system, it is more accurate to call it a Debt money, not fantasy money, but it is officially the Federal Reserve system.
Member financial institutions, Banks, Credit Unions, Savings and Loans are required to hold reserves. most reserves are held by Fed Regional banks,. Reserves are govenment securities, corporate bonds, and time accounts (checking accounts)
The Fed sets the reserve base, it can be as little as 0.25 and high as the Federal Reserve Open Market committee sets it.
Money is created when anyone or any entity, including the government, borrows from a financial institution.
Let's say the reserve base is set at 10%, that means that the bank can lend out any amount, so long as they have 10% of the loan in reserve with the Regional Fed (there are 12 of them)
In visual form, using the Jimmy Stewart movie , It's a Wonderful Life. A person walks into the bank and wants to borrow $100. The banker looks in his drawer, to see if he has $100, he does, so he loans the customer, $100 and counts out bank notes (Notes printed by the bank) this is debt money,not fantasy money, fantasy money is found in monopoly games, but I understand people need a concept that isn't so difficult that they can't wrap their heads around it.
There is a fact about debt money, that is not easily understood. Any money created out of debt, is wiped off the books (goes out of existence) when debts are paid down and paid off.
In 2019, I paid off my mortgage,and in doing so the remainder of my debt disappeared,went off the books.
What doesn't disappear, and which is the primary driver of inflation, is the interest on the debt.
When I went in debt to pay my house, my cars, whatever, the bank did not have to pull all of the money for the mortgage or loan, out of it's vaults, only the fraction of the reserve set by the Fed. That is why it is called a Fractional Reserve System. The rest was a book keeping entry, as a credit to the bank. Your debts are a financial institutions assets and go in the Credit column of its books , it's customers savings accounts are considered liabilities, and that is why the Fed doesn't include them in its reserve calculations. Checking accounts are assets, savings accounts are liabilities.
Again, and I emphasize, the only currency the Federal Government creates is coinage, Paper and electronic money are created out of debt, by banks in a book keeping maneuver, as debt creates money so does paying off the debt extinguishes the money.
I acknowledge your education and experience in your fields, please acknowledge mine. This is a subject I researched for my MBA, majors in finance and accounting. I've researched and written a 156 page on International Financial Institutions, including the Bank for International Settlements, the Banking System of the USSR, and Bank of Israel. By the way the system I would opt for is Israels, circa 1984. I have no idea what it looks like today.
Here is a copy and paste: Many Israeli's are invested in Patam accounts(Local resident's foreign currency accounts). These accounts provide insurance and a hedge against devaluation(through inflation) of the Shekel. Wouldn't it be nice if American's could invest in SDR (IMF-Special DrawingRights) accounts as can certain multinational corporations and banks. In fact Patam accounts (dollars) have moved so fast that in Israel they act like money in the banking system (Economic Review, 53, May 82, Bank of Israel.
Our currency is Fractional Reserve (which I explained) a Debt Money System, not a Phantom money system, though it amounts to the same, only the Government isn't creating the money, financial instiutions via the Federal Reserve create the money, but not the money to pay the interest hence inflation. Raise the amount of interest due the Federal Reserve debt money system, and you raise the inflation floor.
Jerome Powell's interest rate increases will only increase and accelerate inflation in the future.(it takes time for the system to work it's way through the economy), time for the debts (public and private) to come due
Mr. Farrar, it is hard to believe that Biden was naive enough to keep Powell around. Is it not?
Mr. Farrar. I have copied the source for the Modern Money Mechanics, now out of print, which you printed. I intend to get it if I can and read it. Hope I can make sense of it. It was difficult for my old eyes to read as I copied it out of your comment.
It is on wikipedia commons and you can download it, free. It is one hell of a dry read, and you need some background in money and finance. One thing you won't see in it is, that money created out of debt, "vanishes" as the debt is paid down and paid off, however if one reads carefully, one realizes that.
The pamphlet was a required reading in my first finance course, when I mentioned that in class, an Army Captain also in the class, challenged me. I looked at the professor and he nodded and told the Captain I was correct.
Money created out of debts (public, corporate and private) go out of existence when debts are paid down and paid off, and also when one files bankruptcy .
Have you never asked why is it that financial institutions can buy and sell mortgages, car, airplane and boat loans?
The answer is simple, so long as they recover their original reserve (the 10% or so they have to have to loan money) and received interest payments, they have recovered their original investment plus interest, the rest is simply wiped off the books, double entry accounting.
The institution the buys the loan, soon recovers their original investment,plus interest, and the game goes on and on, they can buy and sell a loan or a mortgage over and over, and not lose a penny but make a profit, and if the borrower defaults, then they recover the property which was the basis of the loan, and make a huge profit selling it and starting all over.
Of course financial institutions need the law on their side, they have the sheriff who can seize property if the holder doesn't pay taxes, payments on the mortgage or loan,or obey the laws.
ICYMI, now comes my exposition. You and I don't actually own property, we simple hold title in Fee Simple.
Fee feudal) Simple is a device that originated with Edward I. his barons rose up against him, because the King (the sovereign) held allodial rights to all of England. Allodial rights are the right of conquest. And the barons were sore pissed because the King, being sovereign with allodial rights) all too frequently disposed his barons of their titles and fiefdoms, to bestow them on a court favorite.
The answer he came up with is to grant them title in Fee Simple, meaning the land and the feudal title, Duke and Baron) were his and his heirs in perpetuity, so long as he paid his taxes, provided for defense of the realm with weapons, armor and men at arms, pledged fealty (another word with a feudal stem) , and obeyed the law of the land, which was the King's law.
Failure to do so, resulted in eviction from he land and title.
And the word sheriff is a derivative of shire reeve (reave) or reave of the shire, whose job was to collect taxes, and evict those that didn't obey the King's laws.
And that is why it is the sheriff is used to foreclose and evict delinquents and law breakers.
Not all counties and states exercise this authority, but enough do, and that is where sheriff's obtain the authority to confiscate money and titled property, of people accused of breaking the law of the Sovereign,which apparently are the several states, as delegate to the counties the responsibility of enforcing the allodial law.
The Constitutional sheriffs and Peace Officers are a joke, they aren't empowered to enforce or abide by the Constitution.
The oath of office for sheriff's (shire reeve) varies state to state, county to county, but sometimes goes like this: "On my honor, I will never Betray my integrity, my character Or the public trust. I will always have the courage to hold myself and others accountable for our actions. I will always maintain the highest ethical standards and uphold the values of my community, and the agency I serve."
And like this: "“I, (employee name), do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States and the Constitution of the State of ... "
note the "and the Constitution. of the State of........" which means that the constitution of the state supersedes the Constitution of the United States.
FYI the Constitution ratified in 1790, as amended, actually acknowledges the sovereignty of the several states., that is why it takes a Constitutional amendment to grant rights to everyone.
Individual states can elect or not elect to pass laws, acknowledging rights, regulate industries, limit or regulate such things as guns, but if they go beyond the Constitution as defined by six radical theocratic fascists, the laws will be nullfiied.
The federal government was not able to outlaw automatic fire weapons, but found a work around by requiring a permit, an exhausive application process, and then paying a heavy tax, to purchase and own an automatic fire weapon.
They could do the same for semi automatic, rapid fire weapons and large magazines.
Self loading, semi automatics, like those used for hunting, and shotguns have or had, magazines with limited rounds, I had a 30.05 with a magazine of four rounds, most semi automatic shotguns also have a four or five round limit.
Mr. Farrar. I acknowledge your expertise. Is there any doubt? you clearly are well informed about banking and financial issues.
Mr. Solomon. I agree.
I am a Keynesian, haven't always been. 40 years ago I was a Friedmanite, a devotee of the Austrian School and Koch's Foundation for Economic Education (FEE)until I started working on my MBA and did extensive soure research, had a foot locker full of documents and reports from the Fed,BIS, many banks and books as well like . 0. Kuschpeta, The Banking and Credit System of the USSR, Tilburg Studies in Economics, 1978, MaRTINUS Nijhoff Social Sciences Div, Leidenl Boston, 284 pages
Anway Keynes properly said, that a sovereign nations debts are owed to itself, and the way to prosper is by spending money, even during a depression. FDR's success is proof, Japan survived a devastating depression by spending money it didn't have, and plowing most of it into education, which of course international financial institutions, absolutely fear, all they want is a positive return on investment, and have created domestic chaos in P.I.G. nations like Portugal and Greece by forcing them to cut domestic spending, especially social spending and divert the payments to them, the debt holders.
Being friends with my Econ 101 professor, a Friedmanite, I tried to educate him, his response was "I only know economics, not money", Imagine that.
I ask you not to befuddle minds with your misunderstanding of how national currency works (and it works the same for all members of the Bank for International Settlements (BIS), to wit:France, England, Germany, Netherlands, Belgium and so on.
The BIS was created in 1929, to handle and isburse German's reparation payments from WWI, it's first President was Paul Warburg, who was also the author of the Federal Reserve Act (Title 12 USC) and it's first president.. His brother Max was the genius who came up with the idea of secreting Lenin into Russia in a closed RR car
Representatives of member banks, report to the BIS first Monday of each month, to occupy identical offices laid out identically, to finish reports and receive instructions.
Including Jerome Powell or a designee.
The BIS is the boss of central banks or Central bank of central banks. As a grad student I was able to recieve copies of their gold covered, annual report for three years running, dry but eye opening, including the critique of the USSR which they declared a failed experiment in need of restructuring then who showed up but
Gorbachev (Reagan knew that Russia was in the infancy of dismantling)..
Gorbie was rewarded with a handsome retirement, a dacha on Lake Geneva, and his own NGO, the Green Cross.
Mr. farrar. Two things: it almost looks as though Greece has in effect given up its sovereignty when it agreed use the euro and get rid of its own currency. Does this sound right?
Can you recommend a good book to act as an introductory text for banking and finance?
Any entity that uses an international monetary unit has in effect give up it's own sovereignty, but they are forced to by the structure of international trade. An entity, be it an individual or a nation, can't engage in international commerce unless it has access and uses a monetary unit, that is accepted by the vendor. The Afghan Afghani (AFN) is of no value in international trade, what they import must be paid for in internationally recognized currency. And such currency has varying values, and values are always fluctuating.
In most nations, the national currency is used for internal purchases, but in some places they will accept Dollars, and EU's.I traveled the Pan American hiway from Juarez to Panama on a brief case of 300 $1.00 bills. Did not have to convert anything, but they were very glad to take the dollar, as I am sure that I overpaid
I can't point to one book or a series of books, my 40 year old monolith has 157 references, ranging from books, news papers and magazines.
Back in 1984, the Federal Reserve had a list of free publications, took up most of the space in my footlocker,but they soon realized that educating the public was a mistake, as I started posting excerpts like the Association of Primary Dealers in Government Securities (APDGS) on the nascent internet, including what I know about Modern Money Mechanics, and soon there was a proliferation of books and articles and they stopped making Modern Money Mechanics free for the asking. Mostly it was grad students in finance that asked for the publications.
Obama not passing Medicare for all when he had the chance, I consider him a GOP also. What would you do to raise the standard of living for the workers?
I will be kind, Obama was a novice, a fish out of water, when it comes to money, finance, economics he was a blank slate, that and thanks to the likes of Rahm Emanuel, now in Bidens cabinet and a real scum bag, along with Larry Summers,He was at the beck and call of AHIP, Association of Health Insurance Providers).
They had access to the White house during the construction of the ACA,but single payor advocates like Bernie were excluded.
The result if a 600 page bill, that doesn't solve the problem, has issues, but is beloved by AHIP because it enriches.
All congress had to do was change a few words in the Medicare enabling legislation from"eligibility starts at age 65" to eligibility starts at Birth, but that would have inflamed AHIP and they would declare war on the DNC.
And of course the corrupt Rahm Emanuel who slops at the trough of the elect (privatized education in Chicago, a major agenda item of Betsy DeVoss, would have no part of it, and called progressives "fucking retards" Fuck face Rahm is Biden's ambassador to Japan.
The enemies of democracy are even embedded into the Biden administration.
Thank Mr. Farrar, I have been wondering what happened to Rahm Emmanuel der Wunderkind. Bacteria on the bottom of shallow lakes eat away at the flesh of human corpses dropped there by criminals. This produces gas which bloats the corpse and eventually causes it to float to the surface. Expect Mr. Rahm Emanuel to float up again in the future.
Well Gerald, I'm waiting for a professor to answer. Either that or you don't know or you are a troll who uses artificial intelligence? This is a very important question and you seem to be very knowledgeable about economics.
Mr.. Johnson. I am sorry I do no understand what you are referring to. I do not know what you are asking. If I were to take a shot in the dark I would say that Obama-Care was a gift to the Insurance industry and a dishonest service to Americans. We need Single payer Gov't. medical coverage. This combined with Pro-labor-union legislation would be a start. There are too many areas to list here.
No, I am not a "troll who uses artificial intelligence." Although I have used computers in my work for over half a century. I began my work long before the advent of readily available electronic computers. I am a real, live, actual human being who is honestly and sincerely trying to understand the world we live in and to figure out my place in it. I take these discussions seriously. I admit that I get it wrong more often than I like. But I have spent my entire professional adult life working on this never-ending life project. What can you say about yourself?
It is a very simple question. How would you raise the standard of living for American workers? I don't need a lecture on how brilliant you are.
Mr Dobbertin. a good post almost but I must correct some misunderstandings. My source if Modern Money Mechanics, FRBNY, now out of print,was once free for the asking, but you can find it here: chrome-extension://efaidnbmnnnibpcajpcglclefindmkaj/https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/4a/Modern_Money_Mechanics.pdf
The US Treasury does indeed print money, and the US Mint stamps out coinage, coinage is real money, printed money is sold to Federal Reserve for Cost of Printing, which then sells it to member banks, which then uses it to meet demand from small businesses and street vendors and vending machines demand for paper money. Most money is transmitted via twisted paris and wireless transactions in the form of 0's and 1's.
The US and the West are indeed on a debt money system, it is more accurate to call it a Debt money, not fantasy money, but it is officially the Federal Reserve system.
Member financial institutions, Banks, Credit Unions, Savings and Loans are required to hold reserves. most reserves are held by Fed Regional banks,. Reserves are govenment securities, corporate bonds, and time accounts (checking accounts)
The Fed sets the reserve base, it can be as little as 0.25 and high as the Federal Reserve Open Market committee sets it.
Money is created when anyone or any entity, including the government, borrows from a financial institution.
Let's say the reserve base is set at 10%, that means that the bank can lend out any amount, so long as they have 10% of the loan in reserve with the Regional Fed (there are 12 of them)
In visual form, using the Jimmy Stewart movie , It's a Wonderful Life. A person walks into the bank and wants to borrow $100. The banker looks in his drawer, to see if he has $100, he does, so he loans the customer, $100 and counts out bank notes (Notes printed by the bank) this is debt money,not fantasy money, fantasy money is found in monopoly games, but I understand people need a concept that isn't so difficult that they can't wrap their heads around it.
There is a fact about debt money, that is not easily understood. Any money created out of debt, is wiped off the books (goes out of existence) when debts are paid down and paid off.
In 2019, I paid off my mortgage,and in doing so the remainder of my debt disappeared,went off the books.
What doesn't disappear, and which is the primary driver of inflation, is the interest on the debt.
When I went in debt to pay my house, my cars, whatever, the bank did not have to pull all of the money for the mortgage or loan, out of it's vaults, only the fraction of the reserve set by the Fed. That is why it is called a Fractional Reserve System. The rest was a book keeping entry, as a credit to the bank. Your debts are a financial institutions assets and go in the Credit column of its books , it's customers savings accounts are considered liabilities, and that is why the Fed doesn't include them in its reserve calculations. Checking accounts are assets, savings accounts are liabilities.
Again, and I emphasize, the only currency the Federal Government creates is coinage, Paper and electronic money are created out of debt, by banks in a book keeping maneuver, as debt creates money so does paying off the debt extinguishes the money.
I acknowledge your education and experience in your fields, please acknowledge mine. This is a subject I researched for my MBA, majors in finance and accounting. I've researched and written a 156 page on International Financial Institutions, including the Bank for International Settlements, the Banking System of the USSR, and Bank of Israel. By the way the system I would opt for is Israels, circa 1984. I have no idea what it looks like today.
Here is a copy and paste: Many Israeli's are invested in Patam accounts(Local resident's foreign currency accounts). These accounts provide insurance and a hedge against devaluation(through inflation) of the Shekel. Wouldn't it be nice if American's could invest in SDR (IMF-Special DrawingRights) accounts as can certain multinational corporations and banks. In fact Patam accounts (dollars) have moved so fast that in Israel they act like money in the banking system (Economic Review, 53, May 82, Bank of Israel.
Our currency is Fractional Reserve (which I explained) a Debt Money System, not a Phantom money system, though it amounts to the same, only the Government isn't creating the money, financial instiutions via the Federal Reserve create the money, but not the money to pay the interest hence inflation. Raise the amount of interest due the Federal Reserve debt money system, and you raise the inflation floor.
Jerome Powell's interest rate increases will only increase and accelerate inflation in the future.(it takes time for the system to work it's way through the economy), time for the debts (public and private) to come due.
Mr.Farrar. There is a key paragraph in your response which I do not understand. Can you clarify it and help me?
"When I went into debt................the bank did not have to pull all of the money for the mortgage or loan, out of its vaults, only the fraction of the reserve set by the Fed..............The rest was a book keeping entry, as a credit to the bank."
I understand the rest. My savings account is a liability because the bank must pay interest to me, plus, the bank must give me the money if I demand it. The loan they gave me is an asset for the bank because I must pay interest to them on it. This interest goes in their profit column . Furthermore, the bank can sell my loan to another institution and make some money from that sale.
Your words, which I have quoted above are what I am trying to understand. Can you please expand on them? For instance: are you saying that if I borrow $100 the bank gives me $85 from ITS VAULT and the other $15 comes from the Fed's reserve? Or is there a different interpretation of your words? Please help me to get it right.
I doubt “that people in our military had told him they thought our national debt was a bigger threat to us than Russia or China.” Maybe some lowly enlisted person in the reserves, but commissioned officers are supposed to be apolitical.
Anecdotal accounts (excuse me - lies) such as "someone somewhere said x to me" are the lifeblood of the GOP and their ilk. Reality is never, ever, on their side. So they make shit up. Just like Reagan's repulsive "welfare queen" bit.
Now, if in fact "someone" in our military did say that (and believed it), they would have no business being a part of the US military. Back to Basic for made up person.
Our military is not a military of idiots - so for Mike Johnson to somehow conjure one at random is as preposterous as is his cynical abuse of the Israel/ Gaza situation in order to stump for defunding the IRS.
26 years a mustang (enlisted to officer) and a spec ops team leader. I can honestly say that the military is full of self willed idiots. That is why the majority of military were, probably still are fully inclined to the right.Not literal idiots, but brainwashed by peers and ignorant of reality.
The culture is monastic,and closed,your friends are the people you work with, little exposure to the real world, I'm sure that Fox and social media has polluted many a military mind.
I totally agree that we need to tax the Billionaire takers enough to recreate what used to be called the "middle class." Oddly, nobody has pointed out that a quick way to reduce the deficit is to simply collect the dodged taxes that cause the deficit in the first place. So of course, MAGA Mike will go for the throat of the IRS.
My only issue with the lyrics to this choir music is that it cherry picked around the Democrats who have contributed to the problem by wasting their majority in both houses by not passing laws that would have turned things around. Citizens United is our #1 threat to our democracy. But let us not forget that Clinton orchestrated shifting the US away from manufacturing toward hedge funds and financial services by exporting so much manufacturing that it has now threatened national security. Not smart to send the manufacture of parts you need to build ships, jets, rockets, tanks, guidance systems, etc. to countries that compete with you. Obama did little to change that either. Then Biden arrived on the scene like a doddering Hopalong Cassidy, and manufacturing is beginning to return stateside.
Of course, in 2024, I will be surprised of Biden can still get on his horse? I doubt it. Oh, he can still lead, but his energy level will limit what he can accomplish even if there is a Blue Wave. We still at year 3 have well over 100 unfilled political appointments. A 2024 ticket like Newsom/Warren would bring awesome energy needed to restore all the sabotage this article notes, and then, kill Citizens United before it kills democracy.
But the DNC doesn't want to alienate the mega donors, like J { Morgan and Goldman Sachs,and Chamber of Commerce, and yegads, oh horror, Elizabeth Warren talks and acts like a progressive,and financial institutions, especially loan sharks (pay day lenders) hate her
If she appears on the ticket, even MSNBC will whip out the long knives., because she is a threat to MSNBC's source of income, AHIP, PhRMA and financial instutions.
You wil never see an expose, negative exposure or a documentary on MSNBC, CBS, ABC, NBC, much less PBS about Health Insurance illicit gains or PhRMA.
BTW I've been keeping a spread sheet on all the Drugs advertised on MSBNC and am up to 101, probably missed a few.
It is true that neither elected officials nor the MSM want to risk alienating mega donors upon whom they depend for survival. However, as any successful person will know, if you do not take risks nothing changes - including one's own fortune.
How that change might occur is in a heads-I-win/tails-you-lose situation. If taking the moral high ground gives the 1-Percenters no space for blowback they become the proverbial deer in the political headlights - unable to move in any direction. The Christofascist nationalists look only to the Old Testament for moral guidance which can sometimes undermine their claims to being Christians at all. "Love thy neighbor as thyself." and "Let he who is without sin cast the first stone." takes all the steam out of MAGA hatred, but only if that triggers their sense of personal shame or humility. That is a very tough challenge these days.
Since about 1980, there appears to only be one party. Fascist light and fascist Stout. Shipping factory jobs including pharmaceutical jobs to a dictatorship, was not very wise at all. I suspect Biden is in on it, he's been in office so many years and this was all planned by the rich greedy capitalists about 40 to 60 years ago. We do need a new Democratic ticket with younger and more open minds. Not like the young GOPS though.
This is a masterful review of the last 60 or so years. Leaves me speechless.
1. Witness tax cheating? Your pathway to riches. The IRS Whistleblower Office pays awards to eligible individuals whose information is used by the IRS. The percentage depends on several factors, but generally falls between 15 and 30 percent of the proceeds collected and attributable to the whistleblower's information. https://www.irs.gov/compliance/whistleblower-office
2. Qui tam. Whistleblower cases under the False Claims Act (also known as qui tam lawsuits) cases can lead to substantial recoveries by both the government and the whistleblower. In general, the most successful cases are ones in which the government takes an interest and “intervenes.” Typical kinds:
Health Care Fraud
Pharmaceutical Companies
Medical Devices and Implants
Upcoding and Unbundling/Fragmentation
Kickbacks
False Certifications and Information
Lack of Medical Necessity
Fraudulent Cost Reports
Grant or Program Fraud
Medicare Advantage Risk-Adjustment Fraud
Does Your Plan’s Risk Adjustment Strategy Violate the False Claims Act?
Medicare Part D Fraud
Medical Loss Ratio Fraud
Fraud in the Financial Industry
Municipal Transactions
FHA Mortgages
Yield Burning
3. In common law jurisdictions a private attorney can bring a lawsuit in the public interest, i.e., benefiting the general public and not just the plaintiff, on behalf of a citizen or group of citizens.
Congress codified the private attorney general principle into law with the enactment of Civil Rights Attorney's Fees Award Act of 1976, 42 U.S.C. § 1988. Congress levelled the playing field so that private citizens, who might have little or no money, could still serve as "private attorneys general" and afford to bring actions, even against state or local bodies, to enforce the civil rights laws.
While there is a private attorney general act in the United States, a private non-attorney citizen can't act as a "private attorney general" for all purposes.
4. SEC. Provides monetary awards to eligible individuals who come forward with high-quality original information that leads to a Commission enforcement action in which over $1,000,000 in sanctions is ordered. The range for awards is between 10% and 30% of the money collected.
5. DOL. I heard approximately 26 types of whistleblower cases. Not all the statutes are the same but there are fee shifting statutes. https://www.dol.gov/general/topics/whistleblower
Thank you Mr. Solomon. Your knowledge is huge and your work experience priceless.
I suspected for a number of years that an enemy of mine had bad-mouthed me to the IRS hoping to simply harass me. But not to actually collect as a result of a Qui tam. The IRS obliged him. Did you ever sit in on a qui tam for a native American tribe?
We already had a President Johnson who stopped Reconstruction. We don’t need another one! Thanks fora great history & warning. Pat S
Inspired by Thom's blog, we created this interactive RELATIONSHIP MAP to see how billionaires have rigged the system to cut their taxes with help from the Supreme Court and mercenary Republican politicians. Follow the money. Click on any person or group on the map for more details to see their role.
https://thedemlabs.org/2023/11/03/gop-demands-irs-budget-cuts-to-please-their-billionaire-donors/
WOW I signed up to receive the DemLabs Bulletin
Thank you for laying this out as it is. The danger we are in from MAGA Mike was clear to me from the start. I would rather have Santos in than MAGA Mike. Presumably he cannot take over presidency if something happens to Biden and Harris. Mike is a Christo-fascist and as such will use the Bible to justify every vicious thing that he does. His is not a loving Christ, but a vengeful one.
New sign for the war room. It's The Pentagon, Stupid!
How rich (pun intended) that anyone from the military would have all that to say about the budget, because they have RULED it since World War II. Carter increased their budget, and then Reagan DOUBLED that increase. Here comes Santa Claus!
From Senator Grassley's website:
The DOD last year failed its fifth audit and was unable to account for over half of its assets.
"Sens. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) and Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), along with Sens. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), Rand Paul (R-Ky.) and Ed Markey (D-Mass.), today introduced a bipartisan bill to require the Department of Defense (DOD) to pass a full, independent audit in fiscal year 2024. The Audit the Pentagon Act of 2023 would further direct any DOD component that fails to complete a clean audit to return one percent of its budget to the Treasury."
"The DOD – which consumes more than half of the nation’s discretionary budget and controls more than $3.1 trillion in assets – is the only federal agency that has been unable to pass an independent audit, despite the fact all federal agencies have been required by law to conduct annual audits since 1990."
That 1% seems like a token, and probably is. There are other personal consequences when you are in the military and don't do your job. They involve losing rank, pay, and privileges; that might bring about some changes. The GOP tax dodgers and thieves always want to claim the military, until it's time to personally pay their fair share for them. AND in most cases, they don't pay in blood or time served---theirs or their children.
Yes alis, you bring up an extremely important, hidden topic: pentagon funding. According to the Office of Management and Budged OMB pentagon funding in 2022 was $766 billion. However, the National Income and Product Accounts NIPA ( the most complete and definitive source on US national income) the figure is higher $925 billion. When one adds in 5 more categories not included in the OMB account, the figure doubles to $1.536.9 trillion, twice the OMB amount. Here are those 5 hidden categories:
1)military Medical Insurance $5.7 billion
2)Veteran's Related Expenses $180.2 billion
3)Space Consumption and Gross Investment Expenditures $15.2 billion
4)Grants to foreign countries $29.4 billion
5)Net Interest Attributed to the Military $381.4 billion
These figures are taken from "Monthly Review" magazine November 2023.
I suggest you slow down. The military is not composed of rich people sucking off the governments teat.
Most enlisted, have to rely on foot stamps to feed their family
Here is the current pay scale and the highest paid officer is an O-10 and his pay is $17,575.10 a month, sure is a lot of money, it seems, but not when you consider his or her responsibilities, neither you nor me could shoulder those responsibilities and no where near thay of a CEO of Fortune 400 company.
Now if you are talking about Contractors like Raytheon, Oshkosh, Boeing, McDonnell Douglas, well that is another story.
However the MIC has been careful to ensure that each and every congressional district has at least one military or military dependent company, if it is only makingcockpit handles or honeycomb cardboard shock absorbing pads.
Cripple the DOD and you have just caused a major depression and provided fuel for the fire, that is the new MAGAt Republican party.
William, I am a veteran. I didn't state that the troops were getting rich. "Rich" was in reference to the attitude expressed, considering how much of our debt is because of military spending. Spending on the military industrial complex. To add insult to injury, they cannot tell us where half of their budget was spent. Everyone knows it sure as hell didn't go to the troops. AND you can bet that payroll didn't fail THEIR audit!
And on that I agree. My career included being responsible for putting together a budget, which would be sent to higher headquarters and weaved into their budget and so on up the line, until my small part became part of the defense budget.
There were no audits, in truth, an audit is impossible, because, just about everything military, including personnel, are expendable and it is impossible to keep records on expendables.
Stores, like Kroger can, they have scanners, which add and subtract from inventory. Their is no way to keep track of military supplies. Can you imagine a soldier signing out for X number of bullets, or cannon shells, even parachutes. Parachutes are equipment, and some form of control is exercised over parachutes, but they do get damaged, and often in operations after getting the troop to the ground, they are abandoned, of necessity.
During my 26 year career, I was everything from an enlisted slug, doing a job, which only required paper, carbon paper, typewriter ribbon, food and quarters, to commanding a spec ops team., in which everything we used was expendable, and the only real controls were over weapons, serial numbers had to be accounted for, even the parachutes were expendable, when damaged we didn't turn them in, because they couldn't be safely repaired and re used, if a suspension line broke, the chute was unserviceable.
The record keeping from soldier, sailor, marine, airman to headquarters is impossible.
Imagine an artillery crew or a machine gunner, trying to keep tabs on every piece of ammo expended. I am trying to visualize the pilot of an A10, or a crew served weapon, trying to keep track of the thousands of rounds of ammo expended, and when back at base, reporting to the company or squadron commander, the amount of ammunition spewed by a mini gun (the "gatling" gun, electronically fired, that spits out 6,000 rounds of minute and what you hear is not the pop of a gun, or the rat a tat of a sewing machine, but a brrrrrrrrrrrrrr.
There is some validity, in principle, to your complaint but in real life it is totally impracticable, and trying to comply would harm national defense, which is something that our enemies like Putin, Kim, Xi and Iran would embrace.