The national debt isn’t the cause of our problems: it’s the receipt. It’s the paper trail of the largest upward transfer of wealth in 250 years of American history…
Tax cuts, wars, and lies. Will we survive MORE TRump State of The Unions?
Hopefully next year this f-ing guy will be too busy being impeached to bother to show up. Maybe he will have the bunker under his "ballroom" renovated by then. They can have McDonalds deliver his meals while he watches on C Span and screams at the TV.
Need to stick to the to-do list: Keep protesting, Get out the vote, Impeach, Convict, Celebrate, and Get back to work. We are going to need to show Vance that we are NOT going to put up with his sh*t and the same for the Tech Bros that own him. See you in the streets.
A separate gathering hosted at the National Press Club starting at 7:00 p.m. ET.
DEFIANCE.org: Co-founded by former Trump administration official Miles Taylor, this advocacy group is a primary host.
Portland Frog Brigade: A grassroots organization co-hosting the event.
The COURIER: A local newsroom listed as a host for the gathering.
2. "The People's State of the Union" Rally
This is the most prominent counter-event, held at 8:30 p.m. ET on the National Mall near the U.S. Capitol.
MoveOn Civic Action: A liberal advocacy group that is one of the lead organizers.
MeidasTouch: A progressive media company and "pro-democracy" news network.
Indivisible: The event is being streamed through Indivisible's YouTube channel.
Coalition Partners: Over a dozen additional advocacy groups are reportedly part of the coalition supporting the event.
3. Official Democratic Rebuttal
While not a "counter-event" in the same sense as the rallies, the Democratic Party has selected Virginia Governor Abigail Spanberger to deliver the official party response immediately following the president's address.
BTW she was a frequent guest of our DNC vets group last 2 election cycles.
I recently saw a podcast that explains how the national debt isn't like household debt, but politicians pretend it is, so they can make us think there isn't enough money for social programs. "National debt differs from household debt primarily because governments (specifically the U.S.) print their own currency, possess indefinite lifespans, and can raise taxes to service debt, whereas households face finite lifespans, limited income, and cannot create money. National debt acts as a tool for economic growth and is largely held by the public, while household debt is a personal liability"(Baird Wealth).
In our system, if there were no debt, there would be no money because we create money by issuing debt. "Printing money" doesn't cause inflation when there is enough labor and resources to expand the economy. But causing the right amount of inflation keeps us poor enough and exhausted enough not to resist and demand the wealthy pay their fair share. When you pay back a mortgage or car loan with inflated money, it's a good deal because you're paying it off with dollars that aren't worth as much as when you got the loan.
Lenders don't like inflation because they're getting repaid with dollars that are worth less than when they loaned the money.
Raise taxes on the morbidly rich! They're playing us, as Thom explains. It's a big con job. And who is the greatest conman the world has ever seen?
3. It's complicated but IMHO we can arbitrage part of the national debt. If loan rates are low in say, Switzerland or Scandanavia, borrow there to discharge some of our debt.
I'm in some financial discussion groups, and whan I takl arbitrage, I'm to we can nort buy Japanese bonds and do the same to them as they have done to us.
4. The national debt should only apply to our budget. These folks confuse trust fund obligations with our bond and note obligations.
talking public and private debt, public and private consumption.
It is American consumption, and Trump’s hold over it, that has the worlds leaders debasing themselves by crawling to the Oval Office, showering Trump with gifts and praises.
It is the same consumption that enables Trump to force law firms, universities, corporations to grovel at his feet. Money the great debaser.
All monies in a fractional reserve system are created out of debt, all debt public and private, however the fractional reserve or debt money system, runs on interest.
The acr if indebtedness, the mortgage, the loan, the credit card charge, creates the money, but it does not create the money to pay the interest.. This interest accumulates and accounts for the reason that a $.05 Candy bar in 1975, now costs almost $2.00. Why homes that cost $10,000 not cost half a million, why cars that cost $2,000 now cost $50,000
Lower interest rates and you increase the propensity for indebtedness, increase debts (public and private) and you increase the money supply, this causes a short term inflation, not the long term inflation of accumulated interest.
Money put into circulation by debt, is taken out of circulation by taxes, it is the money multiplier effect, where a dollar spent, gores around the economy until it is taxed out of existence.
If I spend $10, the recipient pays taxes on that $10, for ease of computation, say the tax rate is 20%, that means that $10 is reduced to $8, the process continues till the money is taxed out of existence.
The national debt is not like the household debt. If a mortgage or car ;loan is not paid, the property gets repossessed by the sheriff, or the lender. There is no sheriff to repossess the country, well there was a time when the equivalent of a sheriff, a king, could be used to repossess a country, it was called war.
If one owns no property to repossess, then their credit rating is adversely affected, and credit cards cancelled by the lender.
For a nation, that means that the only way to sell their debt is by delling it at discount which is the equivalent of jacking up the interest rate.
The more government debt in circulation, the greater the discount for now debt, and the lesser the value of debt in circulation.
All of this is a “wealth transfer strategy” from our pocket to theirs. This same crap has been both worshipped by people who are in awe of the glorified thieves who designed this system and embellish it with time. That people are and have been getting degrees in order to be better able to manipulate this system in the next generation and make their own billions is a testament to our collective worship and desired emulation of the very people who rob us.
As any economist will tell you, the national debt is just a necessary factor in international trade. It is not like household debt, that if not paid, the world will foreclose on America. It does reflect that the US is taking in less in taxes than it spends, and it is in some way a barometer of tax dodging enabled by Congress and a careless government, by both parties.
The result of inadequate taxation is a big transfer of wealth to billionaires. Not only can they deduct everything from new construction to buying a new Rolls, but they can also cheat because there are far too few IRS staff to adequately audit tax returns to catch cheats. For most of us, our only deductions are our family members - hard to cheat. I cannot claim 50 spouses.
Calling the National Debt cheating is at least somewhat unfair because Congress rigged the system to create the trickle-down debt. Perhaps the easiest way to reduce the debt is to make progressive taxes progressive by taking a higher percentage of billionaire income and, unlike SCOTUS, stop treating corporations like human beings when it comes to taxes.
The whole supply-side trickle-down fairy tale is akin to the Grinch assuring Cindy Lou Who "I'll fix it up there and bring it back here". We bought it, and now we're paying for it. The patriotic need to tax millionaires and billionaires steeply has never been more urgent or obvious.
Get what you are saying, Jeffrey, with the exception of the "we bought it". The off-shoring of jobs and money was obvious as hell. My collective Democratic we saw exactly where the trickle was headed for all these decades. Screamed it from the rooftops.
What's interesting is all the younger and some very young pundits have been explaining exactly that. Republicans intentionally break EVERYBODY'S stuff when they have the numbers in Congress to do it.
Robert Reich has been singing this song for 45 years! Wolfgang Street tells it without any sugar. Timothy Snyder tells it through the eyes of a historian. Masha Gessen tells it from the eyes of a Russian. Our grand, grand, grandparents told the story - "When you dance, you gotta pay the fiddler." Our story can best be told by watching a Labrador Retriever eat dinner. This behavior was wired in us long before we were humans. We are experiencing an "interregnum" (look it up).
Robert Reich as a member of the Clinton administration and especially the SS trust fund board was part of the probalem. To this day, doesn't understand the SS problem.
Well, some of us may, "prepare to hear Trump’s assessment of the state of our union", and I expect that Thom must because of his work, but the rest of us aren't masochists. There are only so many whiny, self-pitying lies that one can listen to.
Anyway, on a related note a perfect example of how little Congress as a whole cares for equitable taxation is the Social Security system. The Congressional Budget Office has been sounding the alarm for years, with 25% cuts expected in approximately 2033. (Ironic that it's the centennial year of FDR's inauguration.) Scrapping the cap on paying into it would reduce the overall problem by about 60%, and push the issue out for a generation. But as usual money talks and nothing is done for those who need the most help.
Barring a miracle I don't expect anything will be done until we get to the crisis stage. Then other programs will be cut to temporarily fund the shortfall. Government by panic, as usual. Trump's ideas about removing Reagan's gift of taxing SS is something, but not the fundamental issue, which he has addressed no better than other presidents.
Another good piece Thom. I particularly appreciate, "Contrary to Republican lies demanding we gut social programs to pay down the national debt, we don’t have a “spending problem” in American government: we have a looting problem." We could indeed afford a kinder economy if we chose. However, while Republicans have been the main drivers of this mess, both parties have become entrenched in the corporatocracy and we need deep system change. I've been working on this topic for 30 years. Here's a piece I wrote a while back about the systemic brokenness of the current version of extraction-based capitalism.
You always lay it out so succinctly! Here's a way I like to look at it...say you're working at a job that pays you $14/hr , and earns your boss $14/hr for your labor and half of that is pure profit he make's for every hour of your work. You , in the don't make enough to cover your living expenses so you have to borrow to make ends meet and as result slip farther and deeper into debt. Your boss though takes that extra money he's pocketing by not paying it to you and invests it, often into debt related funds so that not only doesn't he pay you that extra money but he's earning interest on your debt. It's an exponential rip off.
WOW, THAT IS SOME NEWS TO PONDER ON. WHAT I CAN UNDERSTAND IS WHEN WE HAD REPRESENTATION THERE, THE YEARS THAT OBAMA WAS THERE, BIDEN WAS THERE. CLINTON WAS THERE. WHY DIDN'T WE FIX THE PROBLEM BY RAISING THE TAXES ON THE RICH? AND NOW WE HAVE TO PAY THE CONSEQUENCES. BECAUSE WE ARE NORMAL PEOPLE DON'T HAVE THAT POWER TO DO THAT, BUT WE DID HAVE REPRESENTATION THAT LOOKED TO ME LIKE THEY ALL HAD THE POWER TO DO IT. BUT DIDN'T DO IT.
You mention the 'Epstein-billionaire class.' Credit comedian Jason Salmon for coining the term: the Epste-garchy!
Also, it seems that 'trickle down economics' tracks very closely with the 'prosperity gospel.' It works the same way. Write a $100 check to the Epste-garchy, and ye shall be blessed with $1,000 in return. TRUST US!
Tax cuts, wars, and lies. Will we survive MORE TRump State of The Unions?
Hopefully next year this f-ing guy will be too busy being impeached to bother to show up. Maybe he will have the bunker under his "ballroom" renovated by then. They can have McDonalds deliver his meals while he watches on C Span and screams at the TV.
Need to stick to the to-do list: Keep protesting, Get out the vote, Impeach, Convict, Celebrate, and Get back to work. We are going to need to show Vance that we are NOT going to put up with his sh*t and the same for the Tech Bros that own him. See you in the streets.
Find Congressional Republicans opposed to pedophelia.
BTW. Tonight.
1. "The State of the Swamp" Event https://www.defiance.org/
A separate gathering hosted at the National Press Club starting at 7:00 p.m. ET.
DEFIANCE.org: Co-founded by former Trump administration official Miles Taylor, this advocacy group is a primary host.
Portland Frog Brigade: A grassroots organization co-hosting the event.
The COURIER: A local newsroom listed as a host for the gathering.
2. "The People's State of the Union" Rally
This is the most prominent counter-event, held at 8:30 p.m. ET on the National Mall near the U.S. Capitol.
MoveOn Civic Action: A liberal advocacy group that is one of the lead organizers.
MeidasTouch: A progressive media company and "pro-democracy" news network.
Indivisible: The event is being streamed through Indivisible's YouTube channel.
Coalition Partners: Over a dozen additional advocacy groups are reportedly part of the coalition supporting the event.
3. Official Democratic Rebuttal
While not a "counter-event" in the same sense as the rallies, the Democratic Party has selected Virginia Governor Abigail Spanberger to deliver the official party response immediately following the president's address.
BTW she was a frequent guest of our DNC vets group last 2 election cycles.
https://blueprint.democrats.org/p/chair-ken-martin-tonight-is-the-state?utm_campaign=email-half-post&r=zc69i&utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email
At the rate his health is declining, he may not be around next year.
I recently saw a podcast that explains how the national debt isn't like household debt, but politicians pretend it is, so they can make us think there isn't enough money for social programs. "National debt differs from household debt primarily because governments (specifically the U.S.) print their own currency, possess indefinite lifespans, and can raise taxes to service debt, whereas households face finite lifespans, limited income, and cannot create money. National debt acts as a tool for economic growth and is largely held by the public, while household debt is a personal liability"(Baird Wealth).
In our system, if there were no debt, there would be no money because we create money by issuing debt. "Printing money" doesn't cause inflation when there is enough labor and resources to expand the economy. But causing the right amount of inflation keeps us poor enough and exhausted enough not to resist and demand the wealthy pay their fair share. When you pay back a mortgage or car loan with inflated money, it's a good deal because you're paying it off with dollars that aren't worth as much as when you got the loan.
Lenders don't like inflation because they're getting repaid with dollars that are worth less than when they loaned the money.
Raise taxes on the morbidly rich! They're playing us, as Thom explains. It's a big con job. And who is the greatest conman the world has ever seen?
I have a corollary:
1. It may be big, but it's primarily because we have a collection problem.
2. We've been the victim of a scam imposed by OPEC since 1973, where we, in effect, pay taxes to their members. IMHO they owe us trillions. This used to be a bipartisan issue. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/No_Oil_Producing_and_Exporting_Cartels_Act
3. It's complicated but IMHO we can arbitrage part of the national debt. If loan rates are low in say, Switzerland or Scandanavia, borrow there to discharge some of our debt.
I'm in some financial discussion groups, and whan I takl arbitrage, I'm to we can nort buy Japanese bonds and do the same to them as they have done to us.
4. The national debt should only apply to our budget. These folks confuse trust fund obligations with our bond and note obligations.
talking public and private debt, public and private consumption.
It is American consumption, and Trump’s hold over it, that has the worlds leaders debasing themselves by crawling to the Oval Office, showering Trump with gifts and praises.
It is the same consumption that enables Trump to force law firms, universities, corporations to grovel at his feet. Money the great debaser.
All monies in a fractional reserve system are created out of debt, all debt public and private, however the fractional reserve or debt money system, runs on interest.
The acr if indebtedness, the mortgage, the loan, the credit card charge, creates the money, but it does not create the money to pay the interest.. This interest accumulates and accounts for the reason that a $.05 Candy bar in 1975, now costs almost $2.00. Why homes that cost $10,000 not cost half a million, why cars that cost $2,000 now cost $50,000
Lower interest rates and you increase the propensity for indebtedness, increase debts (public and private) and you increase the money supply, this causes a short term inflation, not the long term inflation of accumulated interest.
Money put into circulation by debt, is taken out of circulation by taxes, it is the money multiplier effect, where a dollar spent, gores around the economy until it is taxed out of existence.
If I spend $10, the recipient pays taxes on that $10, for ease of computation, say the tax rate is 20%, that means that $10 is reduced to $8, the process continues till the money is taxed out of existence.
The national debt is not like the household debt. If a mortgage or car ;loan is not paid, the property gets repossessed by the sheriff, or the lender. There is no sheriff to repossess the country, well there was a time when the equivalent of a sheriff, a king, could be used to repossess a country, it was called war.
If one owns no property to repossess, then their credit rating is adversely affected, and credit cards cancelled by the lender.
For a nation, that means that the only way to sell their debt is by delling it at discount which is the equivalent of jacking up the interest rate.
The more government debt in circulation, the greater the discount for now debt, and the lesser the value of debt in circulation.
All of this is a “wealth transfer strategy” from our pocket to theirs. This same crap has been both worshipped by people who are in awe of the glorified thieves who designed this system and embellish it with time. That people are and have been getting degrees in order to be better able to manipulate this system in the next generation and make their own billions is a testament to our collective worship and desired emulation of the very people who rob us.
Let me know when the revolution begins and the collective yawns of the masses cease. Never have so many been duped by so few.
As any economist will tell you, the national debt is just a necessary factor in international trade. It is not like household debt, that if not paid, the world will foreclose on America. It does reflect that the US is taking in less in taxes than it spends, and it is in some way a barometer of tax dodging enabled by Congress and a careless government, by both parties.
The result of inadequate taxation is a big transfer of wealth to billionaires. Not only can they deduct everything from new construction to buying a new Rolls, but they can also cheat because there are far too few IRS staff to adequately audit tax returns to catch cheats. For most of us, our only deductions are our family members - hard to cheat. I cannot claim 50 spouses.
Calling the National Debt cheating is at least somewhat unfair because Congress rigged the system to create the trickle-down debt. Perhaps the easiest way to reduce the debt is to make progressive taxes progressive by taking a higher percentage of billionaire income and, unlike SCOTUS, stop treating corporations like human beings when it comes to taxes.
Many foreign entities do trilliions in business in this county without tax consequences.
Good point.
Well said.
The whole supply-side trickle-down fairy tale is akin to the Grinch assuring Cindy Lou Who "I'll fix it up there and bring it back here". We bought it, and now we're paying for it. The patriotic need to tax millionaires and billionaires steeply has never been more urgent or obvious.
Get what you are saying, Jeffrey, with the exception of the "we bought it". The off-shoring of jobs and money was obvious as hell. My collective Democratic we saw exactly where the trickle was headed for all these decades. Screamed it from the rooftops.
Maybe I should have said that they revised the Pottery Barn rule--"They broke it, we bought it", meaning we pay for their folly.
Excellent way of putting it.
What's interesting is all the younger and some very young pundits have been explaining exactly that. Republicans intentionally break EVERYBODY'S stuff when they have the numbers in Congress to do it.
Robert Reich has been singing this song for 45 years! Wolfgang Street tells it without any sugar. Timothy Snyder tells it through the eyes of a historian. Masha Gessen tells it from the eyes of a Russian. Our grand, grand, grandparents told the story - "When you dance, you gotta pay the fiddler." Our story can best be told by watching a Labrador Retriever eat dinner. This behavior was wired in us long before we were humans. We are experiencing an "interregnum" (look it up).
Robert Reich as a member of the Clinton administration and especially the SS trust fund board was part of the probalem. To this day, doesn't understand the SS problem.
Well, some of us may, "prepare to hear Trump’s assessment of the state of our union", and I expect that Thom must because of his work, but the rest of us aren't masochists. There are only so many whiny, self-pitying lies that one can listen to.
Anyway, on a related note a perfect example of how little Congress as a whole cares for equitable taxation is the Social Security system. The Congressional Budget Office has been sounding the alarm for years, with 25% cuts expected in approximately 2033. (Ironic that it's the centennial year of FDR's inauguration.) Scrapping the cap on paying into it would reduce the overall problem by about 60%, and push the issue out for a generation. But as usual money talks and nothing is done for those who need the most help.
Barring a miracle I don't expect anything will be done until we get to the crisis stage. Then other programs will be cut to temporarily fund the shortfall. Government by panic, as usual. Trump's ideas about removing Reagan's gift of taxing SS is something, but not the fundamental issue, which he has addressed no better than other presidents.
Ever watch a bug in a jar, doc? That's another reason why some of us will tune in.
This one made me laugh!
I like that. Maybe with the sound off, Alis. And it will be interesting to see how many empty seats there are. Here's a laugh:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jSFMS2CGSOw
Lol, alis.
Note to Democratic Party: Act accordingly.
Note to same, grow a pair.
We are not the majority.
Therefore, mum’s the word?
Another good piece Thom. I particularly appreciate, "Contrary to Republican lies demanding we gut social programs to pay down the national debt, we don’t have a “spending problem” in American government: we have a looting problem." We could indeed afford a kinder economy if we chose. However, while Republicans have been the main drivers of this mess, both parties have become entrenched in the corporatocracy and we need deep system change. I've been working on this topic for 30 years. Here's a piece I wrote a while back about the systemic brokenness of the current version of extraction-based capitalism.
https://cylviahayes.substack.com/p/our-broken-and-brutal-economy
I'd rather have a colonoscopy from RotoRooter than watch the SOTU.
You always lay it out so succinctly! Here's a way I like to look at it...say you're working at a job that pays you $14/hr , and earns your boss $14/hr for your labor and half of that is pure profit he make's for every hour of your work. You , in the don't make enough to cover your living expenses so you have to borrow to make ends meet and as result slip farther and deeper into debt. Your boss though takes that extra money he's pocketing by not paying it to you and invests it, often into debt related funds so that not only doesn't he pay you that extra money but he's earning interest on your debt. It's an exponential rip off.
WOW, THAT IS SOME NEWS TO PONDER ON. WHAT I CAN UNDERSTAND IS WHEN WE HAD REPRESENTATION THERE, THE YEARS THAT OBAMA WAS THERE, BIDEN WAS THERE. CLINTON WAS THERE. WHY DIDN'T WE FIX THE PROBLEM BY RAISING THE TAXES ON THE RICH? AND NOW WE HAVE TO PAY THE CONSEQUENCES. BECAUSE WE ARE NORMAL PEOPLE DON'T HAVE THAT POWER TO DO THAT, BUT WE DID HAVE REPRESENTATION THAT LOOKED TO ME LIKE THEY ALL HAD THE POWER TO DO IT. BUT DIDN'T DO IT.
A PRESIDENT ISN'T A KING.
Because..republicans..duh
Two comments:
You mention the 'Epstein-billionaire class.' Credit comedian Jason Salmon for coining the term: the Epste-garchy!
Also, it seems that 'trickle down economics' tracks very closely with the 'prosperity gospel.' It works the same way. Write a $100 check to the Epste-garchy, and ye shall be blessed with $1,000 in return. TRUST US!
A must read
And now we have billionaires heading government agencies and using those agencies to make themselves richer while the rest of America grows poorer.
The foxes have got themselves put in charge of the henhouses.