The most ridiculous article you will read this week. The religion of politics.

Here are excerpts from the most ridiculous article you will read this week, and that is saying a lot these days.

White House asks Congress to pass emergency funding for disaster aid, Afghan resettlement as well as spending bill to avert shutdown
Administration officials also asked Congress to pass a short-term spending bill to avoid a government shutdown in October.
By Jeff Stein

The White House budget office on Tuesday sent Congress an “urgent” spending request asking for tens of billions of dollars in natural disaster relief and Afghanistan resettlement funding as the administration tries to respond to both emergencies.

The White House is asking for $14 billion in aid to respond to natural disasters that occurred before Hurricane Ida, as well as $6.4 billion to pay for the ongoing relocation of tens of thousands of Afghans who partnered with the U.S. during the war in Afghanistan.

The administration anticipates that another $10 billion will have to be approved in disaster relief for Hurricane Ida as well.

As part of the request, White House Office of Management and Budget Acting Director Shalanda Young called for Congress to approve a short-term extension in government funding so that there isn’t a partial government shutdown on October 1..

OK, I get it. Congress should examine how money is used.

And though I can’t say whether $14 billion is the right amount for previous disasters, or whether $6.4 billion is right for protecting the people who helped and believed us, or whether $10 billion is right for reducing the suffering caused by Hurricane Ida, I can say this:

1. The initiatives themselves are worthwhile
2. The government has infinite money
3. It’s better to err on the side of “too much” rather than too little.

There is no downside to spending “too much,” even if some of it is “wasted,” because government spending, even wasted spending, stimulates (by formula) GDP growth, and costs taxpayers nothing.

{Federal taxpayers don’t fund federal spending. Federal taxpayers don’t fund anything.)

So the same Republicans who voted for Trump’s tax cut for the rich, joined by a couple of self-proclaimed “moderate” Democrats, who “work across the aisle,” will prance and preen and pretend to be so concerned about taxpayers.

They will demand that everything be cut by 30%, and later, will blame Biden for not doing enough. Gotcha!

Breitbart and FOX will wring their hands and cry crocodile tears for the Americans who are suffering and for the Afghans who are suffering, though, in today’s bifurcated world, no one seems really to care about anyone else’s suffering.

It’s all self-serving righteousness performed on the world’s biggest pulpit.

But the most ridiculous part is the phony threat of a government shutdown.

As the upcoming game of “pretend chicken” plays out, the Republicans will huff and puff their fake fiscal integrity; the Treasury and the Federal Reserve will institute fake “extreme efforts” to keep America from falling into bankruptcy; fingers will point in all directions; and the stock market will crash long enough for the smart-money guys to pick some cheap fallen fruit.

Then, miraculously and heroically, accommodation will be reached; the phony debt ceiling once again will be lifted and rescheduled for six months hence; and the stock market dutifully will provide quick profits to those who weren’t fooled by the blather.

All will self-congratulate for saving America from the potential disaster they themselves created, and the economically uneducated voters will go on believing what they always have been told: The Big Lie that federal finances are just like personal finances so the federal debt must be reduced.

It’s like a football game in which the politicians are the players, and the people are the football. Everyone gets their kicks.

The White House’s request for short-term funding needs comes as it works on unrelated legislation for an approximately $3.5 trillion budget deal that Democrats are seeking to shape this month in Congress.

That sweeping package would overhaul the social safety net, authorize new climate change programs, raise taxes on corporations, and achieve a number of other Biden administration priorities.

If overhauling the social safety net included 100% free healthcare for every American, plus Social Security for every American, that would be the greatest use of federal financial power in the past century — perhaps ever.

Sadly, that won’t happen. Not even close. The rich don’t want it because of Gap Psychology, and the public doesn’t know the government can do it all without raising taxes.

Anyway, as everyone knows, the poor are a bunch of lazy takers, who deserve their misfortune, so why help them? Right?

The public also doesn’t understand that climate change is an extinction-level event we are leaving for our children and grandchildren to cope with, so why take any action now to reduce CO2? Let the Chinese do it first.

The Republican’s sole (fake) concern is with unborn children; they have no interest in children already born, and especially no interest in poor children already born. So they march around, displaying huge photos of fetuses, which in reality are the size of your thumb, and worry not about the fate of those unfortunate women and their subsequent babies.

It’s all God’s will.

The Democrats are so busy wallowing in the nobility of their causes, they can’t bring themselves to dare tell the truth about federal finances, or to actually play the politics game.

So they will enjoy continuing to be righteous losers, despite owning a majority of the total voters. After winning the last Presidential election by seven million votes, the Dems brilliantly have managed to position themselves as Congressional underdogs.

Meanwhile, the universally despised Donald Trump, after leading and losing an election, the swing state of Georgia, and a rebellion against American democracy, continues to be a GOP torch-bearer, because really, what else do they have?

The administration’s request for more funding for the Afghanistan relocation and disaster relief programs is likely to provoke substantial (fake) debate in Congress, where Republicans have hammered the White House for its handling of the withdrawal to end the war.

The majority of the $6.4 billion requested by the White House will go principally to fund processing sites for relocating tens of thousands of people in Afghanistan who partnered with the U.S. during the two decades of war there.

Of the $6.4 billion, the biggest chunk is for the State Department and Department of Defense relocation process for allies from Afghanistan and support for them to help them integrate into American life.

Another substantial amount of funding would go to United States Agency for International Development for Afghans at risk in the regions.

Administration officials said Tuesday the request would help plans for resettling as many as 65,000 Afghans who are expected to arrive in the U.S. by the end of September, as well as up to 30,000 Afghans expected to arrive in the U.S. over the next 12 months.

The Republicans, who blasted Biden for not extracting perhaps a hundred Americans and thousands of our Afghan partners to the tender mercies of the Taliban, soon will blast Biden for wanting to resettle the many thousands he was able to extract.

Trump will claim they all are terrorists, criminals, rapists, and unaffordable leaches on the economy, whose children might vote Democrat in future elections. If that sounds familiar, it’s what he said about Mexicans and Muslims. The plot never changes; only the cast of characters changes.

“The operation to move out of danger and to safety tens of thousands of Afghans at risk, including many who helped us during our two decades in Afghanistan, represents an extraordinary military, diplomatic, security, and humanitarian operation by the U.S. government,” Young’s letter said.

“We urge Congress to appropriate $6.4 billion to enable the success of this multifaceted, historic mission,” she wrote.

As soon we will hear that “Biden wants to import terrorists” (those same people the GOP pretended to feel so sorry for), we’ll enjoy the grandstanding about the money needed to conduct the vetting to filter out terrorists.

The disaster aid — likely more than $20 billion when the damages from Hurricane Ida are factored in — would help the administration respond to Hurricane Laura and Hurricane Delta, as well as droughts, wildfires, and flooding in other parts of the country.

Administration officials said on a call with reporters that climate change is creating more severe storms and disasters that are impacting a growing number of Americans.

One innocently might imagine disaster aid would be a no-brainer for Republicans. After all, the most hurricane damage occurred in “red” states.

But, the wildfire damage mostly occurred in blue states, and as Donald Trump has told us, global warming is a Chinese hoax, and wildfires are due to poor forest management, which could be prevented by raking the forests (and perhaps with a dose of hydroxychloroquine?)

So, the politics require that anything — ANYTHING –Biden wants to be opposed by the Trump-subservient GOP, no matter how seemingly beneficial.

In short, the entire article is political theater, It’s religious miracles and magic, performed by political clergy to entertain, the masses. But sadly, instead of being entertained, the masses think the whole thing is real.

The people not only believe, but passionately believe, as there is a direct, but inverse, correlation between intelligence and belief in the supernatural.

As this all plays out, prior to next year’s elections, just sit back and enjoy the show. Remember that none of it is real and no one is saying what they mean.

It’s all a put-on, to keep you contributing to your political religion of choice, and returning to the chapel for the holiday elections.

Rodger Malcolm Mitchell
Monetary Sovereignty
Twitter: @rodgermitchell
Search #monetarysovereignty
Facebook: Rodger Malcolm Mitchell

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THE SOLE PURPOSE OF GOVERNMENT IS TO IMPROVE AND PROTECT THE LIVES OF THE PEOPLE.

The most important problems in economics involve:

1. Monetary Sovereignty describes money creation and destruction.
2. Gap Psychology describes the common desire to distance oneself from those “below” in any socio-economic ranking, and to come nearer those “above.” The socio-economic distance is referred to as “The Gap.”

Wide Gaps negatively affect poverty, health and longevity, education, housing, law and crime, war, leadership, ownership, bigotry, supply and demand, taxation, GDP, international relations, scientific advancement, the environment, human motivation and well-being, and virtually every other issue in economics. Implementation of Monetary Sovereignty and The Ten Steps To Prosperity can grow the economy and narrow the Gaps:

Ten Steps To Prosperity:

1. Eliminate FICA
2. Federally funded Medicare — parts A, B & D, plus long-term care — for everyone
3. Social Security for all
4. Free education (including post-grad) for everyone
5. Salary for attending school
6. Eliminate federal taxes on business
7. Increase the standard income tax deduction, annually. 
8. Tax the very rich (the “.1%”) more, with higher progressive tax rates on all forms of income.
9. Federal ownership of all banks
10. Increase federal spending on the myriad initiatives that benefit America’s 99.9% 

The Ten Steps will grow the economy and narrow the income/wealth/power Gap between the rich and the rest.

MONETARY SOVEREIGNTY