Goodby Medicare; Ignorance Wins

PRELUDE
We’ll begin with the basics:

To understand this article, you must understand the differences between a Monetarily Sovereign entity and one that is monetarily non-sovereign.

1. Unlike state/local governments and euro governments, U.S. federal government uniquely is Monetarily Sovereign.
2. It cannot unintentionally run short of its sovereign currency, the U.S. dollar. It has the infinite ability to create dollars simply by pressing computer keys. (Alan Greenspan: “There is nothing to prevent the federal government from creating as much money as it wants and paying it to somebody.”}
3. The federal government creates dollars by spending. Each dollar paid to a federal creditor is newly created. (Ben Bernanke: “The U.S. government has a technology, called a printing press (or, today, its electronic equivalent), that allows it to produce as many U.S. dollars as it wishes at essentially no cost.”)
4. The federal government does not spend tax dollars. Even if the government did not collect a penny in taxes, it could continue spending forever by creating new dollars. (Alan Greenspan: “The United States can pay any debt it has because we can always print the money to do that.” {
5. The purpose of federal taxes is not to fund federal spending but to control the economy by taxing what it wishes to discourage and giving tax breaks to what it wishes to encourage.
6. Gap Psychology describes the human desire to distance oneself from those below on any social scale and to come closer to those above.

Cities are not Monetarily Sovereign. Nor are states. Nor are counties. Nor are nations that use the euro (France, Germany, Spain, et al.) They all need taxes to fund their spending. The U.S. government does not.

THE FALSE ARTICLE

Keep Monetary Sovereignty in mind as you read the following from Axios:

Medicare politics are on a crash course with reality, By Caitlin Owens

There’s an inconvenient truth underneath the politics of Medicare — its finances are simply unsustainable.

For the federal government, no finances are “unsustainable.”

The government can “sustain” (i.e., pay for) any amount of spending. (Statement from the St. Louis Fed: “As the sole manufacturer of dollars, whose debt is denominated in dollars, the U.S. government can never become insolvent, i.e., unable to pay its bills. In this sense, the government is not dependent on credit markets to remain operational.”

Why it matters: Medicare is one of the largest line items in the U.S. budget, and as the population ages, it’s expected to only get more expensive.

By the numbers: Medicare spending is expected to more than double by 2033 — climbing to $1.6 trillion, or over 4% of the entire U.S. economy, according to an estimate released yesterday by the Congressional Budget Office.

And the program’s trustees have said the fund that pays for Medicare’s hospital coverage will soon reach a dangerous tipping point — paying out more than it takes in. On that trajectory, it eventually wouldn’t be able to pay for the coverage it’s supposed to provide.

Medicare is a federal agency. Like the federal government itself, no federal agency ever is unable to pay its obligations unless Congress and the President wish it. (Quote from Ben Bernanke when he was on 60 Minutes:
Scott Pelley: Is that tax money that the Fed is spending?
Ben Bernanke: It’s not tax money… We simply use the computer to mark up the size of the account.)

Reality check: Lawmakers really only have three options to stop that from happening: raise taxes, cut benefits, or cut payments to the healthcare industry.

You just read the three bad options the politicians want you to believe. There is a fourth option, the excellent option: The federal government should create the dollars to fund Medicare.

And not just fund Medicare, but fund Medicare coverage for every man, woman, and child in America. Financially, there is no reason not to.

Republicans are against tax increases on principle and have gotten a lot of political mileage from attacking them.

Right. The government can tax its way into prosperity. Tax increases take dollars out of the pockets of taxpayers and out of the economy, and so, are recessive.

Democrats are against benefit cuts on principle and have gotten a lot of political mileage from attacking them.

Right.  Benefit decreases also take dollars out of taxpayers’ pockets, especially poorer taxpayers.

And although some Republicans are hinting that they might be open to reducing payments to doctors, hospitals, insurers, or pharma companies, the party’s campaign apparatus is currently hammering the Biden administration for proposals to do exactly that.

Right. Reducing payments to doctors, hospitals, and pharma companies will reduce the number and quality of doctors, hospitals, and pharma companies. America’s health will decline as America’s healthcare declines.

The bottom line: Without intervention, Medicare’s financial problems will come to a head soon enough. And then it’ll be everyone’s problem.

No, that is not the bottom line. The bottom line is related to Gap Psychology.

The bottom line begins with the fact that the rich run America. They bribe the politicians via campaign contributions and promises of lucrative employment.

They bribe the media via ownership and advertising revenues. And the rich bribe the economists via university contributions and promises of employment in think tanks.

In return, the rich receive favorable tax loopholes not available to the rest of us. And they rarely are audited by the IRS. It is the reason why the GOP does not want to fund additional tax auditors.

The rich are rich because of the income/wealth/power Gap. (Were it not for the Gap, we all would be the same. No one would be rich.)

The wider the Gap, the richer are the rich. So, the rich do everything in their power to widen the Gap. One way to do this is to damage Medicare by falsely claiming it is “unsustainable” and unaffordable.

Here is how the rich widen the Gap and make themselves richer:

1. They falsely claim the federal debt and deficit are “unsustainable.”
2. They falsely claim Medicare is “unsustainable.”
3. They falsely claim Social Security is “unsustainable.”
4. They falsely claim federal support for the poor and middle classes is “Socialism.” (i.e., governmental ownership and administration of the means of production and distribution of goods, not federal spending.)
5. The purpose of these false claims is to indoctrinate you and to get your compliance with their Gap widening programs.

In short, the rich encourage your consent to be taxed more and receive less.

Because there are more of you than of the rich, they need you to speak and vote against your own best interests rather than rising up and demanding what you deserve.

The U.S. government has the financial power to make America a paradise on earth, with plenty of food, housing, education, clothing, healthcare, transportation, and a healthy environment without global warming.

But you have been brainwashed by the rich to believe falsely that:

1. Federal spending is unaffordable and unsustainable.
2. Federal spending is socialism.
3. The minorities are lazy takers who will not work if given financial support.
4. The rich are superior beings who deserve the special treatment they receive.

It’s all a lie. But if rather than fight it, you not only will lie down meekly like lambs, but even help disseminate the lies that enslave you, you will see the sour fruits of your inaction.

So quit blaming the poor. Quit blaming the immigrants. Quit blaming the blacks, browns, yellows, gays, Muslims, Christians, and other non-Christians. Quit blaming the politicians and the media.

In nature, nothing is given without a struggle.

If you aren’t writing to, calling, meeting with, and demanding from your Congress people and your media — If you aren’t fighting to disseminate the truth to help yourself and your loved ones — you will receive exactly what you deserve.

Nothing.

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.

MONETARY SOVEREIGNTY