By Robert E. Prasch, Department of Economics, Middlebury College
Updated 2024
Though economics is a dry subject, there is a very real human cost to getting economic policy wrong. Sondra Miller points this out in The Price of Economic Ignorance.
Scott Galloway offers an excellent overview in his book Adrift: America in 100 Charts. Telling the story of our nation through 100 charts, Galloway offers a unique take on where we’re headed and who we’ll become.
One of the greatest economic failures in history was a gamble not justified by any economics text. The references here show that - though they claim to be different - both parties in the United States have been following the same disastrous policies.
-embrace NAFTA type agreements including the disastrous and worst of the NAFTA like agreements: the Trans Pacific Partnership.
-lower taxes for the rich and corporations to an unprecedented level and
-rid ourselves of the regulations established in the 1930s to prevent another great depression
It did not work. Indeed, it was a massive failure that resulted in the greatest world wide collapse since the great depression. The spending spree - which did not count the wars - combined with the severe cut in revenue resulted in a government which had less money to build infrastructure, maintain a safety net, and take other actions to stimulate the economy so it would be robust enough to support a living wage. Part of the problem is corruption. Part of the problem is basic economic theory is wrong. See below "Theory is Bad" in this article. Another problem is that government figures are wildly misleading.
The reason I have so many references is to show this is a steadily increasing trend I continuously update. It is not a vanishing blip on the radar. Failure to deal with this trend will have disastrous consequences for the future. Documentation is with both an extensive and expanding list of references below and the article Economic Graphs and Videos.
Help make your progressive case by using this documentation which is continuously updated. https://www.newprogs.org/make_your_case
1-Banks
Rather than be a force for stability and growth, banks have become a huge drain on the economy to enrich people and corporations. Clinton's repeal of Glass-Steagall in 1999 was a huge blow to bank accountability. Democratic propaganda notwithstanding, nothing is in place that remotely resembles Glass-Steagall in protecting the public from banks. Iceland and other countries have proved that holding banks and other large financial institutions accountable leads to greater prosperity, not less. "Too big to fail" and "Too big to prosecute" are recipes for disaster. Public banks offer a real alternative. See Public Banking Institute and references 9, 15, 17, 31, 78, 104, 108,112, 126, 185, 263, 323, 380, 411, 446, 468, 528, 565, 566, 570, 620, 809, 835, 836, 839-841, 884, 893, 895, 896, 898, 903-906, 960, 972, 973, 975, 977-979, 981, 983, 1028, 1030, 1032, 1054, 1056, 1058, 1059, 1062-1064, 1069, 1071, 1141, 1142, 1144-1146, 1149, 1151-1153, 1156, 1157, 1161, 1163-1166, 1168, 1169, 1171, 1314, 1327-1330, 1374-1376, 1378, 1380, 1421, 1444, 1446, 1481, 1506, 1508-1514, 1544-1546, 1548, 1551, 1552, 1554, 1555, 1557.
2-Democrats are not the answer.
Both major parties follow the same policies. (The Republicans certainly are not the answer either. See Beware the Trump Administration) The Democrats have better rhetoric, but their actions are largely the same as their republican colleagues.
Nobody’s feet are going to be held to the fire is an excellent article which takes a hard deep look at basic economic assumptions, war, and the Democratic Party by Jeff Roby, a Florida activist.
Specifically,
-Caving in on tax breaks for the rich set to automatically expire. The Bush tax cuts for the rich cost us 800 billion dollars over ten years. Defeating the Buffet tax for millionaires cost us 50 billion dollars over 10 years. Obama and the democrats are completely responsible for both. They actively saved the Bush tax cuts which would have automatically expired and did not even try for the Buffet Tax which was defeated by the democratic senate. See reference 66. Obama and the democrats had almost a 40 vote lead in the HOR and 59 senators. Their abdication guaranteed the republicans victory in 2012. It was a neat trick to simultaneously help bankrupt social security, give the rich and corporations tax advantages they did not have through most of the 20th century, and cut our income for infrastructure which guarantees further economic decline.
-In appointing his social security “cat food” commission he did not even use reputable conservative groups such as the Citizens Against Government Waste and the Concord Coalition, but instead appointed radicals who said their purpose was to destroy social security. President Obama's Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform ("Catfood Commission") proposed slashing Social Security by using the Chained-CPI as an index (effectively reducing benefits) and raising the age for SS eligibility (which for many low-income people means "work till you die"). He then made it a self-fulfilling prophesy by temporarily eliminating social security taxes. Social Security would be viable forever if rich people had to pay the same rate as poor and middle class people. Instead, there are no social security taxes after 110,000 dollars a year.
-The HAMP could be used to help home owners, but Obama decided not to use it fully.
-Clinton enabled NAFTA, the 1996 Telecommunications Act, Welfare Reform and the repeal of Glass-Steagall.
-About 45% of the stimulus was tax cuts. If there is one thing we know for sure economically from our 2000-2010 experience, it is tax cuts for the rich do not help the economy.
-Continues to be unresponsive as worker’s share of national income reaches a record low.
-Look who President Obama appointed as his economic advisers. Summers was responsible for dismantling the Glass-Steagall regulations that had acted as a firebreak against banks looting the country since the Great Depression. Geithner had performed no financial over site in the Bush administration (He said he never saw anything wrong) and was a major architect under Bush of the financial bailout that passed trillions of dollars to his former banking partners. Bernanke as Bush's Chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers could have slowed the asset bubble while it was still possible, but did not. (8) The above advisers had the government buy trillions of dollars of toxic sludge with taxpayer money, then loaned banks money at zero percent interest so they can loan it back to the government at three percent and to payday borrowers at hundreds of percent.
-Obama’s “health care reform” requires 32 million Americans to buy insurance with no cost controls. Insurance stock prices doubled as soon as the reform bill was enacted.
When you add the cost of expanding militarism then you will see we are in a bad position to compete with other countries. See Continuous Wars. See also The Democratic Party is the More Effective of Two Evils.
By enthusiastically going along with republicans and adopting their disproved tax theories democrats have helped bankrupt the United States and decreased its ability to build an infrastructure and compete. See references 8, 57, 695, 709, 731, 732, 754, 755, 761, 789. 790, 791, 792, 793, 799, 808, 809, 812, 817, 842-845, 905, 906, 908-910, 912-914, 933, 961, 963, 964, 986, 989, 1026-1027, 1033, 1072-1074, 1076-1081, 1097, 1144, 1166, 1171, 1173-1178, 1180-1184, 1186, 1376, 1417, 1460.
3-Employment - Real Percentage, Increasing Temps, and Disappearing Retirement
The current figures for unemployment are deceptive. They measure neither:
-the people who have given up on looking because the jobs are simply not there
-nor the "under-employed" which consist of people who are work part time and want full time
-nor people at a job which does not take advantage of their training or capabilities.
Even so, the unemployment rate remains higher than it was in the depths of all but one of the postwar recessions. See references 3, 30, 163, 475, 540, 552, 606, 608, 676, 677, 679, 726, 727, 759-761, 815, 817-820, 846-847, 915, 991-993, 995, 1034-1035, 1085 - 1086, 1190-1193, 1424, 1480, 1515.
To make matters even worse, there has been a huge transition from jobs with benefits - such as retirement and health insurance - to part time jobs without benefits. See references 500, 501, 732, 748, 818, 819, 820, 863, 931, 1534.
Perhaps most worrisome is the destruction of retirement and pension systems for the benefit of the wealthy. Cities (Detroit) and companies (Delta Airlines) can escape retirement obligations and promises through bankruptcy which leaves workers destitute. Contrast that with students owing huge debts who cannot get jobs in their fields and cannot declare bankruptcy. Unlike government and corporations, they cannot obtain help through bankruptcy. Matt Taibbi in reference 495 pointed out the following.
"The supposed impending collapse of Social Security, which actually should be running a surplus of trillions of dollars, is now repeated as a simple truth. But Social Security wouldn't be "collapsing" at all had not three decades of presidents continually burgled the cash in the Social Security trust fund to pay for tax cuts, wars and God knows what else. Same with the alleged insolvencies of state pension programs. The money may not be there, but that's not because the program is unsustainable: It's because bankers and politicians stole the money."
See references 57, 104, 285, 460, 493 - 498, 534, 547, 572-575, 577, 578, 580-583, 585, 640, 644, 646-648, 652, 654, 714, 716-718, 720 748, 784, 785, 792, 797, 799, 803, 804, 805, 824, 826, 872-877, 879, 882, 971, 1021, 1044-1047, 1113, 1114, 1116, 1118, 1230, 1232, 1234, 1452, 1495, 1530-1532.
4-Inequality
We are now faced with a growing inequality and less protection than we had in 1999 when we repealed Glass-Stiegal. (thanks to both democrats and republicans) The growing inequality is reaching alarming level and will have serious consequences. See Economic Graphs and Videos and the below references on this article: 629, 630, 632, 664, 701, 702, 704, 706, 708, 731, 734, 762, 764-767, 769, 770, 774, 776, 778, 779, 815, 822, 842, 848-851, 853-855, 857-860, 898, 918, 921, 924, 967, 969, 970, 970, 997-1002, 1004-1008, 1010, 1012-1015, 1039, 1040, 1079, 1090-1098, 1100-1102, 1104, 1106, 1195-1198, 1200-1203, 1206-1216, 1218, 1220 1264, 1265, 1289, 1291, 1301, 1308, 1311, 1315, 1320, 1325, 1339, 1349, 1350, 1352, 1354-1357, 1359-1361, 1363-1368, 1411, 1418, 1426, 1428-1432, 1449-1451, 1455, 1462-1465, 1473, 1476, 1482, 1483, 1485, 1487-1490, 1492-1494, 1505, 1519-1521, 1523-1525, 1527, 1528, 1542, 1547, 1549, 1550, 1558, 1561, 1562, 1563, 1564.
5-Social Security and Medicare
One serious threat to our economic security is the threat to social security and medicare. Despite contrary rhetoric from the Democratic Party, the most threatening danger is from the democrats. This danger consists of the Bowles Simpson Commission - which included false economic choices and recommended raising of the retirement age - and the Chained CPI plan. There is no need for any of this to "save" social security. Taxing the rich fully for social security at the same rate as the poor and limiting social security funds to use just for those intended would fully fund social security for the future. Medicare for all would be cheaper, get better results, and cover more people. See Health Care and references 57, 182, 196, 231, 244, 301, 305, 377, 534, 547, 637, 654, 658, 721, 957, 1119, 1178, 1235.
6-Taxes, Privatization vs. Commons, and Infrastructure
It is a simple matter of taxing enough to run the government as we did throughout the 20th century, spurring the economy with infrastructure and research making a living wage possible, and taking care of our citizens. Taxes are the price we pay for civilization. We did this throughout the 20th century. China, Rome, and Greece did it centuries before the birth of Christ. It was only in 2001 that we decided to go down a different path by drastically lowering government revenue.
Infrastructure (such as the internet, transportation and education) is a necessary prerequisite for a healthy economy. Giving up the "commons" or public property is not something that is easily regained. One result of inadequate revenue through giving undeserved and unprecedented tax breaks for the rich and corporations is a deteriorating infrastructure. Privatization of public tasks has repeatedly proved to be unreliable and more expensive. Corporations typically strip all the profit out of public property without spending to maintain it. The cost of privatizing and abandoning an already deteriorating infrastructure and selling the commons will be great. It will take decades to repair. See Our Crumbling Infrastructure, Education, and references 118, 205, 480, 481, 483-489, 491, 519, 561, 562, 710-712, 722, 737-740, 742, 743,745, 747, 749, 823, 842, 846, 861-862, 864, 866-869, 925, 927, 928, 1018-1020, 1042, 1043, 1048, 1110-1112, 1120-1122, 1187-1189, 1223-1226, 1228, 1229, 1282, 1369, 1370, 1441.
7-Theory is Bad. Wrong economic theory starts it all.
Economic theory has a reputation for being deadly boring. It is one of the most dreaded courses in college. One unfortunate consequence is we take economic assumptions as truths despite contrary evidence. This unfortunate tendency is reinforced by MBAs who are trained on inaccurate theories, assumptions, and economic measuring tools. Redefining what a recession is, pretending interest rates do not affect the consumer, and inaccurately measuring inflation do not make for a good economy. See All In Podcast. We are taking biased information based upon misleading government measurements then acting on wrong theories which is leading to an ever worsening economy. The only place I know where they are taking a new evidence based look at economic theory is Evonomics/ The Next Evolution of Economics. That is also the source of many of our references and where we got the illustration at the top of this article. For a humorous new look at economics see Dr. Yoram Bauman. For more on economic theory see below references 1129-1139, 1161, 1163, 1164, 1189, 1212-1216, 1236-1266, 1268-1274, 1276-1313, 1330, 1331, 1333-1347, 1352, 1381-1393, 1395-1407, 1410, 1411, 1416, 1434-1440, 1442, 1448, 1454-1459, 1467, 1468-1472, 1474, 1475, 1477-1479, 1496-1503, 1506, 1535-1541. 1553, 1556, 1559, 1560.
8-Trade Agreements Both Formal and Secret
Since shortly after the 2010 elections, Obama took it as his first priority to leave the country and agree to NAFTA-type like agreements with India and South Korea. He has since publicly backed NAFTA agreements for South Korea, Columbia, and Panama. His "Jobs Bill" not only eliminates legal protection for unemployed students with giant student loans to pay back, it has as its price the acceptance of three NAFTA agreements. Congress rejected his "Jobs Bill" while still approving the NAFTA agreements. There is also an effort to approve a US-EU trade deal. Is it not pretty obvious by now that these type of agreements with countries that have no protections for their workers or the environment are disastrous for the United States? We are done in economically - once again - by democrats following lockstep in with republicans. While it is good that Trump stopped the secretive Trans Pacific Partnership, that still leaves the unspoken but real agreements that drain wealth from the poor and middle class. Off shore storing of wealth is only one aspect of this unfair system designed to further enrich the 1%. See Corporate Overreach. See also references 27, 162, 180, 265, 280, 354, 389, 398, 400, 452, 453, 464, 541 - 544, 594-597, 600, 602, 603, 672, 674, 751, 752, 787, 812, 830, 831, 845, 886, 887, 889-892, 911-914, 932, 933, 935, 937-942, 944, 946, 948, 952-957, 1022-1024, 1048, 1051, 1052, 1074, 1125, 1126, 1128, 1183, 1184, 1317-1322, 1466, 1504.
Conclusion
Unfortunately, Obama and the Democrats first and then Trump and the Republicans and now Biden have decided to pursue and extend Bush policies. NAFTA type agreements such as the TPP, a flat minimum wage, a failing infrastructure, continued lack of investment in education and research compared to the 1950s, following the Bowles-Simpson and Chained CPI recommendations, and continued pretending by both parties that the recession is over and the only problem facing our country is the deficit can only insure our continuing downward spiral. Nothing will change unless we stop relying on the two traditional parties for fundamental change. It is time to accept the fact that both Democrats and Republicans are together changing our country into a backward superstitious third world country.
For more documentation see the many references below and Economic Graphs and Videos.
See also Corporate Overreach.
References:
(Inactive, dead, or pay references have been deleted.)
1-deleted
2- deleted
3- Fareed Zakaria, “The Post-American World Release 2.0,” (W.W. Norton & Company, Inc., 2011), 227.
4- deleted
5-7 deleted
8-Symptoms of the Bush-Obama presidency.
9-12 deleted
13-Kleptocrats Are A Cancer
14-deleted
15-Obama's Deal for the Bankers: Amnesty for the Indefensible
16-21 deleted
22-Third World America: One Year Later
23-24 deleted
25-What Hurricane Irene Can Teach Us About the Jobs Crisis
26-On Jobs: Tell It Like It Is
27-President Obama, Enact a Jobs Program Based on Real Trade Reform
28-29 deleted
30-Chart of the Day: The Real Employment Picture
31-SEC Attorney Darcy Flynn Blows Whistle on Wall Street-Washington Incest….MUST READ…
32-7 Charts
33-35 deleted
36-Is Washington Out of Gas?
37-Patent Reform Bill Signed Into Law After Years Of Debate
38-46 deleted
47-Why OccupyWallStreet Doesn't Support Obama
48-51 deleted
52-Report: Rich-poor gap growing
53-55 deleted
56-Protest Planet: How a Neoliberal Shell Game Created an Age of Activism
57-Obama and Democrats Propose 350 Billion Dollar Medicare Cuts and 50 Billion Dollar Medicaid Cuts before Negotiations Even Start
58-Why the Economy Cannot Heal Itself
59-65 deleted
66-Doing Nothing Would Reduce Deficits 7.1 Trillion Over Ten Years
67-deleted
68-71 deleted
72-OECD: Tax and Spending Policy Can Push Against Rising Inequality
73-deleted
74-SEC Wins Emergency Stop In Citigroup Fraud Case
75-77 deleted
78-Why Iceland Should Be in the News, But Is Not
79-deleted
80-The Triggers of Economic Inequality
81-Obama’s Faux Populism Sounds Like Bill Clinton
82-83 deleted
84-16 TRILLION Reasons Why Everyone In Washington, Including The President, Should Be Heading To Prison
85-94 deleted
95-The Triggers of Economic Inequality
96-103 deleted
104-Bernanke Flatly Refuse to Say Which Banks Took Trillions in Taxpayer Loans
105-Broken Promises: Pensions All Over America Are Being Savagely Cut Or Are Vanishing Completely
106-107 deleted
108-JOBS Act: The Dumbest "Bipartisan" Move Since Repealing Glass-Steagall
109-Could Connecticut Be the First to Get Serious About Shareholders Rights Post-Citizens United?
110-Loopholes for Sale
111-deleted
112-The Servicing Settlement: Banks 1, Public 0
113-117 deleted
118-American Corporations Pay the Lowest Taxes in the Entire Developed World!
119-121 deleted
122-For the Great Recession, a Third Jobs Relapse?
123-The Rich Are Different from You and Me – They Pay Lower Taxes
124-125 deleted
126-The President Of Iceland Tells Us How He Had The Balls To Stand Up To Britain
127-130 deleted
131-Yes, Virginia, This Is Obama's JOBS Act
132-134 deleted
135-Taxing the Rich is Good for the Economy
136-Creating a Prison-Corporate Complex
137-140 deleted
141-Corporate Political Donations: Investment or Agency?
142-143 deleted
144-Finance In Denial
145-146 deleted
147-CEOs Get Served by Shareholders Sick of Political Spending
148-A Rebellious World or a New Dark Age?
149-The Secret of Our Non-success
150-deleted
151-A History of the World, BRIC by BRIC
Neoliberal Dragons, Eurasian Wet Dreams, and Robocop Fantasies
152-The Energy Wars Heat Up
Six Recent Clashes and Conflicts on a Planet Heading Into Energy Overdrive
153-deleted
154-How Wall Street Killed Financial Reform
155-Preying on the Poor
How Government and Corporations Use the Poor as Piggy Banks
156-Jailed for $280: The Return of Debtors' Prisons
157-deleted
158-Welcome to the 2012 Hunger Games
Sending Debt Peonage, Poverty, and Freaky Weather Into the Arena
159-War Pay
The Nearly $1 Trillion National Security Budget
160-deleted
161-Tara Lohan: There Is a Way! Beyond the Big, Bad Corporation
162-Trans-Pacific Partnership: Key Senate Democrat Joins Bipartisan Trade Revolt Against Obama
163-For the First Time Ever Most Unemployed Americans Attended College
164-States, Federal Government Reduce Length of Jobless Benefits
165-Three Years After Taxpayer Bailout, Bank of America Ships Jobs Overseas
166-Neo-liberalism, De-capitalization/De-industrialization, and the Res Publica
167-As Unions Decline, Inequality Rises
168-175 deleted
176-The Mauritius Miracle by Nobel Peace Prize in Economics Winner Joseph Stiglitz
177-Corporate Profits Just Hit An All-Time High, Wages Just Hit An All-Time Low
178-Wealth is Being Transferred From Us to Them
179-deleted
180-NAFTA on Steroids
181-Joseph Stiglitz: Man Who Ran World Bank Calls for Bankers to Face the Music
182-Ben Bernanke Is Bankrupting The Social Security Trust Fund
183-deleted
184-The Great Capitalist Heist: How Paris Hilton’s Dogs Ended Up Better Off Than You
185-Banksters Take Us to the Brink
186-deleted
187-Four Spending Myths That Could Wreck Our World
188-deleted
189-The National Security Complex and You
190-195 deleted
196-Say Goodbye to Social Security: The Romney/Obama Diversion
197-We Told You So
198-deleted
199-200 deleted
201-Is the World Too Big to Fail? The Contours of Global Order
202-203 deleted
204-A Twenty-First Century American Sacrifice Zone
205-5 Ways Privatization Is Ruining America
206-Chris Hedges About Why Revolt Is All We Have Left
207-From Citizens United to Super PACs: A Campaign Finance Reading Guide
208-deleted
209-The Price of Inequality
210-deleted
211-Laid-Off US Workers Are Taking Huge Pay Cuts At Their New Jobs
212-Growth of Income Inequality Is Worse Under Obama than Bush
213-America’s Descent into Poverty
214-What the Economic Crisis Really Means (animation)
215-deleted
216-Wall Street’s War Against the Cities: Why Bondholders Can’t – and Shouldn’t – be Paid
217-219 deleted
220-CNN Fact Check: About Those 4.5 Million Jobs ...
221-America the Beautiful: A Fire Sale for Foreign Corporations
222-deleted
223-Spinning Bad Financial News Into Good
224-225 deleted
226-Bold Civil Disobedience Actions Blockade Entrance to Site of TPP Negotiations in VA
227-U.S. Poverty: Census Finds 46.2 Million Impoverished As Median Income Drops
228-deleted
229-The Stakeholder Strategy
230-deleted
231-Does President Obama Want to Cut Social Security by 3 Percent?
232-StrikeDebt: Occupy Morphs into Debt Resistance Movement
233-Feast of Fools: How American Democracy Became the Property of a Commercial Oligarchy
234-£13 Trillion Pounds (21 Trillion Dollars)Hoard Hidden from Taxman by Global Elite
235-US Census Figures Show More than One in Five Children are Living in Poverty - 2011 data also show decline in household income for second year as presidential candidates debate economic recovery.
236-239 deleted
240-Unions and Shared Prosperity
241-243 deleted
244-Bowles-Simpson Social Security Proposal Not a Good Starting Point for Reforms: Relies Far Too Much on Benefit Cuts, Makes Other Problematic Changes
245-246 deleted
247-Obama on Wrong Side in Shell Oil Human Rights Case
248-250 deleted
251-Climate Change is Already Damaging Global Economy
252-254 deleted
255-Fed Under Fire
256-The Greener the Economy, the Greater the Economy
257-Plutocrats: Then & Now
258-Plutocrats Want to Own Your Vote
259-Neil Barofsky’s Disappointment with Vikram Pandit and President Obama
260-Shining Light on Corporate Political Spending
261-deleted
262-Pete Peterson Has Won
263-Major Banks, Governmental Officials and Their Comrade Capitalists Targets of Spire Law Group, LLP's Racketeering and Money Laundering Lawsuit Seeking Return of $43 Trillion to the United States Treasury
264-deleted
265-Trans-Pacific Partnership: The Biggest Trade Deal You’ve Never Heard Of
266-270 deleted
271-HSBC Caught in New Drug Money Laundering Scandal
272-The Shrinking Middle Class, the Shrinking American Dream
273-deleted
274-US Debt from 1790 to 2011
275-deleted
276-Let the “Do Nothing” Congress Do Nothing
277-278 deleted
279-Higher Pay is a Gift to the Economy
280-Why So Secretive? The Trans-Pacific Partnership as Global Coup
281-282 deleted
283-The Fiscal Cliff is a Lie
284-Obama and GOP Play Tag Team on Entitlements
285-A Pension Deficit Disorder: The Massive CEO Retirement Funds and Underfunded Worker Pensions at Firms Pushing Social Security Cuts
286-287 deleted
288-Encore: United States of ALEC
289-290 deleted
291-High-End Tax Hikes Would Have 'Negligible' Impact On Growth, Revised CRS Report Says
292-What a Waste of Corporate Money
293-deleted
294-Report Card on America's Infrastructure
295-300 deleted
301-The Great Social Security Robbery
302-304 deleted
305-Obama’s Historic Assault on Social Security
306-308 deleted
309-The Concentration of Wealth and the Spread of Poverty
310-Democrats, Republicans Prepare Major Cuts in Workers’ Wages, Benefits
311-deleted
312-60 Facts That Prove The American Middle Class is Being Wiped Out
313-deleted
314-Corporate Gold on the Fiscal Cliff
315-Cut Corporate Welfare, Not the Safety Net
316-Don't Celebrate Obama's Deal Too Soon
317-318 deleted
319-The Real Winners Of The Fiscal Cliff Are Americans Who Make Money Without Working
320-deleted
321-U.S. Wages Aren't Keeping Up With U.S. Productivity, Economic Policy Institute Says
322-deleted
323-As Federal Prosecutors Cash In, Big Bankers Go Unpunished
324-325 deleted
326-It Was Not a Free Lunch: The True Cost of the AIG Bailout
327-deleted
328-Top CEOs plan to loot US social programs
329-deleted
330-Profit bonanza for US auto companies
331-332 deleted
333-The Untouchables
334-335 deleted
336-Who’s Widening America’s Digital Divide?
337-Obama’s Failed State
338-340 deleted
341-GAO Report: Cost of the Financial Crisis — Your Retirement
342-deleted
343-40% of Americans Now Make Less Than 1968 Minimum Wage
344-Richard Wolff on Fighting for Economic Justice and Fair Wages
345-The Democratic turncoats behind the “Fix the Debt” attack on Medicare & Social Security
346-350 deleted
351-As Dow Sprints to New High, the Middle Class and Manufacturing Languish
352-353 deleted
354-Expert Panel: Don't trade away financial stability in Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement
355-Taming Capitalism Run Wild
356-Jack Lew, Citigroup and the Ugland Truth
357-deleted
358-Many left behind as Silicon Valley rebounds
359-Obama to tap Walmart exec for budget chief
360-One Economy, Two Americas
361-368 deleted
369-Don’t Count on Dodd-Frank… Yet
370-Income inequality in the United States
371-deleted
372-America's Most Obvious Tax Reform Idea: Kill the Oil and Gas Subsidies
373-deleted
374-What Has Capitalism Done for Us Lately?
375-House Ag committee Dems vote to deregulate derivatives
376-How Worker-Owned Companies Work
377-Report: Inequality in the Social Security Debate: How benefit cuts would impact health industry CEOs versus home health aides.
378-deleted
379-Replay Our Chat with Economist Richard Wolff
380-Matt Taibbi on Big Banks’ Lack of Accountability
381-We’re Hooked on ‘Growth,’ But It Doesn’t Have to Be This Way
382-385 deleted
386-The End of Utilities?
387-388 deleted
389-TransPacific Partnership Will Undermine Democracy, Empower Transnational Corporations
390-394 deleted
395-As Tuition Rises, Opportunities Shrink
396-Less than 100,000 Payroll Jobs, a 58.5% Employment-to-Adult-Population Ratio Exactly Where It Was a Year Ago, and Labor Force Participation Down by 0.5 Percentage Points in the Past Year
397-Utilities levy an absurd tax upon the rest of their fellow-citizens –Adam Smith
398-The Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), An Oppressive US-Led Free Trade Agreement, A Corporate Power-Tool of the 1%
399-deleted
400-TransPacific Partnership Threatens Sovereignty and Public Ownership
401-407 deleted
408-Paying the Costs of Iraq, for Decades to Come
409-410 deleted
411-Public Banking -- it already works in the United States and is catching on! 20 States are considering some form of state banking legislation.
412-deleted
413-The U.S. Collects Smaller Percentage In Taxes Than Most Developed Countries: Study
414-Throwing BRICS at the U.S. Empire
415-deleted
416-"Fix the Debt" CEOs Enjoy Taxpayer-Subsidized Pay
417-419 deleted
420-Bill Moyers Essay: The United States of Inequality
421-deleted
422-EMFing Democracy: Destroying Detroit In Order To “Save” It
423-Income Growth For Bottom 90 Percent Of Americans Averaged Just $59 Over 4 Decades: Analysis
424-426 deleted
427-Lawmaker Unemployment Hearing Attended By Single Member of Congress At Opening
428-Linchpin Pro-Austerity Paper Rife with Errors; Recomputed Results Show No Growth Hit from High Government Debt
429-Many options exist for raising revenue in a smart and progressive manner
430-Harvard Law School Forum: Responding to Objections to Shining Light on Corporate Political Spending (5): The Claim that Shareholder Proposals Requesting Disclosure Do Not Receive Majority Support
431-Ten bright ideas to make the banking serve the UK – rather than itself
432-444 deleted
445-Mandatory Pension Savings: Should Employers And Employees Be Forced To Make Contributions?
446-No Arrests on Wall Street, But Over 7,700 Americans Have Been Arrested Protesting Big Banks
447-deleted
448-The Bush Tax-Cut Failure
449-The Dictators and Billionaires Take Control
450-Mattea Kramer and Jo Comerford, Congress Tweeted While America Burned
451-deleted
452-Bloomberg: "Coup d’Etat to Trade Seen in Billionaire Toxic Lead Fight"
453-Obama, Cameron Promote Trade Deal Granting Corporations Political Power
454-456 deleted
457-Moyers Moment (2012): Heather McGhee on Student Debt
458-US Inequality Now Literally Off the Chart
459-Encore: Taming Capitalism Run Wild
460-Judge: Coal company can drop retirement benefits for 13,000 workers
461-Good Consumers, Bad Citizens
462-The Next American Revolution Has Already Begun: An Interview With Gar Alperovitz
463-deleted
464-The Trade Deal Scam
465-deleted
466-13 Mindblowing Facts About America's Tax-Dodging Corporations - The stunning numbers on the sorry state of corporate taxation in modern America
467-American Fascism: Ralph Nader Decries How Big Business Has Taken Control of the U.S. Government
468-Bank of America Lied to Homeowners and Rewarded Foreclosures, Former Employees Say
469-Decline and fall: how American society unravelled - Thirty years ago, the old deal that held US society together started to unwind, with social cohesion sacrificed to greed. Was it an inevitable process – or was it engineered by self-interested elites?
470-deleted
471-Tax Cuts: Myths and Realities
472-474 deleted
475-The Official Unemployment Rate Is Wrong, Says Guy Who Used To Calculate It
476-478 deleted
479-Wall Street is winning the long war against post-crash regulation: Feeble as it was, Dodd-Frank was a high point of reining in abuses. Thanks to financial lobbying, it's business as usual
480-Declining Infrastructure, Declining Civilization
481-Infrastructure Decline
482-deleted
483-Our Crumbling Infrastructure — Patch & Pray
484-Washington Bridge Collapse Points to Declining American Infrastructure
485-Crumbling Nation? US Infrastructure Gets a D
486-The Great Regression of America's Infrastructure
487-America's Infrastructure Engineering Dilemma
488-The American Decline: Infrastructure
489-Infrastructure Decay In The United States
490-deleted
491-Are America's Best Days Behind Us?
492-deleted
493-Fleecing Pensioners to Save the Banks
494-How 401(k)s Rewarded the Rich and Turned the Rest of Us into Big Losers
495-Looting the Pension Funds - All across America, Wall Street is grabbing money meant for public workers
496-Matt Taibbi on How Wall Street Hedge Funds Are Looting the Pension Funds of Public Workers
497-Remember When People Had Pensions?
498-Dismantling the Social Contract - The Disastrous Consequences of Raiding Public Pensions
499-deleted
500-Abracadabra: You’re a Part Timer
501-The New Temp Economy
502-deleted
503-3 Biggest Lies Corporate Lobbyists Will Use to Push Lower Corporate Taxes: Corporate lobbyists are readying their arguments for Congress' return from recess. All of them are specious.
504-Add It Up: The Average American Family Pays $6,000 a Year in Subsidies to Big Business
505-An Obituary for the American Middle Class
506-Before the Battle Resumes in Washington: A Reminder About What’s at Stake
507-Bill Moyers Essay: The End Game for Democracy
508-CEOs Being Paid for Poor Performance
509-Chomsky: “Jobs aren’t coming back”
511-deleted
512-Derivatives and the Government Shutdown: Wall Street Bets One Thousand Trillion Dollars of Everybody Else’s Money
513-deleted
515-518 deleted
519-Detroit as Bantustan: Wall Street’s Black Goons
520-deleted
521-For Capitalism to Survive, Crime Must Not Pay
522-Killing the Competition: How the new monopolies are destroying open markets
523-Larry Summers and the ‘End-Game’ Memo
524-Memorable Moyers Interviews on the Financial Crisis
525-Our Hidden History of Corporations in the United States
526-deleted
527-Unplugging Americans From The Matrix Where Life is Regarded as Cheap
528-Why Iceland Should Be in the News But Is Not
Read more at http://redgreenandblue.org/2011/11/12/bill-moyers-how-the-1970s-backlash-against-the-environmental-movement-morphed-into-todays-class-war/#RG5om6SqbOURpezV.99
Read more at http://redgreenandblue.org/2011/11/12/bill-moyers-how-the-1970s-backlash-against-the-environmental-movement-morphed-into-todays-class-war/#RG5om6SqbOURpezV.99
Read more at http://redgreenandblue.org/2011/11/12/bill-moyers-how-the-1970s-backlash-against-the-environmental-movement-morphed-into-todays-class-war/#RG5om6SqbOURpezV.99
530-deleted
531-Revealed – the capitalist network that runs the world
Read more at http://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2013/09/robert-prasch-the-lessons-that-wall-street-treasury-and-the-white-house-need-you-to-believe-about-the-lehman-collapse.html#7KsSmvtSPu5JHed2.99
The “Lessons” that Wall Street, Treasury, and the White House Need You to Believe About the Lehman Collapse
Read more at http://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2013/09/robert-prasch-the-lessons-that-wall-street-treasury-and-the-white-house-need-you-to-believe-about-the-lehman-collapse.html#7KsSmvtSPu5JHed2.99
The “Lessons” that Wall Street, Treasury, and the White House Need You to Believe About the Lehman Collapse
By Robert E. Prasch, Department of Economics, Middlebury College.
Read more at http://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2013/09/robert-prasch-the-lessons-that-wall-street-treasury-and-the-white-house-need-you-to-believe-about-the-lehman-collapse.html#qTDTPV2DEAz81mM1.99
The “Lessons” that Wall Street, Treasury, and the White House Need You to Believe About the Lehman Collapse
By Robert E. Prasch, Department of Economics, Middlebury College.
Read more at http://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2013/09/robert-prasch-the-lessons-that-wall-street-treasury-and-the-white-house-need-you-to-believe-about-the-lehman-collapse.html#qTDTPV2DEAz81mM1.99
The “Lessons” that Wall Street, Treasury, and the White House Need You to Believe About the Lehman Collapse
By Robert E. Prasch, Department of Economics, Middlebury College.
Read more at http://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2013/09/robert-prasch-the-lessons-that-wall-street-treasury-and-the-white-house-need-you-to-believe-about-the-lehman-collapse.html#qTDTPV2DEAz81mM1.99
533-deleted
534-Obama Cuts Medicare, Social Security for More Taxes
535-deleted
536-Everything Is Rigged: The Biggest Price-Fixing Scandal Ever
538-The Financial Crisis and the Second Great Depression Myth
539-The Origin Of 'The World's Dumbest Idea': Milton Friedman
540-21st Century Full Employment Act for Peace and Prosperity
541-Meet the TPP: A Worldwide Corporate Power Grab of Enormous Proportions
542-President Obama Asks Congress To Give Up Its Oversight On Secret TPP Agreement
544-The Trans-Pacific Partnership
545-deleted
546-US Government Threatens California City Trying to Save Homeowners From Foreclosure
547-Destroying Social America: Bipartisan Attack on Vital Social Safety Nets
548-Using Eminent Domain to Rescue Main Street
549-Full Show: Inequality for All
550-551 deleted
552-We need real "Full Employment" legislation to hold the politicians accountable.
553-Wealthiest Americans Take Home Biggest Share of Income Ever Recorded
554-deleted
555-"Makes Absolutely No Sense": David Cay Johnston on Budget Deal That Helps Billionaires, Not the Poor
556-deleted
558-SEC’s Non-Decision Decision on Corporate Political Activity a Policy and Political Mistake
559-deleted
560-House votes for bipartisan change to Dodd-Frank on bank swaps
561-How the Super-Rich Are Abandoning America, Leaving the Ship of State to Sink
562-The Superrich Don't Need Our Middle Class Infrastructure
563-Direct Rule by Wall Street Begins with Detroit
564-Meet Your Taxpayer-Subsidized Farm Bill Billionaires!
565-More Welfare for Wall Street: One in Three Bank Tellers Need Public Assistance
566-Obama Continues To Surround Himself With Wall Street Bankers
567-Obama’s Second-Term Slide Continues
568-569 deleted
570-Icelanders Overthrow Government and Rewrite Constitution After Banking Fraud-No Word From US Media
571-deleted
572-Chicago Tribune Uncovers Pension Scams of Ex-Mayor Daley and Friends
573-Dems Who Once Supported Gutting Investor Protections Bail on Wall Street
574-Detroit accused of exaggerating $18bn debts in push for bankruptcy
575-Detroit Bankruptcy Testimony: Retirees Get 16 cents, Wall Street Gets Billions, Assets Stolen
576-deleted
577-Don't demonize public pensions
579-deleted
580-Ilargi: Still Feel Confident About Collecting Your Pension After This?
582-Pay Retirees What They’ve Earned
583-Pension Theft: Class War Goes to the Next Stage
584-deleted
585-Retired union workers facing 'unprecedented' pension cuts
586-587 deleted
588-The Facts Are in: Austerity Politics Doesn't Work
589-The Great American Class War: Plutocracy Versus Democracy
590-The $10 Trillion Heist - The Great Corporate Tax Shift
591-deleted
592-The Scholars Who Shill for Wall Street
593-The Simplest Explanation Of How To Get Out Of This Jobs Crisis I've Seen Yet
594-America Was Once a Superpower - Now It's Not
595-Bill Moyers on why the Trans-Pacific Partnership free trade agreement is death for democracy
596-Breaking ’08 Pledge, Leaked Trade Doc Shows Obama Wants to Help Corporations Avoid Regulations
597-The Top Secret Trade Deal You Need to Know About
598-599 deleted
600-WikiLeaks Release of Secret Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPP)
601-deleted
602-The Global Corporatocracy is Almost Fully Operational
604-605 deleted
607-deleted
608-Yes, Virginia, There is a Difference Between the Two Political Parties
610-A Deeper Look at the Phony “Texas Miracle”
612-After Crisis, Iceland Holds a Tight Grip on Its Banks
613-614 deleted
615-House Efforts to Make “Tax Extenders” Permanent Are Ill-Advised
616-Liberals, you must reclaim Adam Smith
617-deleted
619-Document: JPMorgan Chase Bets $10.4 Billion on the Early Death of Workers
620-The Financial Sector Is the Greatest Parasite in Human History
621-Four Reasons You Should Consider Washington's Deficit As Your Surplus
622-Saint Ayn Rand Visits the Day After Christmas!
623-624 deleted
625-How Entitlements for the Rich Cheat the Rest of Us
626-How Piketty’s Bombshell Book Blows Up Libertarian Fantasies
627-628 deleted
629-Capital in the Twenty-First Century: An Essential Inequality Reader
630-Dean Baker | Inequality: Government Is a Perp, Not a Bystander
631-deleted
632-Two-thirds unhappy with income distribution, Gallup poll finds
633-634 deleted
635-Janet Yellen and I Were Taught to Revere Capitalism. But It’s a Failing System.
636-Matt Taibbi: 'Hands Down' Bush Was Tougher On Corporate America Than Obama (VIDEO)
637-How Obamacare Raids the Assets of Low-Income Older Americans
638-639 deleted
640-Dean Baker: Main Street’s Economic Pain Is a Result of a Policy Failure
641-643 deleted
644-Karen Lewis. The pension heist. Must read.
645-deleted
647-Bankruptcy judge approves final revision of Detroit restructuring plan
648-Obama Administration Stays Quiet as Boeing Strikes Major Blow to Pensions
649-651 deleted
652-The Plot Against Pensions: PEW/Arnold Foundation, ALEC Support Banksters' Attack
653-deleted
654-The Wisconsin Lie Exposed - Taxpayers Actually Contribute Nothing To Public Employee Pensions
655-657 deleted
659-660 deleted
661-White House: Let's Keep Chained CPI Cuts On The Table - Nope, Obama won't give up on his dream. He wants that chained CPI, and he's still hoping he can get it.
662-deleted
664-What a good economy should look like
665-deleted
666-The Poisons of Extreme Wealth and Inequality
667-The Real Reason the U.S. Dollar Has Value
668-The Super Rich Are Richer Than We Thought, Hiding Huge Sums, New Reports Find
669-deleted
670-These 9 Maps Should Absolutely Outrage Southerners
671-deleted
673-deleted
674-TPP Wikileaked: US Watering Down Enviro Protections in Secret Trade Deal
675-deleted
676-Obama Admin’s TPP Trade Officials Received Hefty Bonuses From Big Banks
677-Trade Expert: Why TPP — “NAFTA on Steroids” — Must Be Stopped
678-deleted
680-681 deleted
682-The March Jobs Report: Nothing Moving
684-deleted
685-Wall Street’s 2013 Bonuses Were More Than All Workers Earned Making the Federal Minimum
686-Taxes For Revenue Are Obsolete
687-Why the Super-Rich Should Pay Super Taxes
688-US economic output tumbled by 2.9 percent in the first quarter
690-A Simplified Way to Tax Multinational Corporations
692-As the Foreclosure Crisis Ebbs, Cleveland Picks Up the Pieces
693-deleted
694-BRICS Bank Challenges the Exorbitant Privilege of the US Dollar
695-Capitalism’s Deeper Problem
696-Community Wealth
698-Krugman Gets His History Wrong
699-deleted700-Detroit Shuts Off Water to Residents but Not to Businesses Who Owe Millions
702-Full Show: Too Big to Fail and Getting Bigger
703-deleted
704-Global Super-Rich Stashing Up To $32 Trillion Offshore, Masking True Scale Of Inequality: Study
705-deleted
706-More Than $6.5 Trillion Lost in US Income Due to Tax Cuts for the Rich
707-deleted
708-Rich People Rule: Struggle Lies Ahead
709-Trickle-Down Economics Confronts an Insurmountable Challenge: Reality
710-Wall Street Analysts: High Inequality Makes Us Vulnerable to Crashes
713-deleted
714-Privatizing Government Services Doesn’t Only Hurt Public Workers
715-deleted
716-Detroit officials agree at DIA press conference: Workers must pay for bankruptcy
717-Illinois Democrats gut Chicago city worker pensions
719-deleted
721-Wall Street’s Pension Gamble
722-Whose Presidential Campaign Will Your Pension Finance?
724-725 deleted
726-The Way to Stop Corporate Lawbreaking is to Prosecute the People Who Break the Law
727-TPP Wikileaked: US Watering Down Enviro Protections in Secret Trade Deal
728-730 deleted
731-Tepid employment report masks depth of US jobs crisis
732-The Full Employment Route to Poverty Reduction
733-Fed: Under Obama, only the richest 10 percent saw incomes rise
734-Temp labor at record levels in US
735-736 deleted
737-Fed: Median incomes drop for all but wealthiest
738-Ferguson, the Foreclosure Crisis and America’s Hedge-Fund Landlords
739-Detroit Cuts Off Water To Poor People BUT Not Delinquent Businesses!
740-Detroit Shuts Off Water to Residents but Not to Businesses Who Owe Millions
741-deleted
742-The Corporate Global Privatizing Complex
743-Regional authority a prelude for privatization of Detroit water system
744-deleted
745-Preparing to Asset-Strip Local Government? The Fed's Bizarre New Rules
746-deleted
747-The Bankruptcy of Detroit and the Division of America
748-Wall Street Mega-Banks Are Buying Up The World’s Water
749-Wall Street’s Buying the World’s Water Supply at an Alarming Pace
750-deleted
751-Microsoft Admits Keeping $92 Billion Offshore to Avoid Paying $29 Billion in US Taxes
753-deleted
754-Investor Dispute Settlement: A Rogue Corporation in the World Bank’s Rogue Tribunal
755-Americans face post-foreclosure hell as wages garnished, assets seized
756-758 deleted
760-When the Workday Never Really Ends
761-Highly educated, unemployed and tumbling down the ladder
762-The Three Million Forgotten Victims of the Great Recession
763-deleted
765-A Vicious Cycle: Income Inequality Is Hurting States’ Bottom Lines
766-How Rich Old White Men Are Taking Lunch Money Away From Inner-City Black Kids
767-Census: In 2013, inequality continued skyward, earnings stayed flat
768-deleted
769-Pollution Inequality and Income Inequality
770-Rising Inequality Means More Volatility for State Budgets
771-773 deleted
774-Wealth and Poverty in the United States by Jeremy Cloward, Ph.D.
775-deleted
777-deleted
778-The Hidden History of Prosperity
779-The Mysteries of Inequality Are Only Mysterious to Elites
780-Wealth of richest 400 Americans surges to $2.29 trillion
781-783 deleted
784-Detroit bankruptcy conspiracy enters its final stage
785-Detroit charged $126 million by law firms and consultants in bankruptcy case
786-deleted
787-Federal judge opens door to the shredding of California public worker pensions
788-deleted
789-WikiLeaks Revelations on Trans-Pacific Partnership Ignored by Corporate Media
790-The trade clause that overrules governments
791-Delusion and deception in Obama’s State of Union
792-Dodd-Frank Budget Fight Proves Democrats Are a Bunch of Stuffed Suits
793-Full Show: Democrats Bow Down to Wall Street
794-796 deleted
797-UN warns of growing inequality and joblessness
798-deleted
799-Cromnibus Pension Provisions Gut 40 Years of Policy, Allow Existing Pensions to Be Slashed
800-802 deleted
804-Michael Hudson: The War on Pensions – The US Budget Anti-Pension Law By Michael Hudson, a research professor of Economics at University of Missouri, Kansas City, and a research associate at the Levy Economics Institute of Bard College.
805-New Jersey says it does not have to make pension contributions
806-The 2015 Federal Budget Ended Pension Protections for Millions of Retirees (text and videos)
807-deleted
808-Vermonters Didn’t Get the Public Bank They Wanted — But Did Win Millions for Local Investment
810-811 deleted
812-Obama’s Foreclosure Relief Program Was Designed to Help Bankers, Not Homeowners
814-deleted
815-Dean Baker | Seven Years After: Why This Recovery Is Still a Turkey
816-deleted
818-Is the unemployment rate really just a 'Big Lie'?
819-The Federal Reserve Board's Plan to Kill Jobs
820-Why We’re All Becoming Independent Contractors
821-deleted
822-Welcome to Our New Share-the-Scraps Economy
823-An Economist Identified the Corporate Behavior That Led to Our Staggering Inequality
824-US Workers Subsidize Corporations at Least $10,000 per Year
825-deleted
826-NYC Public Pension Fund May Invest with Charter Backer
827-New State Pensions Rules Expose Serious Fund Deficits
828-U.S. top court rules for employer in retiree benefits fight
829-The United States’ Enormous Trade Deficits Are Widening. Why Aren’t We Fixing Our Failed Policies?
831-Tomgram: Pepe Escobar, Inside China's "New Normal"832-Robert Reich: “The Worst Trade Deal You’ve Never Heard Of”
833-Will the United States End Up Like Greece? The Risks of the Trans-Pacific Partnership
834-The SEC’s Andrew Bowden: A Regulator for Sale?841-Burned Out: World Bank Projects Leave Trail Of Misery Around Globe
Since 1971 the U.S. has been monetarily sovereign, issuing a non-convertible, fiat currency with a flexible exchange rate and all of its debt owed in its own currency
That’s what happened when Nixon abandoned the international gold standard. America became the monopoly issuer of its own currency and could issue as much of it as it wanted constrained only by inflation, and the lack of a Congressional appropriation, not the lack of revenue.
The author is not alone in his unawareness of the above facts. Joining him are scores of academics, pundits, MSM editors and their casts of feature and technical, economic writers, 99.9% of elected officials and most American citizens.
A careful reading of the definition of monetary sovereignty would then force the author to take an entirely different tack in critiquing U.S. economic/fiscal/monetary policy decision makers.
Moreover, when the Congress appropriates deficit spending what it is doing, according to Accounting 101, is providing net financial assets to the private sector/non-public sector. The simple rule is that where ever there’s a deficit there’s a surplus. All of the deficit hawks are loath to admit that without deficit spending the private sector source for net financial assets dries up and the private sector goes into deficit, leading to low and eventually, no new investment, production, hiring, sales.
One need only analyse the history of deficits shown in a sectoral financial balances graph. http://goo.gl/CGmF6f
The indisputable fact is that the Federal government and none of its programs can ever, involuntarily, go broke or face insolvency. Congress must appropriate for the government to spend its fiat currency.
Because Congress is ignorant of its own role as the score keeper and master of the purse strings our nation will suffer unspeakable social and economic dysfunction. As long as Congress, wrongly, believes it must tax and borrow to spend America is destined for the bottom of ladder not the road to Camelot.
When Congress and the any Administration acknowledge the fact that tax policy only manages; aggregate demand, income distribution and market incentives and disincentives, then and only then will American have rational fiscal policy decisions. As for borrowing, the U.S. NEVER BORROWS. Treasury and Fed transactions simply manage the term structure of interest rates. When Treasury bonds (securities) are traded there is no accompanying loan agreement. Funds are transferred fro checking accounts to savings accounts, that is not borrowing.
All the funds to pay taxes and buy Treasury securities come from government spending. No government spending no threat of inflation, therefore, no need for tax payments or Treasury purchases.
Wake up America the rich are creaming you of your surpluses and you know you haven’t had a real pay increase in forty years.
With inflation below 2%, real unemployment at 23% and surplus capacity at 8% your Federal government should be deficit spending to achieve full employment.
But, because you, wrongly, believe the government can go broke you will wallow in your cognitive dissonance until you go broke. You can’t avoid it because, unlike the Federal government, you cannot create your own sovereign currency.