Congresspeople, corporate CEOs, tea partiers, most economists, *Peter George Peterson's minions and even our President, tell us:
1. We're running out of money. 2. We can't keep running huge deficits, and increasing our national debt forever. 3. Eventually, our creditors will just cease lending us our dollars back. 4. Government can only raise money by either taxing or borrowing. 5. We can't tax "the job creators" very much or they'll go on strike and won't create any jobs because we'll have killed their incentive. 6. We have to reduce our borrowing. 7. We can have hardly any tax increases on "the job creators." 8. We have to lower taxes on "the job creators" even more. 9. Raise taxes on the "unproductive" 47% or is it 99%? 10. Cut spending on programs that provide benefits for the poor, the middle class, and the 99%. 11. We have to "live within our means," and remove the burden of excessive public debt on our grandchildren. All these reasons for austerity are bogus and here's why: 1. "The job creators" aren't making any jobs. That's a fact! They give all kinds of excuses, but the truth is that they have no sales, [because there is no *demand* because people don't have money and jobs] so "the job creators" have no incentive to create any more jobs. 2. If we lower "the job creator's" taxes, the more money they have sitting idle, which they will invest in financial manipulation schemes rather than jobs. 3. Taxing the rich at extremely high rates on net profits and provides them an incentive to lower their net profits by spending more of their gross profits on tax-deductible business expenses like employees and business expansion. 4. High taxes on the rich will do more to create jobs than lower taxes. 5. We had far lower unemployment rates when marginal tax rates were sky-high, than we have now when taxes are a pittance on the wealthy. 6. Congress can always reorganize the Federal Reserve so that the regional Fed Banks are nationalized and both they and the Board of Governors are placed under the authority of the Secretary of the Treasury, so that the Secretary is empowered to create reserves out of thin air to fill the Treasury's spending account, and keep it filled with sufficient funds to repay the national debt and cover the deficit without borrowing. 7. Congress has the Constitutional authority to do this and keep us debt free and then we would not have to make spending cuts or tax increases at all. 8. To pay off the national debt and cover the deficits for years to come; it isn't even necessary for Congress to reorganize the Fed. 9. The Treasury can use the Fed to create money in Treasury's account from seigniorage. 10. All that's necessary is for the President to mint a High Value Platinum Coin (HVPC) with a face value of $60 Trillion dollars, deposit it at the Fed, and then begin to pay off the national debt and implement deficit spending using the electronic credits created in the process of seigniorage. 11. It is a myth that the Federal Government can only get money for spending from taxing or borrowing. 12. Congress can modify the laws, as just described, so Treasury can generate US money out of thin air, just as the Fed does today, that Treasury can use to pay down the debt and cover deficit spending. 13. "Printing money" will not cause inflation because reserves issued unaccompanied by debt are no more inflationary than reserves issued along with debt. If you legislate the ability for Treasury to do this, then you won't have to worry about the deficit and debt or our grand children anymore; and we won't have to worry about cutting the social safety net and other necessary programs anymore. All the reasons in "The Great Austerity Swindle" for wanting to reduce the deficit and impose austerity on the 99% are bogus. The Simpson-Bowles "Cat Food" debt commissions, the debt ceiling crises, the fiscal cliff, the sequestration, the continuing resolution, budgetary crises, and the constant propaganda campaign directed at us is a grand "shock doctrine" process attempting to swindle us out of a government that works for 99% of us rather than the 1%. We know that "the Grand Bargain" is "the Great Betrayal"! And we won't have it! Read the article without RD's edits here: http://www.correntewire.com/the_great_austerity_swindle * http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_George_Peterson