Notices by Dave Johnson (dcjohnson@mastodon.cloud)

"Cut taxes for the wealthy and their corporations. They will use the extra money to provide jobs and increase pay and benefits."

The US & UK fell for that. The UK even privatized water, energy, transportation, mail etc.

Now we have massive inequality and political unrest.

#neoliberalism

So ... who still thinks society should allow billionaires?

It's time to restore pre-Reagan/Thatcher top tax rates on the wealthy & their corporations.

AND add a wealth tax to start clawing back the trillions that have been shifted upwards since those tax cuts.

#billionaires

Billionaires do not buy major information outlets to make money.

They buy them to use them.

#propaganda #billionaires

The people saying it would "cost too much" to address the climate crisis are the people who will stop making huge money from oil and coal. It would cost THEM.

Unfortunately they control governments.

#climatecrisis #corruption

Corporations are not sentient entities. They are contracts. They do not "do" things. They do not make decisions. Executives do.

When corporate activity breaks a law or harms people, it means the executives decided to do that.

When a corporation has been fined for something, what you are witnessing is the executives being let off the hook for what they did. Perhaps the prosecutor/regulator wants to keep get big money from corporations after leaving government.

#corruption #corporations

The "national debt" means money spent into the economy but not taxed back out.

That's it. That's all. It is not "borrowed." It is not "owed" to anyone. It does not have to be "repaid."

The use of the word "debt" is a legacy from days when kings had to round up gold.

#debt #money #MMT

Here is the point of "MMT": "Money" is NOT scarce. Society doesn't have to "get money from" the wealthy to do things.

Society CAN build infrastructure. People CAN be housed. People CAN have healthcare. Doctors etc CAN get education.

And we CAN fight the climate crisis!

#MMT #climate

In the 60s the top US income tax rate was 90%. Corporations paid 50% on profits. Similar for UK.

People don't know that.

Now the middle class "shoulders the tax burden" instead, and billionaires tell the government what to do.

#taxes

People repeat nonsense corporate anti-tax propaganda that companies will increase prices to cover taxes.

Preposterous.

Taxes are on profits. Companies don't know what their taxes will be till the end of the tax year.

If a company COULD raise its prices (taxes or not) it already would have.

If it really DID raise prices their profits would go up, so their taxes would too. So they'd have to raise prices again! But then they'd have more profits ...

#taxes #propaganda

People don't understand what corporations are

A corp is a legal contract They are entirely creations of govt. Corps exist for the good of the public. WHY ELSE would a democracy allow them?

Corps are not sentient entities. They do not "do" anything. Executives do.

Shareholders do not "own" a corp, they have a claim on its assets in a bankruptcy. (Often after lenders.)

You can't punish a corp. A fine only takes shareholder money. PUNISH EXECUTIVES for corp harms!

#corporations #democracy

I try to follow people who boost my toots, because clearly they have good taste.

#mastodon

Did you know it used to be illegal for a company to buy back its own stock? It was understood to be stock price manipulation. (Because it is.)

Reagan's "deregulation" changed the rules in 1982.

Like everything else, companies now pay politicians to keep it the way it is.

#deregulation #reagan #corruption

Migrants are good. Multiculturalism is good. Migrants should be encouraged.

Care for refugees. Love all people.

#asylum #migrants #bordercrisis

Talking about "taxpayer money" reinforces scarcity-of-money ideology that tells people government "can't afford' to make their lives better.

The gold standard is no more. Governments do not get "revenue." They do not "borrow." They MANAGE economies according to priorities.

#MMT #taxes

Privatization is corruption.

It's that simple.

#privatization #corruption

Climate crisis = forced immigration.

Have you noticed that the politicians who say there are "waves" and "invasions" of immigrants are the same politicians who refuse to fight the climate crisis that is causing mass migration that can only get much much worse?

#immigration #climate #climatecrisis

1) When people say the US/UK won't be able to "pay off" debt, what do they think those debts have to be paid off WITH? Gold bars?

Govts stopped hoarding and borrowing gold long go - economics textbooks haven't figured that out.

2) When people say govts need "revenue" before they can build roads, provide health care or bombs etc, ask them where they think banks get the money they loan out?

Hint: banks get the money out of thin air. That's what "modern money" is.

#MMT #modernmonetarytheory

@Deixis9 When I tell people here in the UK about this, they just can't believe it.

Each person forced to "go private" is a revenue stream for the healthcare interests who give big money to the Tories.

The destruction of the NHS is by design - it was done for the money.

#NHS

People don't understand what money is. Some people gain advantage by tricking those people into thinking governments "borrow."

Government debt is simply a measure of how much money is circulating. Govts spend money into the economy, taxes take it out.

Taxes do not "fund" spending. Taxes are not "revenue." Taxes remove currency from circulation.

In the USA "paying off the national debt" would mean taxing $30 trillion out of the economy. How do you think that would work out?

#mmt