This isn’t about the economy. It’s not about the courts. It’s not about policy. Trump’s regime is dismantling democracy in real time—here’s what we need to do.
We are not in debt. The Republicans lie traitorously on the floors of our Congress relentlessly, daily, but no one corrects them and straightens them out.
The Dems and progressives say we have the wealth, *but not how much*
If we use this massive fact, and the history of lying about it, to ‘get into their spaces,’ your key insight about what we need to do, they will lie about it, of course.
But that is how that works. Raising the issue makes that audience think and talk about it.
Our net wealth grew $80 Trillion in the past 10 years. Our federal debt and obligations grew $17 Trillion, including disasters and treachery.
Our net personal wealth grew $17 Trillion in the latest 12 months reported. Check it. Our federal debt and obligations grew $2.3 Trillion . Check that. One is bigger, massively bigger , and tells the story.
I have been asking many key progressive leaders to spread the word for 10 years, often in person, so know that. No detectable results, blank stares, maddening.
Thanks for your work, there’s more, b.rad
ps last sentence of the Declaration ends ‘. . . we . . . pledge . . . our Lives, our Fortunes, and our sacred Honor.’ It’s time, again.
Thanks for this, will definitely incorporate it into messaging. I have a lot of things coming up on economics, mainly as it relates to wealth/income distribution over time (lots of graphs for people who care about them), and honestly, this is something I hadn't even thought about.
thanks for telling us, I skimmed it and it’s looking good . . .
ps ‘how much wealth is excessive ?’ is a constant question
one metric I use is that $3 million is a lifetime of money in most of the USA , by the 4% rule, or $120,000 a year, including inflation, much more than the median household income ( that 4% is based on 30 year window, but close enough )
In much of the USA, $2 million is a lifetime of wealth, $80,000 a year, about the current median
Therefore paying or giving someone $2 million or more in a single year or other brief period should be heavily and progressively taxed, above that amount.
So that is one solid way to measure . . . it assumes that the USA will be a going concern . . . b.rad
Thank you for the link uswealthclock.com, net us personal wealth $160 trillion, would be 570% of US GDP. I have seen a good estimate of US total private + corporate + public debt as 400% GDP. A similar level to 1930. This might suggest the free market economic system is running out of steam, and Trump has been empowered by a wealthy elite to prevent FDR style reforms by destroying US democracy (https://larakeller.substack.com/p/linking-economics-conservative-elites). So the problem of public and other debt was fixable, and Trump is there to ensure it is not fixed, as this would lower income inequality which as %GDP is at 1930 levels.
Our biggest problem is that since the 80s/Reaganomics we have been drastically cutting down revenue by reducing taxes on the super rich. The middle class was literally built by taxing the people who were at the very top (while still letting them be at the very top). The average tax rate around the 50s was ~50% (though it was still a progressive tax system like we have now where working/middle class people pay much less than that).
We don't even have to return to such high rates to fix our deficit/debt. We just have to stop this insanity of not taxing the people who benefit the most from society.
It's an absurd that we reduced the taxes to the super rich, just so that we would then have to turn around, and BORROW that exact money from them, and pay them interest to boot. If it sounds absurd when explained like this, well, this is precisely what Reaganomics did.
Thanks. My understanding is that private and corporate debt is included in the net USA personal wealth of $160 Trillion. Everything is owned by somebody, and corporations carry debt, reflected in their stock prices. Personal debt is definitely included in the net personal wealth. GDP is $30 Trillion, so 4 times that . . . no. Follow the links to the Fed, and the Z.1 report tabulates all of that. Personal debt is a small fraction of the $160 Trillion, explicitly called out in the tables and graphs. Net assets are there.
Thankyou for the information. The US total debt as % of GDP at 400%,comes from Bravos Investment Research (https://x.com/bravosresearch/status/1750194754585870634). I assume they have the resources to sum up private+corporate+public debt figures over decades. As % of GDP this total debt was at similar levels, at the time of the onset of the Great Depression and the start of decades of major reforms starting with FDR. In 1933 Wall Street wanted to overthrow FDR and install General Smedley Butler in a fascist coup. My guess is that the ultra rich who own a large chunk of this US debt, have empowered Trump via the MAGA to take over of the GOP to prevent looming reforms, because they know the democratic US system burdened by this much debt and inequality cannot continue without reform, which they would do anything to avoid, including destroying centuries of US democracy. What I noted about the Bravoreach total debt graph is how closely it matched the income of the top 1% of US households; debt rises with inequality as you say. Where is the Un American Activities Committee when you need one?
Great article! I can't agree with you more! I fear the old adage..."when the pain gets great enough we change"...may be what wakes people up! It is gonna take some economic bad times to wake some folks up. I can't stress enough how serious of a moment we're in! We should all be taking to the streets and demanding the impeachment of tRump...and Elon! But as you have said they would enact martial law...but we have to try! Articles of impeachment may fail but file them anyway! Not sure how this will end but the US will never be the same to Americans, or to foreign countries. We are living through the destruction of our democratic republic.😢 I find it more heartbreaking, and stressful every day that goes by. But I will call, and write congress, go to protests, boycott companies that bend the knee, wite posts on social, talk to friends and family...and vote💙💙💙 🫂to you for thus article. Imma share now!
What needs to happen, honestly, is for the Dem party to fund local unknown dems to hold mini rallies, not for other Dems, but for MAGA, to engage them honestly and openly and tell them to their faces how they're getting scammed
keep revisiting this essay, it's presented really well, impactful idea content
i like @ end discussing creatives becoming onboarded, i agree, here is the essence of action
i agree this isn't yesterday's problem & solutions, it's in minds & hearts
unconventional approaches and actions will bring the best & greatest results, any backsliding to old methodologies should be examined carefully
the only old ways i'm still comfortable with are direct correspondence in writing or spoken conversation, and corporeal in person demonstration if not protest
aside from speech & presence tomorrow is minds & hearts,
i think part of increasing wealth #'s is reflecting non-public debt expansion; the ongoing need in the arbitrary reserve banking system requiring ongoing expansion of the money, no, debt supply,
there needs to be brought into existence, constantly, new capital in the form of debt issued, it get baked through government inceptions & initiatives, circulates through the fantasy money deriviatives markets ecosystems, then to the fatcats, never a penny for any to see
the over-wealthy always shred it to pad their nest lining and any attributable funds that achieve boots on the ground status always wind up so rural 85% of the population never able to access any of it, let alone have it actually on offer
anywhere other than egregiously overpriced shit-quality consumer goods & trends to purchasing.
the only way off the merry-go-round is destroy the hub, ofc it doesn't stop for this, it must therefore be destroyed while operating & in motion
that tiny 1% or fraction of a percent, it amortises throughout time & entities & today's shrinking middle class is tomorrow's history books, does it remain shackled to this hatter-mad witch or dissolve the books & start anew with the non-usurious methods called for
the wealth disparity, widening gap, & rate of change all shift against a middle that appears squeezed but i am hoping is actually strengthened through raw discipline & the wiry resilience having to claw things back repeatedly can & does produce
Trump still needs some parts of government to function, because in the medium term 2 to 4 years, Trump has to place state run elections - as the founding fathers intended to prevent dictatorship - under Trump dominated federal control. Trump needs to end free and fair elections. In the longer term he needs a taxing-security government that chanells money to his supporters, and which restrains and spies on his opponents. The SAVE act is being fast tracked now, it would impose harsher ID requirements than any state. It would subject state election officials to imprisonment on Trumped [sic] up charges. It would require mandatory voter roll purges (based in reality on inaccurate data). The similar ACE act calls for states to share federal election rolls with federal government, so the effort to produce lists to purge roller votes for absurd reasons can be nationalised. None of this will get past Senate 60 vote cloture requirement, but Trump will claim they are existential to US democracy and enforce them by XOs. Trump then wants to misuse the 1965 VRA act, to instead of ensuring states apply voting rights fairly, to ensure they apply them unfairly. Trump's long obsession with illegal voting will then pay dividends, when he claims corrupting elections is actually making them fair. MAGA extremists would be employed as federal officials to directly terrorize election administrators at every stage of the voting process. = Few people seem to be expecting this. Mainstream politicians in US and Europes are waiting for the American people to vote Trump out, as if Trump will not ensure they do not get this opportunity.
I strongly affirm what you write. This is a fascist coup, Trump is destroying the US federal government, people are mostly asleep and no one is going to save the American people except themselves. = Trump is destroying the US government, because MAGA is moving the US away from the democratic idea of citizens with rights, to the autocratic idea of Trump supporters being real Americans, and the rest being enemies. The future version of the US government only has to pay off the supporters and contain the opponents. As the state gets more autocratic the pool of loyal supporters can shrink, and so will the number of people Trump judges as "real Americans" and hence the amount of money needed to ensure their loyalty.
Here is $160 Trillion to help. Net. Net USA personal wealth.
<uswealthclock.com> US Fed numbers, quarterly.
We are not in debt. The Republicans lie traitorously on the floors of our Congress relentlessly, daily, but no one corrects them and straightens them out.
The Dems and progressives say we have the wealth, *but not how much*
If we use this massive fact, and the history of lying about it, to ‘get into their spaces,’ your key insight about what we need to do, they will lie about it, of course.
But that is how that works. Raising the issue makes that audience think and talk about it.
Our net wealth grew $80 Trillion in the past 10 years. Our federal debt and obligations grew $17 Trillion, including disasters and treachery.
Our net personal wealth grew $17 Trillion in the latest 12 months reported. Check it. Our federal debt and obligations grew $2.3 Trillion . Check that. One is bigger, massively bigger , and tells the story.
I have been asking many key progressive leaders to spread the word for 10 years, often in person, so know that. No detectable results, blank stares, maddening.
Thanks for your work, there’s more, b.rad
ps last sentence of the Declaration ends ‘. . . we . . . pledge . . . our Lives, our Fortunes, and our sacred Honor.’ It’s time, again.
Thanks for this, will definitely incorporate it into messaging. I have a lot of things coming up on economics, mainly as it relates to wealth/income distribution over time (lots of graphs for people who care about them), and honestly, this is something I hadn't even thought about.
Seriously, thanks for this!
I finally got around to working on the article, let me know what you think!
https://americanmanifesto.news/p/the-national-debt-scam
thanks for telling us, I skimmed it and it’s looking good . . .
ps ‘how much wealth is excessive ?’ is a constant question
one metric I use is that $3 million is a lifetime of money in most of the USA , by the 4% rule, or $120,000 a year, including inflation, much more than the median household income ( that 4% is based on 30 year window, but close enough )
In much of the USA, $2 million is a lifetime of wealth, $80,000 a year, about the current median
Therefore paying or giving someone $2 million or more in a single year or other brief period should be heavily and progressively taxed, above that amount.
So that is one solid way to measure . . . it assumes that the USA will be a going concern . . . b.rad
Thank you for the link uswealthclock.com, net us personal wealth $160 trillion, would be 570% of US GDP. I have seen a good estimate of US total private + corporate + public debt as 400% GDP. A similar level to 1930. This might suggest the free market economic system is running out of steam, and Trump has been empowered by a wealthy elite to prevent FDR style reforms by destroying US democracy (https://larakeller.substack.com/p/linking-economics-conservative-elites). So the problem of public and other debt was fixable, and Trump is there to ensure it is not fixed, as this would lower income inequality which as %GDP is at 1930 levels.
Our biggest problem is that since the 80s/Reaganomics we have been drastically cutting down revenue by reducing taxes on the super rich. The middle class was literally built by taxing the people who were at the very top (while still letting them be at the very top). The average tax rate around the 50s was ~50% (though it was still a progressive tax system like we have now where working/middle class people pay much less than that).
We don't even have to return to such high rates to fix our deficit/debt. We just have to stop this insanity of not taxing the people who benefit the most from society.
It's an absurd that we reduced the taxes to the super rich, just so that we would then have to turn around, and BORROW that exact money from them, and pay them interest to boot. If it sounds absurd when explained like this, well, this is precisely what Reaganomics did.
Thanks. My understanding is that private and corporate debt is included in the net USA personal wealth of $160 Trillion. Everything is owned by somebody, and corporations carry debt, reflected in their stock prices. Personal debt is definitely included in the net personal wealth. GDP is $30 Trillion, so 4 times that . . . no. Follow the links to the Fed, and the Z.1 report tabulates all of that. Personal debt is a small fraction of the $160 Trillion, explicitly called out in the tables and graphs. Net assets are there.
thoughts? sources for ‘400%’ ? — b.rad
Thankyou for the information. The US total debt as % of GDP at 400%,comes from Bravos Investment Research (https://x.com/bravosresearch/status/1750194754585870634). I assume they have the resources to sum up private+corporate+public debt figures over decades. As % of GDP this total debt was at similar levels, at the time of the onset of the Great Depression and the start of decades of major reforms starting with FDR. In 1933 Wall Street wanted to overthrow FDR and install General Smedley Butler in a fascist coup. My guess is that the ultra rich who own a large chunk of this US debt, have empowered Trump via the MAGA to take over of the GOP to prevent looming reforms, because they know the democratic US system burdened by this much debt and inequality cannot continue without reform, which they would do anything to avoid, including destroying centuries of US democracy. What I noted about the Bravoreach total debt graph is how closely it matched the income of the top 1% of US households; debt rises with inequality as you say. Where is the Un American Activities Committee when you need one?
Thanks for the source.
This is my source, the Fed again, and I trust them more.
<https://www.federalreserve.gov/releases/z1/dataviz/z1/nonfinancial_debt/chart/>
Business debt is shown as around $22 Trillion. The federal debt we know, and personal debt is included in the net wealth of $160 Trillion.
$ 3.37 T - State & Local
$31 T - Federal
$20.4 T - Household
$21.6 T - Business
hope to read your source and see what they are doing, thanks again, b.rad
I think bravos research are including financial sector debt. How much this debt matters is a question I cannot answer.
I saw the Xitter post, but there were no sources or evidence.
Ideas ? -- b.rad
Great article! I can't agree with you more! I fear the old adage..."when the pain gets great enough we change"...may be what wakes people up! It is gonna take some economic bad times to wake some folks up. I can't stress enough how serious of a moment we're in! We should all be taking to the streets and demanding the impeachment of tRump...and Elon! But as you have said they would enact martial law...but we have to try! Articles of impeachment may fail but file them anyway! Not sure how this will end but the US will never be the same to Americans, or to foreign countries. We are living through the destruction of our democratic republic.😢 I find it more heartbreaking, and stressful every day that goes by. But I will call, and write congress, go to protests, boycott companies that bend the knee, wite posts on social, talk to friends and family...and vote💙💙💙 🫂to you for thus article. Imma share now!
What needs to happen, honestly, is for the Dem party to fund local unknown dems to hold mini rallies, not for other Dems, but for MAGA, to engage them honestly and openly and tell them to their faces how they're getting scammed
impact!
top work, i'm all eyes, er, ears, um....
keep revisiting this essay, it's presented really well, impactful idea content
i like @ end discussing creatives becoming onboarded, i agree, here is the essence of action
i agree this isn't yesterday's problem & solutions, it's in minds & hearts
unconventional approaches and actions will bring the best & greatest results, any backsliding to old methodologies should be examined carefully
the only old ways i'm still comfortable with are direct correspondence in writing or spoken conversation, and corporeal in person demonstration if not protest
aside from speech & presence tomorrow is minds & hearts,
ideas & willpower
slay on!
in reading on these comments will add
i think part of increasing wealth #'s is reflecting non-public debt expansion; the ongoing need in the arbitrary reserve banking system requiring ongoing expansion of the money, no, debt supply,
there needs to be brought into existence, constantly, new capital in the form of debt issued, it get baked through government inceptions & initiatives, circulates through the fantasy money deriviatives markets ecosystems, then to the fatcats, never a penny for any to see
the over-wealthy always shred it to pad their nest lining and any attributable funds that achieve boots on the ground status always wind up so rural 85% of the population never able to access any of it, let alone have it actually on offer
anywhere other than egregiously overpriced shit-quality consumer goods & trends to purchasing.
the only way off the merry-go-round is destroy the hub, ofc it doesn't stop for this, it must therefore be destroyed while operating & in motion
that tiny 1% or fraction of a percent, it amortises throughout time & entities & today's shrinking middle class is tomorrow's history books, does it remain shackled to this hatter-mad witch or dissolve the books & start anew with the non-usurious methods called for
the wealth disparity, widening gap, & rate of change all shift against a middle that appears squeezed but i am hoping is actually strengthened through raw discipline & the wiry resilience having to claw things back repeatedly can & does produce
cheers
Trump still needs some parts of government to function, because in the medium term 2 to 4 years, Trump has to place state run elections - as the founding fathers intended to prevent dictatorship - under Trump dominated federal control. Trump needs to end free and fair elections. In the longer term he needs a taxing-security government that chanells money to his supporters, and which restrains and spies on his opponents. The SAVE act is being fast tracked now, it would impose harsher ID requirements than any state. It would subject state election officials to imprisonment on Trumped [sic] up charges. It would require mandatory voter roll purges (based in reality on inaccurate data). The similar ACE act calls for states to share federal election rolls with federal government, so the effort to produce lists to purge roller votes for absurd reasons can be nationalised. None of this will get past Senate 60 vote cloture requirement, but Trump will claim they are existential to US democracy and enforce them by XOs. Trump then wants to misuse the 1965 VRA act, to instead of ensuring states apply voting rights fairly, to ensure they apply them unfairly. Trump's long obsession with illegal voting will then pay dividends, when he claims corrupting elections is actually making them fair. MAGA extremists would be employed as federal officials to directly terrorize election administrators at every stage of the voting process. = Few people seem to be expecting this. Mainstream politicians in US and Europes are waiting for the American people to vote Trump out, as if Trump will not ensure they do not get this opportunity.
I strongly affirm what you write. This is a fascist coup, Trump is destroying the US federal government, people are mostly asleep and no one is going to save the American people except themselves. = Trump is destroying the US government, because MAGA is moving the US away from the democratic idea of citizens with rights, to the autocratic idea of Trump supporters being real Americans, and the rest being enemies. The future version of the US government only has to pay off the supporters and contain the opponents. As the state gets more autocratic the pool of loyal supporters can shrink, and so will the number of people Trump judges as "real Americans" and hence the amount of money needed to ensure their loyalty.