# Diagrams & Dollars  ## Metadata - Author: [[J.D. ALT]] - Full Title: Diagrams & Dollars - Category: #books ## Highlights - Being an architect, I’m fascinated by diagrams visualizing things which otherwise are invisible. ([Location 40](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B00HUF6POI&location=40)) - (gross domestic product). ([Location 53](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B00HUF6POI&location=53)) - Note: Not true. - Private Sector somehow creates the U.S. Dollars we all use, ([Location 64](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B00HUF6POI&location=64)) - generate more and more Dollars, etc. ([Location 67](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B00HUF6POI&location=67)) - Note: They don’t “generate” dollars. They exchange them. - public goods and services that can be planned for in the National Budget. ([Location 72](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B00HUF6POI&location=72)) - the overwhelming majority of which belong to private-sector U.S. citizens. ([Location 118](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B00HUF6POI&location=118)) - Note: Are you sure? - it is not possible for the Private Sector pot to “generate” its own U.S. Dollars! ([Location 131](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B00HUF6POI&location=131)) - Anyone else who tries to create or issue a U.S. Dollar is a counterfeiter and subject to imprisonment. ([Location 132](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B00HUF6POI&location=132)) - Note: For steal part of government’s business. - huge sums of “bank dollars” and these are used for “money” in the PS pot just as real U.S. Dollars are used. ([Location 134](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B00HUF6POI&location=134)) - Note: Where’s the distinction? - “Dollars get created in the PS pot…” ([Location 142](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B00HUF6POI&location=142)) - only the sovereign U.S. Government can issue U.S. Dollars, ([Location 144](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B00HUF6POI&location=144)) - Note: The fact is that the government doesn’t issue money. It only authorizes the issuance. - Can this possibly be the way it actually is? ([Location 149](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B00HUF6POI&location=149)) - Note: No!!! - what a U.S. Dollar actually is: It is simply a promise, by the U.S. sovereign government, that it will accept the Dollar as payment for a Dollar’s worth of taxes. ([Location 164](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B00HUF6POI&location=164)) - In other words, a Dollar is the I.O.U. of the sovereign government. The Dollar says: “I owe you one Dollar’s worth of tax credit.” ([Location 167](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B00HUF6POI&location=167)) - Note: Wow. - why we (all of us citizens working in the Private Sector) are willing to accept Dollars in exchange for our very real goods and efforts: Because we need those Dollars in order to pay the taxes we owe the Federal Government! ([Location 173](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B00HUF6POI&location=173)) - So the TAX “DRAIN” really is the correct diagram! ([Location 183](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B00HUF6POI&location=183)) - the Federal Government doesn’t really “sell” Treasury Bonds at all. ([Location 196](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B00HUF6POI&location=196)) ## New highlights added December 27, 2024 at 7:52 AM - Dollars flow out of the spending and interest spigots into the PS pot; ([Location 227](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B00HUF6POI&location=227)) - Note: Only because you drew it that way. - The FG “pot” has now been replaced with a “Sovereign Currency Issuer”. ([Location 234](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B00HUF6POI&location=234)) - the FG then has the proper authority to put us in jail. ([Location 237](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B00HUF6POI&location=237)) - Note: An adjustment in preferences. - we work and exchange our goods for Dollars ([Location 238](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B00HUF6POI&location=238)) - Note: Because the market has chosen to accept dollars. - what makes the Dollars go round is that we’re all in debt to the sovereign government, ([Location 240](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B00HUF6POI&location=240)) - We now understand this Sovereign Spending is necessary to get U.S. Dollars into the PS pot where entrepreneurs and businesses then leverage them with bank loans to create goods and services, jobs and careers. ([Location 244](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B00HUF6POI&location=244)) - Note: According to this model, if the government doesn’t spend money, nothing will get produced. I don’t know how to express how ridiculous that is. - the result of Sovereign Spending is the creation of something that “supports” the Private Sector pot itself—holds it together, keeps it from falling apart and rolling down the hill. ([Location 258](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B00HUF6POI&location=258)) - The limitation, instead, is imposed by the real resources—labor, materials, energy, and technology—which are sustainably available to implement our collective goals. ([Location 262](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B00HUF6POI&location=262)) - Note: Doesn’t this statement contradict the model which shows that everything is created as a result of government spending? - Dollars that are drained out by taxes in that same year. ([Location 271](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B00HUF6POI&location=271)) - spending less than they earn, building up the security of a savings account ([Location 278](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B00HUF6POI&location=278)) - Note: There’s something a miss about the statement. - the Dollars the FG spends are NOT Dollars it has to earn—they are Dollars the FG has simply issued. ([Location 281](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B00HUF6POI&location=281)) - Note: Other than the legality of it, how does this differ from counterfeiting? - meaningless to even think of the FG as “earning” its own Dollars! ([Location 282](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B00HUF6POI&location=282)) - Note: Here lies the great flaw in this whole conception. The government doesn’t earn anything. It only confiscate other people‘s property. But explaining this to people who have brought into the MMT brainwash could be difficult. - drains in Taxes, ([Location 289](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B00HUF6POI&location=289)) - Note: Which is it, earned or drained? - zero new net savings. ([Location 304](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B00HUF6POI&location=304)) - Note: You have to find savings only in terms of dollars. This is a total fallacy. - the “balanced budget” simply imposes an austerity on the Private Sector without rhyme or reason. ([Location 306](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B00HUF6POI&location=306)) - what they view as a “surplus” is actually a net deficit for the Private Sector! ([Location 310](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B00HUF6POI&location=310)) - Note: This is so stupid it hardly bears comment. A net deficit for the private sector? - Congress runs a “budget surplus” for long, ([Location 313](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B00HUF6POI&location=313)) - Note: Causing a reduction in the money supply… - invested in new business ventures. ([Location 319](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B00HUF6POI&location=319)) - Note: So starting a new venture requires only dollars. You don’t have to build a factory, rent a store, buy inventory. You only need dollars. How stupid are we anyhow? - irrational budgetary decisions that do irreparable harm to our collective well-being. ([Location 325](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B00HUF6POI&location=325)) - drain away in taxes, ([Location 329](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B00HUF6POI&location=329)) - Note: Clever phrase. - “Net Spending Achievement”. ([Location 336](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B00HUF6POI&location=336)) - Note: Obfuscation at its best. ## New highlights added December 29, 2024 at 3:32 PM - the real financial wealth ([Location 360](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B00HUF6POI&location=360)) - Note: Does “financial” make this statement any less misleading? - this savings and interest operation is to prevent trillions of U.S. Dollars from chasing goods and services in the PS pot (which helps control price inflation.) ([Location 366](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B00HUF6POI&location=366)) - Note: It prevents the appropriate allocation of spending and investing. - income inequity in our Private Sector ([Location 373](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B00HUF6POI&location=373)) - our lack of imagination in creating useful things for everyone to do. ([Location 375](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B00HUF6POI&location=375)) - Note: Not enough busywork. - largest and most effective “Net Spending Achievement” ([Location 379](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B00HUF6POI&location=379)) - real, sustainable resources ([Location 385](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B00HUF6POI&location=385)) - price inflation is under control, ([Location 388](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B00HUF6POI&location=388)) - The U.S. Federal Government will never have to—or, indeed could it—“borrow” U.S. Dollars ([Location 390](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B00HUF6POI&location=390)) - the FG is not “borrowing” those Dollars from China or anybody else! ([Location 392](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B00HUF6POI&location=392))