NEW! Trust Fund Thieves and Their
Accomplices
[Definition: A trust fund thief is any elected
federal official who was in office from the time social security funds were
first stolen to pay for the Vietnam War, through today.]
ADDENDUM:
AFTER I WROTE THIS ARTICLE, I RECEIVED A WORTHLESS
FORM LETTER FROM CONSERVATIVE REPUBLICAN PA CONGRESSMAN
TIM MURPHY, PLEASE SCROLL DOWN TO THE BOTTOM OF
THIS PAGE TO READ MY RESPONSE
In
my last Update, I said that I would publish the names of the politicians,
academics and media people who I contacted about supplementing Federal Reserve
Notes (FRN) with U.S. Treasury issued, debt-free, United States Notes (U.S. Notes or Greenbacks). U.S. Notes are legal tender currency, they are interchangeable with FRN, they have
exactly the same value and they are currently an unissued part of our
national money supply. You will learn
that these are irrefutable facts when you click on this link to the U.S.
Treasury Department web site U.S. Treasury - FAQ: LegalTender Status of Currency. I have been stonewalled on this issue for more than eight years by
politicians, academics and the media.
During that time, our national debt has exploded from $7.2 trillion in
2004 to $16.7 trillion today.
There is an alternative to our enormous and
unnecessary national debt burden. That
alternative, United States Notes, is based on the U.S. Constitution (Article 1, Section 8, Paragraph 5) and
existing law. I have contacted more than
a dozen elected officials, including Pennsylvania Congressional Representative
Tim Murphy, Pennsylvania Senators Pat Toomey and Bob Casey and President Barack
Obama. I have been telling them, and numerous elected local and state
officials, about U.S. Notes for years. In fact, I have been sending them
letters, faxes, E-mails and calling their offices since June of 2004.
For years, I have been informing the public
about debt-free money on my web site/blog. I did radio interviews and ran for
public office twice. I passed out
informational literature and posted road signs directing people to my web
site/blog. My objective has been to get
the public to demand that our elected leaders stop stealing the social security
“trust fund” money, and stop the needless, reckless government borrowing. So
far, it has been a huge waste of time, physical and mental effort, and
money. Now, despite all my effort, our
elected officials are using our enormous national debt as a “justification” to
attack social security, Medicare, Medicaid and the ability of the government to
“promote
the general welfare” of the American people. (Promotion of the general welfare is a
Constitutional mandate for all elected federal officials.) What else can I do to convince the American
people that we are the victims of a $16.7 trillion scam?
I won’t rehash what I have said on my web
site/blog. However, I want to make a
blanket statement regarding the current “debate” about the state of our economy. The solutions that I hear from our elected
leaders for fixing our economic problems are a sick joke. The Obama “jobs bill” is a Keynesian pie in
the sky that will probably never become law.
How many years have the Democrats been babbling about this tax and spend
gift to the private sector? On the other
side, the Republicans are pushing the same old permanent Capital
Strike/economic blackmail. They say, cut
business taxes and regulations or the private sector will continue to sit on
their trillions of dollars and continue to starve the economy. What neither political party will tell us is
that we are living in the New Normal economy.
Globalization, deunionization, outsourcing and deregulation have
produced a low wage, high unemployment and slow growth economy that is a dream
come true for some and a nightmare for others.
Fantastic executive pay and perks, fat profits, juicy dividends and
lavish stock buy backs are enjoyed by some.
But, stagnant wages, meager worker’s benefits, no pensions and no job
security, are endured by many others.
This is the New Normal.
In order to mitigate the ill effects of the
New Normal economy, I proposed a New Deal type “jobs bill” that requires no tax
dollars, no government borrowing and nothing from the private sector. The
private sector seems to be more interested in their investments in China,
Mexico, India, Vietnam and Bangladesh than they are in America. So, I won’t bother with them. My jobs bill can be found in my February 11,
2012 blog Update, beginning with the ninth paragraph. The jobs outlined in my jobs bill are just a
starting point. The basic proposal can
be greatly expanded. These jobs will pay
well and have good benefits. These jobs
will significantly increase our gross domestic product and decrease
unemployment and underemployment. All the jobs will be funded with debt-free legal tender United States Notes. My jobs bill shows what can be done when
economic policy isn’t held hostage to campaign contributions and other
self-serving inducements from the private sector. In other words, I’m not looking for a six or
seven figure “job” at Goldman Sachs or the Swiss investment bank UBS. I don’t plan to cash in on hefty speaking
fees, like many ex politicians, for delivering useless speeches to adoring
crowds.
President Obama can implement my jobs bill
the way President John F. Kennedy implemented debt-free money in 1963, with an
Executive Order. I believe President
Kennedy had to use E.O. 11110 in order to bypass the ever-treacherous U.S.
Congress. Why? It was extremely unlikely that Congress would
authorize debt-free United States Notes under the Legal Tender Act of 1862, as
was done under President Abraham
Lincoln. After the assassinations of
Presidents Lincoln and Kennedy, United States Notes were eventually withdrawn
from circulation and never again authorized by Congress. I cover this little known part of American
history in detail elsewhere on this blog.
I also debunk the insidious myth that Treasury issuance of U.S. Notes
will cause hyperinflation.
*********************
On February 25, 2013, I mailed another letter
to Senator Pat Toomey. That letter is the main focus of my February 23, 2013
Update, (posted 3-5-13), on this blog.
On March 25, 2013, I mailed letters to Representatives Nancy Pelosi and
Tim Murphy. On March 28, 2013, I mailed
a letter to the Acting Director of the Office of Management and Budget, Jeffery
Zientz. All four of these letters
addressed the same subject: U.S. Treasury issuance of debt-free, legal tender, United States Notes. To
date, of course, there has been no response from any of them. I plan to continue sending letters to our
elected public officials, academics and pundits and I will post their names on
this blog site. After enduring nearly
nine years of stonewalling, I don’t expect to get a meaningful reply from
anybody. However, it is my duty as a
responsible citizen to continue to petition the government for the redress of
grievances. I want the American
people to know who is stealing their money.
And I want the American people to know who is helping them do it.
In a recent Current TV television appearance,
Florida Democratic Congressman Alan Grayson said: “The social security trust
fund has almost $2 trillion in the bank.
That’s what the rest of the government and the American people owe the
trust fund.” Let’s examine that
statement. 1. When Grayson says “the
government and the American people,” he really means the American
taxpayers. 2. There was $2.7
trillion in the so-called “trust fund.”
3. What happened to the missing $.7 trillion? 4. Ever since the catastrophic, and soon
forgotten, 2007/2008 subprime mortgage disaster/global credit crisis, FICA
social security trust fund payments went into the red (Grayson didn’t mention
that). 5. This means that approximately
$.7 trillion was withdrawn from the non-existent trust fund to pay current
benefits. 6. Since all the trust fund money has been stolen and spent by the
politicians, where does the money come from to pay current benefits? The Current TV interviewer never questioned
anything that Grayson said. In fact, at
the end of the interview, he said to Grayson, “Thank you for telling it like it
is.”
In an April 11, 2013 C-SPAN interview, Texas
Republican Congressman Kevin Brady, referring to the social security trust
fund, said, “There is no money, no surplus.”
He freely admitted that, “Congress and presidents” have been stealing
the money “for thirty years.” He ignored
the fact that the politicians MUST STOP STEALING THE MONEY! And, he had nothing to say about REPLACING the stolen money. He said, “Last year ‘America’ had to borrow
roughly $150 billion from investors, from China” to pay social security
benefits. That $150 billion is added
directly to the national debt and it becomes a liability on the backs of the
American taxpayers! He also said,
“Social security will never see a surplus again unless we take some steps to
save the program for the long haul.” He
didn’t say what those steps are. Of
course, we know what those steps are.
They are the same steps taken by the Reagan/Greenspan Commission in
1983. I’ve heard it a thousand times:
RAISE THE PAYROLE FICA DEDUCTION, CUT BENEFITS AND RAISE THE RETIREMENT
AGE. Brady, Grayson and the interviewers
didn’t mention the fact that we will never see a surplus again BECAUSE WALL
STREET AND THE PRIVATE SECTOR DESTROYED THE ECONOMY IN 2007/2008!!! This is the New Normal.
Several years ago, I asked Pennsylvania U.S. Congressman Tim
Murphy, at a Moon Township, Pennsylvania town hall meeting, why the politicians
don’t replace the money that they raided from the social security trust
fund. Surprisingly, he admitted that, “I would have to raise your taxes to do that.”
Well,
a politician tells the truth. How
nice. But, when I reminded him of that
statement at a later town hall meeting he said, “I don’t recall saying
that.” I flew off the handle and asked
him, “Are you calling me a liar?!” I was
so angry, I can’t remember his response.
I wonder if anyone who was at that Greentree, Pennsylvania town hall
meeting remembers that exchange. After
the meeting was over, I passed out my campaign literature to the meeting
attendees, who were mostly senior citizens.
Incidentally, I lost my election for Pennsylvania State Representative
and Tim Murphy won his election.
On April 12, 2013, in a C-SPAN interview,
Steve Bell, Economic Policy Project Senior Director of the Bipartisan Policy
Center, was asked this question. “Why
don’t the politicians replace the money that has been spent from the social
security trust fund?” After a slight
hesitation, he said, “The money is replaced.”
The interviewer never questioned his obviously bogus statement. When I say America is in the grip of a
Stupidity Crisis, I’m not engaging in hyperbole. I am stating a fact.
The money stolen from all of the federal trust funds (more than $5 trillion) is
“replaced” by us, the taxpayers! I am so
sick of explaining this scandalous scam over, and over, and over and over. So, what is the moral of this horribly ugly
story? You can’t trust Current TV, the
Democrats, C-SPAN, the Republicans or the Bipartisan Policy Center. I hope the American people will FINALLY
understand this reality: Robbing Peter (taxpayers) to pay Paul (social
security) the money that was stolen from Paul (social security) only compounds
the theft.
The only way that our elected
officials can truly replace the stolen trust fund money is with U.S. Treasury issued,
debt-free legal tender United States Notes. Therefore, I am calling for a complete audit
of all federal trust funds going
back to the era of the Vietnam War and beyond.
The American people have a right to know the full extent of this
monumental grand larceny. As I explained
above, every penny that has been raided from all trust funds, from the very first day, is owed to the American
people. Replacing the trust fund money
with future tax dollars or money borrowed from the credit markets (aka, the
bond vigilantes) only compounds the
theft.
I CHALLENGE EVERY
CURRENTLY ELECTED FEDERAL OFFICIAL TO ADDRESS THE GREIVANCE OUTLINED IN THIS
PETTITION. I can
be reached at Post Office Box 815, Coraopolis PA 15108
List
of Recipients of my Correspondence, the Thieves:
On
June 23, 2004, I began writing to politicians, academics and the media. Here are some of their names:
President: Barack Obama
Senators: Ernest
Hollings; John Kerry; Ted Kennedy; Bernie Sanders; Hillary Clinton; John
Edwards; Harry Reid; Tom Daschle; Robert Byrd; Bob Casey; Mary Landrieu; Pat Toomey; Rick Santorum
Representatives: Nancy
Pelosi; Charles Rangel ; Joseph Hoeffel; Dennis Kucinich; John Lewis; Dick
Gephardt; Steny Hoyer; Gene Taylor; Mike Doyle; Jason Altmire; Joe Sestak;
House Democrats; Tim Murphy
List
of Recipients of my Correspondence, the Accomplices:
[Definition: A trust fund thief accomplice is any
person or organization that was/is in a position to help me put pressure on
Congress. I have been trying to get Congress to authorize the U.S. Treasury to
issue debt-free, legal tender United
States Notes. This would reduce taxes,
the budget deficit and the national debt.
The people below did nothing to help me.]
Governors: Ed Rendell; Howard Dean
Politicians and
political operatives: PA State Representatives Mark Mustio, Nick Kotic, and
Jesse White; PA State Senators John Pippy and Jim Ferlo; Terry McAuliffe,
former Chairman Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee and Chairman
Democratic National Committee; The Democratic National Committee/Platform
committee; The Pennsylvania Democratic Party; Jean Milko, former Chairwoman
Allegheny County Democratic Committee; Jim Burn, former Chairman Allegheny
County Democratic Committee; Tom Flaherty, former Chairman Allegheny County
Democratic Committee
The media: David
Shribman, executive editor and vice-president, Greg Victor, nation/world editor,
Reg Henry, editor, Susan Mannella,
editor, Ruth Ann Dailey, Sally Kelson and Jack Kelly columnists Pittsburgh
Post-Gazette; the entire editorial staff of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette;
Rush Limbaugh; Sean Hannity; Cenk Uygur; Fred
Honsberger; Jerry Bowyer; Mike Romigh; PBS News Hour; Nightline; NBC
Nightly News; On The Record, Fox News; Alan Colmes; Bill O’Reilly; Jim Quinn;
United Press International; Today Show, Dateline, NBC News; 2020 ABC News; 48
Hours, 60 Minutes, The Early Show, Evening News, CBS News; Chris Matthews,
Hardball, MSNBC; Associated Press; Lou Dobbs; U.S. News and World Report; CNBC;
Washington Post; Joe Scarborough; Time Magazine; LA Times; NY Times; Charles
Showalter; Fox Report, Fox News; Newsweek Magazine; Ron Morris
Think tanks: Campaign
for America’s Future, co-directors: Robert L. Borosage and Roger Hickey;
Economic Policy Institute President: Larry Mishel and Vice-President, Ross
Eisenbrey; Allegheny Institute: Jake Haulk, Larry Gamrat
List
of Recipients of my Correspondence, other Accomplices:
Federal Reserve
Chairman, Ben Bernanke; U.S. Treasury Secretary, Tim Geithner; Alliance For
Retired Americans; AARP; Penn State academics, University of Pittsburgh academics;
Organized Labor; Moveon.org; Concord Coalition; Peterson Institute, Everyone
connected with the book I.O.U.S.A. including David Walker; Democracy for
America; Acting Director of the
Office of Management and Budget, Jeffery Zientz; several high school
teachers; U.S. Attorney Mary Beth Buchanan; U.S. Attorney David J. Hickton
This list does not contain many
unsuccessful candidates for political office who received but ignored my
correspondence. This list does not
contain the names of many activist groups to which I sent my web site/blog address
in the form of an E-mail reply. They all
asked me for money. But I gave them
something more valuable instead. They
weren’t interested.
MY RESPONSE TO TIM MURPHY’S WORTHLESS FORM
LETTER
Congressman
Murphy,
I
take your worthless form letter response to my March 25, 2013 letter as a
personal insult. In two months, it will
be NINE miserable years that I have been writing to you and dozens of other
politicians, pundits and academics.
Politicians sure have a racket.
They steal our “trust fund” money, spend it, and tack the amount of the
theft onto the national debt. Then, they
use the national debt as a “justification” attack social security, Medicare,
Medicaid and the ability of the government to “promote the general welfare” of
the American people. Of course, this
treachery assures generous “support” from Wall Street, the financial services
“industry” and the private sector.
Back
in 1999, when the Democrats and the Republicans teamed up to deregulate the financial
services “industry,” they had to know that eventually (2007/2008) this
“mistake” (according to Alan Greenspan) would destroy the economy. That, in turn, would “starve the beast.” (Calling the government a beast is sedition
according to my dictionary.) Politicians
are a lot of things, but they aren’t stupid.
They had to know that in 2013, the massive national debt and funding
short falls (caused by the 1999 deregulation) in social security, Medicare and
Medicaid would give them an “excuse” to continue the destruction of these
vitally important government programs.
Who will benefit if the so-called social safety net is destroyed? Wall Street and the insurance “industry” will
benefit, of course.
I
wrote to the “Justice” Department to complain that you are stealing trust fund
money and denying me my First Amendment right to “petition the government for the
redress of grievances.” Like
you, they refused to address or even acknowledge my grievances. Actually, you (and the “Justice” Department)
are no different from all the other politicians who either ignored my letters,
faxes, E-mails and phone calls or sent me worthless form letters. President Obama has been using this tactic on
me ever since I worked on his first election campaign. I sent him a half dozen letters before he was
ever elected, all of which he ignored.
It didn’t take me long to figure out whose side he is on, Wall Street,
of course.
NO
POLITICIAN, PUNDIT OR ACADEMIC WILL DARE TO ENGAGE ME IN A MEANINGFUL
PUBLIC DEBATE ON MY BLOG ABOUT U.S. TREASURY ISSUED, DEBT-FREE MONEY.
As
long as you people can keep me isolated in the political wilderness, the
American people will never know the full extent of the treachery committed by
the people that they elected and their cronies in and out of government. Many people blame “the government” for the
country’s problems. They are too stupid
to blame the politicians who corrupt and discredit the excellent government
that was given to us by the Founding Fathers and the Constitution. And, let’s not forget the out of control
private sector that gave us the, soon forgotten, 2007/2008 subprime mortgage
disaster/global credit crisis and the rotten New Normal economy.
I
DARE YOU, CONGRESSMAN MURPHY, TO GIVE ME A POINT-BY-POINT RESPONSE TO THE
ISSUES THAT I RAISED IN MY MARCH 25, 2013 LETTER AND THE ISSUES THAT I HAVE
RAISED ON THIS BLOG.
I dare you to acknowledge Article 1, Section 8, Paragraph 5 of the U.S. Constitution. That’s where Congress (not the Federal
Reserve) is given the power to “coin money.”
The word coin also means create.
This fact became law in the Legal
tender Act of 1862. This is the law
under which Congress authorized the U.S. Treasury to issue $449,338,902 worth
of debt-free legal tender United States Notes (U.S. Notes or
Greenbacks). This increased the money
supply by 25% with no inflation.
Unfortunately, Congress forced President Abraham Lincoln to sign the
redundant and destructive National Bank Act of 1863. Fortunately, for the bankers, President
Lincoln’s plan to have the Act repealed after the end of the Civil War died
with his assassination.
Surely
you know that after President Lincoln’s murder, Congress reduced the amount of
U.S. Notes to $300 million and that money remains an unissued part of
our national money supply. Of course, if
Congress has the authority to lower the amount of debt-free currency in our
money supply, they also have the power to RAISE the amount. I debunked the insidious myth that a massive
increase in the amount of debt-free United States Notes will cause inflation
elsewhere on this blog. And, “Helicopter
Ben” Bernanke and central banks around the world vindicated my argument after
2007/2008 global credit crisis.
In
order to prevent Congress from squandering the debt-free money on stupid
things, I will tell you where the money should go. 1. All the money that has been stolen from all of the federal trust funds must be
replaced with U.S. Notes. 2. The New
Deal type “jobs bill” outlined in my February 11, 2012 blog Update, beginning with the ninth paragraph, must
be implemented immediately. 3. Massive
amounts of U.S. Notes must be sent directly to the Veterans
Administration. All of the veteran’s legitimate
needs must be funded. It is a national
disgrace that charities have to be set up to help veterans. Veterans served the government and the
country. Therefore, the government will
take care of them with debt-free money.
Idiotic, artificial “budget constraints” will be a thing of the
past. 4. NO CUTS will be made to social
security, Medicare, Medicaid or pensions. In fact, debt-free money funding will make it
possible for all previous cuts to social security, Medicare, Medicaid and
pensions to be rescinded. 5. U.S. Notes
must be used to eliminate the budget deficit.
6. U.S. Notes must be used to start paying off the national debt. These recommendations will have a significant
positive effect on America’s fiscal, economic and social problems.
These
recommendations are just a starting point.
Many other less pragmatic things can be done with debt-free money. This was the vision that Presidents Abraham
Lincoln and John F. Kennedy never lived to realize. The time has come to throw the private sector
caused and imposed austerity into the dust bin of history. A United States Notes funded government can
fix our fiscal, economic and social problems.
All we have to do is get the greedy, selfish, cruel, dangerous,
unpatriotic and immoral private sector out of the way. I know the conservatives will say “we don’t
want the government picking winners and losers.” I say, the private sector has been picking
winners and losers for decades. The
winners are countries with inhumane, sweat shop economies (not to mention
countries that, despite World War II atrocities, were favored because they
advanced the global capitalist empire).
The losers are American workers and America itself. Other winners are the useless non
producers. To avoid an endless, time
consuming argument, I won’t name people or “occupations.” I’ll just say, I’m sick of seeing economic
parasites prosper while hard working producers suffer.
Well,
Congressman Murphy, this is my rebuttal to your insulting form letter. I dare you, or any other elected official,
pundit, economist, academic or “educator” to tell me where I’m wrong. I will put your rebuttal on this blog and we
will debate the issues publicly.
Everything will be in the historical record. Your legacy is waiting.
Ray
Uhric April 30, 2013
