Western Bank Russia Write-downs: $10 Billion.

The U.S. Federal Reserve performed a massive ‘secret liquidity lifeline’ bailout of the Wall Street financial sector, and failed their leveraged speculation strategies, during the great financial crisis (2007-2010).

Many of those same Wall Street banks are now taking another financial ‘hit’ from their Russia exposure.

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Western Banks Brace For $10 Billion Hit Over Russia Exit

ZeroHedge, May 08, 2022 – Excerpts:

Western banks are bracing for a $10 billion collective hit as they prepare to shutter operations in Russia over the invasion of Ukraine – a move which mirrors several US lenders last month.

According to the Financial Times, international sanctions have “forced banks to consider turning their backs on a country that some lenders first entered more than a century ago.”

This week a string of European banks set aside billions of euros in provisions ahead of the closure of their Russian operations, following similar moves by US lenders last month. Western banks collectively have $86bn of exposure to Russia — with close to 40,000 staff — and are setting aside more than $10bn in expectation of losses on their ventures, according to Financial Times calculations. -FT

French lender Société Générale, which has operated in Russia for 150 years, has set aside €561mn for the first quarter, and expects to lose €3.1bn ($3.3bn) on the sale of its Rosbank subsidiary – which was founded by billionaire Vladimir Potanin. The bank has 3.1 million retail customers throughout Russia and €18bn ($19.3bn) of total exposure to the country. Around 12,000 people are employed by Rosbank.

Graphic via FT Research (Steven Bernard and Patrick Mathrin)

Other European banks preparing to take a hit are French bank Crédit Agricole, Austria’s Raiffeisen, Swiss lender UBS, and Credit Suisse.

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The Fed ‘fired up’ a line of credit facilities during the 2007-2010 crisis and again during the 2020-21 pandemic crisis to help these global banking operations to help them reduce their bad debt exposure and regain their ‘financial health.’

It is time now for the Fed to create a Citizens Credit Facility to grant the same direct access to liquidity to individual U.S. citizens – to reduce ‘ground level’ debt in America and restore financial health to American families.

The Leviticus 25 Plan – loaded up and ready to launch.

The Leviticus 25 Plan – An Economic Acceleration Plan for America

$90,000 per U.S. citizen – Leviticus 25 Plan 2023 (4080 downloads)

Lacalle: How Governments Expropriate Wealth…

Fed futility in full blossom…

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How Governments Expropriate Wealth With Inflation And Taxes

May 10, 2022, Authored by Daniel Lacalle,Excerpts:

In an interview with The Wall Street Journal, Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen admitted that the chain of stimulus plans implemented by the U.S. administration helped create the problem of inflation. “Inflation is a matter of demand and supply, and the spending that was undertaken in the American Rescue Plan did feed demand”, Yellen admitted. Of course, Yellen went on to say that the spending was appropriate due to the collapse of the economy as governments were trying to prevent a recession.

This reminds us of a few of the problems of disproportionate government intervention and the negative impact on the middle class…. Central banks and governments have exhausted all demand-side policies at the expense of the middle class by eroding real wages and deposit savings.

Even worse, governments created a larger inflationary spiral by maintaining all “pandemic relief” packages even after the re-opening, well beyond the recovery. They expected a spectacular aggregate demand increase and they got it. Now the result is higher inflation and lower economic growth. But government size and deficit spending remain.

Everything that government spends is paid by you. There is no free money. Even for the recipients of benefits in constantly depreciated currency. Inflation, the tax on the poor.

Governments do not avoid recessions through spending, they simply make the accumulated problems larger by constantly adding debt that central banks monetize via quantitative easing. This uncontrolled increase in M3 money supply (a broad money proxy) leads to asset inflation first and everyday goods price inflation afterwards. Both consequences lead to inequality and a constant deterioration of the purchasing power of the currency, making salaries in real terms lower.

Central-planned money creation is never neutral. It disproportionately benefits the first recipients of money, government and those with assets and debt, and negatively impacts those with a monetary salary and some savings in cash deposits, which dissolve over time. No socialist excel spreadsheet can erase the fact that massive deficit spending financed with newly created money destroys the poor and the middle class. They may say that government spending goes to social programs that benefit the poor, but that does not happen. Social programs in a constantly devalued currency become irrelevant, inefficient, and worthless while at the same time the wrongly named welfare state condemns a substantial proportion of the population to being hostage clients of government plans.

Government does not give excess reserves as social programs. Government takes away from existing and future wealth of the economy via currency printing, taxation, spending and debt, but math never works for those who believe extractive and confiscatory policies will work. 

The “tax the rich” crowd are doing an enormous disservice to the citizens they pretend to support. Interventionists may use the excuse of stealing from the rich to give to the poor, but the reality is that government spending is so enormous that they cannot finance every entitlement and social program with the money of one percent of the population. Government takes from the 99% to give devaluated and increasingly worthless funds to 45% of the population, and in the process bloating an ever-expanding bureaucracy to administer it all.

Did you feel happy when the government gave you a cheque paid with printed money? Watch now as your daily groceries, gas and power become unaffordable.

Government always takes three when they promise one. Huge public debt accumulation will be paid by the 99% via inflation, taxes, or both.

Deficit spending and artificial money creation are just two sides of the same coin, dissolving the existing wealth of a nation by issuing more promissory notes. Wealth is the same, just more units of currency in circulation. Hence, prices do not rise, the purchasing power of money diminishes.

The mirage of enormous government spending and exponential currency printing is a process of expropriation. Government expands its size at the expense of the rest of the population, especially those that defend rising public expenditure programs.

Demand-side policies expropriate wealth in three ways.

  • On the way in, by running uncontrolled deficits financed with debt, which means higher taxes in the future.
  • Second, raising taxes to “reduce deficit”.
  • Third, with inflation.

Government weight in the economy rises in all three steps.

If you wanted more government, this is more government: Less growth, higher inflation, and poorer citizens.

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The Leviticus 25 Plan will re-balance the economic system in America.

Instead of “Central-planned money creation … disproportionately benefiting the first recipients of money, government and those with assets and debt, and negatively impacting those with a monetary salary and some savings in cash deposits,” it will re-target U.S. citizens as the “first recipients” of the Fed’s “money creation” gambit – immeasurably strengthening the financial health of American families, and the financial health of the U.S..

The Leviticus 25 Plan will reignite economic growth, reduce the footprint of the enormous government-run entitlement programs, improve labor productivity, generate massive new tax revenue flows (without raising taxes), and pay for itself entirely over a 10-15 year period.

The Leviticus 25 Plan is a dynamic economic initiative providing direct liquidity benefits for American families, while at the same time scaling back the role of government in managing and controlling the affairs of citizens.  It is a comprehensive plan with long-term economic and social benefits for citizens and government.

The inspiration for this plan is based upon Biblical principles set forth in the Book of Leviticus, principles tendering direct economic liberties to the people.

The Leviticus 25 Plan – An Economic Acceleration Plan for America

$90,000 per U.S. citizen – Leviticus 25 Plan 2023 (4077 downloads)

IRS Manpower Problems, $3.3 Billion Interest Payments Solved: The Leviticus 25 Plan.

The IRS is drastically short of manpower, and it is costing the government $3.3 billion in delayed refund interest payments. A major ‘fix’ is needed…

Market Watch, Feb 5, 2022: The Internal Revenue Service has way too many unprocessed tax returns from last year — and far too few job applications for workers who will help the agency dig out of the backlog.

Though the IRS is seeking to fill 5,000 positions at several campuses across the country, only 179 positions have been filled so far, according to Erin Collins, national taxpayer advocate at the IRS.

At same time, the IRS is facing a backlog that, as of late December, included 6 million unprocessed 2021 tax returns and another 2.3 million amended returns.
The pay for the clerical jobs wading through the paperwork isn’t exactly enticing, Collins said in congressional testimony Tuesday. Many of the roles connected to submission-processing start at a federal-worker pay grade that’s just under $25,000 a year, she said.

At a time when employers are raising wages to draw in and keep workers during a labor shortage, “it is not surprising that the IRS is having difficulty finding enough suitable job applicants,” she wrote in testimony to a House of Representatives Ways and Means Oversight Subcommittee.

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IRS Paying Billions In Interest On Millions Of Delayed Tax Returns

ZeroHedge, May 10, 2022 – Excerpts:

The IRS is paying interest on overdue refunds to the tune of 4%, up 1% from the prior quarter, according to the Wall Street Journal, which notes that’s more than half of what a money-market or a savings account is currently paying.

The backlogged agency has 45 days to process a tax return and issue a refund, after which interest begins accumulating. In 2021, they paid $3.3 billion in interest, which was 3x the amount paid in 2015, according to the Government Accountability Office.

“It’s not a small amount of money,” said Jessica Lucas-Judy, director of tax issues at GAO. “If there’s some way to avoid some of these payments, that’s probably a good thing.”

The IRS has been moving slower than usual to process tax returns. Administration officials say that is the result of years of Republican-backed budget cuts. Republicans say the agency hasn’t given priority to taxpayer service. Some recent years have been particularly difficult. In fiscal 2019, the aftermath of a government shutdown caused a backlog. The IRS slowed again when the coronavirus pandemic began in 2020 and is still months behind schedule in processing paper returns.

As of April 29, the IRS has 9.6 million unprocessed individual tax returns, some from tax year 2020 and some from 2021. The agency says it is taking more than 20 weeks to handle amended tax returns and hopes to catch up on all of its processing backlogs by the end of 2022. – WSJ

The $3.3 billion in 2021 interest payments works out to around 1/4 of the cost to run the IRS, however the interest payments don’t come out of the tax agency’s budget.

According to the GAO, the IRS isn’t being proactive enough about excessive interest payments.

“IRS does not fully understand the causes for refund interest payments—both within and outside of its control—and therefore cannot communicate this information to Treasury and Congress,” the GAO wrote.

The IRS’s answer? ‘it’s complicated.’

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There is a simple and powerful solution to the IRS’ “complicated” processing problems: The Leviticus 25 Plan.

All U.S. citizens participating in The Leviticus 25 Plan will forego their tax refunds for the initial five year activation period (2023-2027).

Benefits – Federal Income Tax Recapture
The scoring model assumes that 80% of U.S. citizens will participate in The Plan.
Participants must give up their tax refunds through the Plan’s recapture provisions for the 5-year target period (2023-2027).

According to 2021 IRS Filing season statistics, through Dec 3, 2021: 129,841,000 total refunds were paid out for a total of $365.499 billion. The estimated refund total
for the full year, through December 31st: $365.5 billion.

The Leviticus 25 Plan would reduce the number of refunds each year (2023-2027) by 80%, effectively dropping the gross number of refunds in need of processing from approximately 130,000,000 down to about 26,000,000.

The IRS would NOT need to hire the additional thousands of employees, and they would NOT be put in the bind of having to pay $3.3 billion in interest payments on unprocessed refunds.

The Leviticus 25 Plan is a powerful solution to the IRS’ dilemma, and it is loaded up and ready to go.

Also note – Refund totals have increased by ~$44 billion over the past five years, from $323.9 billion (2017) to a current (estimated) $365.5 billion (2021), representing an average increase of $8.32 billion / year.
A conservative estimated average of $8 billion per year (2023-2027) will be used for this recapture calculation.
2023: $382 billion
2024: $390 billion
2025: $398 billion
2026: $406 billion
2027: $414 billion
Total: $1.990 trillion
Total recapture X 80%: $1.990 trillion X .8 = $1.592 trillion
Total recapture per annum (2023-2027): $1.592 / 5 = $318.4 billion
Source: https://www.irs.gov/newsroom/filing-season-statistics-for-week-ending-december-3-2021

The Leviticus 25 Plan – An Economic Acceleration Plan for America

$90,000 per U.S. citizen – Leviticus 25 Plan 2023 (4074 downloads)

May 2022: M2 Goes Parabolic – Nothing Solved.

M2 has surged from 8,000 in 2010 to 22,000 in 2022.

What Is M2?

M2 is a calculation of the money supply that includes all elements of M1 as well as “near money.” M1 includes cash and checking deposits, while near money refers to savings deposits, money market securities, and other time deposits (in amounts less than $100,000). These assets are less liquid than M1 and not as suitable as exchange mediums, but they can be quickly converted into cash or checking deposits.

Key Takeaways

  • M2 is a measure of the money supply that includes cash, checking deposits, and easily-convertible near money.
  • M2 is a broader measure of the money supply than M1, which just includes cash and checking deposits.
  • M2 is closely watched as an indicator of money supply and future inflation, and as a target of central bank monetary policy.

Source: Investopedia | https://www.investopedia.com/terms/m/m2.asp

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Meanwhile, the Federal Reserve Bank of New York reports that Q1 2022 Household Debt has risen up to $15.84 trillion

Corporate debt sales – surging…

National debt has risen to $30.453 trillion.

The U.S. Governmental Accountability Office reported, May 5, 2022, that our nation is on an “unsustainable fiscal path.”

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Blowing up the M2 money supply has solved nothing. It is time to re-target Federal Reserve liquidity infusions – and clean up America’s massive debt load.

It is time to grant U.S. citizens the same direct access that was provided to Wall Street’s financial sector during the great financial crisis (2007-2010).

The Leviticus 25 Plan is a dynamic economic initiative providing direct liquidity benefits for American families, while at the same time scaling back the role of government in managing and controlling the affairs of citizens.  It is a comprehensive plan with long-term economic and social benefits for citizens and government.

The inspiration for this plan is based upon Biblical principles set forth in the Book of Leviticus, principles tendering direct economic liberties to the people.

The Leviticus 25 Plan – An Economic Acceleration Plan for America

$90,000 per U.S. citizen – Leviticus 25 Plan 2023 (4073 downloads)

A New Contract With America – 2022: A Path to a Bright and Prosperous Future

Do our Washington Republicans today present a clear and compelling agenda…?

A look back in history to 1994 points to a time when Republicans did have a clear and compelling agenda.

“Teaching American History” by Eric C. Sands

The Contract with America was a document released for the 1994 midterm elections by the Republican Party explaining what the party would do if it won the majority in Congress. The contract, written by Newt Gingrich and Dick Armey, borrowed from a State of the Union address written by Ronald Reagan years earlier. Additional input was provided by the Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank that dealt primarily with public policy issues and had been working on many of the contract’s proposals for several years.

The document was introduced a month and a half before the election and was approved by all but two of the Republican members of the House. The provisions of the contract proved quite popular with the public even though many people were unfamiliar with the contract itself. Republicans gained fifty-four House seats and nine Senate seats in the elections, and the contract was seen as a success by party leaders. The contract then became a focus of the Republican legislative agenda, denying President Bill Clinton working control of Congress. The contract formed a foundation for Republican policymaking as members of Congress pushed for reducing the size of government, lowering taxes, emphasizing entrepreneurship, establishing tort reform, and bringing about welfare reform. These measures resulted in several important pieces of legislation, none probably more important than welfare reform, which was signed into law by President Clinton. The contract also brought unity and cohesiveness to Republicans, especially in the House of Representatives.

Republican Contract with America” – Republican National Committee, September 27, 1994

As Republican Members of the House of Representatives and as citizens seeking to join that body we propose not just to change its policies, but even more important, to restore the bonds of trust between the people and their elected representatives.

That is why, in this era of official evasion and posturing, we offer instead a detailed agenda for national renewal, a written commitment with no fine print.

This year’s election offers the chance, after four decades of one-party control, to bring to the House a new majority that will transform the way Congress works.[1] That historic change would be the end of government that is too big, too intrusive, and too easy with the public’s money. It can be the beginning of a Congress that respects the values and shares the faith of the American family.

Like Lincoln, our first Republican president, we intend to act “with firmness in the right, as God gives us to see the right.” To restore accountability to Congress. To end its cycle of scandal and disgrace. To make us all proud again of the way free people govern themselves.

On the first day of the 104th Congress, the new Republican majority will immediately pass the following major reforms, aimed at restoring the faith and trust of the American people in their government:

  • FIRST, require all laws that apply to the rest of the country also apply equally to the Congress;
  • SECOND, select a major, independent auditing firm to conduct a comprehensive audit of Congress for waste, fraud or abuse;
  • THIRD, cut the number of House committees, and cut committee staff by one-third;
  • FOURTH, limit the terms of all committee chairs;
  • FIFTH, ban the casting of proxy votes in committee;
  • SIXTH, require committee meetings to be open to the public;
  • SEVENTH, require a three-fifths majority vote to pass a tax increase;
  • EIGHTH, guarantee an honest accounting of our Federal Budget by implementing zero base-line budgeting.

Thereafter, within the first 100 days of the 104th Congress, we shall bring to the House Floor the following bills, each to be given full and open debate, each to be given a clear and fair vote and each to be immediately available this day for public inspection and scrutiny.

  • THE FISCAL RESPONSIBILITY ACT: A balanced budget/tax limitation amendment and a legislative line-item veto to restore fiscal responsibility to an out- of-control Congress, requiring them to live under the same budget constraints as families and businesses.
  • THE TAKING BACK OUR STREETS ACT: An anti-crime package including stronger truth-in- sentencing, “good faith” exclusionary rule exemptions, effective death penalty provisions, and cuts in social spending from this summer’s “crime” bill to fund prison construction and additional law enforcement to keep people secure in their neighborhoods and kids safe in their schools.
  • THE PERSONAL RESPONSIBILITY ACT: Discourage illegitimacy and teen pregnancy by prohibiting welfare to minor mothers and denying increased AFDC for additional children while on welfare, cut spending for welfare programs, and enact a tough two-years-and-out provision with work requirements to promote individual responsibility.
  • THE FAMILY REINFORCEMENT ACT: Child support enforcement, tax incentives for adoption, strengthening rights of parents in their children’s education, stronger child pornography laws, and an elderly dependent care tax credit to reinforce the central role of families in American society.
  • THE AMERICAN DREAM RESTORATION ACT: A$500 per child tax credit, begin repeal of the marriage tax penalty, and creation of American Dream Savings Accounts to provide middle class tax relief.
  • THE NATIONAL SECURITY RESTORATION ACT: No U.S. troops under U.N. command and restoration of the essential parts of our national security funding to strengthen our national defense and maintain our credibility around the world.
  • THE SENIOR CITIZENS FAIRNESS ACT: Raise the Social Security earnings limit which currently forces seniors out of the work force, repeal the 1993 tax hikes on Social Security benefits and provide tax incentives for private long-term care insurance to let Older Americans keep more of what they have earned over the years.
  • THE JOB CREATION AND WAGE ENHANCEMENT ACT: Small business incentives, capital gains cut and indexation, neutral cost recovery, risk assessment/cost-benefit analysis, strengthening the Regulatory Flexibility Act and unfunded mandate reform to create jobs and raise worker wages.
  • THE COMMON SENSE LEGAL REFORM ACT: “Loser pays” laws, reasonable limits on punitive damages and reform of product liability laws to stem the endless tide of litigation.
  • THE CITIZEN LEGISLATURE ACT: A first-ever vote on term limits to replace career politicians with citizen legislators.

Further, we will instruct the House Budget Committee to report to the floor and we will work to enact additional budget savings, beyond the budget cuts specifically included in the legislation described above, to ensure that the Federal budget deficit will be less than it would have been without the enactment of these bills.

Respecting the judgment of our fellow citizens as we seek their mandate for reform, we hereby pledge our names to this Contract with America.

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Now in 2022, our Washington Republicans have no formalized plan whatsoever – to get America’s massive debt load back under control; no formalized plan to help get people off social welfare programs and restore financial security for American families; no plan to ramp up ‘real’ economic growth and higher-level job creation; no strategy to get the U.S. Dollar back on track for long-term strength and stability; no policy imperatives to reduce the control of government over the daily affairs of our citizens; and no compelling ideas on how to revitalize a citizen-centered health care system in America.

Our Washington Republicans have no formalized plan supporting religious liberty, strengthening our military readiness, getting crime under control in our major cities, and reducing the massive inflows of illegal drugs into our country, feeding addictions and ruining lives, and no formalized plan on restoring control over our borders.

Main Street America does have a plan – it all starts here:

The Leviticus 25 Plan is a dynamic economic initiative providing direct liquidity benefits for American families, while at the same time scaling back the role of government in managing and controlling the affairs of citizens.  It is a comprehensive plan with long-term economic and social benefits for citizens and government.

The inspiration for this plan is based upon Biblical principles set forth in the Book of Leviticus, principles tendering direct economic liberties to the people.

The Leviticus 25 Plan – An Economic Acceleration Plan for America

$90,000 per U.S. citizen – Leviticus 25 Plan 2023 (4065 downloads)