20 Largest U.S. Federal Agencies Admit to $2.3 trillion in Improper Payments Since 2004

Forbes, Dec 3, 2020 – Openthebooks.com –  Excerpts:

Since 2004, twenty large federal agencies have admitted to disbursing an astonishing $2.25 trillion in improper payments.

Last year, these improper payments totaled $175 billion – that’s about $15 billion per month, $500 million per day, and $1 million a minute.

But what exactly is an improper payment?

Federal law defines the term as “payments made by the government to the wrong person, in the wrong amount, or for the wrong reason.”

When people or companies receive incorrect payments, it erodes trust and hinders the government’s ability to finance everything from defense to health care.

Recently, our auditors at OpenTheBooks.com published a 24-page oversight report analyzing why, how, and where federal agencies wasted our tax dollars last year.

Here are the top 10 takeaways regarding improper and mistaken payments by the 20 largest federal agencies in 2019:

1. Total Mistakes: $175 billion in estimated improper payments reported by the 20 largest federal agencies, averaging $14.6 billion per month – Total (FY2004-FY2019): $2.25 trillion

2. Worst Programs – $121 billion (approximately 69 percent) in improper payments occurred within three program areas – Medicaid, Medicare, and Earned Income Tax Credit.

3. Claw Back – only $21.1 billion of the $175 billion improper payments during 2019 was recaptured — that’s only 14 cents on every dollar misspent. Five-year total: $103.6 billion recaptured/ $747.7 billion improperly spent

4. Biggest Offenders:

Top agencies admitting to billions of dollars worth of improperly paid bills in FY2018 and FY2019.

5. Dead people: $871.9 million in mistaken payments were made to dead people. Medicaid, social security payments, federal retirement annuity payouts (pensions), and even farm subsidies were sent to dead recipients. Root cause: failure to verify death. Four-year total: $2.8 billion

6. Ancient Americans: Six million Social Security numbers are active for people aged 112+; however, only 40 people in the world are known to be older than 112 years of age.

7. Worst Upward Trend: Medicaid and Medicare improper payments soared from $64 billion (2012) to $88.6 billion (2017), and, in 2019, to $103.6 billion. Five-year total: $456 billion

8. Best Turnaround: In 2018, the Education Department overpaid $6 billion to college students receiving PELL grants and student loans. In 2019, improper payments were reduced to $1.1 billion – an 85-percent reduction.

9. Improper Income Redistribution: $17.4 billion in improper payments by the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) within the Earned Income Tax Credit program. 25-percent of all payments were improper. Five-year total: $84.35 billion

10. Purchasing Power: What can $175 billion buy? Last year, the federal government wasted the equivalent of a full year of all federal salaries, perks, and pension benefits for every employee of the federal executive agencies. A stunning example of institutionalized incompetence.

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“Government is not the solution. Government is the problem.” -Ronald Reagan

The ‘solution’ is to allow citizens themselves to allocate resources to best address their own personal needs and priorities – rather than having government allocate those resources on their behalf. Through programs that end up over time ‘wasting’ trillions of dollars.

That solution is a plan which can ‘save’ trillions of dollars in wasteful spending, provide the greatest ‘quality of life’ upgrade for American families over the past century, rescue the American economy, and solve America’s looming debt crisis.

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 2022 (3714 downloads)

The fuse is burning down….

Global debt will come in at $277 trillion this year (2020E). For an added perspective, this is 300% greater than the total Global GDP generated last year (2019).

Global debt will rise another $80 trillion, up to $360 trillion mark by 2030.

Debt is deflationary, and to counteract the enormous impact of this colossal debt load, the world’s central banks will need to ‘electronically create’ ever greater amounts of ‘magic money’ to keep nation states ‘above water,’ and keep the system properly ‘liquified.’

Most experts believe that this will lead us into a devastating hyper-inflationary crisis.

It is far more likely, however, that this central bank monetary dilemma is being orchestrated and ‘managed along’ precisely for the purpose of moving global commerce onto a single global currency.

In fact, this is a virtual certainty, evidenced by the Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC) initiatives that are being ‘set up’ by the Fed, ECB, BOJ, PBOC, and SNB. The Swiss National Bank (SNB), in fact, has been trialing their digital currency since Dec 3, 2020.

The underlying value of various nation-state currencies is on a hard downward track, one that will accelerate, with different currencies fluctuating in wider swings, and eventually uncontrollably, global trade will be in danger of ‘freezing up.’

Central Banks will then have the opportunity they need, and yearn for, to ‘migrate’ their individual Digital Currencies into a new, centrally-controlled ‘reserve’ system, in order to assure global ‘equity,’ and maintain order and properly ‘manage’ global commerce.

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This is will lead us inevitably into a full-blown totalitarian system – an absolutely devastating scenario for for future of individual freedom and liberty.

There is a shockingly powerful, Biblically-based solution to this nightmare scenario, one that will eliminate enormous sectors of public and private debt, and preserve freedom and liberty.

It all starts in America.

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 2022 (3713 downloads)

Milton Friedman, Nobel Prize winning economist:

“A society that puts equality — in the sense of equality of outcome — ahead of freedom will end up with neither equality nor freedom. The use of force to achieve equality will destroy freedom, and the force, introduced for good purposes, will end up in the hands of people who use it to promote their own interests.

On the other hand, a society that puts freedom first will, as a happy by-product, end up with both greater freedom and greater equality. Though a by-product of freedom, greater equality is not an accident.  A free society releases the energies and abilities of people to pursue their own objectives.

It prevents some people from arbitrarily suppressing others.  It does not prevent some people from achieving position of privilege, but so long as freedom is maintained, it prevents those positions of privilege from becoming institutionalized; they are subject to continued attack from other able, ambitious people.  Freedom means diversity but also mobility.  It preserves the opportunity for today’s disadvantaged to become tomorrow’s privileged and, in the process, enables almost everyone, from top to bottom, to enjoy a fuller and richer life.”

Friedman also wrote:  “One of the great mistakes is to judge policies and programs by their intentions rather than their results.”

“They think that the cure to big government is to have bigger government… the only effective cure is to reduce the scope of government – get government out of the business.”

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The Leviticus 25 Plan is all about restoring true freedom vs “forced” equality..

The Leviticus 25 Plan – An Economic Acceleration Plan for America

$90,000 per U.S. citizen – Leviticus 25 Plan 2022 (3703 downloads)

More Government. More Fraud. More Waste. More Debt. Taxpayers lose.

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“It’s A National Crisis” – Officials Admit Billions Lost In “Veritable Tsunami” Of Pandemic Aid Fraud

ZeroHedge, Feb 20, 2021 – Excerpts:

With so many people needing unemployment benefits during the pandemic, it comes as no surprise that the U.S. Department of Labor, Office of Inspector General (DOL-OIG) has found an unprecedented amount of fraud in the unemployment program created by the CARES Act, according to NBC News. 

The DOL-OIG estimates at least $63 billion of the $630 billion in disbursements were squandered by fraudsters. The agency warns that taxpayer funds loss could be higher, with some figures suggest north of $100 billion.  

Readers may recall Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) fraud exploded across the country last summer because there were virtually no checks and balances, allowing criminals to file fraudulent loans. 

Fraudsters were buying mansions, exotic cars, fancy clothing, and even Bitcoin. Some of these folks were caught; others remain on the loose as their fraud’s complexity has yet to be uncovered. 

California observed a great deal of unemployment fraud. One rapper netted $1.2 million in an unemployment benefits scheme. He even made a video about the scam. He gave a “shoutout” to President Trump for the CARES Act. 

Orange County District Attorney Todd Spitzer said this “isn’t just a California problem – it’s a breakdown of catastrophic proportions that has failed the American taxpayer.”

The Justice Department has launched a task force to find pandemic aid fraudsters across the country – it’s only now that the true extent of the loss is being realized. 

“Early indications in some states point to massive problems,” said NBC. 

A shocking review of pandemic aid payments last June revealed Nebraska’s auditor found two-thirds of unemployment payouts were misspent. Kentucky’s auditor found that its vetting process was so inadequate that it breached federal law. 

NBC reached out to state workforce agencies across the country to gather some intel on how much money they have lost to fraud. Most labor agencies said there are no figures on the true extent of the losses as they’re still being investigated. 

ID.me said some fraudsters resorted to the dark web to obtain Social Security numbers and other personal information to create false claims. 

“It’s so widespread and indiscriminate that they even target people who are heads of law enforcement agencies,” Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul told NBC.

A Labor Department spokesperson told NBC:  “We are working on a comprehensive approach to partnering with states to minimize fraud, waste and abuse, while making sure Americans who have lost their jobs through no fault of their own are able to receive the benefits they deserve and desperately need.”

Some fraudsters took their PPP checks and fled the country. 

The CARES Act, commonly referred to as a “helicopter drop” by some economists, was just that – and has proven so far to be a disaster in stimulating long-term growth but instead produced a sugar high in the economy with an eventual cliff.

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The Leviticus 25 Plan sets America on track for a substantially smaller government footprint, less dependency on government by U.S. citizens, less fraud and waste.

And less control of government in the daily affairs of citizens.

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 2022 (3702 downloads)

The Leviticus 25 Plan – an economic acceleration plan to save America and restore fiscal discipline to our dangerously extended financial system. 

This Plan is the only plan in America with the power to restore economic liberty and free market dynamics, fundamentally strengthen the financial health of American families, reignite long-term a long term economic growth cycle, bolster the U.S. Dollar and preserve its status as the world’s reserve currency, and set America back on track for annual budget surpluses.

The key feature of this plan involves the massive elimination of debt burdens, reduced government dependence, and an enormous shift of capital flows from debt service into direct economic activity and tax revenue growth.

Background

Leading into the 2007-08 unfolding of the Great Financial Crisis, Wall Street financial titans, which included foreign banks, had been getting themselves deeper and deeper into ‘leveraged speculation’ with the use of Repo 105s to hide leverage and Special Purpose Vehicles (SPVs) to get risky ventures ‘off the books’ while at the same time pigeonholing their risk management departments.

These same mega-financial firms invented complex derivative investments with underappreciated counterparty risks.

The default waves began crashing to shore in late 2008, hedging strategies crumbled, and the U.S. Treasury rushed to the rescue with TARP, and the Federal Reserve created unique new funding facilities to transfuse the Wall Street financial markets with hundreds of billions of dollars of hot liquidity flows to rescue these firms (later uncovered by Bloomberg’s FOIAs in 2011:  “Fed’s Secret Liquidity Lifelines”), and float these firms back up to meet their Capital Requirements and remain operational.

The very banks and insurers that precipitated this colossal crisis, freezing credit markets, crashing the economy and stock market, and ‘evaporating’ millions of jobs – were bailed out, ‘slick as a whistle,’ by the U.S. Treasury and Federal Reserve Bank.  No ‘haircuts’ involved.

No ‘haircut’ for Goldman Sachs and Credit Suisse when their AIG derivative contracts proved utterly worthless.  Goldman and Credit Suisse were bailed out ‘100 cents on the dollar.’

In total, Wall Street financial firms received trillions of dollars in direct liquidity transfers, credit guarantees, and off-loading large amounts of toxic assets from their own books onto the Fed’s balance sheet.

Meanwhile, Main Street America reeled from the collapse.  Government deficits exploded.  The food stamp rolls roared higher, from 26 million to 44 million – dependent on government for their daily food rations.  And to top it all off, major mortgage servicers like JP Morgan and Wells Fargo, after receiving the Fed’s massive liquidity extensions, proceeded to foreclose on approximately 8 million homes in the U.S..

And nothing, whatsoever, got solved.  American families are less financially secure than at any time in the last 10 years.  The New York Fed’s Q4 2020 report shows Total Household Debt at a record $14.56 trillion.  The U.S. corporate debt mountain has risen to over $10.5 trillion – with Treasury and the Fed entering in to backstop the game with massive corporate debt purchases.

National Debt: $27.962 trillion, not counting the Net Present Value (NPV) of unfunded liabilities. State and Local Government Debt: $3.169 trillion.

U.S. government and Federal Reserve central-planning policies have failed miserably.

The Plan

It is time for a dynamic new citizen-centered economic reset that grants U.S. citizens the same direct access to liquidity extensions, through a new Citizens Credit Facility,  that was granted to the likes of:  Morgan Stanley, Bank of America, Citigroup, JP Morgan, Goldman Sachs, Wells Fargo, Merrill Lynch, AIG, State Street, UBS, Barclays, Deutsche Bank, Royal Bank of Scotland, Credit Suisse, BNP Paribas, and many others.

It is time to activate the most powerful economic acceleration plan in the world, a plan that will eliminate massive amounts of ‘ground level debt in America,’ re-ignite a powerful new economic growth cycle, restore economic liberty and financial security for American families, rebuild a citizen-centered health care system, reduce America’s government debt load and generate government budget surpluses (2022-2026), and underpin long-term stabilization for the U.S. Dollar.

The Leviticus 25 Plan will generate federal budget surpluses of $383 billion / year in each of its first five years of activation (2022-2026).  And it will pay for itself entirely over a 10-15 year period:

The Leviticus 25 Plan – 2022 Generates $383 billion Federal Budget Surpluses (2022-2026) Part 1: Overview, Deficit Projection

The Leviticus 25 Plan Generates $383 Billion Federal Budget Surpluses Annually (2022-2026). Part 2: Federal Income Tax Recapture, Means-Tested Welfare Recapture.

The Leviticus 25 Plan Generates $383 Billion Federal Budget Surpluses Annually (2022-2026). Part 3: Medicare, VA, TRICARE, FEHB, SSDI Recapture.

The Leviticus 25 Plan Generates $383 Billion Federal Budget Surpluses Annually (2022-2026). Part 4: Interest Expense Recapture, Totals Summary

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 2022 (3701 downloads)

“He who will not apply new remedies must expect new evils.” – Sir Francis Bacon

The Leviticus 25 Plan is an economic acceleration plan with the power to save America and restore fiscal discipline to our dangerously extended financial system.  The key feature of this plan involves the massive elimination of debt burdens, reduced government dependence, and an enormous shift of capital flows from debt service into direct economic activity.

Overview

The Leviticus 25 Plan

Each participating U.S. citizen will receive a $60,000 deposit into a Family Account (FA) and a $30,000 deposit into a Medical Savings Account (MSA).

All U.S. citizens are eligible to participate, contingent upon agreement to specified recapture provisions.

These general provisions include:

   – Participants will waive all federal income tax refunds for a period of 5 years.

   – Participants will waive all benefits from means-tested welfare programs, income security programs, SSDI claims for a period of 5 years.

   – Enrollees in the Medicare, VA Healthcare system, Federal Employees Health Benefits (FEHB), and TRICARE will be subject to a $6,000 deductible for primary care and outpatient services annually for a period of 5 years.  

Background

Leading into the 2007-08 unfolding of the Great Financial Crisis, Wall Street financial titans, which included foreign banks, had been getting themselves deeper and deeper into ‘leveraged speculation’ with the use of Repo 105s to hide leverage and Special Purpose Vehicles (SPVs) to get risky ventures ‘off the books’ while at the same time pigeonholing their risk management departments.

These same mega-financial firms invented complex derivative investments with underappreciated counterparty risks.

The default waves began crashing to shore in late 2008, hedging strategies crumbled, and the U.S. Treasury rushed to the rescue with TARP, and the Federal Reserve created unique new funding facilities to transfuse the Wall Street financial markets with hundreds of billions of dollars of hot liquidity flows to rescue these firms (later uncovered by Bloomberg’s FOIAs in 2011:  “Fed’s Secret Liquidity Lifelines”), and float these firms back up to meet their Capital Requirements and remain operational.

The very banks and insurers that precipitated this colossal crisis, freezing credit markets, crashing the economy and stock market, and ‘evaporating’ millions of jobs – were bailed out, ‘slick as a whistle,’ by the U.S. Treasury and Federal Reserve Bank.  No ‘haircuts’ involved.

No ‘haircut’ for Goldman Sachs and Credit Suisse when their AIG derivative contracts proved utterly worthless.  Goldman and Credit Suisse were bailed out ‘100 cents on the dollar.’

In total, Wall Street financial firms received trillions of dollars in direct liquidity transfers, credit guarantees, and off-loading large amounts of toxic assets from their own books onto the Fed’s balance sheet.

Meanwhile, Main Street America reeled from the collapse.  Government deficits exploded.  The food stamp rolls roared higher, from 26 million to 44 million – dependent on government for their daily food rations.  And to top it all off, major mortgage servicers like JP Morgan and Wells Fargo, after receiving the Fed’s massive liquidity extensions, proceeded to foreclose on approximately 8 million homes in the U.S..

And nothing, whatsoever, got solved.  American families are less financially secure than at any time in the last 10 years.  The New York Fed’s Q4 2020 report shows Total Household Debt at a record $14.56 trillion.  The U.S. corporate debt mountain has risen to over $10.5 trillion – with Treasury and the Fed entering in to backstop the game with massive corporate debt purchases.

National Debt: $27.962 trillion, not counting the Net Present Value (NPV) of unfunded liabilities. State and Local Government Debt: $3.169 trillion.

U.S. government and Federal Reserve central-planning policies have failed miserably.

The Plan

It is time for a dynamic new citizen-centered economic reset that grants U.S. citizens the same direct access to liquidity extensions, through a new Citizens Credit Facility,  that was granted to the likes of:  Morgan Stanley, Bank of America, Citigroup, JP Morgan, Goldman Sachs, Wells Fargo, Merrill Lynch, AIG, State Street, UBS, Barclays, Deutsche Bank, Royal Bank of Scotland, Credit Suisse, BNP Paribas, and many others.

It is time to activate the most powerful economic acceleration plan in the world, a plan that will eliminate massive amounts of ‘ground level debt in America,’ re-ignite a powerful new economic growth cycle, restore economic liberty and financial security for American families, rebuild a citizen-centered health care system, reduce America’s government debt load and generate government budget surpluses (2022-2026), and underpin long-term stabilization for the U.S. Dollar.

The Leviticus 25 Plan will generate federal budget surpluses of $383 billion / year in each of its first five years of activation (2022-2026).  And it will pay for itself entirely over a 10-15 year period:

The Leviticus 25 Plan – 2022 Generates $383 billion Federal Budget Surpluses (2022-2026) Part 1: Overview, Deficit Projection

The Leviticus 25 Plan Generates $383 Billion Federal Budget Surpluses Annually (2022-2026). Part 2: Federal Income Tax Recapture, Means-Tested Welfare Recapture.

The Leviticus 25 Plan Generates $383 Billion Federal Budget Surpluses Annually (2022-2026). Part 3: Medicare, VA, TRICARE, FEHB, SSDI Recapture.

The Leviticus 25 Plan Generates $383 Billion Federal Budget Surpluses Annually (2022-2026). Part 4: Interest Expense Recapture, Totals Summary

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 2022 (3684 downloads)

Website:  https://leviticus25plan.org/

Here we go again… the U.S. Treasury is setting up for another spending splurge with borrowed ‘money’ (if you can call it that) by allocating new dollars for International Monetary Fund SDRs (Special Drawing Rights) … a good share of which will end up in the coffers of (drum roll…) China, Russia, Venezuela, Syria, and other enemies of the free world.

The U.S. Treasury will borrow the Dollars through monthly Treasury issuance – of which the Federal Reserve will slide quietly onto its balance sheet by ‘creating’ new electronic (‘fake’) money and acquiring these debt pool instruments through its ongoing $120 billion per month Treasury purchases

In effect, the Federal Reserve is creating ‘fake’ money, through a process which is now being called “the bastardization of money,” to GIVE to some of America’s sworn enemies…

While U.S. citizens remain ‘mired in debt.’

Utter madness.

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Magic Money for the Rich – WSJ

Feb 19, 2021 — U.S. Treasury plans to finance the largest share of an International Monetary Fund dump of $1 trillion into the global economy – without Congressional approval. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen says it’s time to ‘go big.’ This is about real money, and the U.S. will foot the biggest bill. Worse, the money is passed out without concern for the efficacy of the aid or ethics. China will get $17 billion of SDRs, Russia $14 billion, Venezuela $6 billion… Syria of chemical-weapons infamy $700 million.

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It is time for the U.S Treasury and Federal Reserve to receive some new inspiration.

It is time to activate The Leviticus 25 Plan, the most powerful economic acceleration plan in the world – to effectively eliminate massive amounts of ‘ground level’ household debt, restore financial security and economic liberty for American families, revitalize a ‘citizen-centered’ health care system, re-ignite economic growth, and set America back on course for annual government budget surpluses.

The Leviticus 25 Plan will generate $383 billion budget surpluses over each of its first five years of activation (2022 – 2026) – and completely pay for itself 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 2022 (3683 downloads)

The Federal Reserve and U.S. Treasury Department have us on the fast-track to complete disorder in the credit markets and eventual monetary chaos.

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The Money Boom Is Already Here – WSJ

by John Greenwood and Steve H. Hanke

WSJ Feb 21, 2021 — Excerpts:

Speculative manias are in the air, as evidenced by the recent price surges for bitcoin, a digital asset with a fundamental value of zero, and GameStop, a declining retailer. Along with the other economic trends—a strong recovery, surging commodity prices and an uptick in inflation—those asset bubbles have a clear cause: the massive expansion of money and credit.

….. Fast-forward to February 2020. Since then, the quantity of money in the U.S. economy, measured by M2, has increased by an astonishing $4 trillion. That’s a one-year increase of 26%—the largest annual percentage increase since 1943.

The looming danger for the economy isn’t only that the monetary printing presses have been in overdrive since the pandemic began, but also that they are already set for the same in 2021. A monetary surge for this year is locked in.

… March 2020, the Fed’s holdings of Treasurys and mortgage-backed securities have increased by almost $3 trillion. M2 has increased by roughly the same amount.

The second largest source of M2 growth has been commercial bank purchases of short-term Treasurys and other debt securities, including mortgage-backed ones. These transactions create deposits in the same way as new loans do, with the deposit account of the seller or borrower being credited. Since the start of the pandemic last year, the increase in banks’ holdings of these assets has added almost $1 trillion to deposits and, therefore, to M2.

A third source of the increase in M2 was the sudden drawdown of $800 billion in credit lines by U.S. companies from February through April 2020. These funds were immediately credited to corporate deposit accounts. But corporate bank borrowing has turned downward, so that total bank loans have declined from their May peak, leaving a net $300 billion increase.

The $4 trillion increase in M2 tracks closely with the $3 trillion of Fed quantitative easing, plus $1 trillion of bank purchases of securities and the net $300 billion in new corporate borrowing. The reason for the apparent $300 billion discrepancy is that the Fed purchases some of its securities from banks—transactions that do not create new deposits. When the Fed buys securities from a bank, the bank’s reserve account at the Fed is credited. The Fed’s balance sheet has expanded, but for the bank the transaction is merely an asset swap. Its securities holdings drop, and its Fed reserves rise, but there is no addition to customer deposits, so M2 remains unchanged.

The U.S. money explosion isn’t over. Bank reserves, currently $3.2 trillion, will increase by about $1.4 trillion this year simply from Fed purchases of Treasurys and mortgage-backed securities at a promised $120 billion a month. In addition, the Treasury indicated in its February Refunding Statement that it will run down its Treasury General Account at the Fed by about $820 billion this year. This money will be spent through federal fiscal programs. These expenditures will further boost deposits counted in M2.

So we already know that the money supply will likely increase by at least another $2.3 trillion over the current year. In other words, even without any new lending or further purchases of securities by banks, the M2 money supply will grow by nearly 12% this year. That’s twice as fast as its average growth rate from 2000-19. It’s a rate that spells trouble—inflation trouble.

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The Leviticus 25 Plan has the raw power to clean this wreckage up.

It all starts with massive debt elimination at ‘ground level’ and a wide-ranging reduction in dependence on government.social welfare and income security programs, and dynamic adjustments in entitlement spending.

The resulting government outlay reductions and expansive tax revenue growth will generate $383 billion government surpluses for each of the first five years of activation (2022-2026), as well as powerful budget balancing effects for state and local government entities.

“He who will not apply new remedies must expect new evils.” – Sir Francis Bacon

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 2022 (3682 downloads)

The U.S. Government and Federal Reserve, through their ongoing, ineffectual ‘give away’ programs have fully engaged themselves in the ‘bastardization of money.’

They have put the U.S. on an autopilot glide path toward a crushing currency debasement, long-term economic turmoil, and financial insecurity for millions of American families.

U.S. Government and Federal Reserve stimulus plans do nothing to eliminate public and private debt, reduce dependence on government, or build the foundation for long-term economic growth and prosperity in America.

Here is the latest plan working its way through Congress:

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House Panel Advances Stimulus: Approves $1,400 Payments, Personal Tax Credits, Loans For Insolvent Pensions

ZeroHedge, Feb 11, 2021 – Excerpt:

On Thursday we noted that the biggest winners from the upcoming $1.9 trillion stimulus would be a family of four making up to $150,000 per year, which would entitle them to $12,800 in federal income support over the next 15 months.

Part of this is of course the $1,400 (not $2,000) in direct payments – which just cleared a key hurdle on Thursday when the House Ways and Means Committee passed legislation which also included tax credits for children that will be sent to households on a monthly basis, according to Bloomberg.

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These types of ongoing U.S. Government and Federal Reserve ‘give away’ programs are worse than mere ‘folly,’ they are ‘dangerous’ to the sacred ideals of freedom and liberty upon which our nation was founded.

The Leviticus 25 Plan is America’s freedom plan – eliminating massive public / private debt overhangs, reducing dependence on government, revitalizing a citizen-centered health care system, and restoring economic liberty for all Americans.

The Leviticus 25 Plan 2022 has the raw power to get American families out of debt, and generate $383 billion federal budget surpluses each year in its first five years of activation (2022-2026), and it pays for itself over the 10-15 year period following activation.

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 2022 (3680 downloads)

ZeroHedge: Lebowitz: The Fed’s Ever-Growing Golden Footprint

Authored by Michael Lebowitz via RealInvestmentAdvice.com,

Excerpt:

What is a Dollar?

The value of a dollar is a figment of your imagination. A “greenback” is a worthless piece of paper backed by an intangible promise- the “full faith and credit” of the U.S. government. Its value rests on a necessary belief that one can transact with it today and tomorrow. Therein lies the value of any fiat currency.

Similarly, gold has little tangible value other than what we ascribe to it. Gold is not currently an authorized currency in any developed nation. But, it is held in proportionally small amounts by many governments as an informal reserve. Besides opinions of worth, the difference between the dollar and gold is gold has provided a means of storing wealth and transacting for millennia. Gold is and has always been the antithesis of fiat currency. There are important differences, such as elasticity, storage, and transact-ability that we will not review in this article.

Decades of irresponsible fiscal spending and monetary tomfoolery slowly but surely reduce the dollar’s value. The loss of its value is not perceptible to most as a dollar is still worth a dollar. For those on the lookout, however, the price of gold is sending a strong message.

Trust in the Dollar

The U.S. dollar is the world’s most trusted currency. Even America’s most ardent enemies transact in dollars and hold them as reserves.

For the last 30 years, the U.S. government has run continual deficits requiring ever greater assistance from the Fed to fund it. The Fed works their magic by adjusting the nation’s money supply to manage interest rates and keep interest expenses manageable.

For many years, as shown below, the monetary base was approximately 5% of the nation’s annual economic output. Starting in 2008, however, the Fed took much bolder steps to push interest rates lower. Their actions ensured the government could sustain recurring outsized deficits. Equally important, corporate and private borrowers can service mounting debt levels.

With short-term rates lowered to zero in 2008 and traditional monetary tools not affecting longer-term rates, the Fed introduced QE. QE requires large amounts of Fed purchases of notes and bonds to put downward pressure on the entire yield curve.

Successive rounds of QE occurred well past the end of the financial crisis and are happening again on a grander scale today. The Fed’s goal is to allow the government and other debt holders to fund at low-interest rates. Essentially they need to flood the system with money to make money cheap.

Real Interest Rates

In a free market, the price of a good or service should be commensurate with the supply and demand of the good or service.

When the money supply is manipulated, prices stray from what supply and demand curves say the price should be.

A current example is U.S. Treasury yields or the price of money. Rational lenders/investors should always demand a positive yield accounting for inflation and risk. If not, they lose purchasing power and are better off not lending. Accordingly, the yield on Treasury debt should always equal future inflation expectations plus a risk premium.

The current yield on the 5-year Treasury note is 0.45%. 5-year inflation expectations are currently 2.18%. Even if we assume zero risks, the yield is at least 2.17% below what any rational investor should demand. The -2.17% difference between the nominal rate and inflation rate is called the real rate.

The level of real interest rates is a sturdy gauge of the weight of Federal Reserve policy. If the Fed is treading lightly and not distorting markets, real rates should be positive. The more the Fed manipulates markets from their natural rates, the more negative real rates become.

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The U.S. government and the Federal Reserve have us on a ‘radar-locked’ Dollar erosion glidepath – that will most certainly accelerate over the next 5 years.

America’s debt load, public and private, will continue to mushroom higher, leading to additional borrowing and ‘monetizing’… and U.S. citizens and their families will get financially whip-lashed in the process.

There is one plan with the raw power to solve this financial ‘death trap’ through massive debt elimination, Dollar stability, the restoration of free market dynamics, long-term economic growth, and financial security for American families.

The Leviticus 25 Plan will generate significant budget surpluses over the initial 5 years of activation, and will pay for itself over the next 10-15 years.

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 2021 (3937 downloads)