Hard to believe others need to be told this.
Dragnet, you seem to have misunderstood cliniclinical from the very beginning and rather than realize it, or admit it, you stubbornly continue down a dead end and rocky road. Yet, when jkeith3213 says the same thing as cliniclinical you readily agree.
Let me take a whack at it, although I have probably driven you deeper into your foxhole.
There is a difference in the Washington way and the “real world” way. It all started with the creation of The Federal Reserve Bank. The purpose was to remove us from the rigors of the discipline of having all U.S. currency backed by gold and silver kept by the federal government. If you no longer trusted the government you could turn it in for an equivalency of gold or silver.
This provided a strong foundation for our money supply. Remember, money is just a vehicle to facilitate barter and trade. It is a medium of exchange.
Now this gets into an area where I like to say, “Economics is easy, bookkeeping and accounting are hard.” Economics is simply applying or observing psychology in relation to barter and trade.
Once abandoning something of value backing our currency and depending upon simple trust in the government to do the right thing we got into the trickery of accounting. That is the crux of what is being explained here - how accounting is used to justify and sustain a farce. It is not economics, as you correctly state, it is accounting masquerading as economics.
Cliniclinical and jkeith3213 have explained that very well so I won’t attempt a repeat, However, I will add that Capitalism is a Communist invention, or term. It is how they distorted our economic system of Free Enterprise. Capitalism is the manipulation of money and its derivatives. The simple lending of money for interest is a basic and legitimate example and bank accounting is a good way to see what is happening.
When we put money in a bank in the form of deposits or savings the bank must record that as a liability. Money on hand is a liability? Yes, because they owe it to us. It is an Accounts Payable item, something they owe. When they make a loan to someone for a car, house, business venture or whatever that is considered and recorded as an asset or Accounts Receivable. Money they paid out is considered an asset? Yes, because it is backed by the good name, payment history, present or future ability to pay it back, and most importantly, collateral.
Now remove this: “payment history, present or future ability to pay it back, and most importantly, collateral” and you have our present Federal Reserve System.
We became the strongest and freest country in the world because of our Constitution and our free enterprise economic system. If someone wanted to destroy this country, as the Communists do, and they couldn’t do it militarily that is what they would attack - our Constitution and our free enterprise system. That is what they have done.
Pete Stark is part of that effort as are most Democrats, the labor, teachers and government workers unions, the media, and many other organizations, some of them financially supported by foreign money. Pete Stark, in this interview, is putting the Orwellian spin on the Washington way and Jan, the interviewer, is trying to bring the real world into the discussion. They are talking past each other as if each were speaking a different language which, economically, they are. You and others are doing the same although they are trying to translate it for you.
As the recent economic “crisis” has shown we have finally become, through the efforts of the Communists within, more of a Capitalist System than a Free Enterprise System. Therefore, you will see more and more of this double-speak about economics, justice, “rights”, etc., so get used to it. Your common sense tells you that up is not down but the Democrats and the others will try to tell you it is. “The Public Option” in healthcare is another recent example.
(Don’t look for my definitions in any dictionary or textbook, they are simply my way to make a point.)