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It’s still a dollar in my pocket.

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The federal government doesn't need to collect your dollars before it can spend dollars. When the government spends, dollars enter the private sector. When it taxes, dollars leave the private sector. That's how the monetary system actually works.

A stylized image featuring a vibrant, pink-tinted portrait of a person on the left with a yellow strip obscuring their eyes. The right side displays a large quote in bold, yellow text(modified) by Ursula K. Le Guin: "The taxpayer cannot fund the state. The state recognizes no coinage but power: and it issues the currency itself.” Below, a separate text reads, “The federal government doesn’t need your dollars before it can spend dollars. It issues the currency. Taxes remove it.” The design incorporates a retro, high-contrast color scheme with a distressed texture.

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I keep thinking about Ursula K. Le Guin quote from 'The Dispossessed' “The individual cannot bargain with the State. The State recognizes no coinage but power, and it issues the coins itself.” She wasn't making a monetary argument. But there’s an interesting connection to the “taxpayer money” myth

Quote by Ursula K. Le Guin on a blue background. It reads, "The individual cannot bargain with the state. The state recognizes no coinage but power; and it issues the coins itself." A vibrant, abstract image of a person in the bottom-left with a green strip across their eyes.

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Apologies to Ursula K. Le Guin. I took the liberty to rephrase the quote.

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Nathan Becker @netbacker.bsky.social · 18/08/2026

NY Times chart is made to look scary. Here is the same chart with 45+ years of data. Comparatively it’s a blip fred.stlouisfed.org/graph/fredgr...

This image shows a line graph titled "Market Yield on U.S. Treasury Securities at 30-Year Constant Maturity, Quoted on an Investment Basis." The time range for the data is from 1977 to 2026, displayed on the x-axis, while the y-axis represents the interest rate percentage, ranging from 0% to 17.5%.

The graph features a blue line that begins around 7.5% in 1977, peaking at approximately 15% in the early 1980s. After the peak, the line shows a general downward trend with fluctuations, dipping to around 2.5% in the early 2000s. Another toslight rise occurs in the mid-2000s, followed by a decrease and stabilization. Notably, the interest rate rises again after 2020, reaching a level above 5% by 2026.

Key periods of U.S. recessions are highlighted in the graph with shaded vertical bands. These bands appear several times across the timeline, notably around 1980, early 1990s, early 2000s, and the late 2000s and beyond 2020.

The graph is sourced from the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System via FRED, and notes indicate that the shaded areas represent periods of U.S. recessions. The layout of the image includes options to share the graph and additional information links below it.

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See page 40 www.cms.gov/oact/tr/2026

The nature of the financing for both parts of SMI is similar in that the law establishes a mechanism by which income from the Part B premium and the Part D premium, and the corresponding general fund transfers for each part, are sufficient to cover the following year's estimated expenditures. Accordingly, each account within SMI is automatically in financial balance under current law.

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Nathan Becker @netbacker.bsky.social · 12/08/2026

Yale confirms M4A saves money. But affordability was never the barrier. The money exists. Congress creates it every time they pass a funding bill. The barrier is willingness to prioritize people over profits. Stop asking how we pay. Ask why they won't.

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Nathan Becker @netbacker.bsky.social · 05/08/2026

Money is always there for corporate handouts, tax cuts, wars. But for healthcare, housing, or kids? Suddenly we're broke It's not about affordability. It's about who they choose to fund Fiat currency means Congress doesn't need our tax dollars first Stop believing the myth. #DSA #Democrats

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Nathan Becker @netbacker.bsky.social · 12/07/2026

As the meme shows: funding comes from congressional votes, not taxes. Congress passes spending bills, Treasury appropriates. They don't wait for taxpayer dollars first The Highway Trust Fund is a separate gas-tax account, not general revenue. That's a user fee, not how the whole federal gov operates

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Nathan Becker @netbacker.bsky.social · 12/07/2026

To be clear: Seed was sowed under Clinton, surpluses drained savings, working class loaded up on debt ('Let Them Eat Credit'). Money flowed to Epstein Class. Bush tax cuts supercharged their net-worth. But the financial crisis wasn't about debt/GDP. It was deregulated banking & subprime that did it.

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Nathan Becker @netbacker.bsky.social · 06/06/2026

Because it was never about finding the money or more money. The money is always there for anything Congress and the President prioritize. Government programs are funded by Congressional votes, not tax revenues.

Collage of C-SPAN screenshots with large overlaid text reading ‘Funding Comes From Votes Not Taxes’ in yellow letters with red shadow. Four panels show: a legislative chyron referencing Taiwan alliances needing a two-thirds majority to pass; a live House floor vote tally showing Democratic, Republican, and Independent totals of 410; Rep. Kay Granger (R-Texas) speaking at a podium in a yellow jacket; and a coronavirus coverage chyron announcing an upcoming final vote on $8.3 billion in emergency funding. Hand-drawn yellow arrows and a box highlight the word ‘Vote’ in the chyron, reinforcing the meme’s argument that federal spending is authorized by Congressional vote rather than being contingent on tax revenue collection

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Nathan Becker @netbacker.bsky.social · 05/06/2026

💯👏 Drop the "tax money" mindset. Gov doesn't need tax dollars, just willingness to fund a program. It's never about finding the money, it's all about finding a backbone to do the right things. Pass your 3-part test? Congress should just do it. Tax billionaires to fight inequality and burn it.

Quote card attributed to Stephanie Kelton, identified as Professor of Economics and Public Policy at Stony Brook University, leading expert on Modern Monetary Theory, and former Chief Economist on the U.S. Senate Budget Committee (Democratic staff). Her photo appears on the right. The quote reads: ‘How will we pay for it? Is the wrong question. We should be asking: Are these things worth doing and do we have the real resources — the people, the raw materials, the equipment, the technology — to do them? Will they make society better off?’ Tagged with #TheDeficitMyth and hashtags for universal healthcare and Medicare for All advocacy groups.

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Nathan Becker @netbacker.bsky.social · 31/05/2026

It’s never about the Dollars. We have the money, what’s needed is willingness to do things that benefits us. So all this “we as a country’s broke and going bankrupt” because of few nonwhite single moms or the slogan “tax the rich” are just lip service. All we need is a willing Congress to fund it.

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Nathan Becker @netbacker.bsky.social · 31/05/2026

Tell me about it. It’s never about the Dollars. We have the money, all we need is willingness to do things So all this “we as a country’s broke and going bankrupt” because of few nonwhite single moms(they claim) or the slogan “tax the rich” are just lip service. All we need is a willing Congress.

Collage of C-SPAN screenshots with the overlaid text ‘FUNDING COMES FROM VOTES NOT TAXES’ in large yellow and red letters. Images show a House floor vote tally with Democratic, Republican, and Independent totals, Rep. Kay Granger (R-Texas) speaking at a podium, and a chyron reading ‘Up Next: Final Vote on $8.3 Billion in Emergency Funding’ related to coronavirus relief. Yellow hand-drawn arrows and a box highlight the word ‘Vote’ in the chyron, emphasizing the meme’s argument that federal spending is authorized by Congressional votes rather than being directly funded by tax revenue.

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Nathan Becker @netbacker.bsky.social · 07/05/2026

Is “tool” the right metaphor though? For a currency-issuing sovereign, the deficit is an accounting identity: govt deficit = private sector(non-government) surplus. The real question is who captures that surplus. K-shaped recoveries suggest the answer has not been random. “Let Them Eat Credit”

Editorial illustration showing a wealthy man carrying a large bundle of dollar bills, followed by a woman and child each clutching smaller amounts of money, while a tiny figure stands alone at the far right with nothing. Bold text reads “LET THEM EAT CREDIT” — a riff on Marie Antoinette’s “Let them eat cake,” critiquing the substitution of debt access for actual wealth in an unequal economy.

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Nathan Becker @netbacker.bsky.social · 01/05/2026

Republicans give the game away. They know deficits benefit whoever receives the money. Now it is just the top 1% and large businesses. Spend the same on healthcare or childcare, and the bottom 90% win. So they lie about deficits being bad and push the ‘taxpayer money’ myth. Sadly, the left buys it.

Text from a book titled 'The Deficit Lie' discussing the concept of the federal deficit. It argues that no one is personally hurt by the federal deficit, explaining that the deficit is the difference between federal expenditures and income taxes collected. It humorously suggests that one would only be hurt by the deficit if they were negatively affected by a tax that was too low or by excessive federal government spending on themselves.

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Nathan Becker @netbacker.bsky.social · 28/04/2026

You’re both right and this is exactly why Silicon Valley’s TechBros™ seized control of our government. Like in 2008, they’re angling for another taxpayer-funded bailout so they can cash out while we pay the price. #PrivatizeProfits #PulbicLoss

A split-scene political meme with the large caption “PRIVATE PROFITS WITH PUBLIC LOSS” across the top.

On the left, a group of casually dressed Silicon Valley tech executives sit in a luxurious office, laughing and celebrating with champagne. A laptop displays “Billions in profits” with an upward graph, and stacks of cash sit on the table. A plaque reads “Disrupt. Dominate. Profit.”

In the center, a large pipeline labeled “Bailout / Backstop” runs from the U.S. Capitol building toward the tech executives, with money visibly flowing through it. A sign below reads “Your tax dollars at work.”

On the right, the mood is starkly different: a gray, distressed scene shows laid-off workers sitting outside a job center. One man holds a “Layoff Notice,” while a family sits nearby with a sign reading “Need Help.” A billboard above them says “When they lose, we pay,” alongside a falling market graph and text listing “Market crash, Jobs lost, Pensions gone, Communities hurt.

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Nathan Becker @netbacker.bsky.social · 18/04/2026

Respectfully, the problem isn’t that they paid $0 in federal taxes. Congress wrote the tax code to let them. Those loopholes are political choices, not accounting facts. Blame the law, and don’t mistake math for the priorities of all three branches of our government. The money is always there.

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Nathan Becker @netbacker.bsky.social · 15/04/2026

Had to dig through my Twitter archive to find this gem

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Nathan Becker @netbacker.bsky.social · 06/04/2026

Big fan of cc_router! CCR + Openrouter = money left in the bank. 🤑 Sonnet 4.6 is 11 times more expensive than DeepSeek V3.2 for Input and 36 times more expensive for Output.

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Nathan Becker @netbacker.bsky.social · 27/03/2026

If funding really depended on taxing the wealthy first… this wouldn’t be possible.

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Nathan Becker @netbacker.bsky.social · 20/03/2026

This is the right instinct. The money is there for war but "not there" for healthcare, education, housing. We should tax the sh*t out of the rich, not to close a budget gap, but to dismantle the political power that chooses bombs over beds. You can't buy Congress if you don't have a billion dollars.

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Nathan Becker @netbacker.bsky.social · 20/03/2026

Actually ‘can’t afford’ is an euphemism for ‘we really don’t want you to have it.”

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Nathan Becker @netbacker.bsky.social · 06/03/2026

Right. And here's the part they don't want you to see: the rich get richer when deficits and debt rise. Why? Because that 'debt' is their savings - bonds, bailouts, subsidies. The deficit was never the crisis. It's who the money flows to first. Dems need to stop apologizing and start aiming it at us

"IF YOU WANT TO UNDERSTAND ANY
PROBLEM IN AMERICA, YOU NEED TO FOCUS ON WHO PROFITS FROM THAT PROBLEM, NOT WHO SUFFERS FROM THE PROBLEM."

They want you to worry about this— National Debt
so you will meekly submit to this — PRIVATE DEBT

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You're not the 'cash cow.' The government doesn't need your taxes to fund healthcare or daycare. It creates the currency. The real question is priorities: we choose bombs and bailouts over kids and health. That's not about your wallet; it's about what “we” as in -“our” Congress members value.

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This 'cash cow' framing is exactly what they want. Keeps us fighting while trillions flow to weapons and wealth hoarders. The government creates our currency. We can afford healthcare and daycare today—not by taking from you, but by spending on all of us. The only thing missing is political will.

Meme featuring a photo of Paul Ryan in a suit with an American flag pin, making a pained or guilty facial expression. Overlaid red text contains two fabricated quotes attributed to him:

‘Actually, the US government can afford anything achievable that’s denominated in US dollars.’ and ‘When we tell you a Green New Deal is unaffordable, we really mean that we just don’t want you to have it.’

The meme argues that political objections to progressive spending programs like the Green New Deal are based on policy preference rather than genuine fiscal constraints.

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NOTE: You're not funding anyone's lifestyle. The government creates money. It chooses to spend on war and Wall Street instead of kids and health. That's not a 'you' problem; that's a PRIORITIES problem. Stop blaming your neighbors. Start asking why the money appears for bombs but not babies.

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This 'cash cow' framing is exactly what they want. Keeps us fighting while trillions flow to weapons and wealth hoarders. Our government creates our currency. We can afford healthcare and daycare TODAY; not by taking from you, but by spending on all of us. The only thing missing is POLITICAL WILL.

Paul Rayan in the background: with this overlay

ACTUALLY, THE US GOVERNMENT CAN AFFORD ANYTHING ACHIEVABLE THAT'S DENOMINATED IN US DOLLARS.

"WHEN WE TELL YOU A GREEN NEW DEAL IS UNAFFORDABLE, WE REALLY MEAN THAT WE JUST DON'T WANT YOU TO HAVE IT."

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Agreed. But 'aiming big' means killing the myth that hold Dems back: that we need to find the money first. We don't. Our Government creates our currency. Real limits are inflation and resources, not revenue. Next time, spend first on what works. Let the wealthy and bond markets catch up #Econsky

“Meme titled ‘But how do we pay for it??’ featuring a screenshot of Alan Greenspan, identified as Federal Reserve Chairman, alongside a quote in which he states the federal government can create as much money as it wants, with the real constraint being real resources and inflation risk. Green text summarizes this as meaning tax money is not the true barrier to government spending. Bottom text argues that ‘how do we pay for it’ is never asked about tax cuts or military spending, and that the federal government creates its own currency unlike a household.”

“Meme showing a stock photo of several business people leaning aggressively toward the camera and pointing, overlaid with a large red X. The text reads ‘How will you pay for it?’ — suggesting the question itself is being dismissed or crossed out.“

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Stop begging billionaires for crumbs. Wrong frame. Democrats can spend directly on working people: healthcare, housing and jobs without their permission. And they must tax hoarded wealth NOW, not to fund federal programs, but to break the concentrated power that distorts everything. Real populism.

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Screenshot of a quote from former Federal Reserve Chair Alan Greenspan. Text reads: "There's nothing to prevent the federal government from creating as much money as it wants, and paying it to someone." Below, a user adds: "The question is, how do you set up a system which assures that the real assets are created which those benefits are employed to purchase." A caption explains: Greenspan confirms the government faces no financial constraint—only real resources and inflation matter. Unlike tax cuts or military spending, social programs face fake "how pay for it" barriers.

How will you pay for it?" Below, smaller text adds context: This question is selectively asked about helping working people—but never about tax cuts for the rich or military spending. The federal government is monetarily sovereign. It creates currency. The real question is about resources, not revenue.

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