This page has been archived and commenting is disabled.
Guest Post: Government Mules
Submitted by Doug Galland of Casey Research
Government Mules
Watching my children grow older, now heading into the treacherous
shoals of the teenage years, has been a visceral reminder of how the
human mind develops. As young children, we see the world with fresh
eyes and wonderment, and then quickly begin testing the physical and
societal bounds as part of morphing into our more mature selves.
As we age into our teens and beyond, the testing of boundaries evolves
into a series of calculations. If I do “A,” we wonder, will it lead to
“B” or maybe “Z”?
From a young age, most of us are told to advance our education and
otherwise better ourselves so that we will be able to find a good job,
or a succession of good jobs, that will provide sustenance and security
lasting most of a lifetime before retiring to dawdle about in our
golden years.
At least that is the modern view of life pursued by the vast majority
of the citizenry in the developed world.
But having spent some time in rural Argentina recently – where it seems
to me that most people spend more time living and less time planning
to live – I have had some time to ponder the assumptions embedded in
this view.
What if, I wonder, the whole modern construct of what passes for making
the right moves in an advanced society is plain wrong?
Is the goal of working hard to get a good job and then moving up the
corporate ladder really so desirable? Is marrying and having 2.5 kids
and growing old in a glorified box in the burbs really so wonderful?
I asked someone who knows what percentage of their income – which is to
say the income of a reasonably successful person – now goes to taxes,
and the answer was, “Over 60%.”
What if the modern version of society is really nothing more than a
sleight of hand designed to fool the masses into becoming little more
than government mules, allowed their simple pleasures in exchange for
providing the muscle and the money needed to feed the beast?
An increasing number of the mules seem to me to have become
disheartened at the difficulty of creating and keeping enough wealth to
live the life envisioned in youthful dreams. And correctly so:
building lasting wealth is relatively easy when you keep 90%, but
nearly impossible when you keep just 40%. And, if the trend now in
motion continues in motion, the productive elements will soon be lucky
to keep 30%.
While even I can’t foresee things getting as bad as they did in Britain
in 1974, when the top 750,000 wage earners were slapped with a tax
rate of 98%, the steady build toward more regulations, more government,
more tariffs, and more taxes in more sectors of the economy will
affect a broader swath of the public and, in so doing, weigh even more
heavily on the nation.
And it will result in much the same thing experienced by the British at
the time – a mass expatriation by the more independent-minded and
entrepreneurial types.
(While the audience obviously skews toward the idea of expatriation, it
is interesting that a just concluded International Living
survey found that some 96% of respondents were now actively considering
expatriation.)
But I drift like a pick-up truck going too fast around a rain-slicked
corner.
The modern version of the world, at least to my eyes, appears to be
losing credence with an increasing number of Americans. Simply, the
material well-being and little extras that we the people have
previously dreamed of are now unaffordable for most – especially now
that a willingness to take on an excess of debt is no longer being
readily confused with net worth.
For the government, with its switch long rusted on expansion mode, the
promises of a better tomorrow must be preserved, if only as an
inspirational illusion. Yet, with the hard reality of a collapsing
Camelot obvious for all to see, the administration and Congress are now
discomforted by the loud chorus of mules braying for more and better
fodder. And increasingly by the voices of others, the workers in this
economy, who are beginning to chafe in the traces.
Attempting to maintain societal status quo, the government is pursuing
fiscal and monetary policies that are anything but status quo,
including running trillion-dollar deficits as far as the eye can see.
But maintaining the status quo is only going to get harder. Social
Security, a time bomb planted by FDR, will run a deficit this year, as
opposed to 2017 as recently believed. The deficit is no surprise to
anyone, but the accelerating pace of the nation’s fiscal ruin very much
should be.
I was in grade school when John F. Kennedy delivered his signature
line, “Ask not what your country can do for you, but rather what you
can do for your country.”
In today’s paradigm, millions of Americans demand that the country do
more for them than they are willing or able to do for themselves, for
many in no small part because they have already been asked to give up
so much. At the same time, the government is making increasingly
muscular demands that those still able to give, give more.
On both sides of the equation, the government looms large – as you
would expect it to in a world where public institutions have become the
controlling force in virtually all aspects of life.
But the paradigm is broken, in no small part because a long succession
of U.S. governments have habitually made politically easy or expedient
choices – in the process squandering the wealth of generations and
setting the stage for a serious confrontation between the government
mules that have and those that have naught.
Of course, I hope for the best as the country goes through the paradigm
shift to whatever’s coming next. Yet, because no one can say what the
new paradigm will look like – and a lot less or a lot more government
are both equally likely – I am simultaneously planning for the worst,
including buying hard assets and diversifying internationally.
To fail to do so would be to passively accept the life of a government
mule.
»
- 8821 reads
- Printer-friendly version
- Send to friend
- advertisements -
Who is John Galt?
Indeed.
The real root of the problem is that in Kennedy's era, "Ask not what your country could do for you, ask what you can do for your country" made sense because our country was doing great things, thanks in no small part to Kennedy himself.
We were putting a man on the moon and forcing Soviet missiles to be removed from Cuba while starting to turn the corner on civil rights.
They just don't make Democrats like Kennedy any more.
People don't want to ask "what you can do for your country" because we know that in the Obama era, anything we give to our country will either go directly to the heartless bankers or the brainless subprime borrowers and welfare queens who caused the housing and banking crises in the first place.
*NOTHING* WE GIVE WILL GO TOWARD MAKING AMERICA A PRODUCTIVE NATION ONCE AGAIN.
I quit my job last year. I refuse to get a new one or contribute to society again until we get an administration that respects capitalism again.
Who is John Galt?
hmmm.... wow you "...refuse to get a new one or contribute to society again...until an administration respects capitalism..."? Maybe its best you are not currently 'contributing' since real capitalism has been dead in this country for quite some time. Instead we have replaced it with a crony capitalist state where the modern 'capitalist' IS the leach. Not sure i want anymore of those floating around.
It's easy to quit your job when you never left your parents basement. Links mother probably does his laundry.
Maybe he is protesting the same "crony capitalist state" you are?
What is so offensive about an individual removing his sanction of a corrupt government and economic system? Better yet, seeing as you recognize the inbred monstrosity that is our current economic state, why haven't you also removed your sanction?
Because I have kids to feed? You dumb shits. I would love to just vote with my feet, but I can't easily do that and not wreck the lives of those whom I care about the most.
But yes, the problem is obvious. You go to school for years and work hard to become...mediocre. Shit, I could have been mediocre and not wasted so many years!
All I can say is you are definitely missing a link. You lunatic. This is the stupidest post I have ever read. Maybe, just maybe we are in this mess a bit deeper than we would like because of thoughts and actions like this.
Come on America!
What's the matter Dallas, couldn't make enough money as a paid shill on the Yahoo penny stock boards? How much does the government pay you now?
There is no fixing this problem. Wall Street has created a bottomless black hole, and the government is feeding the middle class to it. This is futile and ultimately counterproductive, as it punishes honest, hard-working people and rewards parasites. Don't be surprised when the country becomes all parasite and no host.
Link: There are other governments that still have some semblance of restraint, responsibility and legitimacy. Might you consider New Zealand? I could help you relocate. email valis rising (all one word) at gmail dot com.
"Prior to the present study, human individuals or groups living at the expense of others were often called parasites, but this term was used purely in a sociological sense, without any biological point of reference. Plantation owners were said to be parasites because they lived at the expense of their slaves, aristocrats were said to be parasites because they lived at the expense of the masses, armies were said to be parasites because they lived at the expense of the workers."
http://www.arguewitheveryone.com/general-political-discussion/133014-bio...
Inflammatory generalizations aside, I have to agree (at least in part) with Missing_Link. We can cry, whine, complain, sing, dance all we like, but if we are paying taxes, if we are losing the ability to translate our labor into value because our savings are in cash positions becoming worth less by the day, if we are funding a government who, without our consent, transfers an overwhelming majority of our wealth to the worst possible stewards of our society and our planet, all we're doing is feeding the system and helping no one.
Voting changes nothing, because candidates for positions of any significance are already bought and paid for. The only way to affect change is doing what little left we can: denying the juggernaut the sustenance of our labor. Slaves did not earn their freedom in these United States by people accepting the status quo. People killed and died for that freedom. I'm not advocating murder or suicide, but what I am advocating is calculated sacrifice of a nature and magnitude that is extremely unappealing to today's relatively comfortable iPhone-addicted masses.
Like it or not, we grant power to the beast through complacency and the delusion that, "if I can just get a little bit ahead, then I'll really think about how I can change things." We may not like the idea of returning to some really hard and relatively primitive living (growing/hunting our own food, bartering within our local communities, being responsible for generating our own energy needs). That might be an extreme view, but ultimately it may very well be the only way we get out of this mess. We reduce spending to life's necessities. We survive. We find ways to seek fulfillment in something other than consuming useless gadgets. We go back to adding real value to our lives and our communities, and in doing so, we sidestep most of the existing broken system.
If we work for the man, we are the man. Just remember that he doesn't often return the favor. We don't have the options the forefathers did. We can't just go to some distant part of the world, displace an indigenous population, claim some land and start over.
So fine is the line between dirty hippy and moral protestor.
I agree with the actual posted article in principle, but it's written in such pretentious prose full of unnecessary metaphor and similie I think that it might have been generated by a computer. Anyway. Substance over form.
"We are in this mess a bit deeper" because some people refuse to work and pay taxes?
The sheer irony of that statement alongside your claim that his is "the stupidest post [you] have ever read" is truly mind-boggling. Apparently you did not preview your own post.
47% of the country had no tax income liability last year. Yet, a producer who refuses to produce (sans entitlements no less!) and pay taxes is the real problem here... A smack with a cluebat would do you a world of good.
Paying taxes is tantamount to giving explicit sanction to not only the current state of affairs in this country, but also to the solutions. Opposed TARP? Fuck you. Opposed bailouts of the "TBTFs?" Fuck you again. Opposed American tax dollars going to bail out bankrupt European countries? Fuck you three times. The list continues on a nearly daily basis. At some point even the most cowardly drone finds the gumption to say, "enough is enough."
+1
But apparently you should make your future comments on this subject less frightening to people who simply want to toe the line and keep their heads down. You dirty, dirty individualist.
tantrum much?
good for you. i quit my job in 2006 at age 53 with the notion that i could either accumulate more at a slower, highly taxed rate, or give it up and live on just enough. kids raised and thru college helped, but it was a philosophical decision to exit the game and play my own game. i still can't avoid taxes, but i'm working on it. capital gains held til death and passed on with no taxes, muni bonds of high quality, precious metals off the grid,etc. next step is moving rurally and heating with wood or solar to avoid cap and trade, gardening to avoid poison. i'll do what i can to avoid paying taxes to benefit this nasty perverted system, a la judge learned hand.
"While even I can’t foresee things getting as bad as they did in Britain in 1974, when the top 750,000 wage earners were slapped with a tax rate of 98%,"
and in the US the top 1% now have 90% of the wealth or something like that?
Slapping 98% tax on them would do wonders perhaps! Godman Suckers would go crazy overnight and politicians would have to work at proper laws instead of being force fed dollars
Exactly, a tiny elite is sucking the US and infact Europe dry as well through this rigged ponzi scheme.
Why would the revenue from a 98% tax on top earners force politicians "to work at proper laws instead of being force fed dollars?" Are the dollars from that 98% tax going directly to cure the world's ills and put a skittle-shitting unicorn in every American household? Is a law confiscating 98% of someone's wages a proper law to begin with? No, it's not. It's like trying to control arterial bleeding with a band-aid and some Neosporin.
GS/JPM/etc. ARE the US government. The US government SERVES the very institutions you're complaining about. TARP? Bailouts? Ringing a bell?
Remove the government from the economy; remove GS/JPM/etc. from the government. Period. End of story.
So, pray tell, what is the solution?
There isn't one. It's like asking 'what can we do?' after the bus driver's driven off a cliff.
What can you do personally? Stock up on firearms, ammo, food, water, water purification filters, then gold and maybe silver (buried in backyard or in your house in a floor safe).
Not Calvin Coolidge and Ronald Reagan combined could save us at this point.
Nice avatar.
Islam delenda est.
Bull Shit! You don't have to sit on your ass Geoff! Mobilize your sphere of influence. Wait I just noticed you have UK at the end of your name. If this is the case your are fucked. Just don't spread your bad attitude here in the US.
The problem is....
The yuppies think they are running a race so anyone who is not playing that game is non-productive. Some people are lazy and take advantage of everyones hard work.
Hoever, there is a large group of people in the middle who just want to get by and enjoy a week or two of vacation every year and not have to worry about the banksters stealing the retirement they thought was accumulating in their 401k.
I understand the frustration, and sympathize...but there came a point in Germany when anyone could see that the insane were going to end up running the asylum. At that point it was a hell of a good time to get out of Dodge. I'm there already, you're not--I respect your fighting attitude. Much as I'm sure Jews who fled to Switzerland in time respected the Anne Frank family.
P.S. I'm an American citizen.
Hoo boy, here come the nutjobs!
Simply stop feeding the beast, as best as you can.
Of course, the biggest single thing that feeds it, are our own beliefs that it needs to exist to begin with. Once that hurdle is cleared, it gets easier every day.
It all comes down to The Philosophy of Liberty.
Hmm... ZH got my link... here it is raw
www.regenerationx.org
the solution?
I would say Project Mayhem, but maybe this is the wrong site?
??????
Project Mayhem is a band based in Perth, Western Australia, consisting of Benny Mayhem (vocals), Jozef Grech (guitar), Jes Fitzgerald (bass), and James "Bangers" McKay (drums). In 2008 they were announced as winners of the state-wide Next Big Thing band competition. They have also received industry nominations for Best Punk/Hardcore Band at the West Australian Music Industry Association awards 2008, and for the WAM Song of the Year (Rock Category) in 2007 for the lead track off their No Rest For The Wicked EP, entitled "Fuck Yeah!". In 2009 Project Mayhem were again nominated for Best Punk/Hardcore Band, and were asked to perform at the award ceremony at Metropolis Nightclub.
A hardcore band? Have you seen Fight Club?
No, but I attend one every Friday & Saturday night.
The first rule is....oh nevermind.
I am shutting down a company that has operated for about 30 years right now, with the tipping point being a wave of capricious and vindictive government regulation headed our way. The owner and I saw the tide being sucked out in November 2008.
Some ideas that come to mind. Local communities start protecting their own. Buy local, grow local, create local currencies, encourage local community involvement (neighbors talk to neighbors), teach the next generation history and to read books that matter (like literature), wean citizens off of over consumption, cultivate a society that values the simple things in life like friends and family, stop population growth by having one kid, come off our oil addiction, kill the mindset that more is better...I dunno just my thoughts.
Basically turn your back on the idea of their really being a United State of America or an American dream. Doubtful any of this will happen When I think of when I am happiest, it rarely has to do with the things I have and more to do with the people I'm with and the fact that I'm enjoying the moment. Seems to me the American way of he with the most toys wins is propaganda that keeps the slaves working to get more and more and ends up benefiting the corporate and banking oligarchy.
lovely post, truly.
amrkn's need to throw off the yoke of "protestant work ethics" (wiki it!), and learn "How to Be Idle". . .
quick & entertaining interview with the author:
http://motherjones.com/media/2005/06/how-be-idle-interview-tom-hodgkinson
Have just one kid?! To quote the good book, "if thoud would'st not have thy grandchildren suffer kicking of their asses, then lo! Go forth, and multiply!"
There are many solutions.
The key to survival is the efficient use of energy.
That is, reducing the cost of obtaining food and the effective use of fuel.
From a technological standpoint you must think beyond the local grocery store and the corner Sunoco station. The common methods of acquisition in many regions in the world are too costly and too vulnerable to price pressures, the US is a good example.
To really understand what I am saying, you have to recast your view of nationalism and geography, and see the world as it is, in terms of real costs or cost exposure (price pressure). This may be hard to do especially if you are older and have a false sense of attachement to the US. I lot of seniors say "I will just go down with the US", which is really sad to me, the circumstances today are not of their making. But to essentially put yourself and your trust in the hands of US politicians is just foolhardy.
If you look at the debt of the US, it is implied that the tax payer is accountable. If you do not want to pay this debt, you must either not be a tax payer, or not reside or report income to the US. This may mean being an expatriate.
This has nothing to do with allegiance, it is all about costs. Estate planning requires an acknowledgement of this fundamental concept.
Survival, and estate planing, depends on the effective reduction in costs.
----------
You want to position yourself for minimal tax exposure. Especially when the government views increasing taxes as a viable plan in the face of negative growth.
You have to be mobile with assets in different countries incase of monetary collapse (however modest), or negative growth due to austerity or the inability to address sovereign debt. Most importantly you should move before exposing yourself or your family to social unrest.
Like the author said; "buying hard assets and diversifying internationally".
Diversifying internationally is key, because this usually implies some type of asset purchase which is able to generate a return on investment.
I am not a doomsayer, I have to plan for the worst. So I get some strange looks when I discuss my strategy. I usually then ask what plan they have, based on what we know today, and many times they have no plan, or the plan is one of inaction.
This is key; to be responsible to yourself and your family you must act.
----------
So in response to your question:
"So, pray tell, what is the solution?"
The answer is: ACTION, your ACTION. YOU ARE THE SOLUTION.
Mark Beck
Don't restrain it and let it ride itself into the ground. Only way to get back to a real economy is to let the current one run its course totally and choke under its own weight. ... ironically Marx would call this the 'Crisis of Capitalism'
I'm all for letting capitalism run its course. What we are facing right now is a "government-caused disaster," to paraphrase the idiotic anti-american statist shill Janet Napolitano.
get all assets out of banks and equities.
if just a portion of the populace did this it would bring it down.
there isn't even enough cash in the average bank to pay
one quarter of the clients.
NEW YORK (Market Intellisearch) -- Unusual volume of put contracts was traded today. There were 713 puts contracts versus the ten day average volume of 55. On the calls side, 27 calls contracts were traded. Today's traded Put/Call ratio is 26.41. There were 26.41 puts traded for each call contract.
http://www.marketintellisearch.com/articles/1028750.html
NEW YORK (Market Intellisearch) -- Unusual volume of call contracts was traded today. There were 756 call contracts traded compared to the ten day average volume of 122 contracts. On the put side, 42 put contracts exchanged hands. Today's traded Put/Call ratio is 0.06. There were 18.00 calls traded for each put contract.
http://www.marketintellisearch.com/articles/1028761.html
Tyler, you forgot to mention that Argetina just passed a gay marriage law making it legal. Is that what u mean by work to live?
Tyler didn't write the article. That's what Guest Post means.
Argentina, toda, is one of THE places where to invest. The country, its people, have learned a lot from the 2001 crisis (a foreword to today's crisis in the (so called) developed world. Yes, it has problems (together with an amazing natural supply of food and water), mainly an oligarchy with vestiges of a neoliberal ideology, but ... even them are beginning to understand the true facts of the world to (that has?) come.
As a 24-year old person who has been in finance for 2 years now out of school, I wonder the same thing every day...and leaning more and more towards no. Seems to me that the typical suburban life is a vicious cycle of paying for this and that while never actually being able to have true freedom. Works for some though I gues... Unless you are a self-made entrepreneur who does have the freedom and wealth (which is the small small minority), what kind of life is this?
Planning on moving abroad, the only question is where.....
May I suggest Singapore or Switzerland?
I'd suggest Japan - if you are industrious, you'll find a good paying gig teaching English, good base from which to travel SE Asia, you'll meet lots of free-thinking sorts from Aus, UK, Germany, you'll see the USA differently, you'll be off the track for a while, healthcare is good and last time I checked near free, the women are fit...
Japan? Are you fucking kidding me!? The place is ungodly expensive to live in and the Japanese hate whitey.
Concur--and I've been there for 2 years.
Although they don't "hate whitey" as much as they dislike everything non-Japanese. They're polite to you as a stranger, and if you speak a little Japanese they're impressed.
But had a buddy who spoke fluent Japanese and dated a Japanese girl, and the looks that he got when we rode the train made me nervous as hell.
Doug Casey likes Argentina. I think I read Marc Faber lives in Chiang Mai, Thailand. I've been there and liked it. Some like Costa Rica. Been there and liked it too. Jim Willie lives there. I'm going to Tagaytay or Baguio City, Philippines in 4 years or sooner if the US implodes. The elevation is high so the climate is cool. Most people speak english and things are cheap. Corruption is horrible though. Everyone everywhere will try to cheat you. It is also easy to stay there playing their visa game. You'll get laid easily too but at a price.
Without the taxes paying for lazy people you'd be better off. Stay here and vote. Starve the problem(central government) and feed the solution(working for your own self interest).
You only see yourself as a 24 year old person and are looking backwards. I highly suggest you try and look *forwards* and the 34 year old you and then try to make some decisions based on that! Everything looks great to a 20-something with no family to support. Try factoring in some other contingencies. You may never marry and have kids ,but the statistics are against you in that regard.
Government has brainwashed us all so successfully that while many criticize, few working age Americans live abroad.
Part of the solution is to remove all subsidies for failure. Make sure no bank is TBTF. And get out of Afghanistan. (When was the last time you read about a battle w al Qaeda in that country?)
But why spill more digital ink answering Janice's question? TPTB keep doing what works (for them).
Exactly. They call Afghanistan 'the graveyard of empires' for a reason.
Just the graveyard of the Obama administration. Even the Bush Administration had overcommitted to that hellhole, and Odumbo doubled down merely to followup on his and the Democraps years of shrill rhetoric claiming the real war is and always in Afghanistan. Anti-americain and strategically retarded.
You had me going up til this point.
Taliban = al Qaeda, and you read about Taliban battles all the time.
We withdraw now -> Taliban takes over -> Afghanistan collapses completely -> USA looks weak to any other country seeking military dominance AND gets the blame for Afghanistan's collapse.
Also, massive retaliatory civilian murders after the Taliban waltz back in. Remember the MILLIONS who died in retaliatory murders in Vietnam after we withdrew? I thought not.
I hate to break it to you, but it has nothing to do with Taliban. What it has to do with is a pipeline from the Caspian to the Arabian Sea, bypassing the Straits of Hormuz and the Persian Gulf. You've been gamed by your government, friend. Sorry to have to be the one to break it to you. Google it if you don't believe me.
+10
if you haven't noticed by now Missing Link pushes for a total Jew Middle East.. hell i would agree if it meant NO MORE ENDLESS WHINING.. just have the balls to clear it out but we all know they rather profit on all this 'struggle'
Sorry, what?
Ridiculous thesis. The US "lets" genocide and tyranny carry on elsewhere in the world. The test for any decision to invest troops and treasure in one of these places has to be based on strategy. Invest where the local situation can be turned around to the greatest effect on the overall strategy of installing lasting constitutional democracies and freedom(i.e. also capitalism). We actually have a much greater hope of seeing that happen in Iran first, with greater follow-on impact on surrounding hell holes like Afghanistan coming almost for free down the line. I say Iran, because the people there are more sophisticated and pro-western by a long shot than any other country in the area, bar none. And Odumbo the dictactor fellator couldn't bring the word "freedom" to his lips even once during last year's massive protests in Iran. No, we were having secret meetings reaching out to the mad mullahs there, while tripling down our magnificent, partriotic army in a useless hellhole next door, with rules of engagement that SWAT teams stateside would go on strike over.
ORRrrrrr...we could bring back all military members from all four corners of the world, secure the border, kick out all illegals, drastically reduce or eliminate all immigration--and let our enemies call us whatever they like, from across the ocean.
I'd LOVE to see the above HAPPEN...but just as likely monkeys will fly out of my butt. I've been to Afghanistan and trust me--that place couldn't be more fucked if Satan himself had tried to ruin it. We are wasting time, blood, and money trying to do ANYTHING in that shithole.
IMHO we are beyond the tipping point... it's going to be a nasty fall to the ground. That said, once we truly hit bottom, once the ponzi implodes, we will have an opportunity to rebuild our country based on the ideals our founders left us. Freedom, liberty, free-markets, and rule of law...and yes Gecko, gold/silver based currency.
Very timely comment
http://www.roadtoroota.com/public/261.cfm
Or maybe, like the man said, wqually like scenario is total government. The mules believe utterly in the healing power of the state. Whatever the problem is, it is a problem because government is not allowed to do enough. Do you really see that changing enough that ideals of freedom and liberty will overwhelm?
Indeed, look at the chilling poll results that came out today with Harry Reid leading promarket, profreedom Karen Angle by 44-37. If we cant beat Harry Fucking Reid we are fucked.
Znooze...
I really didn't want hear about this guy's midlife crisis.
Bring back RobotTrader….
For those who have not spent any time in other people's world it is hard to comprehend all the subtle things that changes your perspective. As it so happens I have also spent some time in Argentina and other S.A. countries as well as many other places.
Yea, even at my age expatriation is a serious consideration. Basta es Basta; but I would do it with a very very heavy heart.
Damn it, let us stand and fight while we can. Milestones
Erudite and eloquent.
DavidC
But I drift like a pick-up truck going too fast around a rain-slicked corner.
Take the foot off the gas, don't brake, steer into the skid, not away.
The correct interpretation is that our driver is in complete control. His high velocity life is being examined in light of the rain that has fallen.
The art of drift requires controlled acceleration and experience on the roadway.
There is always a solution. The only question that each and every one of us has to answer is what we are willing to trade for what we want. Having read Atlas from cover to cover (and The Fountainhead as well), I think most of you are more Dagney Taggart than John Galt. You just can't let go, even though you know that sooner or later you're going to have to. Why not now?
I paid my home off in January and I just started working in an independent bookstore for not much more than minimum wage. I can afford it. I have enough saved to send the kid to college if he wants to go. If he doesn't, I'll give him the cash to start a business. I don't pay much in the way of taxes and I've gotten rid of all my electronic leashes except the internet. That will go next.
Working in an independent bookstore puts me in touch with some very special people on a daily basis. It's in a college town. These folks are brilliant and give me hope. They don't believe the bullshit, but they are not wallowing in despair either. I believe Rothbard once said that if you want to change the world , you reach the intellectuals and entertainers and the politicians will follow. Well, I can't access entertainers, but the people who come into this store enrich my life.
I live on 2 acres in the country. My neighbor is elderly. He pays me a little to cut his grass (2 acres) every couple of weeks. He had me fill out a W2 and an I9, yeah, sure he did. HE also buys me food from time to time. Chicken, steaks, things like that.
You see, these are choices I have made and am making. Are they right? I don't know. They feel right to me. I refuse to feed the beast. You see, I really am John Galt. Someday things will all be better, or not. If they are, I'll come back. If not, I won't. I don't care either way. I refuse to submit, and I refuse to wallow in it any longer. Life is good. It's good because I'm living it my way. People on this board are smarter than the average type bear. I hope those of you hanging on to the past figure it out quickly. It ain't comin' back. Get out of debt. Live simply. Do what you love. Cross paths with creative people. Live, laugh, love.
Now.
Econo You just described the salmon that turned down stream when he hit the net.
Now that's change I can swim to.
@economicmorphine
I think the solution of Going Galt would be appropriate if we lived in a dictatorship. As bad as this situation is, we still have some elements of freedom. Leonard Peikoff, who is Ayn Rand's intellectual heir, said on a recent podcast, "Don't let the government turn you into a zombie." The basic message was - don't give up just yet.
The basic message was - don't give up just yet.
Give up? The man is doing what he wants with his life, not what TPTB want him to do. If people gave it any thought do you think they'd choose to live in boxes in the suburbs coming and going to their cubicle jobs in their SUVs? Do you think hanging on to that is living? Sounds to me like our John Galt is doing it right. I can say this from first hand experience as I quit the rat race 15 years ago (at age 32) and moved to Alaska. Just recently, I realized that wasn't far enough and now I live in New Zealand.
It's time to get out of America folks; wake up and do it while you still have the chance.
Just wondering what if they brought back draft and their interests need your kids' blood to be spilled in some battlefields?
If we brought back the draft we would not be in Afganistan now and would not be fuckin with Iran. The broad (shrinking) middle class would now have some skin in the game namely a son, daughter, nephew, husband etc.
It's amazing how we pay attention when we personally have something to lose. The attitude adjustment goes from please to I'm going to break your dick if you vote to continue this crap. Milestones
Econo,
Totally agree with your philosophy. We went “Galt” too. For years, we worked hard, paid our taxes, lived very modestly and put away 40% of our income (sorry Doug G., but we never paid more than 30% total to taxes, maybe you need a better accountant). Now we don't work at all, don't pay taxes (except for property taxes), sleep late, still live modestly and love every minute of it. It's just like they say—even if you win the rat race, you're still just a rat.
Remember all of the other taxes you pay not just the IRS.
Yes, I was thinking the same thing. The likely new VAT would be nearly inescapable.
wow, yet another post to breathe in, deeply. . .
similar story here, minus the children as I decided early on that "family life" didn't fit well with a tumbleweed lifestyle. . . quick version is I managed bands, one made good, I stretched out those royalties till they squeek'd. . . living lightly is not so very difficult if much of what you value (good, varied conversations, hanging out in nature) is relatively free. . . college town indie bookstore? yep, that's a great gig, I went the indie "health food store/cafe" route, again, met a huge range of folks, mostly intelligent & peaceful (bit more commercialised & uptight nowadays, but was great for a few years). . .
what could possibly added? succinct.
Both of your posts are great. It's the action part most people scoff at. Oh, they'll agree. They will say, "Oh but isn't the world so great and wonderful! So much is possible! Yes, yes farming would be grand!"
And I say, "Yes, yes, and if you look at history a lot of those people got ran over by tanks. So bliss is great, but be sure you are sharply aware of what is around the corner. Prepare, then take comfort. Not just take comfort."
You still have biological needs of 2,000 calories a day. If that becomes hindered in any way you will be too hungry to frolic in fields of daisies, listening to birds chirp while the sun warms your face. You will be miserably seeking out anything edible until your body fails you. In the 30's most rural folk had few luxuries, but enough to not go hungry.
Doug,
It is as though you had a link to my thoughts directly these past few months. It is incredible that we fell for it for so long. But, then again, look at who was doing the telling: our parents. The Baby Boomers.
Why shouldn't we expect one last kick in the teeth on their way out than this? I won't be able to forgive myself for not having seen it coming. It is a shame, really. How often has it happened that we have been screwed by our elders? We should have known.
I have decided to consolidate everything I owe (except the house...) to zero, quit my nine to five and trade forex all day. I will have quit by the end of the year.
It is true that we won't be able to participiate in the merry-go-circus of debt and destruction any more but, akin to what you mentioned in your note, we're going to spend a lot more time living instead of planning to live. My kids will forget how to operate the microwave and my place will have a nice rose garden at the side of the house.
My quality of life will have improved by the n-th degree and, who knows, there might be some lagniappe if I can really figure this forex thing out. I think I have a shot.
Either way, it is certainly better than playing "catch my tail." Thanks for the article. It was encouraging.
I can tell u what comes next 10 years of misery. Buy gold. The gold revaluation is coming. None of that banker GLD gimmick. miners and real gold. This is 1932. They have all the dollars and they have all the gold. Once gold is revalued they will buy the bridges and highways from the states and charge you. But its worse. gold is the new reserve currency so oil will be in short supply because king dollar is now king peso. I agree with the author. You would make a mint being a farmer vs a human resources rep useing the new gold backed oil dollar every day back and forth to work. This started back in 1986 with GATT. Complete collapse of a modern society in europe and the United States. I'd rather buy a 200.00 pair of sneakers american made. We need our steel and clothing industries back and other forms of fuel. Its a little late we will look like Argentina CIRCA 1999-2005 very shortly as our currency becomes inflated and there are no goods on the shelf. Hunker down and and get a people eating dog and weapons they will be after your food. Think monetary inflation and asset price deflation for the next year. hyperinflation is a FX event...currency event... NOT economic. When the Dow bottoms between 7000-9000 it will have the 3rd world currency effect and go to 15000 and the government is conviently raising taxes next year for the event to take any profit. meanwhile the average family can't drive with gold backed oil as well as shortages. Be Safe buy gold.......
Hey! What's the PPT doing in Canada today? Look at that last 1/2 hour melt up. Fat finger accidentally hit 'TO:' instead of 'NYSE'? Or did Mark Carney toss some fat ones and zeroes at the TSX? Checking... nope, CAD recovered vengefully too. Hmm. Somebody definitely liked the looks of those Canuckstonians in the final hour...
Check out Steve Malneaux (sp?) YouTube videos. We are Hand licking cows, not government mules.
Stefan Molyneux
Yes, we are all Mules for the military. 54% of the US budget is military spending.
http://www.warresisters.org/pages/piechart.htm
It is the elephant in the room that no one talks about.
You focus on the military, without mentioning Medicare, Social Security, Welfare, Dept of Education, National Public Radio, etc.?
+1000!
I think it all started in the Boomer Generation. Before that generation Women stayed home and took care of the home and the Children. They did not work. Women could not get credit without a Husband.
Then came the Birth Contol Pill. Women had a choice to stay home or to get a job to supplement the Household income. There was wage inequality at that time so a Woman could not work and support herself outside of Marrage very well.
But, with the introduction of the Birth Contol pill and Women not being in a position of having a child they did not want the Banks started to lend to Women.
As Women gave up Homemaking and went to work they needed business clothes and cars for transportation. Child care, maids, gardners etc. The Government loved Women going to work as now they were collecting more taxes from each household. They quickly caught on and started equal pay for equal work.
As more and more Women started to Work the more revenues they Government collected. In stead of one car per household there were two. More car sales more debt on the Household. Now they could afford a more expensive home based on two incomes. More house sales more employment. Women could not stay at home and cook from scratch so the TV dinners and prepaired foods, yet more expensive, inexpensive in comparison to a cook. More Jobs from Companies making pre prepaired food.
The more it cost the Family to live because of more clothing for the Wife, an additional Car, a more expensive Home and higher Mortgage Payments, Child Care, pre-prepaired food, maid service, gardners the more debt the Family had and the more the Woman HAD to work to co-contribute to the needs of the Family.
All the while the Government was making Tons of Money on Tax receipt from the Wages of the Husband and the Wife taking away more and more leaving them wondering why they cannot make ends meet.
I think that today people need to check their budget and go back to a simpler time. What would your expenses be if you moved to a modest house, got ride of one of the cars, the Wife or the Husband stayed home with the Children and gardened, canned food, and cooked from scratch? I actually think that if they seriously sat down and modified their living standard and their lifestyle they would have more spendable income and be better off.
In my day Women made their own clothes, their own draperies, they grew a lot of their own food and canned it for the Winter. We cut our own hair or each others. We never threw anything away that could be fixed. We did not have credit cards or home equity loans. If you wanted to buy something big except maybe a home you had to save for it. With no interest you could save more money. You never bought anything you did not need. Plus, no expense for cell phones, cabel, internet, air conitioning. That saved them a lot of money we spend today thinking it is absolutely necessary.
Just my thoughts it is time for Americans to go back to a simpler life. Yet, easier sad than done.
Exactamundo, wfs.
P.S. I have excellent recipes for cabage rolls and a bad-ass Shepherd's Salad that is most refreshing, indeed. Time to get back, everybody.
This version of the post-1977 world gets it inside out. The CAUSE is the fiat currency systems and inflation causing devaluation -- women working is the EFFECT.
I'm afraid we are just asbestos fibers from the burnt out brakes. That's the genius of an illogical faith. It separates the True Believers from those who dare to think.
Thank GOD our politicians are addressing the iPhone reception issue! With all the problems that confront our country, it's reassuring to know that our fearless leaders are focused on what really matters. Meanwhile, across the street from Schumer (D-NY), Goldman Sachs and the SEC are having hors d'oeuvres and cocktails to celebrate their engagement. Ask not what you can do for your country, ask what your country can do to get your fucking iPhone to work!
http://schumer.senate.gov/new_website/record.cfm?id=326405
July 15, 2010
Dear Mr. Jobs,
I write to express concern regarding the reception problem with the Apple iPhone 4. While I commend Apple's innovative approach to mobile technology and appreciate its service to millions of iPhone users nationwide, I believe it is incumbent upon Apple to address this flaw in a transparent manner. According to Consumer Reports' review, released Monday on its website, the iPhone 4's signal-strength problem is a hardwire glitch triggered by gripping the device in a particular manner. This finding, according to Consumer Reports, "call[s] into question” Apple’s recent claim that the problem is “largely an optical illusion caused by faulty software." Consumer Reports declined to recommend the iPhone 4 because of this hardware design flaw.
Given the discrepancy between Consumer Reports' explanation of the reception problem and the explanation provided by Apple in its July 2 letter to customers, I am concerned that the nearly two million purchasers of the iPhone 4 may not have complete information about the quality of the product they have purchased. The burden for consumers caused by this glitch, combined with the confusion over its cause and how it will be fixed, has the potential to undermine the many benefits of this innovative device. To address this concern, I ask that Apple provide iPhone 4 customers with a clearly written explanation of the cause of the reception problem and make a public commitment to remedy it free-of-charge. The solutions offered to date by Apple for dealing with the so-called “death grip” malfunction—such as holding the device differently, or buying a cover for it—seem to be insufficient. These proposed solutions would unfairly place the burden on consumers for resolving a problem they were not aware of when they purchased their phones.
I also encourage Apple to keep its promise to provide free software updates so that bars displayed accurately reflect signal strength; I further urge Apple to issue a written explanation of the formula it uses to calculate bar strength, so that consumers can once again trust the product that they have invested in.
I look forward to Apple's swift action on this matter, and once again laud Apple for its innovative efforts and service to millions of Americans.
Sincerely,
Charles E. Schumer
It's not Schumer's job to do anything but get re-elected and stay out of prison. His constituents are probably glad he's doing something about the iPhone.
Don't get me wrong--in a just world, Schumer would have to kneel and polish Barney Frank's doorknob...but don't let the voters off the hook.
Stupidity at the polls brings its own (just) desserts.
I'm just a 'Blue Collar' guy that visits here to learn about the financial world.(which I have learned alot about)
This 'mule' started at age 13 emptying trash cans in an office building after school for 3$ a week. I worked 2 jobs during High School, and then joined the Navy during the 'bad times' of the early eighties.
Out of the service, I married, bought a 'fixer upper' house, and started a family.I also worked 2 Full time jobs for 2 years. (one in a Foundry on 1st trick, the other at a Stamping plant on 2nd shift)
I sold my 1st house, at a profit due to the renovations I made, and bought another, then another. Each successive move I got a larger (nicer) place, and paid more money down (50-60%) and financed the rest. My family grew also.
I am not a money guy, I am so boring no one would even notice that I exist.
A few things "I" wanted to do in life was to live in a nice house,work an honest job (Electrician), save for retirement (via 401K) and send my kids to College if they so desired.
"Now", I'm a 'dumbass' for having worked like a mule, paying taxes, raising my kids, and saving for retirement???
It's not so much being a money guy that makes one money. It's what you've been doing all along. Looking for value, building on it, keeping it paid and keeping you and your's healthy.
The retirement piece, I think we've all been screwed on this one baddly. If the money men in the government have their way, they'll inflate away ever penny of of our savings.
PHYS, or close your 401-K and/or IRA if you don't want to trust Eric.
I don't think anybody in the U.S pays 60% of their income in taxes as the person cited in this post asserts. Sure, if you live in NYC, you might have a 60% marginal rate but I doubt that somebody making $500,000 there pays a total of $300,000 in combined federal, state, and city taxes.
If I'm wrong, please let me know.
Hey, Sam...
Next time you hear that whoosing noise zip right over your head, step back and appreciate the situation in which the comments were made.
:D
Hilarious!
I think if you take your Income Tax and add all other taxes you pay you will come up with 60% or more.
Think about it, Property Tax, Transfer Tax & Stamps on Cars and Houses. Sales Taxes on purchases, Driver Liscense Fee, Car Registration Fee, Taxes on your Energy use, Taxes on your Water Bill, Taxes on your Phone Bill, Taxes on your Cabel, Internet, Taxes on Cigarettes (before Sales Tax), Taxes on Alcohol (before Sales Tax), if you rent property in Maryland a Liscencing Fee, State mandated Lead Inspections, Baltimore City a Bottle Tax. On and On and On.
If you are a small Business that is Incorporated or an LLC, a yearly Tax to the Department and Taxation, Personal Property Tax.
Boy, no wonder we do not have any Money left to spend.
Wow. At first I read this thinking you'd have some big outlook on the world, something sagacious and wise, about living life for more than money and a box in the suburbs. Instead, you end up bitching your taxes are too high.
It's a big problem. You can't "Go Galt" unless you're willing to have a Koresh-style stand off with the government for the rest of your life. Self sufficiency is impossible, because the uninvolved will get pillaged by taxation or worse.
I like Doug Galland- subscribe to his Casey Research sites - but, I am reacting to the problems in America in a different way. I think I about same age as Doug- fifties, and I see how much he is effected by his times in Argentina. What I feel, though, is a strong feeling to stay here in America - my home. What will Doug feel, ten years from now - living in Argentina? I grew up here in America - and have travelled to other countries throughout my life, but I always come home. I think that you have to separate what is happening to US Gov/Wallstreet/Corporate - separate it from most of the American people. Why give this up without a fight? This is home. Shouldn't we stay and fight? Is it the best move to just leave when things get a little tough? This is my country - I am staying, and trying to live the life I was born into. If the government continues to try to destroy our prosperity and freedom - well, Bring The Rain. I was in the military - the military and police and politicians are a very small number of people compared to the 300 illion citizens - they can very easily be overrun - in only a few weeks. Most military won't follow orders to fight against their own citizens. When people get just a little more pissed off- there will be riots and violence- and dickwipes like Obama will instantly fold. There is no real substance there - military leaders are also just dumb fuck bullies. It is easy to push a button and kill people far off. When US citizens start shooting anyone in uuniform - they will fold and scatter. Think about it - right now in America, there are something like a million affiliated gang members. A few dominant Mexican gangs, roll in some Crips and Bloods, and you got a shit storm. I am just waiting to see the LIttle Mexican Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest. Stay here, fight the fight. Our corrupt leaders will get a taste of what they have been dolling out. Torture? Renditions? Drones? How about 12 bullets to the chest, sputtering blood as you gasp in the gutter? Fuckers. Stay and fight. Sitting on a Golf course,m sipping wine, in Argentina - it ain't the answer. Mounting a 50 cal on your PickUp - now that's something to be proud of.
+1
“Contemplate the mangled bodies of your countrymen, and then say 'what should be the reward of such sacrifices?' Bid us and our posterity bow the knee, supplicate the friendship and plough, and sow, and reap, to glut the avarice of the men who have let loose on us the dogs of war to riot in our blood and hunt us from the face of the earth? If ye love wealth better than liberty, the tranquility of servitude than the animated contest of freedom, go from us in peace. We ask not your counsels or arms. Crouch down and lick the hands which feed you. May your chains sit lightly upon you, and may posterity forget that you were our countrymen!” - Samuel Adams
Die on you knees, or go out swinging.
It is so fucking absurd. The state takes from me and spends it on wars, bailouts for billionaires and the vile mass incarceration of my countrymen. And here i sit, 40% (give or take) more poor and I have no hope for retirement. If I get sick, I hope to die quick so that my family is not financially ruined.
Am I over modernity? You bet your ass I am. Consumption and debt are the American ideals. We are more productive as workers but our wage stays the same. We are ground between inflation and taxation. The schools are shit. The police are corrupt. The government is hijacked by warmongering cocksuckers.
Svendthrift- you got it right. There is really nothing that is really stopping us from taking this thing down. Think about it, any real groundswell of Americans using guerilla tactics, would shut this shit down. The whole thing relies on corporate obeisance and order- as soon as it cracks a little bit, the whole thing collapses. Righteous, even. Have faith that, at some point soon, there is gonna be a Rising. The veneer of control will vanish like tinsel floating on blood.
No. No. No violence.
http://www.youtube.com/v/g7lRIi9jZ-8
There are ways to fight back peacefully.
Don't get me wrong I love Tom Woods but you have to realize that while we try to intellectualize our plight the people with guns are increasing their power.
Listen to this EPIC gun battle, with 20+ grenade explosions, just on the Mexican side of McAllen, TX. Tell me these violent narcotraficantes give a flying ---- about Tom and his excellent efforts.
www.youtube.com/watch#!v=c8Q0_Hd0Vrc
You can hear that it is very intense throughout the entire video.
Southern AZ is not heading to wild west status, it already is! And the Fed gov't is SUING AZ! What a dereliction of duty! One of the sheriffs down there has a Narco greenlight for assassination! WTF!
www.youtube.com/watch#!v=Hr_XyGsdomM
We'll tightly grip our guns until you peacemakers can settle up with Narcos and Fed gov't - both of which quickly and mercilessly use violence to advance their agenda.
Seems like a marginal cost/marginal benefit personal decision. If you think your time and effort spent getting the next $1 of income so that you can keep $0.40 of it has zero opportunity cost, then go for it. The real question is what is the opportunity cost.
Of course, the whole Western liberal "democratic" capitalist construct is bullshit. As Plato said, democracy (capitalism) is a pathetic form of social construct. The notion of endless economic and nominal growth backed by endless population growth is a farce that is embraced by most of our pathetic western leaders. Bunch of idiots and morons. Sustainable development, with more sociable communities is part of the answer. The rest is spiritual. Revelation 6:6
I am advising my children in no uncertain terms to renounce their citizenship - as I did - when they turn 18. Uncle Scam can eat shit.
And go WHERE??!?!?!?
There is nothing new under the sun.
When I walked away from a rather well-paying job as head trader of an IB, I handed the company head this poem, which says things better than any mid-lifer ever could:
The intellect of man is forced to choose
Perfection of the life, or of the work,
And if it take the second must refuse
A heavenly mansion, raging in the dark.
When all that story’s finished, what’s the news?
In luck or out, the toil has left its mark;
That old perplexity, an empty purse,
Or the day’s vanity, the night’s remorse
W.B. Yeats
Can't disagree here. Have made more and more money every year but this will be the last. Going to wind down from here. Wife already quit her job and does nothing but gardening and canning. Have eliminated almost every monthly bill except light and heat(working on those two). Actually this is all very exciting to me. Can't wait to break out the twelve string again and learn a bunch of songs. Just re-watched the Woodstock documentary, got me inspired. Been planning to write a few books, that's been on hold far too long. Thank you Wall Street and Obama, that was the shove I needed...
i got a power chair for free, and didn't have to pay a penny out of pocket! (or bother walking anymore.)
Self employment. Teaching my kids this is the ONLY route. Self, self, self ....( hahaha, yes, criticize you equalizers, but I wasnt put on this planet to feed everyone else )
You pay that 60% so that the military can go get you resources to squander with your remaining 40%: http://www.ianwelsh.net/it%e2%80%99s-not-your-money/
Really this is a great post from an expert and thank you very much for sharing this valuable information with us................ windows vps | cheap vps | cheap hosting | forex vps