This page has been archived and commenting is disabled.
Simon Black's Advice To Young People: Grab Your Ankles
To all who watched the recent student demonstrations in London (in which members of the royal family ended up being victims of righteous mob anger), and mused that things like this can never happen in the US, Simon "Sovereign Man" Black has some words of caution: prepare to grab your ankles. His advice is what some may consider borderline anarchistic: "Stop playing by everyone else’s rules. Refuse to be enslaved by the idea that it’s your civic and moral responsibility to pay off the debts of your government’s failures. Cast off the yoke of their control… and summon the courage to live a life by your own design." Yet judging by recent violent events in ever more European countries, who have decided on precisely this outcome, is this such a far fetched perspective of what reality may soon become?
From the Sovereign Man:
Young people: get ready to grab your ankles
If you’re reading this and under 30, let me be absolutely clear about one indubitable point: your government is going to sacrifice your future in order to pay for its own mistakes from the past.
To give you an example, students in London came out to the streets in droves last Friday to protest the British parliament’s most recent austerity measures which tripled the cap on their university tuition to $15,000.
Sure, Britain is imposing all sorts of austerity measures on its citizens… and while I won’t get into a discussion about the absurdity of government controlled education, I will point out that students are having their benefits cut far more drastically than any other segment of the population.
Are pensioners seeing their costs triple? No. Are middle-aged workers seeing 50% tax hikes? No. Aside from the very small segment of high-income earners who will be forever robbed and pillaged of their wealth, the younger generation is next in line to receive the butt end of the crisis fallout.
Younger folks have comparatively lower incomes, benefits, job opportunities, and political clout than their seniors, yet they are increasingly expected to assume a disproportionately larger burden of the consequences of government folly.
It’s the younger generation that is called on to go fight and die in pointless wars in faraway lands; it’s the younger generation that is forced to assume the debts of their forefathers; and it’s the younger generation that gets relegated to the back rows of the political amphitheater and dismissed by the establishment.
Meanwhile, retirees aren’t seeing massive benefits cuts, and middle-aged wage earners income earners are being protected from above by politicians. In fact, let’s take a minute and look at the looming fate of the average young person today:
1) Your government-run university tuition is going to go through the roof, saddling you with unfathomable debt before you even enter the world as an adult;
2) Once you graduate, you’ll be the last in the hiring queue;
3) If you do get hired, you’ll be the lowest on the totem pole and the first to be let go when tough times befall your business;
4) Once the labor market eventually stabilizes, you’ll enter your prime earning years with some of the highest tax rates ever seen as your government continues to cannibalize your generation to pay off its largess and indebted entitlement programs that benefited older generations;
5) For your entire working life, you’ll pay into a pension system that is going to be bankrupt by the time you’re qualified to draw on it;
6) More than likely, you’ll never achieve the standard of living that your parents achieved;
7) Whatever wealth your parents accumulated won’t be left to you– the bulk of it will be confiscated by the state (unless your folks were smart enough to plant multiple flags) due to a host of death taxes.
If you’re in the millennial Facebook generation, this is going to be the standard storyline of your peers. The system that’s in place right now– the failed cycle of debt and consumption fed by continuous government intervention– has stuck you with the bill.
Fortunately, there’s a silver lining (as always). Younger people are generally less anchored and more mobile than their elders, hence it’s much easier to opt out of this perverse system.
If you’re angry that your government is saddling you with the responsibility to pay off generations of bad decisions, then get out of dodge. Stop playing by the same rules of the game that used to work in the past– the old playbook of “go to school, get a good job, work your way up the ladder” simply doesn’t apply anymore.
Don’t stick around a society that has completely forsaken you and is waiting with knife and fork in hand to carve up your earnings once you finally enter the labor market… get out of dodge now, while it’s easy to do and you have little to risk.
Go explore the world and get an education based on experience, not expensive academic theory. Seek opportunities in thriving, frontier markets overseas… places like Kurdistan, Mongolia, Botswana, Kazakhstan. Soak up the local intelligence and become the grease guy on the ground who can make things happen.
Find people whose lifestyles you want to emulate and make yourself indispensable to them as an apprentice… this will be the only time in your life that you can afford to work for nothing in exchange for a valuable, first-hand education.
Most of all, stop playing by everyone else’s rules. Refuse to be enslaved by the idea that it’s your civic and moral responsibility to pay off the debts of your government’s failures. Cast off the yoke of their control… and summon the courage to live a life by your own design.
The path to prosperity in the Age of Turmoil depends on this ability to reject the old system, declare your economic independence, and carve your own path.
»
- 15946 reads
- Printer-friendly version
- Send to friend
- advertisements -
And from an earlier comment...
Interestingly enough, there is an edit function on these comments. Actually reading what you have just written, and then correcting it if it is wrong would go a long way to making the comments sound halfway intelligent.
Or perhaps, as well as being obese most of our youth are also irredeemably illiterate and retarded. Perhaps the Captcha should have a spelling or grammar problem instead, to weed out the chaff.(signed: grammar-nazi :-)
Go explore the world and get an education based on experience, not expensive academic theory. Seek opportunities in thriving, frontier markets overseas… places like Kurdistan, Mongolia, Botswana, Kazakhstan. Soak up the local intelligence and become the grease guy on the ground who can make things happen.
Become the next Dark Knight.
The future is now. Be prepared.
Off topic, but I had to share this -
"The victim put the nipple in a bag and, after several hours, decided she should go to the emergency room."
http://www.elpasotimes.com/ci_...
3 things I will teach my daughter:
1) Learn as many languages as possible.
2) Start cash based businesses.
3) Gain skills and or produce things that can be bartered.
Be careful, you just described hooking.
I know you don't want that either.
LOL!
I thought of that after I posted it and knew I would catch hell ... LOL
Blessed be our youth, for they will inherit the national debt.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PLA7jay7shk
Well we certainly are back to the levels of April...ought to get interesting now.
http://screencast.com/t/pzAE7fZF5NIa
Hello there, first post here in this fine establishment. I am 17 so this article really hit home, to be honest its pretty overwhelming, My parents are pretty clueless and all my classmates are so worried about what awesome college they want to go to, to worry about whats going on in the world. In my grade of about 400 people I'd say three have any clue of what we could face in the future, they're planning out their lives like absolutely nothing will change and its just sad. I'm trying to do what little I can to prepare but any suggestions or advice would be greatly appreciated, thanks for your time.
At 17, rejoice, there is no draft....yet. Those 3 classmates who have a clue about the future are guessing methinx.
1) Reduce your costs to the extent you can stand it. And maybe a bit more. I am Not one of these "renounce materialism" types, but the less you need to support, the more flexible your options will be.
2) Be prepared, and even look for opportunities, to work 'off book'. A Lot of the fallout from prior generations' screw ups will be things like taxes, and wage controls. To the extent you are invisible, you are free.
3) Count on Nothing promised by those in power.
4) Learn any skill you might be able to use, any way you can. It helps if it's something you actually like a bit.
5) If and when you can manage it, move to a relatively lower tax/higher freedom state. New Hampshire is my recommendation, but I I hear or see nice things about Montana, Wyoming, etc. You'll need to do your own research, as it's a moving target, and your criteri will likely differ from mine.
Best of luck.
....and tattoo #3 on the back of your hand so you don't forget.
good advice.
Please repost this morsel for the ass clown above that thinks some reasonable portion of our youth get it.
As for constructive tips:
1. Dispense with the notion that you will work a job you like. You will earn money to put food on the table for yourself and your family and this does not entail anything about you liking it. As a result, you will free yourself to look at all potential employment opportunities.
2. Before making any decisions on college, do a cost benefit analysis. Factor in the amount of money you will likely borrow and the salary you expect to make post graduation. Get your job lined up BEFORE you go to school. If mommy and daddy will let you go to school on their nickel, let them pay for it, otherwise you'd better do a lot of thinking.
3. Vocational school is not the enemy or for dummies despite what your school conselor may tell you.
4. Debt is your enemy. Erradicate it at every possible opportunity and do not partake unless it is for virtually certain financial gain.
5. Start making money now. If this means mowing lawns or whatever, start NOW. While your parents are giving you a place to stay and providing food, you will NEVER be able to accumulate money so fast for quite a while. See if you can get out of school an hour early, etc. to work. You want something on your resume.
6. Find some quickbooks software and keep an incredibly strict budget. Never buy anything more than $20 that you have not extensively researched. Do not be a first adopter.
7. Get your parents to give you a credit card IN YOUR NAME. They can set a cheap limit, but you need to start building credit immediately. Pay off the entire balance every month. If you ever pay a penny in interest, hang yourself. In the event you miss a payment date by a day or two, call a CSR and work your magic, they will capitulate. If a CSR denies you, call another.
8. Until you get married, find a buddy and split the rent. If you do not trust him/her then pony up $50 for mini storage and rock and roll.
9. Play beer pong every once and a while, but be sure to blow the pubes off the ball before throwing... it's just common courtesy.
10. The public library is your buddy. THis means not only learning about how to do vocational jobs, but also reading economic books, etc.
11. Don't panic.
12. Ask your dad to teach you about guns and get a membership at a shooting range. It will be a good bonding experience. If not, do it yourself. You will have a good bonding experience with your firearm.
13. Check out goodwill and thrift stores for camping equipment, etc. Volunteer with a camping organization and go on a few backpack trips that have decent mileage.
14. Cardio (should have been number one, doh).
15. Ask for survival gear, etc. for christmas and birthdays... start accumulating and DO NOT GET CHEAP SHIT. If a particular item is too much, then get multiple persons to go in on it together... if not, get them to go in a little and you can pony up the difference.
16. Find a woman who likes to work, shutup, and doesn't order the most expensive thing at the restaurant to guage your reaction.
17. Skip school dances and work.
18. Keep taking the ACT until you ace the fucking thing if planning on college.
19. Contemplate getting your GED and starting vocational school/college early.
20. If you are planning to go to college, take as many courses in high school as you can.
21. Keep those other couple aware people on speed dial and begin a think tank/survival group/whatever.
22. Grow a garden in your back yard. Pick fresh veggies for your mom and tell her to cook them. She'll love you for it.
23. Don't panic.
Good suggestions here.. But, frankly, by the time you hit 20 it will be different world then we have now..
Get in shape if you're not and keep healthy. Take some time to research about what people do/did during large natural disasters.
Get a job at a good size ranch/farm supply and service store. Learn what everything does and how to fix things.
Talk to all the old people, and get the door for the ladies..
But most of all.. Have fun.. Chasing money is a mistake..
It's going to be a really, really interesting next couple years..
Welcome, member of reality youth. Stay close to those with like minds... awareness will deepen and your views, reactions, and solutions become contagious.
As a social security recipient I thank you young folks and envy your youth. But hurry up and get a job, I'm starting to worry about my entitlement.
Actually I think today's youth have great potential and will rise to whatever rhe occasion requires. I know that most can't read or write, but those that can will lead the rest. I have four grandchildren, quite young, and expect that they will have a young life similar to mine. No money, outdoor plumbing, and hard work. They will also succeed as I did and will appreciate themselves for doing so. Society will be different but I don't expect a successful lasting dictatorship.
We need more Libertarian minded young people down here (Oz) and have plenty of space / resources to accomodate. I think everyone would be happy to see our immigration quota crowded out by young Libertarian minded Americans.
Education is still a "right" and is free for every citizen (private schools also available at low cost as they are subsidized to same degree as public schools)
Great weather year round... what are you waiting for?
This: http://www.libertybelles.org/articles/knifeban.htm
Precisely why we need more Libertarian minded people.
The article is a little exaggerated ... you can still buy knives legally (not switch blades, double edged daggers etc..) and you can also own guns (but not for self defence - only sport shooting) so long as you get a licence and attend your club once a month etc..
Not trying to defend it ... I think it stinks and want to the right to own firearms reinstated.
Firestarter http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wmin5WkOuPw
MUST SEE! MAX KEISER : "HIS HEAD SHOULD BE BOUNCING DOWN THE CAPTOL STEPS!" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rZiWd0bGAdc
JP: Some Heads Are Gonna Roll http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DWwl8JldQOA
Crash JP Morgan buy Silver Karaoke On Sex Pistols http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FwtXZ4yWhaM
Max Keiser: "And I Want My Scalps" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R3dtuzdd9ek
Awesome piece and historically accurate. At least this will give TPTB fresh ground beef for future military adventures....
I'm surprised the powers that be aren't doing a full throttle pot legalization campaign. what a great way to anesthetize the masses.
Big Pharma already gots lots of pills for anesthesizin'. How else could millions run up trillions of unsustainable debt worldwide ?? On a straight mind ?? Unmedicated ?? Non-delusional ??
THE UNITED STATE OF ANTIDEPRESSION
brought to you by Pfizer, Inc.
& Purdue Pharma (makers of Oxycontin)
Just saw this on my local news...
http://www.13wham.com/news/local/story/Gantt-Defends-Double-Dipping/iCX4...
Will summarize for those who don't want to follow the link:
Fantastic. And he was downright hostile to the reporter during the "I'm not talking to you" portion.
How exactly does one earn free money by working at the same place for 40 years?
a NY taxpayer should put a bullet in his head and save the taxpayers $175,000 a year (not including Free Lifetime Health)....actaully should all those who GRANDFATHERED themselves, that way we are only left with those who came after 1995....its never a good idea, to make yourself more valuable dead than alive
The Lost Generation is arriving. Welcome to the Great Depression.
Crash jpmorgan buy silver in the mix.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HcmxMFmVasc&feature=related
WE DO NOT HAVE TO BAIL OUT BANKERS!!!.
Rothchild, Rockefeller, the queen of england have a printing press, it is unbelieveable.
We have to take their wealth, because the got the wealth from an illegal printing press.
Yes. All those self-proclaimed "royalty" must go. And the only way they'll go is when they are hanged. So hang them, and take whatever they have. As you said, they stole it. They never produced one good or valuable thing in their lives, just tons of misery and hopelessness.
First of all, it doesn't matter, raising tution will spoil the credit system. It will look good as the first round of loans is issued, but then people will decide not to waste their monie on an education they could recieve with a library card and a way of life that is found in any downtown city; due to cost, the schools will not generate any revenue. The whole tax system is such; it is all about pain threshold. We are at the threshhold now; taxes, gas, gold, food, even silver now. The pain threshold will not allow people to enter the system, and the firms will fold; the schools will fold. Harvard is already under now.
Austerity is the other side of the coin. Raising cost but decreasing input is economic suicide. With resource inputs decreasing the only input left is talent, and who has that? Strippers may have been more than a dime a dozen when flying to Vegas costed the same as a night out anywhere else in America. This way of life is doe and it ain't just studnets. Who is paying for pensions? It will be a death spiral down, and and nothing stopping it except true grit.
The weak will be taken advantage of, of course. What is your point? This is a corporate takeover and it has little to do with young and old; it is right vs wrong, it is person vs system, as it has been, but now it gets real.
Corporate Takeover:
http://lhmarketwatch.blogspot.com/2010/12/corporate-takeover.html
fucking government & wall st !!! as my sainted GRANDMA JOSEPHINE ( call her GRANDMA JO, born 1915, god rest her soul ) ALWAYS USED TO SAY :
" NEVER TRUST THE GOVERNMENT & DO NOT GO INTO THE STOCK MARKET " ..... & she said this until her dying day @ age 85 .
If the tax burden gets too high, then the real economy will go underground. Its a law of human nature.
The younger generation will have the satisfaction of watching all those maggots die hideous deaths. I'd like to see some of that myself. Where's old dick cheney? Feeling poorly in stasis I hope.
Liche Lord Cheney will outlast us all. He already has no pulse yet roams the land of the living, feeding on the blood of the young and innocent.
We should mail him to Nigeria.
BYOKY
It's not going to be that bad. The policy of schools back here is that they pick up as many students to get govt contribution high and then just kick them out after failing to tell them anything new about the subject. Whatever keeps the boat afloat and the tenures coming in. And the new policy? Enlistment fee to boost this effect even further, true quant style.
Mr. Black is quite inconsistent: the other day he claimed that new technologies will save the world. Guess what: all these technologies are based on"expensive academic theories". Let us see. The UK government cut University subsidies and allowed Universities to raise fees to compensate it. Now, they need to abolish student loans and everything will be Honkey Dori (according to people like Peter Schiff): Universities will be forced to reduce fees and everybody will be happy there after. Of course, they will need to cut salaries and other benefits to all these eggheads who are teaching there and doing research but who cares?
Of course, the best of "eggheads" will leave the country (academic market probably the most fluid in the world) and you are going to get what you deserve: mediocre education (and the country- degeneration in fundamental research). In other words, under all circumstances you will get what are you paying for.
The posts of Mr. Black are getting more frantic every day and they just prove how destructive anarchism is. What kind of advice is he giving to the youth? To proceed to places some of which are run by criminal gangs? The only "opportunity" they will find over there are the various forms of criminal activity.
Of course, college education is not for everybody but to suggest that avoiding it improves the chances in life is absolute nonsense.
The major goal of websites like the one running by Mr. Black is to sell
various "products and services" which under normal cirmustances make no sense. So, they create their own reality based on nightmares and false prophecies...
After all, you need to ask what makes Mr. Black and others visioneries?
Their unsatiable desire to get as many green bucks as possible from us "suckers"
who still have a disposable income or something else?
It's not "almost anarchistic," it's anarchistic.
Government around the world is, was, and always
will be broken.
People better get their "worst case scenario" plans
together now, or they'll be wishing they did when it's too
late.
And worst case isn't "hide out on some land with my rifle."
The worst case is that there's nowhere to hide.
Jeez, is it Doomsday today? I don't think I've seen so many articles on the same theme in one day, even on ZH. The bandwagon is full, and they're all singing the same tune, although this one is a little off key with the "Go forth children, and live like Lords of the Flies!".
I have two daughters in high school. I posted this article to their Facebook walls and asked them to please share with friends. This is the truth about their generation. As United States citizens they are in a dying empire. They need to know that. Yes, there will be some opportunity if they stick around for the inevitable collapse, but there will also be immense dangers. They have unique skills, talents, interests and hopefully a long, fascinating journey ahead. I believe they need to see the world and decide for themselves where their best opportunities are. It may not be Mongolia, but who knows? My husband and I are college-educated, but college in the US seems like a piss-poor investment right now. Perhaps a gap year with a trip around the world that opens their eyes to entrepreneurial possibilities and maybe even scholarship opportunities abroad is a better answer. If these precious metal options keep paying off, maybe we can leave this summer!
Not to pry, but are you that creepy mom who facebookandotherwisestalks her kids? You don't ride shotgun on their dates do you? You don't "hang out" with their friends do you? Not telling you how to do your job as a parent, but in my experience, similar parents (especially fathers) drove their daughters to alcohol fueled exhibitionism and promiscuity in college... offers that were promptly accepted...
PS, they're not going to share it with their friends (that is weird and uncool). Sometime in the near future, I hope to embarass the shit out of my children too. Boundaries are overrated.
the bipartisan senate omnibus pork bill is dead in the senate. 1708pt 12-16-08. will this be a seminal moment in the history of congress' overspending?
Too right, as soon as I get my degree in physics I'm leaving the UK for either Germany (if they've left the EU) or Australia. Nevermind refusing to pay for the national debt, I'm refusing to pay my uni debt, lets see the bankers get it off me when I'm on the other side of the planet.
I've had just about enough of living in the anglo-american empire seeing my taxes go towards Isreal, corrupt politicians and bullets for killing innocent muslim children with. Worst thing is NOBODY CARES.
Bye bye! I hope all you ignorant fucks kill each other. In 3 years time obviously.
Why Germany or Australia why not Egypt or the PA or better yet Saudi Arabia or Afghanistan. Lots of physics going on there, well mostly ballistic calculations..
The article is generally good advice... unless you want to do better and kill off the elitist slime that destroyed the world and is enslaving mankind.