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Guest Post: The Country Is Over

Tyler Durden's picture




 

Originally posted at Monty Pelerin's World blog,

Data are hard to deal with when your vision is on the wrong side of it. Those wanting to claim there is a recovery underway are having just this problem. These people either have no understanding of economics or they believe falsely that they can inflate “animal spirits” with their hyped reports and that will initiate a recovery.

There will not be an economic recovery given the economic policies of this country. A recovery is not unlikely, I would argue it is closer to impossible if not impossible. The reasons for this position are not complicated. In short, the nation has become an out-of-control welfare state that is rapidly destroying the incentives to work or create jobs. Government policies appear designed toward this end. One doesn’t need a high IQ or  an advanced degree in economics to understand the problems.

There are innumerable factors responsible for the decline of the US. Only three important ones will convey why the economy is dying:

1. The rule of law and property rights are under attack.

 cyprusbankrobbery(2)

What do you really own? The depositors in Cyprus believed they owned what was in their bank accounts. They found out otherwise. Bondholders of General Motors believed they were protected by bankruptcy laws when GM was bankrupted by the government. They found out otherwise. Do you own your pension plans and IRAs. Well you always believed you did except now there is talk about confiscating a portion or all of these funds.

How much of your income do you own? For those doing well, let’s say 60%. But that portion is under attack with the “need” for higher taxes and “fair share” gobbledegook. What about Social Security? Although the government sold it as a retirement policy and told you it is yours, the government says in fine print it is not. That is their excuse for not treating it as a liability on their balance sheet.

The fact is that the rules are being changed at will by the side who has lots of guns. The number of rules and laws that have been changed or ignored in the past several years makes one wonder what laws will remain. We are  approaching the point where there are no rules which means there can be no society. Without cooperation, markets will cease to function efficiently or perhaps at all. Millions of people will starve to death under such conditions.

2. Obamacare has raised costs

The costs associated with Obamacare are still not known or calculable. The rules are still being written. Already there are thousands of pages. Even though we passed it as Speaker Pelosi suggested as a means to find out what was in it, we still don’t know as the rules are still being made up.

For sure the program is driving up the costs of medical care and driving down the quality. That is exactly the opposite of what was promised. Business firms face great uncertainty as to what this mandate will do to their costs and operating procedures. Obamacare is rising the cost of employees. When you penalize something, you get less of it. That is a prime reason why there is no employment recovery in this country.

Employers have frozen their hiring until clarity develops. The development of clarity is no assurance that they will change their behavior. If the costs are too high (and they appear to be for many smaller businesses who create the most jobs), then hiring will not return.

The effect on hiring is only one negative. Full-time workers are being made part-time in order that they be exempted from the Obamacare mandate. These steps are not something business wants to do, it is something they must do in order to survive.

3. Government policies have made the dole more lucrative than work

As we make it easier to get unemployment benefits for longer time periods, more people take advantage of the system. So too with food stamps and disability. All programs are at or near record levels in what is supposed to be four years into an economic recovery. For many, the benefits of becoming a government dependent exceed what they can earn. One study reported that a family of four, collecting all the benefits for which they were entitled, would have to earn $65,000 per annum to have the same after-tax purchasing power.

If you are a product of the government schools and are legal to work (i.e., have skills enough that you are affordable at the minimum wage or higher), at what point do you realize that there is no need to go through the hassle of actual work. You can live pretty well by staying home and taking advantage of the entitlements available to you. That is exactly what a larger and larger percentage of the population are realizing. In many cases, it is economically irrational to work.

This behavior creates a social pathology that only worsens over time. Kids learn from their parents that work is not necessary and the many ways to game the system. In this regard, look for this problem to become worse over time unless these programs are cut back.

There Can Be No Recovery

Despite all you hear coming from the government’s media megaphone, there is no economic recovery underway, nor can there be one. The policies in place ensure that one will not happen. Economics is not a top-down science as Keynesians and politicians want you to believe. You can throw as many Fed dollars into the system or devise innumerable government stimulus programs. These are all top-down. Economics is a bottom-up process that starts with individual decisions and behavior. Individuals respond to available choices and incentives. They act in their own self-interest not in the manner in which some government planner wants them to act. Top-down programs do not affect the incentives of the individual decision-makers.

We raise the costs on those who work (higher taxes) and the businessmen who provide the jobs. One of the basic laws of human nature is that when you penalize something or make it less pleasant, people will want less of it. It is not a mystery why business is not hiring and the number of workers is declining. The return to both is declining as a result of government policies.

We raise the rewards for not working. Another basic law of human behavior is that when you increase rewards for a particular kind of behavior, you will get more of it. It is not a mystery why more people are choosing the dole than ever before. Government has encouraged them to do by providing higher rewards.

Add in the regime uncertainty associated with unstable or unpredictable laws and regulations and you have the perfect storm. There is no incentive to hire. Business hunkers down not knowing what is coming their way next. They understand they are targets of this Administration. It is unlikely that there will be any improvement on this fron while Obama remains in office. This behavior has nothing to do with politics. Even businesses headed by Democrats are behaving in this fashion. It is self-interest as in the desire to survive that motivates this behavior.

Why The Economy is Dying

As government grows the private sector shrinks. As the private sector shrinks there are fewer goods and services produced (government produces no goods and few services). I believe it was Dick Armey who described this situation with the wagon analogy: there are more people riding in the wagon and fewer pulling the wagon. As the wagon becomes heavier, the remaining pullers must work harder to move it.

The pullers must support the riders. Government does not support the riders or anyone else for that matter. Whatever government has it has taken from the pullers. Whatever it doles out it must get from taxes, borrowing or printing new money. Regardless of which means it uses, it is all coming from the pullers. They pay the borrowing back. They have less as a result of higher taxes. They are made poorer by the rising prices from the printing of money.

As the burdens increase on the pullers and the benefits increase for the riders, more pullers decide to ride. The truly creative and talented can always make enough money to continue to work rather than ride. However, when their efforts can be expended in other countries that penalize them less, at some point they no longer pull the wagon. They leave the country to climes where they are treated better.

Each increase in government spending means requires more money from the private sector. That means greater distortions in the incentive-disincentive calculus that produces fewer people pulling the wagon. Now fewer people must support more non-producers. Every time someone gets in the wagon, the burden on the productive sector increases. More must be extracted from a smaller group to serve the increasing riders.

That is what is happening in this country. If it is not reversed, the economy will stagnate and eventually implode. This conclusion is dependent upon nothing more than simple arithmetic. How bad is the imbalance today? Tyler Durden provides some information (my emboldening in red added):

The punchline: 110 million privately employed workers; 88 million welfare recipients and government workers and rising rapidly.

And since nothing has changed in the past two years, and in fact the situation has gotten progressively (pardon the pun) worse, here is our conclusion on this topic from two years ago:

We have been writing for over a year, how the very top of America’s social order steals from the middle class each and every day. Now we finally know that the very bottom of the entitlement food chain also makes out like a bandit compared to that idiot American who actually works and pays their taxes. One can only also hope that in addition to seeing their disposable income be eaten away by a kleptocratic entitlement state, that the disappearing middle class is also selling off its weaponry. Because if it isn’t, and if it finally decides it has had enough, the outcome will not be surprising at all: it will be the same old that has occurred in virtually every revolution in the history of the world to date.

But for now, just stick head in sand, and pretend all is good. Self-deception is now the only thing left for the entire insolvent entitlement-addicted world.

Mr. Durden’s article is worthwhile and informative. I encourage you to read it in its entirety, including the PDF attached.

 

Is The Decline Inevitable?

lawrence

Of course not. As Lawrence of Arabia stated: “Nothing is written.”

The Economic Solution

The solution to solving the problem is quite simple for an economist. Merely reverse the process. Make it attractive for people to jump out of the wagon and begin pulling. For businesses, make it attractive for them to hire. Make it unattractive to be on the dole. Reverse the growth of government and you increase the size of the private sector. More capital is made available for productive activities rather than being squandered by government. Talent stops leaving the country when they are treated more favorably here, whether this be via lower taxes or less onerous regulatory burdens. Then, get government out of the way and let markets solve the problem.

The Political Barrier

For the political class, the solution borders on the impossible. Politicians have bribed the citizenry with goodies for votes. They have sold the notion that government is responsible for all good things. The economic solution runs counter to everything that politicians have peddled. Further it reduces their power and ability to retain office, at least in a manner in which they are accustomed. It shrinks their perquisites. It shrinks their vote-buying ability. In short, it is virtually impossible for them to go along with such a solution.

What politicians thrive on is what created the current problems. Reversing this behavior is alien to them. They would not know how to behave under such conditions. Yet the economic solution is the only solution!

Do I expect politicians to change and save the country? No! Is it possible they could? Probably not, but “nothing is written.”

 

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Sun, 04/07/2013 - 13:39 | 3418763 francis_sawyer
francis_sawyer's picture

It's the main reason I decided NOT to have children...

~~~

Maybe they'll name an ELEMENTARY SCHOOL after me...

Sun, 04/07/2013 - 18:19 | 3419749 jimmytorpedo
jimmytorpedo's picture

,...with the brains of our children.

Fixed it for you.

Sun, 04/07/2013 - 13:33 | 3418746 Smegley Wanxalot
Smegley Wanxalot's picture

POSident Omabo is going to take a cue from Portugal and pay Social Security in T-bills while confiscating any hard assets to buy off illegals and anyone else in his voting base.

Sun, 04/07/2013 - 13:45 | 3418770 Bastiat
Bastiat's picture

Makes no sense: why not just sell T-Bills to the Fed for FRNs and pay SS cash? 

Sun, 04/07/2013 - 13:58 | 3418774 Smegley Wanxalot
Smegley Wanxalot's picture

Since when does making sense have anything to do with the government?  Point here is it extends leverage and hardship over more people who are then forced to beg to their govt masters for relief, who then use that as an excuse to steal ever more private property to waste as they will.

Sun, 04/07/2013 - 14:22 | 3418873 Arrowflinger
Arrowflinger's picture

They are and will.

Sun, 04/07/2013 - 17:26 | 3419483 NuYawkFrankie
NuYawkFrankie's picture

Ditto T-Bills for 401Ks & IRAs.

Enjoy.

Sun, 04/07/2013 - 13:37 | 3418750 cherry picker
cherry picker's picture

This is about more than economics.  Money is only part of it.

Blind faith in .gov is the other.

It is against my personal faith or belief to torture, hold people indefinitly without trial or recourse, invade countries without sufficient cause, justify murder on "suspects", tell others how to live their lives, stick my nose where it doesn't belong or confiscate property or homes if taxes are owed as a lien on a potential sale or death would be sufficient.

It is obvious my faith and that of the government does not coincide.

I am only one man and I will follow my faith, not what some csar tells me how it should be.

Sun, 04/07/2013 - 14:55 | 3418982 CH1
CH1's picture

Blind faith in .gov is the other.

Yes, thank you... and the far more important part.

Sun, 04/07/2013 - 18:34 | 3419818 archon
archon's picture

You are very close to the truth of this...  All the freedoms that make western civilization great are heresy to them - individual freedoms, economic freedom, and religious freedom.  The people who would enslave us worship in the Temple of the State.  Politics is their religion.  The party leaders are their high priests and archbishops.  There is a reason why they insist on the separation of Church and State - because their church IS the State, and it therefore becomes one of their highest priorities to deprive the rest of us of our ability to excercise our faith in the same arena as they exercise theirs - in public.  The "public good" is their doctrine that deprives us of our individual freedoms, while giving themselves unfettered freedom in all affairs of the State in the name of the "public good".   "Fairness" is their doctrine that deprives us of our economic freedom, by making the State the final arbiter of what constitutes "fair" economic behavior.  "All animals are created equal, but some animals are created more equal than others."

Sun, 04/07/2013 - 13:36 | 3418751 JustObserving
JustObserving's picture

As Lawrence of Arabia stated: “Nothing is written.”

I suppose death and taxes are not written and you can live forever paying no taxes.  

US debts and unfunded liabilities are $450,000 a person and rising $26,000 a year.  The bankruptcy of the US is written like your death and taxes.  If you are looking for eternal truth in movies, you are liable to be disappointed.

Sun, 04/07/2013 - 18:39 | 3419832 lakecity55
lakecity55's picture

Lawrence was contradicting the Koran.

Mon, 04/08/2013 - 04:31 | 3421040 The Second Rule
The Second Rule's picture

Yes but as you recall, the Koran (and no I'm not a Muslim) eventually had the last word. The Bedouin man Lawrence saved on the Sun's Anvil was ultimately killed in a petty dispute in Aqaba. Auda abu Tayi, played by Anthony Quinn, said with more than a touch of irony, "Well, it was written then." Now how much of that was true and how much was creative writing I don't know. But it made for a good zing! So maybe there is some truth in movies.

Sun, 04/07/2013 - 13:39 | 3418758 scraping_by
scraping_by's picture

It's pretty sad trying to make poor people the enemy. 

A quick look at the cash flows you can see foreign debt, pointless speculation, and dark markets sucking the money out of every economy on earth.

People on public assitance are consumers, but most middlemen are consumers who arguably don't do anything productive. Same difference.

St Ronny rode to power turning unfortunate into malevolent. And even if every single welfare mother bought vodka with food stamps, it woulnd't be nearly as useless as bidding up the price on a Jackson Pollack.

Distract and divide...

Sun, 04/07/2013 - 14:07 | 3418834 Ballin D
Ballin D's picture

do you work for the government by any chance?

Sun, 04/07/2013 - 14:46 | 3418948 scraping_by
scraping_by's picture

Never have. But I've never worked for a right wing think tank either.

And, indeed, most defenders of austerity never have either. Which means most of the kill-the-poor posts on this and other sites are doing the billionaire's work for free. 

Why are you working for free? And for people who could certainly pay you, and pay you well, for defending their looting?

 

 

Sun, 04/07/2013 - 14:28 | 3418885 PubliusTacitus
PubliusTacitus's picture

Poor people are the enemy, and there are a lot more of them now thanks to Obama’s policies.

 

It’s pretty sad demonizing the productive segment of society.  It’s also dangerous, and pointless.

Sun, 04/07/2013 - 14:49 | 3418960 scraping_by
scraping_by's picture

Productive? If you imagine trading derivatives of CDOs based on fraudulently issued mortgages, for instance, is productive, you've drunk more Kool-Aid than the average zombie.

 

If you think there's some connection between someone who puts in a day's work on the farm, factory, store, or office and the MOU flipping pieces of paper, you're right. It's called parasite and host, and I'll give you one guess on which is which.

Sun, 04/07/2013 - 18:29 | 3419807 PubliusTacitus
PubliusTacitus's picture

LOL

 

News flash: the average productive household does not trade CMOs or double-reverse-no-touch-lookback options.

 

The “useless” paper you laughingly rail against was responsible for creation of the largest and most useful financial system in world history, creating more wealth and increasing the standard of living for the most people in world history.

 

Was there malfeasance? You bet, there are bad actors in every industry.  It’s nowhere near the level of paranoia here, though Corzine definitely sticks out as a giant financial zit.

 

And let’s not forget who drove the fraudulent mortgages by destroying lending standards: government, specifically leftist government.

 

Is Joe Main Street getting screwed?  Yeah, by government, not your imaginary paper pushers (though they acted as a distribution network for crap).

 

You need to be far more careful about who your actual enemies are.

 

Sun, 04/07/2013 - 13:40 | 3418761 steve from virginia
steve from virginia's picture

 

 

 

Every weekend there is this bilge from some self-describe Austrian nincompoop. Good grief!

 

"... the nation has become an out-of-control welfare state that is rapidly destroying the incentives to work or create jobs. Government policies appear designed toward this end."

 

What jobs are going to be created? For whom? Robots?

 

"As government grows the private sector shrinks." As the private sector shrinks there are fewer goods and services produced (government produces no goods and few services)."

 

Dumbass isn't paying attention: the country is inundated with worthless 'goods and services' most of which do not pay for themselves.

 

The US has 300 million motor vehicles ... maybe 5% earn the operator a livelihood, the rest are luxuries. Add the required infrastructure and the costs are breaking. Right now the country cannot afford fuel which becomes too costly due to exhaustion of fuel supplies.

 

Pellerin offers the ordinary prescription: get rid of the pensioners to support the precious automobiles.

 

Sorry! It costs $100/barrel to extract new crude. Brent @ $104.12. When the cost = price the game is over, dudes.

 

 

Sun, 04/07/2013 - 13:54 | 3418788 Umh
Umh's picture

When cost = price then price will go up.

Sun, 04/07/2013 - 14:03 | 3418817 scraping_by
scraping_by's picture

No. The production will cease as long as it's losing money.  The bid up process rarely works as most products are fungible.

 

After food, water, and air, you can always find a way around.

Sun, 04/07/2013 - 13:59 | 3418800 shuckster
shuckster's picture

"Sorry! It costs $100/barrel to extract new crude. Brent @ $104.12. When the cost = price the game is over, dudes."

 

Are you referring to a specific region? According to Reuters it goes from $6 to $113 per barrel. The EIA has it as about $30 per barrell 

Sun, 04/07/2013 - 14:21 | 3418835 alien-IQ
alien-IQ's picture

You seem to have overlooked the fact that this article is written by an "economist". Facts are not pertinent in this field of voodoo. The only thing that matter is that the numbers remain "flexible" enough to suit any argument put forth by one of their club members.

Remember: Economics is NOT Science...it's Alchemy.

 

PS: This reply was meant for the comment by Steve from VA.

Sun, 04/07/2013 - 14:23 | 3418876 Arrowflinger
Arrowflinger's picture

Give a Nobel in Econ to a leading tungsten- coater.

 

Sat, 04/13/2013 - 05:20 | 3421044 The Second Rule
The Second Rule's picture

Old MacDonald had a well. EROEI.

bitchez.

Sun, 04/07/2013 - 14:33 | 3418900 Rustysilver
Rustysilver's picture

Steve from virginia,

You must live near a metro stop.

Normally you start with the evil automobile in a first paragraph.

 

Sun, 04/07/2013 - 15:12 | 3419033 steve from virginia
steve from virginia's picture

 

 

 

 

@umh:

 

"When cost = price then price will go up."

 

Yr not paying attention, dude! Everyone's broke and underwater. The price is the price b/c that is what people can afford.

 

@shuckster:

 

"Are you referring to a specific region? According to Reuters it goes from $6 to $113 per barrel. The EIA has it as about $30 per barrel."

 

You mean the Reuters' article that has marginal costs @ $100/bbl?

 

Add Russian extracrion is declining now ...

 

@ Rusty:

 

"Normally you start with the evil automobile in a first paragraph."

 

If you would get your head our of your ass you would realize there are 800 million of them ... they suck down fuel something fierce! Tha same fuel that puts heat in your house and breakfast into your pie hole. The fucking automobiles are mindless metal monsters competing with everything else ... to destroy everything else! Fuel sucked down forever ... for what gain, exactly?

 

For the sensation of mindlessly rolling over a flat surface ... something like working in a sweatshop ...

 

@Gary:

 

"Do you really expect consumption to only come from the need for people to earn a livelihood?"

 

Guess what? If the consumption doesn't pay for itself the payment is in the form of debt. Maybe you haven't been paying attention, we have a gigantic debt problem ... caused by unproductive consumption on the industrial scale.

 

We stupid, greedy humanoids take ... and take and take ... but never give anything back. Sooner or later that strategy catches up ... and it has, now.

 

Time for people to think simple physics and skip the 'economic theory' which are all comforting lies.

 

 


Sun, 04/07/2013 - 14:44 | 3418935 GaryNeville
GaryNeville's picture

It costing $100/barrel to extract new crude is an inaccurrate sweeping statement which you can't back up Steve..

The point  about the 'US having 300 million motor vehicles.. 5% earning the operator a livelihood offers nothing'. Do you really expect consumption to only come from the need for people to earn a livelihood? One of the  of main causes of the problems the world face (unemployment etc.) has been the lack of aggregate demand (globally) over the last few decades. The US has done a great job of 'picking up the slack' - although it has had to do so by taking on enormous debt. The worlds current global economic system needs demand - it need consumers to spend on luxuries - this demand should create employment and jobs, thus creating demand in a self feeding cycle. The problem is this cycle breaks when there are global imbalances in production vs consumption - in the case of the US, lost employment and wages have been replaced by debt.  

There are severe structural problems which do need adressing but pointing the finger at consumers (people buying cars/ luxury goods) is rediculous. The global economy needs this demand - if peak oil is a problem then we need to innovate and utilise new technologies, use new energy sources and vehicles which aren't powered by petrol.

 

Sun, 04/07/2013 - 15:50 | 3419172 Lednbrass
Lednbrass's picture

Out of curiosity Steve, are you "Steve from Northern VA" or Norfolk Naval Base area living in an area entirely subsidized by Uncle Sugar?

Sun, 04/07/2013 - 13:46 | 3418766 Petrus Romanus
Petrus Romanus's picture

"That is what is happening in this country. If it is not reversed, the economy will stagnate and eventually implode." I believe the economy is past stagnation, more along the line of decomposition at this point. As far as reversing the process, that can only be accomplished by allowing the TBTF to fail. But, that will cause chaos (most likely) and require a whole lot of people to take responsibility for the situation. Which, of course, they will never do willingly. So, back to the propaganda meme of recovery and green shoots.

 

ETA- Allowing TBTF to fail being the first step on the road to recovery. With each passing day of propping them up the height of the free fall becomes higher.

Sun, 04/07/2013 - 13:53 | 3418767 maskone909
maskone909's picture
Solve it the Chicago way. im not talking about deep dish pizzas and hotdogs.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xOvH-7lcjb0
Sun, 04/07/2013 - 13:45 | 3418773 disabledvet
disabledvet's picture

there is only one reason to put money in a bank and that is "so it's safe and secure." people who put their money in a bank in order to earn a "superior rate of return" are playing with fire. with Government now simply "stealing deposits and calling it a tax" i think the die has been cast. in America they called it a "land grab" back in the 1800's. This time around it appears we have a "money grab." but by taking it directly from the depositor via his bank deposit (how does the Government even know how much money is even in there?) it puts the very reason for the existence of a bank in doubt. sorry but no way am i buying and/or owning a European bank stock right now.

Sun, 04/07/2013 - 14:18 | 3418864 Karlus
Karlus's picture

So what happens if people cash out into stacks? I would imagine that the grab would need to be hyperinflation at that point...if you are leaving money in the bank/IRA/not in the mattress then its a pretty tempting target.

Didn't Dear Leader say $250K was enough anyway? Let me be clear, make no mistake?

Sun, 04/07/2013 - 13:51 | 3418784 Billy Shears
Billy Shears's picture

America has become the most dangerous country in the history of the world...ever! And most Americans haven't a clue.

Sun, 04/07/2013 - 13:54 | 3418789 CunnyFunt
Sun, 04/07/2013 - 13:56 | 3418792 jusman
jusman's picture

Yawn......tell me something we DON't know!

Sun, 04/07/2013 - 13:58 | 3418799 Bearwagon
Bearwagon's picture

the neutron decays into a proton, an electron and an antineutrino. How about that? ;)

Sun, 04/07/2013 - 14:07 | 3418829 jusman
jusman's picture

What about the God particle?  Won't that save us all?

Sun, 04/07/2013 - 14:27 | 3418884 noless
noless's picture

a more thorough understanding of quantum mechanics could in fact grant us many technologies which could "save" us from the problems our last batch of understandings released.

Sun, 04/07/2013 - 13:56 | 3418793 Albertarocks
Albertarocks's picture

"The solution to solving the problem is quite simple for an economist. Merely reverse the process. Make it attractive for people to jump out of the wagon and begin pulling."

That is absolutely true.  But does anybody think the ruling elite have any ideas of allowing that to happen?  Of course not.  Laws are deliberately being passed almost on a weekly basis that tread hard on the peoples' rights.  Does anybody think that is by accident?  Of course it's no accident.  The decline of the USA is deliberate, planned, and being executed exactly as per plan.  The global banking mafia must be stopped.  Hopefully when the damn bursts they'll be the first ones to drown in the flood.  Bitcoin is clearly the people's revolutionary reply to what happened in Cyprus and is being planned for repeats all around the world.  The current banking system and fiat monetary system seem doomed to finally fail.  Pray lord that the bankers go down with that stinking ship of their own making.

The world can start fresh without those bastards and be a hell of a lot more productive and successful, with no wars at all as soon as the world is rid of the elite banking families and their theiving ways.  Jesus H. Christ knew what the hell he was doing when he whipped the bankers' fat asses and sent them sprawling in a heap outside the temple.  I'm not particularly religious but damn, the message even in the bible is pretty darned clear when we recognize that that event is the only account of Jesus ever using 'physical force' in any of the Gospels.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/But_to_bring_a_sword

Jesus, are you busy right now?  We could sure use a hand from an experienced guy like yourself if you don't mind. 

Thanks and best regards,

Humanity

 

Sun, 04/07/2013 - 14:22 | 3418877 Canadian Dirtlump
Canadian Dirtlump's picture

salutations from airdrie.

Mon, 04/08/2013 - 00:22 | 3420799 Albertarocks
Albertarocks's picture

Well whataya know!   Hola amigo.  Calgary here.  Thanks for letting me know.  I'll make note of that.  Wishing you the best.

Sun, 04/07/2013 - 13:58 | 3418796 Meat Hammer
Meat Hammer's picture

Unplug from this reality and create your own.  

Sun, 04/07/2013 - 14:12 | 3418841 realtick
realtick's picture

good idea

Sun, 04/07/2013 - 13:59 | 3418798 docj
docj's picture

Hipsters on Food Stamps: http://thelastpsychiatrist.com/2012/11/hipsters_on_food_stamps.html

To summarize, "we" convince 17-year olds that "college is the only way to go" to live "The American Dream", then we pay (well into 5-figures) for their useless liberal arts degree (sure, they're loans, but they can't pay them back, so "we" pay in the end), now "we" "pay" them to do nothing so they don't "cause trouble".

American society has conned nearly half of a generation (20-somethings) into "careers" that are useless by design. And now "society" has to support them.

It's all good, until the money runs out. And its starting to.

Sun, 04/07/2013 - 14:03 | 3418805 ebworthen
ebworthen's picture

Any possible solution has to start with the restoration of the rule-of-law; property rights, right to deposits and bonds, and making already taxed entitlements sacrosanct.

Food Stamps, Welfare, extended unemployment and the like are primarily to maintain the peace and secondarily to fund the crony capitalist infrastructure.  Hungry people demand justice, fed people can be distracted and herded.

Unless they first shut down the TBTF banks, stop paying Chase Bank to run EBT/SNAP, Unemployment, and Welfare accounts, jail Corzine, stop propping mortgage lenders and housing, and levitating the equities markets there is no political solution.

It is simple, enforce the law, because without rights the individual has no incentive to be productive or save.

Sun, 04/07/2013 - 14:59 | 3419003 The Abstraction...
The Abstraction of Justice's picture

Okay, but everyone on welfare has been driven to destitution. The education system has been dumbed down. Immigrants have been brought in to sabotage the careers of the natives. 

 

Step 1.

 Hang the banksters, the Politically Correct, the oligarchs, the immigration pornographers.

 

Step 2.

Send home 90% of the immigrants.

 

Step 3.

Give homes, formerly belonging to immigrants, to the homeless.

Sun, 04/07/2013 - 14:09 | 3418808 alien-IQ
alien-IQ's picture

This article seems to be suffering from the dangerously delusional belief that endless growth can exist in a world of limited resources. Why doesn't any "economist" argue for a period of no growth as a natural progression of things?

Let's face it, there comes a time when you simply do not need any more shit. After all, how many TV's can you watch? How many cars can you drive? How many houses can you live in?

Sun, 04/07/2013 - 14:10 | 3418839 realtick
realtick's picture

good point

Sun, 04/07/2013 - 14:38 | 3418920 Rustysilver
Rustysilver's picture

Alien-IQ,

That's why John McCain does even bather to remember how many houses he owns.

Sun, 04/07/2013 - 14:57 | 3418991 The Abstraction...
The Abstraction of Justice's picture

What are the limits of our resources when there is enough thorium in the ground to power the human race for 100,000 years? With enough energy you can synthesize organics from the very air (google methanol synthesis and methanol polymerization)

Sun, 04/07/2013 - 17:19 | 3419437 scrappy
scrappy's picture

Houses are so full of crap that people rent storage lockers for more crap!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=65a7jKuPZJk

 

Sun, 04/07/2013 - 14:01 | 3418809 gatorengineer
gatorengineer's picture

Minor points

Obama care has only fractionally kicked in.....

The Dole is the only way to pacify Obamas base,  until they are needed to rise against the Middle class (read anyone with a job), they must be pacified.

The NWO order if far from done, infact it is rising faster than ever... See Bennys deposits in euro banks, IMF involvement, and UN gun treaties to name just a few....

Look for a Pan US-EU fiscal union by 2020 latest.  Political union probably picking up the british commonwealth by 2030.....

Also dont kid yourself, EX Texas, there is no state with major popoluation that stands against Amerikka

Sun, 04/07/2013 - 14:03 | 3418811 Caviar Emptor
Caviar Emptor's picture

The-dole-is-more -lucrative-than- work meme is a non-sequitor. If nearly half the country did not have support they'd be out on the street robbing the other half. 

The dole keeps the cattle quiet. Else they'd stampede

Sun, 04/07/2013 - 14:14 | 3418854 aicohn
aicohn's picture

No.  The dole perpetuates the dole.

And when the dole becomes a majority, they tyrranize the productive.  The productive the join the dole.

That's the process at work in this process and how (other than being the antichrist)  Obama got reelected despite his miserable record.

It will continue until the country falls completely to tatters, which shouldn't be long.

Sun, 04/07/2013 - 15:02 | 3418977 The Abstraction...
The Abstraction of Justice's picture

'The dole perpetuates the dole.'

 

A lie...the government creates dependency culture, when it helps consolidate the wealth of the masses to a tiny elite. Welfare is just the slow kill.

 

Hard to be self-sufficient, when immigrants have been brought in to ruin your career prospects, houses are built without space to grow food and land usurers have taken 95% of the houses from people, so that rent has to be paid month by month. Add to that the 70% taxes and levies and you will see why people cannot run their own businesses.

 

Dependency is built into the very architecture.

Sun, 04/07/2013 - 14:51 | 3418966 The Abstraction...
The Abstraction of Justice's picture

The 'dole for everyone' is what all advanced robotized societies aim for, either that or eugenicsocracy.

Sun, 04/07/2013 - 14:06 | 3418824 Arrowflinger
Arrowflinger's picture

The human "servers" have been being hit even harder. That was the point of the article posted.

Sun, 04/07/2013 - 14:09 | 3418837 booboo
booboo's picture

If your assets are in your posession and are going to forcibly removed you really might as well go out with a bang, bang, oh and by the way, those of you living on a private well, prepare to watch a government stooge bolt a meter to the well head.

Sun, 04/07/2013 - 14:13 | 3418845 aicohn
aicohn's picture

Excellent article.  Articulates very nicely some views I've held myself since the start of this administration.  It ain't rocket science.

Sun, 04/07/2013 - 14:13 | 3418848 richard007
richard007's picture

 Lawrence of Arabia stated: “Nothing is written.”

That however, is not the case here.

We have entered into what the Bible refers to as the Time of the End and what is going to happen Has been written.

Christ said, Be on guard. I have told you everything ahead of time.

1) There will be War with Iran.

2) The US Economy will collapse.

3) Obama will become VERY unpopular with everyone!

4) All the churches will wake up to prophecy.

 

 

Sun, 04/07/2013 - 14:35 | 3418909 Arrowflinger
Arrowflinger's picture

I am not so sure. To me that line of thought can be laid to the feet of the far right 'religious right' types who think WE are to be favored among all of errant humanity who came before. WHY should the Lord return and deliver US when he didn't for all previous generations? We are #1......yeah.

Sun, 04/07/2013 - 14:37 | 3418922 pine_marten
pine_marten's picture

Your predictions seem likely.  We do not however, need the superstition or get down on yer knees bullshit. 

Sun, 04/07/2013 - 14:49 | 3418961 The Abstraction...
The Abstraction of Justice's picture

I just invented time travel, unfortunately the only thing I can send back in time is vague ideas only intelligible to people on their own terms. 2013 years should be enough.

Sun, 04/07/2013 - 18:56 | 3419082 Metal Minded
Metal Minded's picture

I'll go with those dirty commie pinko occupiers of OWS and their popular sign, seen at their demonstrations:

The Beginning is Near!

Have you given into the Ownership(the 1%)?

Don't think there's a chance we can turn this thing around?

Just remember it won't be any of the Institutions of this society which will bring positive change. They are owned by the 1% lock, stock ,and barrel.

This change will come from the bottom up, from the people and (take a hint from Beppe Grillo) over the Internet.

Sun, 04/07/2013 - 14:14 | 3418850 The big unzip
The big unzip's picture

Maybe, the people pulling the wagon need to lead the wagon over a cliff.

Sun, 04/07/2013 - 14:21 | 3418866 new game
new game's picture

property seizure now!

401's 400 anything, 3's b's - going going gone

- take the 10percent and pay up m'fer(income tax); better than zero!-I Did; 6750 to go...

-property tax assault 2 properties; both down 20% tax value, both up aprox 10 % taxation(net 30+ percent increase)

-nickel dime via taxation fees license-some as high as 40% increase-do the math, you will be astounded.

-income NOT counteracting net effect of taxation.

-labor vs inflation via shalom and the ink factory-MAJOR LOOSE OF NET INCOME!

-zirp- no fucking where to hide with cash investments-NOTHING RISK FREE-FUCKING NOTHING.

everything is risky right now; banks, neighbors, employers, people-trust at lows of lifetime!

except maybe gold, except being monkey hammered to hold faith of green toilet paper.

and ammo(safest of safe) otherwise fuck it on a stick.

noose is getting tighter...

 

Sun, 04/07/2013 - 14:20 | 3418871 dobermangang
dobermangang's picture

A hundred years from now(if man is still around), people will look back on this time and wonder why countries with massive debts kept on borrowing and spending insane amounts of money, making their debts even larger and their problems worse.  When you're in a deep hole, you need to stop digging.  Our governments just keep on digging deeper and deeper and deeper. 

Sun, 04/07/2013 - 14:48 | 3418955 The Abstraction...
The Abstraction of Justice's picture

Nah all the lessons will be forgotten, and the big questions will be, whether pink leggings are in that year, or nay.

Sun, 04/07/2013 - 15:08 | 3419031 Dr. Engali
Dr. Engali's picture

A hundred years from now some new eastern empire will be making the same mistake.

Sun, 04/07/2013 - 14:22 | 3418878 earleflorida
earleflorida's picture

excellent read, monty

thankyou

Sun, 04/07/2013 - 14:34 | 3418911 akarc
akarc's picture

This article is a perfect example of exploiting a few facts subtracted from the whole picture to promote a spurious agenda.

Yes Obama care is a mess and our "elected' officials were negligent enough to pass it without reading it with no fear of being held accountable or responsible for any disaterous consequences that may result.

Yes property rights and rule of law are under attack evidenced by the actions of courts who uphold laws restricting individaul rights while passiing laws such as citizens United vs FEC. Enabling the treasonous buying and selling of the government by those with the means to do so. Rule of law is a joke when I can go to jail for holding a bag of pot while Bankers are free to plunder the taxpayers and the Justice department says sorry not a damn thing we can or will do about it. When the government police, i.e. SEC and Corporate Boardrooms are incestuous families. 

Yes there are millions of citizens on the dole as a result of taxpayer moneys being plundered to save private corporations who would take their ill gotten gains and "create jobs?". The result of a FED printing millions to give to banksters so that they may continue to violate law without "accountability" instead. Along with the billions of dollars given in corporate welfare to build tanks the Army does not want or fighter jets the Air Force will not use.  And let us not hold accountable the treasonous action of American corporations that sold American jobs to overseas communist slavers and then keep their profits offshore destroying the American job base. Then use propaganda to convince the ill informed that it is mexican lettuce pickers that are destroying your jobs. Ignore the visas alloted corprations to bring in foreign workers for high tech jobs because they will work for less.

Are their citizens abusing welfare and disability? Of course! General Motors, G.E. and others have abused both! Citizens learn well from their corrupt masters.

Ceaser, Hitler and every totaltarian regime knows to starve the people will result in insurrection. So let them have a tad untiil all power can be taken. Their will be no insurrection as long as the people are kept fat and docile.

In fact, Fridays stock market would indicate the nation celebrates unemployment. After all, the American worker is nothing more than a loss leader that has a vote in a system where voting means nothing because politicians are not held accountable to the rule of law!

There is no need to confiscate guns when you can purchase all the ammunition. And what would it matter anyway. Those who have hollered they need guns to protect themselves from the government have pussied for to long as now the government has the means to nullify the cap pistols owned by the populace.

Any one with half a brain, which negates three qaurters of the Ameican populace, can hear the coming, "LET THEM EAT CAKE". Only this time the cake will be the flesh of the poor who fall through the cracks never to be seen again.

But as much as I may rail about the government and the bankers the blame shall rest exactly where it belongs, on the heads of the American people who proclaimed ignorance a virtue!

Zero Hedge, with all due respect, you are much better than this.

 

 

Sun, 04/07/2013 - 14:48 | 3418912 akarc
akarc's picture

whoops

Sun, 04/07/2013 - 14:36 | 3418918 alfbell
alfbell's picture

This empire is of course doomed. But like all empires the descent is a long slow process. There is a lot of printing, extend and pretend, propaganda, unusual solutions and avoidance of reality to go. Things will continue like this for most all of your lifetimes. So... all of this angst is for naught, there is nothing to see here, everybody move along, everybody get back to work.

Sun, 04/07/2013 - 14:39 | 3418929 alfbell
alfbell's picture

 

 

Our country's government and economic situation is tantamount to being on a runaway train that is going much too fast for anyone to jump off and it is headed for the end of the tracks and over the cliff... but even at 120 mph the end of the cliff is a half a century away.

Sun, 04/07/2013 - 14:44 | 3418939 alfbell
alfbell's picture

 

 

Or leprocy is another analogue. Your body is slowly but surely being eaten away but you continue to live for years is this diseased and degraded state as your fingers and toes slowly rot and fall from your body and all other appendages continue to shrink and disappear. The body and all of its systems die a slow, protracted death.

Sun, 04/07/2013 - 14:45 | 3418946 The Abstraction...
The Abstraction of Justice's picture

Juggler with 3 balls. For 5 years people said he was about to drop them....

Now he juggles with 20, and adds another with each passing hour.

Sun, 04/07/2013 - 15:13 | 3419045 WmMcK
WmMcK's picture

Go from 3 to 5 is in someways easier then doing 4.

Juggling an even # requires a slightly different method.

Now juggling ping ping and pool balls and the same time, that requires yet another skill set.

And spinning plates (especially stopping) can be even worse.

Sun, 04/07/2013 - 14:45 | 3418941 Eigleaaz
Eigleaaz's picture

This is like a car with bad brakes and poor steering crashing and the diagnosis is that you just needed a better driver. No mention is made that such a car should not be driven. There is no "if" this debt based monetary system will implode but when, the system is the problem. Any tinkering around the edges will only delay the inevitable.

Sun, 04/07/2013 - 14:44 | 3418942 blindman
blindman's picture

Jim Willie: ZIRP- The Death Knell
April 5, 2013 By The Doc
.
By Jim Willie, GoldenJackass.com
.
http://silverdoctors.com/jim-willie-zirp-the-death-knell/
.
..." MONEY VELOCITY DYING ON THE VINE

It deserves extreme emphasis that the United States has put a zero price on money, and therefore two extremely important consequences are immediate. The first is that all capital is falsely priced, which causes a cancer to flow and filter throughout the entire business sector where capital is at work. Secondly, all financial assets are improperly priced, from stocks to bonds to property that ranges from commercial buildings to farmland to port facilities. The USEconomy suffers from capital mortality and capital wreckage. The US Federal Reserve by keeping the official rate near zero for four years, has in effect subjected the USEconomy to a death sentence. Evidence is seen in the Money Velocity. The USFed told the nation in early 2009 that the 0% was temporary. It was not, and the Jackass called them liars then, correctly so. They oversee ZIRP forever and QE to Infinity.
" ....the g. jackass

Sun, 04/07/2013 - 15:06 | 3419026 WmMcK
WmMcK's picture

"The Jackass rejoices at the utter desperation in pushing down the paper Gold price" -- let us few rejoice togther.

Sun, 04/07/2013 - 15:25 | 3419083 blindman
blindman's picture

"....GOLD MARKET DIVERGENCE

The Jackass forecast of 2009 and 2010 and 2011 and 2012 is coming to pass. The divergence between the paper Gold price dominated by futures contracts, and the physical Gold price dominated by purchase and delivery of the metal bars, has grown wide and will grow wider. While many are heard in the hue & cry of the declined supposed Gold price, it is not the Gold price. It is the corrupted paper Gold price that the deceived masses focus too much on. The professionals in the Gold market who actually act on contracts for large volume deliveries are noticing the strains on supply, which is fast disappearing. The true Gold price is much higher than advertised by the corrupted networks devoted to the financial syndicate in charge. The drainage of the COMEX and LBMA is hastened, made quick by the discount offered. The Boyz are draining their own blood on stage in full view, but the majority within the gold community are lamenting the falling corrupted price. What irony! The Boyz in New York and London are committing bank suicide on the global stage, yet the investor crowd cannot see. When the big US and London bank vaults are empty of gold bullion, the game will suddenly change. The power will shift to the East. The USDollar will be devalued, buried, replaced. The Gold Standard will rise in the East like the sun in a new dawn, but a standard based in trade settlement that will turn the West upside down.
".... the g. jackass

Sun, 04/07/2013 - 14:48 | 3418954 alfbell
alfbell's picture

 

 

We are going the way of the do do bird. Man has only been on this earth for a very very minute period of this planet's history. Most likely dinosaurs and other forms of life have come and gone. Environment, energy, economics and unworkable government systems are all now converging on humanity to extinquish it. This is only one of trillions and trillions of stories that have gone on in this vast universe. Enjoy it while it lasts.

Sun, 04/07/2013 - 14:57 | 3418990 pine_marten
pine_marten's picture

Got a nice 2010 ( pre Fuku ) Zin I'm going to enjoy in the spring sunshine here pretty quick.  Yeah for sure, enjoy this wonderful shit while you can.

Sun, 04/07/2013 - 15:02 | 3419014 WmMcK
WmMcK's picture

We are going the way of the dodo bird --

But still harder to cook and not quite as tasty.

Sun, 04/07/2013 - 20:53 | 3420259 James
James's picture

alfbell, your mentioning the Dodo bird prompts me to inform you that back when the Dodo bird thrived on its own its sustenance was a underbrush and snakes.

The war machine when taking over the island removed all this underbrush that in time killed off the Dodo because of loss of habitat. And the snakes thrived for lack of predator.

Now the war machine is dropping rats on these islands to control the snake over population.

FORWARD

Sun, 04/07/2013 - 14:52 | 3418968 Fix It Again Timmy
Fix It Again Timmy's picture

For over ten years we have been throwing money down the toilet in Afghanistan, that is enough to convince me that government deserves the very minimum amount of budgeted money and not one dime more and it must stay within this minimal budget....  This must come first, if not, bend over and kiss your ass goodbye....

Sun, 04/07/2013 - 14:58 | 3418994 smacker
smacker's picture

 

That's a good article describing what is happening in the US. It's exactly what has happened in Britain over the last 2+ generations. There are British families with three generations who have never known work, because welfare is far too comfortable.

It has gotten to the point now where society and the economy is stifled by unnecessary laws/regulations (many of which only exist to control and manipulate behaviour) and as the costs of welfare rise inexorably to pay for the non-employed and armies of crats and jackboots, so direct/indirect taxes and ever more stealth taxes/charges imposed on those still working, or still making a profit, have to rise to pay for it all. Britain is a disaster. That is why in 2008 when the economy crashed, I confidently predicted it would take at least a generation to sort it out. But that was assuming the govt began work immediately on radical reforms. It hasn't begun yet, so the country lost its AAA rating.

What the article completely fails to identify is the cause of this appalling and destructive shambles. Let me sum it up for you in one word: SOCIALISM.

Sun, 04/07/2013 - 15:39 | 3419139 Metal Minded
Metal Minded's picture

I love it when Americans  blame all our problems on Socialism. Capitalism has been the one and only orthodox ideology acceptable in the US for the last 40 years. Everything we see now is the result of what has been done by Capitalists in the name of Capitalism. We refuse to accept the fact that Capitalism is a euphemism for that game every American has played since childhood and knows so well- Monopoly. How many times have you played the board-game Capitalism? Does one exist?

Sun, 04/07/2013 - 16:04 | 3419211 smacker
smacker's picture

 

I think some people who truly understand how socialism operates, and corrupts and pollutes any society, might take issue regarding the economic orthodoxy in America over the past 40 years or so. What has been developing by stealth is largely 'corporatism', which we know is the other face of jackboot fascism and so much loved by that Italian nutter Mussolini. And fascism is closely aligned to communism, except over the issue of 'who owns' the means of production.

For sure, what I see going on in America today is certainly not free market capitalism - which took America to the dizzy heights of prosperity and success - but corporatism. Hell, even the big corporates and banking criminals are sucking at the teet of ever bigger Obama government. They return the favour by funding it. A virtuous circle until it all collapses in a heap on the floor.

... ... ...

Several years ago in a debate, I casually said about Mussolini: "well, at the least he got the trains running on time." To which someone popped up and responded: "NO HE DID NOT !!! He ordered the media to report that the trains were running on time. Under Mussolino the economy actually went into reverse."

Does this remind you of what's going on today in America and elsewhere? Where the economies are most obviously not in recovery mode - witnessed by plenty of researched charts and data on ZH - but MSM continually reports they are recovering and happily produce any number of government statistcs to prove it.

 

Sun, 04/07/2013 - 18:21 | 3419773 lakecity55
lakecity55's picture

Mussolini's Italy is maybe the best study of the 20th century on socialism/fascism.

Many forget he was Hitler's early hero; fact: when Adolf was a rising politico, he requested an autographed photo from Benito, and was turned down! At the time, Mussolini did not yet regard Adolf's political abilities.

Even when he was down on his luck, jailed on the Grasso, Hitler sent Skorzeny and a parachute stick to rescue his brother dictator.

Benito turned from socialism to fascism because the corporatists had the money, thus his fall from grace by the true intellectual socialist/communists.

Benito knew the rule: follow the money. Play on corporatist fears of communism, and presto: fascism.

Sun, 04/07/2013 - 19:42 | 3420033 smacker
smacker's picture

Thanks, interesting stuff.

 

I heard it said that when Hitler became the most powerful dictator in Europe that he lost a bit of admiration for Musso because Musso's Fascist Party was stuffed full of jewish advisors 'following the money'. And also Hitler learned that Italian battle tanks were made with four gears: one forward and three reverse.

;-)

Sun, 04/07/2013 - 17:35 | 3419520 scrappy
scrappy's picture

You mean the "Landlords" Game?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Landlord's_Game

The true history of the monolopy game.

http://www.henrygeorge.org/dodson_on_monopoly.htm

 

Sun, 04/07/2013 - 16:26 | 3419194 JR
JR's picture

Exactly, smacker.

Collectivizing responsibility, i.e., socialism, is the way that leads to tyranny. It was a different type of philosophy that built America into man’s greatest achievement.

It was the settlers’ strength of will to take a stand; inner discipline and strong resolve to build a town, a country, something to believe in; to be involved; to create a lasting place to live and make a living where man could walk in pride of home, of country, in pleasure of family, with the guarantees of religious freedom…that built America. It was not the socialist "boot stomping on a human face, forever," that built America.

Western chronicler, Louis L’Amour, expressed it, thusly: “No movement in history was like it. Many were to die, killed by Indians, dead of thirst, hunger, cold…still they kept coming from some endless stream, pushing on westward, fighting dust storm and snowstorm, crossing swollen streams, casting off bit by bit what they had brought west, retaining only those things inherent within them, the love of home, of law, or of church, schools and their independence.”

The motivating force behind the settlement of America and the push westward, understood or not, was love of freedom for its own sake. It was not peace at any price, a willingness to forsake one’s liberty, that built America.

Now, that heritage is under attack, being torn asunder -- by an ideology that has destroyed and taken more lives than any other ideology in mankind’s history, evolutionary socialism rooted in revolutionary socialism, communism.

Dr. Clarence B. Carson examined this connection between ideology and the revolutions of the past century and wrote in 1978 of its impact on several major countries in “World in the Grip of an Idea.”

Said Carson, denoting the difference between evolutionary and revolutionary socialism, “The loss of liberty is quite often subtle under evolutionary socialism. So, also is the loss of private property, or control over it. Under revolutionary socialism only the purblind can fail to grasp the assault on property and the onset of confinements of the population. The brutality of the attack is too blunt and persistent to escape detection by any except those who resolutely will to ignore it.

“By contrast, evolutionary socialism is intruded in such a way, particularly under long-established parliamentary governments, that its restraints, confinement, and erosions of the ground of liberty and property are not so readily seen.”

That is where America is today.

“This is so in part because as the paternal state takes shape the focus is upon benefits to be conferred rather than the price to be paid, both monetary and  in individual rights.

“There is a broader reason than this, however, it is that the population, or a considerable portion of it, has been induced in advance of the measures to accept certain underlying ideas which make the intrusions appear plausible and, perhaps, even inevitable.

“One of the leading ideas is that of the desirability of distributive equality… When linked to the belief that government is the instrument by which this should be achieved the way has been prepared for the introduction step by step of socialism.”

And the mechanism by which evolutionary socialism has been advanced,” he says, “is democracy. Herein lies a paradox. As popular control over government has increased the control by people over their own lives and affairs has declined…

But, says Carson, “the foundation of liberty was in constitutionalism which was itself based on the natural law philosophy. The practical defense of liberty lay in the separation of powers within government, a separation that would have the tendency to restrain and limit government…”

And, so, the people had to be sold the idea of democracy. “Representative” government, i.e., every man one vote, can be manipulated so that the mood is totalitarian and, thus, representative government becomes little more than be its agent.

“It is an ancient insight that democracy is mob rule…,” said Carson.

It was Greek democracy which sentenced Socrates to exile or death. It was the mob which shouted to Pontius Pilate that Christ should be crucified. It was the Roman mobs…that aided and abetted the horrors of the Roman Empire

“Democratic socialism has attempted to legitimize a modified mob rule…it is a compelled conformity, a conformity which takes away individual liberty and intrudes upon private property…a compelled conformity by the use of government power…by a elective conformity…”

Democracy, then, is that means by which intellectuals – the social planners – redefined the Founders’ republic, first by calling it “representative” government, then a “democracy,” in order to exercise control over and produce the kinds of conformity they desired, using the lowest common denominator for their tyrannical power -- the popular will.

In short, democracy can apply the screws to the individual to make him conform to the collective will; if he does not, the screws are tightened further. Always, of course, manipulated by those in power.

Sun, 04/07/2013 - 19:50 | 3420060 smacker
smacker's picture

 

Thanks JR. And thanks for your continued very eloquent and informed comments which I always enjoy reading.

Thank God there are still people in this world who can see what's really going on, amid the constant barrage of state propaganda.

Sun, 04/07/2013 - 15:08 | 3419025 dark pools of soros
dark pools of soros's picture

If a government had to use sound money, then they could only continue if they practiced sound judgement

easy endless credit brings vices to the fore

 

 

Sun, 04/07/2013 - 15:08 | 3419027 alfbell
alfbell's picture

 

 

That is only the partial answer. It isn't one word. It is summed up by a few words: communism, socialism, capitalism and fascism. All of these isms have failed and have added up to the forthcoming destruction.

A sane capitalism (a free market one with just the necessary regulation, and no corruption allowed in government) would probably have worked.

Sun, 04/07/2013 - 18:09 | 3419711 DosZap
DosZap's picture

alfbell,

A sane capitalism (a free market one with just the necessary regulation, and no corruption allowed in government) would probably have worked.

You just described Texas.( the Gov is the weak link, and the legislature is only allowed to meet every two years), the biggest enemy of the state is fighting Fed rules n regs.

 

Sun, 04/07/2013 - 15:22 | 3419068 Tall Tom
Tall Tom's picture

One little issue you forgot to mention...er...it is actually the largest issue...

 

Stop the Cororate Welfare...Stop rewarding Corporations for failure...and by all means LET THEM FAIL.

 

I do not come here to read GOVERNMENT PROPAGANDA...SOCIALIST PARTY (Republican and Democrat ) PROPAGANDA.

 

This was one of the LAMEST ARTICLES EVER PUBLISHED by ZeroHedge. I am sorry Tyler... Really I am. This was just LAME NONSENSE. 

 

But I get more than enough of that on the Main Stream Propaganda Machine.

 

Usually your publications expose truths that I need to hear, no matter how inconvenient.

 

Please post the Truth.

Sun, 04/07/2013 - 15:52 | 3419127 Lednbrass
Lednbrass's picture

It isn't a Tyler article Einstein, its a guest post. A wide range of opinion goes up here, both "left" and "right" as they are understood in the US- and the Tylers themselves have some variances in personal opinion.

Echo chambers suck, I say its a good thing that there is variety here.

Sun, 04/07/2013 - 17:45 | 3419580 nowhereman
nowhereman's picture

Yes corporate welfare and subsidies along with government sanctioned monopolies are a major part of the problem, however, you can't deny that the disinsentive to work exists.

If it was only a simple as pointing a finger, you can find problems everywhere.   What you can't find is anyone to do something about the totally fucked up mess we currently have.

That's the message I got from the article, but maybe I am a little too generous, and your point is of course valid.

Sun, 04/07/2013 - 15:27 | 3419076 IamtheREALmario
IamtheREALmario's picture

Those who do not realize that the purpose of the acts of Obummer and other elitists is to force a change to communism, have not been paying attention or have not read any history (that which has not been scrubbed to glorify elitist mass murderers). I suggest that those unaware just read a little about the Russian and Spanish revolutions/civil wars.

In that you can see how Obummer is shoving a firehose of debt and dependence down the throat of a country drowing in cheap banker fiat (designed to benefit the elitists) and insecurity  Those who have not read the history about how the communist revolutionaries do not understand that the comnmunists (thinking they are "progressives") always believe that any means benefitted the ends in the creation of a better world. To that end, the revolutionaries have historically created roving terrorist hist team to create instability create fear and place blame on the innocent so that their agenda can be furthered. (In this case it would appear to be roving communist hit teams that kill innocents in theaters, temples and schools so that they can make people insecure and cry for more security in the form of "gun control" ... the exact thing they want). However, what most of the corrupted do not understand is that if history is any indicator, they will be the first to be purged/sacrificed because they know too much and cannot be trusted ... because after all, they betrayed the people and their country. They will not receive rewards of power and station in the communist regime ... if they do then it will be the first time it has EVER happened. 

Sun, 04/07/2013 - 15:42 | 3419149 Binko
Binko's picture

It's an absolute mystery to me how anybody can look at our corporate controlled neo-fascist Federal Government and start babbling about communism. That requires a serious lack of both brainpower and education.

Sun, 04/07/2013 - 18:08 | 3419707 lakecity55
lakecity55's picture

Let's end that right here.

For Practical purposes, not Academic ones, it is essentially the same thing, like the Obourous.

The antidote is Liberty.

Sun, 04/07/2013 - 21:03 | 3420287 bunnyswanson
bunnyswanson's picture

The party for the unemployed, useless and lazy will not continue.  It's a gateway to the day when this country no longer belongs to the people who call it their home.  This is a coup and when it is finished, Americans and all who witnessed their slaughter will go the way of the Mayans.  Slaughter through many means but lack of medical care, medication, stress from resettlement and execution for attempting to step out of line will be the cause of death for most.  It will take a decade but it will happen.

You'll be praying for a night of sound sleep until the day when you pray to turn back time so you can do it differently (protest). 

Contempt and disdain for the citizens of 1st world nations is being displayed via austerity measures.  The media is a means of spreading the propaganda which will be necessary to move this forward.  Had you only taken the media over, this would not happen.  That is all that was required.  Taking over the airwaves was all that could have kept your country from turning into a cemetery of Americans who did as they were told.

Sun, 04/07/2013 - 21:18 | 3420335 James
James's picture

"However, what most of the corrupted do not understand is that if history is any indicator, they will be the first to be purged/sacrificed because they know too much and cannot be trusted ... because after all, they betrayed the people and their country. They will not receive rewards of power and station in the communist regime ... if they do then it will be the first time it has EVER happened"

 

I would ask Paul Krugman to post that in his office, on his dashboard in his car, and his bathroom mirror.

Sun, 04/07/2013 - 15:34 | 3419111 Binko
Binko's picture

I'm so thoroughly sick of hearing about the supposed study that concluded a family of four can get $65,000 worth of wages from welfare and other safety net programs. I'd like to see the blowhards who repeat this do a little experiment and go see how much they could get for their family if they tried. They could get a few hundred a month in foodstamps and, if they were laid off in the last year or so, they could get unemployment. That's about it. The only real exception are single mothers who have access to more programs. 

Welfare and disability abuse may be a problem, but they are a mouse sized problem next to the massive elephant sized problems of crony capitalism, a rampaging federal reserve, an immense paternalistic federal government, the growth of a new american gestapo style security state and an out of control banking sector that never has to pay for any of it's mistakes. 

It's really despicable to channel the putrid ghost of Ronald Reagan and try to blame our woes on the "welfare kings and queens". The truth is that the vast majority of people want to work. They just want a job that treats them with a little human dignity and pays enough to feed and house their family. 

Sun, 04/07/2013 - 17:36 | 3419528 nowhereman
nowhereman's picture

What people like you don't realize is that the $65,000 is gross wages.   If you make $65,000 how much do you actually take home?  $40,000?  $45,000 max?  Then you begin to understand that with welfare, disability, unemployment, and food stamps a family of four can have an income equivalent to the take home pay of someone making $65,000 a year.

Sun, 04/07/2013 - 17:58 | 3419633 JR
JR's picture

But then, Binko, what are we going to do with the statistics from the Congressional Research Service for fiscal year 2011 that identify roughly 80 overlapping federal means-tested welfare programs? Together they represent the single largest 2011 budget itemmore than the nation spends on Social Security, Medicare, or national defense… and that nearly 95 percent of these costs come from four categories of spending: medical assistance, cash assistance, food assistance, and social / housing assistance. Not only that, they are set to go up an addition 30 percent over the next 4 years under Obama's FY13 budget proposal.

Or the Senate Budget Committee's just released report showing households living below the poverty line receive welfare payments the equivalent of $168 per day in benefits in the form of food stamps, housing, childcare, healthcare and more? That’s $62,400 tax free per year.

You are right, though, that affirmative-action discrimination has hurt poor whites; that by being shut out of the government employment market, many are forced to live in substandard conditions and to send their children to black majority schools and suffer most of the black crime in mixed neighborhoods (when the better-off ones have already left), etc. etc.

This, however, does not seem to warrant mention by black columnists, such as Janell Ross, who see affirmative action only from a black's point of view.

Ross, on AOL/Huffington Post, wrote in 2011 that in the “Black Unemployment Crisis: Loss of Government Jobs Hurts African Americans Hardest” because “nearly 21 percent of the nation’s working black adults hold government jobs, as compared to some 17 percent of white workers and 15 percent of Latinos.

“Public agencies are the single largest employer for black men, and the second most common for black women.”

Said Ross, “The cuts fall with marked impact on African Americans such as (Kenneth) Mathis,” hired more than three decades ago, when he was 19, by “the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, a government position that seemed to confer assurance of middle class comforts,” because he “figured a job with a government agency would be a way around ‘the good old boy networks’ that seemed to preclude his employment at many private businesses.” He later took a job in Houston, “joining the city’s Housing and Community Development Department,” that was eliminated in 2011 by budget cuts, also cutting into his and his wife’s combined income of $90,000.  Fortunately, two weeks later, the 55-year-old Mathis landed a contract accounting job with Houston’s health department.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/06/07/black-unemployment-government-jobs_n_872168.html

Pat Buchanan’s August 2011 column (“Black America versus Obama?“) also had some amazing stats on Black employment vs. White by the federal government:

Though 10 percent of the U.S. civilian labor force, African-Americans are 18 percent of U.S. government workers. They are 25 percent of the employees at Treasury and Veterans Affairs, 31 percent of the State Department, 37 percent of Department of Education employees and 38 percent of Housing and Urban Development. They are 42 percent of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and Pension Benefit Guaranty Corp., 55 percent of the employees at the Government Printing Office and 82 percent at the Court Services and Offender Supervision Agency.

When the Obama administration suggested shutting down Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the mortgage giants whose losses of $150 billion have had to be made up by taxpayers, The Washington Post warned, in a story headlined, “Winding Down Fannie and Freddie Could Put Minority Careers at Risk,” that 44 percent of Fannie employees and 50 percent of Freddie’s were persons of color.

There is no way that these percentages for Black employment could not happen without discrimination against Whites.

Sun, 04/07/2013 - 19:06 | 3419919 pursueliberty
pursueliberty's picture

That was quite eye opening.  Local dmv here is around 70%, and the county over closer to 100%.  That is the only government office I've ever been in, but my uncle said the SSDI is about the same.

Mon, 04/08/2013 - 03:19 | 3420978 kurt
kurt's picture

Wait what about the GIANT fucking military, "we're a fucking empire" budget?

Sun, 04/07/2013 - 16:48 | 3419337 paradism_
paradism_'s picture

I knew it was over when we elected Osama...wait wut

Sun, 04/07/2013 - 17:10 | 3419406 Stud Duck
Stud Duck's picture

What a waste of time reading this article.

I one of the comments said, "we could of just read one of Mitt Romneys campaign speeches " for the same thing!

This is little piece of plagurism is not much more that another 'kick the poor while they are down" tirades, with a dose of the good old doom and gloom , end of the world twist!

Glenn Beck does a much better job.

Tyler, I am disappointed in this choice, you need to read thes thing before you allow them on this site!

Sun, 04/07/2013 - 17:24 | 3419464 balz
balz's picture

Any piece of text that pretends to have a solution is delusional.

This is Peak Oil and the deindustrial world.

This is not a problem looking for a solution, but a predicament looking for an adaptation.

Nuff said.

Sun, 04/07/2013 - 17:47 | 3419593 Unlawful Justice
Unlawful Justice's picture

Solution:  Debt free money.

Sun, 04/07/2013 - 18:02 | 3419670 lakecity55
lakecity55's picture

This is common sense, but if we do this, we cannot have worldwide communism, and Dear Queeder would be unhappy.

Sun, 04/07/2013 - 18:47 | 3419697 sethstorm
sethstorm's picture

Government policies have made the dole more lucrative than work

Wouldnt hurt if the employers outcompeted social programs and treated people like valued investments versus constant problems. 

Employers have frozen their hiring until clarity develops. The development of clarity is no assurance that they will change their behavior. If the costs are too high (and they appear to be for many smaller businesses who create the most jobs), then hiring will not return.

Weapons-grade BS.  Uncertainty is an excuse that can only go on for so long before it loses its relevancy.  Right now, it's gone at least two years since the expiration date.

The effect on hiring is only one negative. Full-time workers are being made part-time in order that they be exempted from the Obamacare mandate. These steps are not something business wants to do, it is something they must do in order to survive.

That's more political vengeance(something business does take pleasure in doing) than financial survival(the thing they have to do).

 

Sun, 04/07/2013 - 19:05 | 3419915 JayKitsap
JayKitsap's picture

When the free lunch party won the 2012 elections, I really decided to no longer give a darn, why should I work long hours in my business to pay half to the government that tells me daily that my success is the problem.  I've been learning since 2008 to live simpler and enjoy the people in life rather than shiny things.

Instead if investing in my retirement plan, which is now probably going to be stolen by the government, I am going to enjoy dating women, experiencing those things I wanted to always do, and having fun.  My kids both have decent jobs so I am not really worried about them.  I am going semi-retired, but will probably need to work that way until 70.  Or decide to move to some low cost beach hut in a 3rd world but free country.

Sun, 04/07/2013 - 19:53 | 3420073 RMolineaux
RMolineaux's picture

While it is no doubt true that thousands, perhaps millions, of US citizens have learned how to game the system of the social safety net, one must ask whether their behaviour is rational, considering the level of wages currently available in the private sector.  But I would submit that these folks are still a minority, but growing as unemployment remains high.  Most people would still rather have a fair-paying job, as evidenced by the large numbers who continue to show up when jobs are offered.  But the jobs are not there, because of the decisions of the private sector, not of the government.  Or they are decisions of the private sector that the government, through our pimp congress, has been made to accept by giving favorable tax treatment to large corporations that move jobs overseas.  It is true that government squanders billions - the billions that go to the pentagon, with an extra push from the Congress and "terrorist" obsessed media.   Among the relatively smaller amounts that go into the social safety net, some are, no doubt, squandered.  But most still serve the purpose of protecting the weak and ensuring stability.  Those who rant against government are quick to forget that the source of our current economic malaise arose from the greed and fraudulent behavior of the private sector. 

Mon, 04/08/2013 - 07:04 | 3421143 Monk
Monk's picture

The problem was caused by fallout from incredible levels of financial speculation caused by deregulation. Government, which works for Wall Street, bailed out bankers, and passed on the cost to the public. That's the same public that for decades voted for government that supported Wall Street in order to get tax cuts from the former and credit from the latter.

 

Mon, 04/08/2013 - 07:49 | 3421179 dunce
dunce's picture

There has been much talk of "animal spirits" and "confidence" needed to turn the economy around. In fact both are the result of a functioning economy, not the cause of one. The morons that think they can get the economy moving with rah rah cheer leading have it backwards. These are the same people that champion anal sex, could this kind of thinking be related?

Mon, 04/08/2013 - 08:00 | 3421198 esum
esum's picture

why do you think they are going after the guns.....

17 Trillion in debt = 17 Trillion WASTED on social programs

Once the majority are in the wagon do you think they give a shit if private funds are stolen to keep the party going.... and what will the victims do about it... they dont have the FEMA concentration camps for nothing, nor the 2700+ mrap's or the 1.6 billion rounds per year. And they didnt waste $50 million on new uniforms for nothing... Hey who is that knocking on your door??????? A nation that can abort 50+ million can easily accept another 25 million up the stack... just ask the death panels... ah republicans dont need chemo, it will heal itself and over 55... though shit..  We are so Weimar these days.

 

Mon, 04/08/2013 - 08:24 | 3421255 madcows
madcows's picture

"Nothing is Written."  Ah!  Such hope! It Fricking kills me.  There is no hope.  We're run by a bunch of Toolsheds.  All is Lost!  Run for the hills!  Get your prepper gear!  The end is nigh!.  That's more like it.  It doesn't matter who we vote for.  None of them are interested in setting the country back on sound footing.  All they can think about is how to wrest more control over us.

Tue, 04/09/2013 - 05:55 | 3425367 KashNCarry
KashNCarry's picture

Let's talk out of both sides of our mouth...

"...There will not be an economic recovery given the economic policies of this country. A recovery is not unlikely..."

WTF?

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