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Guest Post: Did You Miss Your IRS Agent Today?

Tyler Durden's picture




 

Submitted by Simon Black of Sovereign Man blog,

Last night I was speaking to a long-time mentor. And he’s unfortunately in very poor health at the moment.

Most of his condition is a result of lifestyle choices over the past several decades. Too much junk food. Too much excess. Never enough discpiline or exercise. He readily admits this now.

His health deteriorated gradually, it didn’t happen overnight.

In his late 40s, he really began putting on extra weight. In his 50s, all the extra weight started to take a toll on his joints, and he developed severe, arthritic pains. Also his blood sugar began to rise.

Along the way, his friends and family encouraged him to make important changes in his life. Put down the chocolate bars and start walking. But he could never summon the will.

There was a lot of talk about what he intended to do. He even went to the store and bought athletic shoes and workout attire. But it just sat in the closet collecting dust.

Now in his mid-60s, his health has deteriorated to the point where he can barely walk. He’s lost feeling in his legs. And even if he could find the desire now to get some exercise, he wouldn’t be able to. His body is simply no longer able to exert itself.

My friend has unfortunately passed the point of no return. The window of opportunity to heal himself has closed. And now he has become a slave to his condition, unable to change it.

From a fiscal perspective, the United States government is also at this point.

The major headline of the day is the pending government shutdown in the Land of the Free. This is nothing more than an obvious symptom that they have passed the point of no return.

As we have routinely discussed, the US government now fails to collect enough tax revenue to pay interest on the debt and cover mandatory entitlement spending.

They’re already in the hole before they write a single check for anything we consider ‘government’, from national parks to the Internal Revenue Service. Basically all the stuff that will be shut down now.

Unless you missed your IRS agent today, it should be clear that all this stuff they waste money on is completely… unnecessary. Or can/should be privatized.

Yet even in the government’s rosiest projections, their own figures show both the deficit and national debt rising indefinitely into the future.

According to the notoriously optimistic Congressional Budget Office (CBO):

“The gap between federal spending and revenues would widen steadily after 2015 under the assumptions of the extended baseline, CBO projects. By 2038, the deficit would be 6.5 percent of GDP, larger than in any year between 1947 and 2008…”

44521 land LTBO 2 Did you miss your IRS agent today?

Even the government expects the situation to get worse.

Just like my friend, though, there’s a lot of high-sounding talk in government about fixing the problem. Yet almost zero action.

And if history is any guide, they will delay taking action until there is no possible alternative BUT to act. And by the time that happens, rest assured, their tactics will be Draconian.

Capital controls. Gun controls. Wage and price controls. Steep penalties for minor infractions and victimless crimes. Suspension of Habeas Corpus. Confiscation of private pensions and retirement accounts. Huge tax increases. Dual currency systems.

Much of this is happening already… or at least moving in that direction.

It’s time to acknowledge reality. Politicians can talk about recovery and discipline all they want.

But thinking, creative people need merely to take a sobering look at the data, trust in their own analysis and observations, and begin to make earnest plans for the very obvious trend that’s unfolding.

 

 

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Mon, 09/30/2013 - 15:03 | 4006559 Desp
Desp's picture

Shut it down!

Mon, 09/30/2013 - 15:04 | 4006566 CH1
CH1's picture

When the beast finally dies, I will celebrate.

Mon, 09/30/2013 - 15:07 | 4006574 Pool Shark
Pool Shark's picture

 

 

SHUT

IT

DOWN

 

Mon, 09/30/2013 - 15:07 | 4006577 NotApplicable
NotApplicable's picture

Sobering? Makes me wanna drink even more!

Mon, 09/30/2013 - 15:12 | 4006606 negative rates
negative rates's picture

Just leave the gate open and pick up the garbage after me when your done foolin around. Problem solved at no cost.

Mon, 09/30/2013 - 15:16 | 4006620 Buckaroo Banzai
Buckaroo Banzai's picture

I'll tell you who I'm NOT missing. That naked girl with her hands covering up her ginormous cans in the DHGate banner ad that CONSTANTLY appears on this site.

Mon, 09/30/2013 - 15:23 | 4006679 NoDebt
NoDebt's picture

"Or can/should be privatized."

By single-source no-bid contract?  That kind of privatizing that was so popular in recent decades, or do you mean REAL privatizing with actual competition between companies that are not in collusion with eachother?


Mon, 09/30/2013 - 15:43 | 4006740 HarryHaller
HarryHaller's picture

...and privatization of ALL that could be privatized?  Case in point - many of our national parks are already privatized such as Yellowstone, Yosemite, etc. to Xanterra Inc.  All of the PROFITABLE ones, which the govt. now pays a corporation to keep open.  The rest are still run by the govt. at a loss.

Mon, 09/30/2013 - 19:36 | 4007551 Bangin7GramRocks
Bangin7GramRocks's picture

And I'm sure Xanterra takes all the money saved on "efficiencies" (ie. paying low wages) and piles all that money into the pockets of the top 10 corporate leeches. Privatization is a joke. Your taxes still pay for the services, but a layer of executive assholes is built into the new system. No Thanks!

Mon, 09/30/2013 - 16:16 | 4006853 BoNeSxxx
BoNeSxxx's picture

+1 ND... I logged in just to make that point.  Thanks for carrying Bones' water.

Privatization had such appeal during the Reagan years (in theory).  In practice, it breeds the likes of Halliburton and their ilk.

 

Edit: as a related aside, I have a friend working for Halliburton in Iraq.  He is an off-the-grid type and insisted on a paper check vs. electronic deposits.  His monthly check comes with only the words "Service Employees, Inc." written across the top left of the check... and it's drawn on a Cayman bank.  The layers of corruption are deep and dark my friends.   

Mon, 09/30/2013 - 17:00 | 4007050 NoDebt
NoDebt's picture

Thanks.  Yeah, I never saw much benefit for the consumer or society by privatizing something directly into a monopoly.  

Mon, 09/30/2013 - 20:55 | 4007816 Ident 7777 economy
Ident 7777 economy's picture

Too deep an inference on too little info ...

Mon, 09/30/2013 - 15:17 | 4006625 DoChenRollingBearing
DoChenRollingBearing's picture

@ Pool Shark

 

I agree 100%!  But it's a good thing we already saw some National Parks on our recent trip to Wyoming (http://tinyurl.com/9hlvzdx).  It looks to me (but what does an unconnected Bearing know?) that they will shut down down services that we LIKE (National Parks, Patent & Trademark Office) while keeping the "essential employees" like the IRS, TSA, Customs, etc.

Shut it down!  All of it!  (especially IRS, et al, big smile,,,)

Mon, 09/30/2013 - 15:22 | 4006665 bank guy in Brussels
bank guy in Brussels's picture

Deeper questions as to why the fake 'two parties' in what is really one-party America are running this farce

To try and re-convince Americans the 2 party system means something ?

To hide how they don't want to help common people, by claiming that Red-Blue 'politics' won't let them do anything at all?

Some say it is because the globalists are entering the advanced stage of their plan ... in which US President and Congress are shown by even main-stream US media to be hopelessly incompetent, just as the Petro-Dollar and thus the US economy collapses

With the thought that then poor Americans would beg for One World Gov't - New World Order, to save them from the American gangster leaders

But I don't think that is the conclusion Americans will draw ... parallel to the hatred for the EU that is building in Europe

Much more likely we will all get much more local and tribal once the gangster class starts to get shown as vulnerable and going down

Mon, 09/30/2013 - 15:28 | 4006692 NoDebt
NoDebt's picture

Was there ever love for the EU in Europe that just went sour when the money started to dry up or was it pretty much always like thinking about having your ex-wife still live in the same house?

 

Mon, 09/30/2013 - 15:22 | 4006652 darteaus
darteaus's picture

Depends what you end up with, no?

The poor slobs in China couldn't wait for the Nationalists to get deposed.  Mao took over, and 60M+ innocent people died while "intellectuals" in the West couldn't have cared less.  Adolph took over a broken country with a population ready for change - any kind of change.  Libya & Egypt are more recent examples.

I'm not prophesying, just inserting a note of caution to avoid running with the herd screaming "Tear it all down!"

And yes - SHUT [THE SPENDING] DOWN.

Mon, 09/30/2013 - 16:32 | 4006884 BoNeSxxx
BoNeSxxx's picture

I think you may want to check your understanding of history... Mao took over specifically because the West was invloved and meddling as usual...

Mon, 09/30/2013 - 17:17 | 4007136 darteaus
darteaus's picture

Mao took over specifically because he could.  He was a megalomaniac carried on his sedan chair during The Long March and thoroughly supported by Stalin.  He seized power by ruthlessly by killing his political enemies and stayed in power by killing millions - MILLIONS - and more MILLIONS [60M+] of innocent people.

He could not have cared less about the West, the welfare of the Chinese, injustices, etc.  He cared about power, and power only.

The story is thoroughly documented: http://www.amazon.com/Mao-Unknown-Story-Jung-Chang/dp/0679746323

 

 

Mon, 09/30/2013 - 20:55 | 4007823 Ident 7777 economy
Ident 7777 economy's picture

 

 

He cared about power, and power only. "

 

 

"The faith of my father" or

"The Audacity of Hope" ?

Mon, 09/30/2013 - 15:06 | 4006573 BLOTTO
BLOTTO's picture

We, the masses, are just 'living the dream'...

.

...and its not ours.

 

Mon, 09/30/2013 - 15:08 | 4006580 Hippocratic Oaf
Hippocratic Oaf's picture

Since when has the gubmint ran itself like a successfull business?

Should we start with the USPS?

Mon, 09/30/2013 - 15:10 | 4006600 Bay of Pigs
Bay of Pigs's picture

Funny you mention them. I sent a package from Maui (priority, $40), which left Honolulu the same night. It showed up In LA 9 days later after arriving by ship. I have no idea where it is now 12 days later and counting.

Mon, 09/30/2013 - 15:20 | 4006664 DoChenRollingBearing
DoChenRollingBearing's picture

.

"...by ship. [...]"  Excellent anecdote!

Mon, 09/30/2013 - 19:43 | 4007569 Bangin7GramRocks
Bangin7GramRocks's picture

It would've been $100 using FedEx. Get what you pay for! The USPS is incredibly efficient for the volume that they move every single day. FedEx and UPS combined don't move even a fraction of the pieces. And a USPS stamp is 85% cheaper than a FedEx letter.

Mon, 09/30/2013 - 15:07 | 4006582 Alcoholic Nativ...
Alcoholic Native American's picture

slob on my nob bitch

Mon, 09/30/2013 - 15:16 | 4006618 darteaus
darteaus's picture

Grow one first!

Mon, 09/30/2013 - 18:16 | 4007314 Feef
Feef's picture

I have two problems with a government shutdown.

  1. there are too many things that won't be affected
  2. it will un-shut itself down shortly. 
Mon, 09/30/2013 - 15:04 | 4006564 bread n circuses
bread n circuses's picture
Did You Miss Your IRS Agent Today?

 

If so, reload and aim better!

Mon, 09/30/2013 - 15:07 | 4006584 Debugas
Debugas's picture

best comment ever :)

Mon, 09/30/2013 - 15:11 | 4006599 shovelhead
shovelhead's picture

damn,

Beat me to it...

Mon, 09/30/2013 - 15:56 | 4006804 kralizec
kralizec's picture

He beat us all to it!

Mon, 09/30/2013 - 15:15 | 4006616 Emergency Ward
Emergency Ward's picture

The IRS's duty is to audit you a lot,

but they're sure glad you're such a lousy shot!

Mon, 09/30/2013 - 15:24 | 4006677 DoChenRollingBearing
DoChenRollingBearing's picture

Ha ha ha!  Completely agree with above votes for best post ever!  Add TSA & Customs Agents too...

Mon, 09/30/2013 - 15:10 | 4006568 lolmao500
lolmao500's picture

Well you don't need the IRS! Reid says paying income tax is VOLUNTARY... that means no IRS needed! Reid agrees, fire them all!

See him right here :

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R7mRSI8yWwg

Mon, 09/30/2013 - 15:09 | 4006598 NotApplicable
NotApplicable's picture

Wait... since when is the IRS part of the government?

Mon, 09/30/2013 - 15:14 | 4006608 Sudden Debt
Sudden Debt's picture

WHERE ELSE DO YOU THINK THE GOVERNMENT GET IT'S MONEY FROM!?

Do you think it grows on trees?
It just falls out of the sky?
Poof out of thin air?

deeuuuhhh....

Mon, 09/30/2013 - 15:24 | 4006678 FeralSerf
FeralSerf's picture

I thought they got it from Bernanke.

Mon, 09/30/2013 - 15:56 | 4006792 edotabin
edotabin's picture

No it is actually from the magic bag he has in his helicopter. He borrowed it from Felix the cat.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=amGbBFsiuzc

Felix is getting kinda pissed though and he wants it back, hence all the gov't shutdowns and headlines of impending doom.

Mon, 09/30/2013 - 17:35 | 4007218 orez65
orez65's picture

Here is a concept:

No one pays income tax anymore.

Ben just prints as many dollars as the Federal Government spends.

No more nuisances as a debt limit.

Mon, 09/30/2013 - 15:27 | 4006691 Urban Roman
Urban Roman's picture

They have Benny print it for them. Well, not actually PRINT-print. It's more sort of just an entry in a spreadsheet. 

Mon, 09/30/2013 - 15:29 | 4006705 NoDebt
NoDebt's picture

"Obama got it from his stash."

Because Obama, bitchez.

Mon, 09/30/2013 - 15:14 | 4006611 Meat Hammer
Meat Hammer's picture

Well then I quit.

Mon, 09/30/2013 - 15:10 | 4006581 Sudden Debt
Sudden Debt's picture

it should be clear that all this stuff they waste money on is completely… unnecessary.

I don't fully agree. I think the government did a great job with the GPS.... which they gave away for free... to the chinese...

and who doesn't like the Star Trek?
http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2013/03/22/irs-star-trek-parod...

Mon, 09/30/2013 - 15:09 | 4006587 Ying-Yang
Ying-Yang's picture

USA Breaking Bad

Mon, 09/30/2013 - 19:57 | 4007638 El Crusty
El Crusty's picture

no the usa is not breaking bad. that show ended like it should have. all the people who should have died, died. the people who should have walked away were able to walk away. the loose ends were all taken care of in the end.
the USA will end exactly the opposite way- everyone who should have died walks away, everyone who should have been able to walk away ends up dying and there will be more loose ends than a persian rug weaver would be able to count.

Mon, 09/30/2013 - 15:10 | 4006601 Yen Cross
Yen Cross's picture

  Did You Miss Your IRS Agent Today?  Nope, I saw him first thing this morning, then I flushed...

Mon, 09/30/2013 - 15:27 | 4006697 DoChenRollingBearing
DoChenRollingBearing's picture

Mine was in little pieces this morning.  Bye, guys!

Mon, 09/30/2013 - 15:35 | 4006720 IridiumRebel
IridiumRebel's picture

Well played Yen....well played.

Mon, 09/30/2013 - 15:13 | 4006605 heinrich6666
heinrich6666's picture

Yeah, privatized.

Fuck ZH and its Ayn Rand fantasy.

Mon, 09/30/2013 - 15:18 | 4006635 ebworthen
ebworthen's picture

Damn, gave you an up arrow by accident!

Mon, 09/30/2013 - 15:18 | 4006638 Bay of Pigs
Bay of Pigs's picture

You a Nazi bootlicker heinrich?

Mon, 09/30/2013 - 15:40 | 4006732 Chris88
Chris88's picture

Don't mind him he's afraid he won't be able to use his EBT card.

Mon, 09/30/2013 - 15:20 | 4006655 A. Magnus
A. Magnus's picture

No, FUCK YOU and all asskissing government fucksticks like you!

Mon, 09/30/2013 - 15:12 | 4006607 shovelhead
shovelhead's picture

I'm gonna miss my junk mail and my bills.

Boo Hoo.

Mon, 09/30/2013 - 15:14 | 4006609 stant
stant's picture

i dont like to drink on a week night, but i will celebrate if they shuter down

Mon, 09/30/2013 - 15:32 | 4006711 NoDebt
NoDebt's picture

I don't always drink beer, but when I do, it's during a government shut-down.  Stay thirsty, my friends.

Mon, 09/30/2013 - 15:22 | 4006613 darteaus
darteaus's picture

"Entitlements" - A Ponzi scheme where one party receives money siezed at gunpint from another party.

Mon, 09/30/2013 - 15:26 | 4006689 FeralSerf
FeralSerf's picture

That sounds like the way that California and the rest of the southwest was acquired from the Mexicans. It's an old and (dis)honourable American tradition, also known as "manifest destiny".

Mon, 09/30/2013 - 15:34 | 4006722 darteaus
darteaus's picture

Gee, how did the Mexicans get the southwest?  And how did the "indigineous" settle territorial disputes?

The sad history of the world is that people take what they want with force.

Mon, 09/30/2013 - 16:41 | 4006964 thereisonlyonelaw
thereisonlyonelaw's picture

Texas was settled by americans by request from the mexican government because they didn't have enough people to do it. There weren't that many natives in the southwest and they weren't particularly nice people.

Mon, 09/30/2013 - 17:05 | 4007088 darteaus
darteaus's picture

I bet the Mexicans don't do that again!

Tue, 10/01/2013 - 13:24 | 4010453 FeralSerf
FeralSerf's picture

According to your logic, it's turnabout-fairplay for the Mexicans to take it back then. Or for the Chinese just to move in and take over (which they are).

The Spanish at least interbred with the natives and let most of them live (as serfs of course). The English and their American descendants just slaughtered them.

That is the sad history of the world. Does that justify it?

Mon, 09/30/2013 - 15:14 | 4006614 RaceToTheBottom
RaceToTheBottom's picture

Get your visits to Yellowstone in while you still can.  At least without a passport.

Mon, 09/30/2013 - 15:17 | 4006617 Chuck Walla
Chuck Walla's picture

Three hots and a cot and FREE health care!!! In the gulag!
FORWARD SOVIET!

Mon, 09/30/2013 - 15:42 | 4006736 darteaus
darteaus's picture

And your free heart plug!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZWdCyfrt7Z8

Mon, 09/30/2013 - 15:17 | 4006626 ZeroPoint
ZeroPoint's picture

Please don't think the government is going to resign itself to a quiet death on a hospital bed. When control is lost, control will be attempted to be regained - at any price.

 

Mon, 09/30/2013 - 15:16 | 4006630 InTheLandOfTheBlind
InTheLandOfTheBlind's picture

for some odd reason i just never seem to get out of a simon article what i expected to get when i ordered it off the menu

Mon, 09/30/2013 - 15:18 | 4006633 shovelhead
shovelhead's picture

Look at the bright side...

The Border Patrol won't be handing out maps to illegals.

 

Nah...probably have money hiding for that. Sell some of the drug stash.

Mon, 09/30/2013 - 15:17 | 4006634 Save_America1st
Save_America1st's picture

am I the only one who just can't ever believe anything Simon Black writes?  Even if the premise is accurate, I just don't ever believe his stories.  They don't come across as true...they always sound contrived to fit the meme. 

Mon, 09/30/2013 - 15:34 | 4006721 InTheLandOfTheBlind
InTheLandOfTheBlind's picture

kinda like i was pretty sure i order the beef hamburger not the soy one?... i feel the exact same way

Mon, 09/30/2013 - 15:21 | 4006666 bread n circuses
bread n circuses's picture

I agree that they (I stopped saying "we" when referring to the united states a while ago) passed the point of no return that traditional measures can do any good no matter how extreme.

While Simon's analogy of an invalid works to a certain degree, there is one key thing that can be done that a human can't do with his body:  Hit the reset button.

 

Repudiate the debt, now!

 

Mon, 09/30/2013 - 15:27 | 4006687 Keyser
Keyser's picture

No, I did not MISS my IRS agent today. I have an uncanny sense that detects these vile creatures at 100 meters. If one comes closer than that, my spidey sense goes off and I exit stage left. 

Mon, 09/30/2013 - 15:26 | 4006688 Panafrican Funk...
Panafrican Funktron Robot's picture

I think the following accurately portrays the state of our country:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_hjoh_NrDJY

Mon, 09/30/2013 - 15:28 | 4006698 new game
new game's picture

it is all so fucken fucked up i don't know where to start.

but 10 percent accross the board would be a start.

10 percent - no excuses.

happens in real life...

Mon, 09/30/2013 - 17:30 | 4007198 Jethro
Jethro's picture

Add another 50% to that, and you'd approach a sustainable government.

Mon, 09/30/2013 - 15:30 | 4006709 22winmag
22winmag's picture

When Germany lay in ruins and Hitler shot himself... who stepped in? The military.

 

America is laying in virtual ruins (bombed morally, socially, and financially, not literally). The current house-of-cards Obama administration is so fragile, a light breeze could knock it over. It's just a matter of time and posturing before the military steps in and rights the ship.

 

Mon, 09/30/2013 - 16:00 | 4006810 espirit
espirit's picture

A Coup, any coup will do.

Mon, 09/30/2013 - 15:46 | 4006756 kragsquest
kragsquest's picture

As Good As It Gets:  The IRS doing pre-dawn raids on the greedy, well-deserving perps.....

 

As Nixon said: 

 

"I want to make sure he is a ruthless son of a bitch, do what he's told, that every income tax I want to see I see, that he will go after our enemies and not our friends. Now it's as simple as that. If he doesn't he doesn't get the job." —President Richard Nixon, on appointing an IRS commissioner

Mon, 09/30/2013 - 15:56 | 4006799 Mad Muppet
Mad Muppet's picture

The Militaty-Industrial Republic of the Disjointed States? Has a snappy ring to it, wouldn't you say?

Mon, 09/30/2013 - 16:56 | 4007026 shankster
shankster's picture

I feel shut down on the way and it feels GREAT!

Mon, 09/30/2013 - 17:15 | 4007128 dlfield
dlfield's picture

"Steep penalties for minor infractions and victimless crimes."

Well, we do need some quality persons in there churning out street signs and license plates.

Mon, 09/30/2013 - 20:07 | 4007674 Miss anthrope
Miss anthrope's picture

BURN GOVERNMENT BURN.  The sooner the better.  The government must die!!!!

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