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Voluntary Enslavement

Tyler Durden's picture




 

Submitted by Jeff Thomas via InternationalMan.com,

In recent years, I’ve been predicting that the governments, particularly those of the EU and US, will seek to eliminate paper currency. The objective will be to make monetary transactions between private parties as difficult as they can, by requiring that all transactions take place through financial institutions. If they can do this, they will effectively make a run on banks impossible in the future as the banks will simply shut off the money tap, as the Greek banks did. This power will additionally make negative interest rates and confiscations more possible.

A few years ago, this forecast was seen by most as poppycock, but the prelude has now begun, with most of the world’s banks disallowing large transfers and some lowering these amounts over time. Many governments are aiding the effort, requiring reporting on some transfers.

At some point, governments and banks will seek to eliminate paper currency, completing the encirclement of private party monetary transfer. From that point on, it would be illegal for any transfer of money to be undertaken except through a financial institution (most probably through the use of a plastic card or smartphone).

At about the same time as I began predicting the above, I also began forecasting what I considered to be a companion campaign against virtual currencies, such as Bitcoin. Such currencies will prove to be a threat to a bank-only transfer system as they would provide an alternate method of payment between private parties – one that does not come under the control of any government. Governments and financial institutions will therefore seek to eliminate virtual currencies, or make them too difficult to use.

The greatest weakness inherent in virtual currencies, in my view, is that they’re intangible. Unlike precious metals which, once physically possessed, exist forever, virtual currencies exist only as an idea. Like all fiat currencies, they have value only as long as two parties continue to have faith in their value. If one party decides that the value has ceased to exist, the other party is out of luck. The value of a virtual currency can go to zero if a willing recipient cannot be found.

Presently, virtual currencies pass from one hand to another but, at some point, are often transferred into something tangible, such as paper banknotes, in order to deal with those who will not agree to accept the virtual currency. I believe the attack against Bitcoin will begin at this point – banks and/or governments would make Bitcoin unacceptable for transfer into some other form of money.

Recently, the EU began a plan to crackdown on virtual currencies, with specific attention to Bitcoin. The European Commission plans to, “strengthen controls of non-banking payment methods such as electronic/anonymous payments and virtual currencies and transfers of gold, precious metals."

The justification for the crackdown, as stated by EU ministers, is, “to curb more effectively the illicit trade in cultural goods." Clearly, this has been in the works for a while, but the EU has been waiting for a suitable event to occur that will help the public to believe that the crackdown is justified. Not surprising, then, that the crackdown was announced shortly after the Paris attacks.

The two predictions described above are therefore coming together in quite a surprising way:

  • The EU proposes to eliminate electronic money transfer by Bitcoin, as electronic money transfer encourages and enables terrorism.

  • The EU proposes to convert all retail banking to electronic money transfer, as electronic money transfer discourages and disables terrorism.

As blatantly self-contradictory as this is, the public will only absorb the claim that both measures are meant to kerb terrorism. Out of fear for their safety, they will blindly support both measures. Both measures will then take a portion of their freedom away.

And that’s the point of this article – the recognition of methods governments utilise to push through policies that, when examined, are clearly not in the interests of freedom.

One hundred years ago, in his Satyagraha campaign in South Africa, Mohandas Gandhi came before General Smuts, head of the Transvaal Government. He said quietly, “I want you to know I intend to fight against your government.” General Smuts laughed and replied, “You have come here to tell me that? Is there anything more you want to say?” to which Mister Gandhi answered, “Yes, I am going to win.” “Well,” said General Smuts, “and how are you going to do this?” Mister Gandhi replied, “With your help.”

Mister Gandhi did win. His method was to get the General to work against his own interests without knowing that he had lost control of them. Mister Gandhi understood that, if he undertook specific actions, the General would respond with knee-jerk reactions, not realising that he was being led down Mister Gandhi’s desired path until he no longer had any wiggle-room.

Today, leaders and policymakers are acutely aware of the complacency of the majority of people. Rather than use force to get people to give up their freedoms, they use the populace’s inclination to pay scant attention to the details of new policies – to instead follow the easy-to-absorb rhetoric instead. In this fashion, leaders can remove freedoms one after the other, no matter how transparent or even blatantly contradictory the methodology (as in the imposition of electric money transfers).

It is the Nature of the State to Seek to Dominate the Populace

Freedom is one of the most precious and hard-won of all conditions in life. A government applies the removal of freedoms in a ratchet effect; once a freedom has been taken away from a population, it’s rarely returned. Therefore, freedom tends to deteriorate over time in any nation, no matter how idealistically-founded it may have been. As an illustration, we may review the British Magna Carta of 1215, or the American Constitution of 1787, and find that virtually all the “inalienable rights” contained in them have been either removed or watered-down dramatically through subsequent legislation. Neither the UK nor the US qualifies as a “free” state at this point.

But, if the reader is a UK or US citizen, he may not wish to accept this statement. If not, he might benefit from the advice of one Thomas Jefferson, who maintained that, "When governments fear the people, there is liberty. When the people fear the government, there is tyranny.” Today, in both countries, people are free to criticise candidates for election but, if they question the validity of the state to rule over them, they tend to look over their shoulder before speaking too loudly.

To repeat: “Freedom is one of the most precious and hard-won of all conditions in life.” Freedom is not static. Those citizens who hope that it will simply remain intact if unattended will be mistaken, for the State will always seek to remove freedoms over time. It’s therefore the chore of every citizen to remain ever vigilant and to question everything that his government seeks to do to initiate change. It’s often a dull, tedious task, but a very necessary one if the citizen values his remaining freedoms.

None of us can fully escape the more predatory tendencies of governments. We can, however, question their every move and adjust our lives so that the State’s impact on us is minimised.

 

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Mon, 12/28/2015 - 19:13 | 6972146 Kamehameha
Kamehameha's picture

Liberty or death.

Mon, 12/28/2015 - 19:34 | 6972215 two hoots
two hoots's picture

Governments increase controls on their people when they feel threatened or challenged, inside or out.  More people, more controls.  More controls, more government. 

Mon, 12/28/2015 - 20:08 | 6972329 r101958
r101958's picture

"At some point, governments and banks will seek to eliminate paper currency, completing the encirclement of private party monetary transfer. From that point on, it would be illegal for any transfer of money to be undertaken except through a financial institution"

Then, of course, they will institute a fee for these transactions.

Mon, 12/28/2015 - 19:15 | 6972149 Cognitive Dissonance
Cognitive Dissonance's picture

Tyranny progresses by way of the slow drip drip of water on the forehead, slowly washing away all our freedoms.

Mon, 12/28/2015 - 21:59 | 6972664 Dr. Spin
Dr. Spin's picture

...and I qoute:

"Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security."

The establishment will never NEVER relinquish power.  It must be taken away from them and almost always by the same method they themselves use.  That is force. The police are shooting and killing 12 year olds with toy guns and immediately spit up the absurdly worn, "I Feared For My Life".  Probable cause affadavits are studies in creative writing.

Get ready, the revolution is nigh. 

Spoctor Din

Mon, 12/28/2015 - 19:16 | 6972158 beemasters
beemasters's picture

Why is EU running a free ad for Bitcoin when there are 700+ cryptocurrencies out there? Curious.

Mon, 12/28/2015 - 19:18 | 6972172 SILVERGEDDON
SILVERGEDDON's picture

Maybe Coinhead is working for a living ?

Badump, bump.

Thank you very much, ladies and gentlemen, thank you very much.

I'll be playing the lounge all week long.

Mon, 12/28/2015 - 20:10 | 6972338 marts321
marts321's picture

lol "buh teh bitcoin!"

Mon, 12/28/2015 - 19:17 | 6972161 SILVERGEDDON
SILVERGEDDON's picture

Fuck them - barter and trade will enjoy a renaissance that will put paid to their taxpayer funded arrogance, waste, and sloth faster than a Reggie Happy Ending.

Mon, 12/28/2015 - 20:28 | 6972404 God
God's picture

Bullion because you can turn it into tangible tradable units with a hammer, die, and anvil

Mon, 12/28/2015 - 20:36 | 6972429 1033eruth
1033eruth's picture

ABSOLUTELY NOT!  People have been trained to only trust bullion from "trusted" metalurgists like Johnson Matthey, etc, etc.  Once you destroy the integrity of a minted ingot the credibility of the metal goes POOF!

You can take your shavings and shove it when it comes to a credible bartering system. 

Mon, 12/28/2015 - 19:21 | 6972179 wisebastard
wisebastard's picture

this is because the planet is ran by fucked up retards...................

Mon, 12/28/2015 - 20:12 | 6972349 Kefeer
Kefeer's picture

They are called people; and they all have much in common.

Mon, 12/28/2015 - 19:21 | 6972183 Frankie Carbone
Frankie Carbone's picture

Nothing will change until the stranglehold that the media has on The Popular Mind is broken. 

 

 

Fix that, and you free the people.

Mon, 12/28/2015 - 19:25 | 6972192 Burticus
Burticus's picture

Gubbermints may infringe on people's rights incrementally in a ratchet (or thousand strings) effect, but people seize their rights back from in one swift purging of their rulers at the barrel of a gun/end of one big rope.

People can also vote with their feet and silver coins.

Mon, 12/28/2015 - 19:27 | 6972197 Francis Marx
Francis Marx's picture

It would be great if everyone just said NO! to government, kind of just like children say to drugs...

Mon, 12/28/2015 - 19:32 | 6972210 Frankie Carbone
Frankie Carbone's picture

Like D.A.R.E we could have our own slogan

 

Government

Oppression

Resistance

Education

 

G.O.R.E the beaurocracy!

Mon, 12/28/2015 - 19:40 | 6972242 wisebastard
wisebastard's picture

I wish people would go ahead and start shooting....................one by one it can grow.................

Mon, 12/28/2015 - 19:44 | 6972257 Duc888
Duc888's picture

 

 

 

wisebastard: "I wish people would go ahead and start shooting....................one by one it can grow................."

 

No need to shoot.  No need for any violence, just withdraw your money from the bank.    Poof, it's gone.  Problem solved.

Mon, 12/28/2015 - 20:41 | 6972440 1033eruth
1033eruth's picture

No the problem is NOT solved.  You're just exchanging the types of thieves that will have access to it.  

In the bank = Uncle Fraud as the thief

Cash = Run of the mill thief, drug addicts, disgruntled spouses, girlfriends, civil forfeiture from a million different government agencies.  

 

Tue, 12/29/2015 - 01:02 | 6973106 techpriest
techpriest's picture

Learn how to store it.

Thu, 01/07/2016 - 08:24 | 7009884 1033eruth
1033eruth's picture

How many examples of civil forfeiture do you need before you stop saying something stupid like that?  

Anytime you travel with a large amount of cash, you're in jeopardy of losing it.  Cash transactions are 100% necessary in a lot of cases because of the fraud with money orders and cashiers checks.  No cash, no sale. 

Mon, 12/28/2015 - 20:13 | 6972351 Frankie Carbone
Frankie Carbone's picture

I'm with Duc88. If you go that route then a.) you stoop to their level, and b.) you play right into their hands. 

 

Mon, 12/28/2015 - 19:29 | 6972202 Magnum
Magnum's picture

Clinton's gift to bankers included a special law that made student debt non dischargeable.  Essentially a debtors prison.  

Mon, 12/28/2015 - 20:10 | 6972340 Kefeer
Kefeer's picture

If you borrow money; are you not obligated to pay it back?

Mon, 12/28/2015 - 20:16 | 6972367 Magnum
Magnum's picture

Bankruptcy should be an option for some.

Tue, 12/29/2015 - 04:31 | 6973284 deja
deja's picture

For some, I agree.  Those who are legitimately in hardship.  The problem was a lot of people with law and medical degrees, i.e., those who really did have the capacity to pay back their loans were tactically declaring bankruptcy.  They made their deal with the devil in accepting those loans and hence I have no sympathy.

Mon, 12/28/2015 - 22:05 | 6972680 secretargentman
secretargentman's picture

Depends... If you borrowed $100 from your neighbor, spent it, and then discovered he actually printed up that Franklin in his basement, would you feel obliged to pay him back?

Mon, 12/28/2015 - 22:12 | 6972695 secretargentman
secretargentman's picture

Furthermore, since only the principle of the loan is conjured into existence (and not the interest) a certain number of defaults are baked into the cake.

Tue, 12/29/2015 - 00:02 | 6973020 cro_maat
cro_maat's picture

Close but no cigar.

Look up the bankruptcy of the U.S. in 1933, the gold confiscation and for bonus points: HJR-192

Tue, 12/29/2015 - 01:19 | 6973135 SeekingNuNormal
SeekingNuNormal's picture

Exactly.... No where in my mortgage contract did it say the fed reserves the right to print unlimited amount of money and give said money to banker friends for Coke and hookers. Hmmmm maybe I better check the fine print.

Tue, 12/29/2015 - 08:17 | 6973468 Wow72
Wow72's picture

And dont forget when the whole system implodes because of them... they just take your home.

Tue, 12/29/2015 - 09:12 | 6973528 secretargentman
secretargentman's picture

During a creeping implosion yes... as long as the masses still think it's the debtor's fault. In a catastrophic implosion the people will demand a debt jubilee.

Mon, 12/28/2015 - 20:39 | 6972436 WillyGroper
WillyGroper's picture

it was king gwb not slick willie

Mon, 12/28/2015 - 19:33 | 6972216 wisebastard
wisebastard's picture

you volunteer to go to jail you volunteer to pay your tax...........

Mon, 12/28/2015 - 19:42 | 6972245 Duc888
Duc888's picture

 

 

"None of us can fully escape the more predatory tendencies of governments. We can, however, question their every move and adjust our lives so that the State’s impact on us is minimised."

 

Well, yea, we could end all this tomorrow by taking all of our monies out of the bank        But.... you'd rather suck bankster dick and whine as you wipe the DNA off your chin.

....you gonna follow up that guzzlin' with a shot of everclear?

 

disclaimer : $113 in my account now.

Mon, 12/28/2015 - 20:09 | 6972333 Kefeer
Kefeer's picture

We could end it by just buying the bare necessities; it would only take a couple of months to thwart all their plans, but we live in the age of humanism where materialism is the religion and mother nature is the goddess and Satan laughs all the way to heaven's throne.

Mon, 12/28/2015 - 20:22 | 6972382 Magnum
Magnum's picture

The idea of being a bare necessity guy would work if we didnt have open door immigration.

So our govt planners / corporate overlords bring in waves of immigrants.  

The average white American is more likely to be out hiking or biking in spare time, buying from local farms when possible, more often these are the people driving an old well-maintained car, shopping at garage sales and setting up freecycles to support poor.  None of this brings in money.  Banker schemes would never survive.  

But go to any shopping mall and wow packed with immigrants!  Almost ALL of the pathetic consumerism is driving by Asians and immigrants who grew up never having shit.  Now they get here and buy buy buy.  

Tue, 12/29/2015 - 06:51 | 6973381 Imagery
Imagery's picture

AND getting out of all the TBTF WS & FedRes Manipulated US Markets - ALL of them. But alas, not 1% will extract themselves from teh very casinos that are used to place the ball about your leg.

Mon, 12/28/2015 - 19:45 | 6972261 Dr. Engali
Dr. Engali's picture

There is no better slave than the one who believes he is free.

Mon, 12/28/2015 - 20:13 | 6972328 Kefeer
Kefeer's picture

Well stated and we are all enslaved according to Mr. Webster and God; on the basis of two reliable witnesses; I concur.

Mon, 12/28/2015 - 21:38 | 6972591 petolo
petolo's picture

"Man is born free, and everywhere he is in chains"....J.J. Rouseau

Mon, 12/28/2015 - 19:49 | 6972273 Manipuflation
Manipuflation's picture

Banzai7 sent me a link to The Hateful Eight movie.

http://putlocker.is/watch-the-hateful-eight-online-free-putlocker.html

That is a good movie.  It is Tarantino and about 3 hours long.  It is not for everyone.  I happen to like Tarantino and this movie is good.  

 

I want to go find how I can watch "The Big Short" for free.  Anyone seen that one?  I will not pay a nickle. 

Mon, 12/28/2015 - 20:18 | 6972361 NotApplicable
NotApplicable's picture

There's no such thing as a "good Tarantino" movie.

There is only further cultural devolution packaged up for the masses under the guise of "harmless entertainment."

All actions have consequences, regardless of whether or not one chooses to ignore them.

Others profit from you being programmed. Why you choose to be programmed is the question.

Tue, 12/29/2015 - 12:56 | 6974320 BingoBoggins
BingoBoggins's picture

looks "scammish". Directed to another provider - for a fee. They don't have the title in question.

Fri, 01/01/2016 - 09:03 | 6984902 brennanblue
brennanblue's picture

@Manipuflation  - the big short was on viooz today for streaming.  turn on your adblocker first   http://viooz.ac/movies/28612-the-big-short-2015.html

Mon, 12/28/2015 - 20:05 | 6972320 Kefeer
Kefeer's picture

Freedom: "the power to act, speak or think without internally or externally imposed restraints" ; name a person who ever lived that had freedom.

 

Liberty: "limited capacity to act, speak or think without the fear of reprisal"

 

Liberties are eroding, that is for sure.  However; carnal joy is the mind occupied with that which is trivial.  True joy is the mind set on the things above knowing the things on earth and below come to an end.

Mon, 12/28/2015 - 20:37 | 6972433 Racer
Racer's picture

As I posted earlier

 

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/asia/china-has-made-obedience-to...

Watch the video in the link, truly scary!

Coming to a country near you!

Tue, 12/29/2015 - 06:38 | 6973367 Frankie Carbone
Frankie Carbone's picture

Holy shit! EVERY member of fight club needs to click on that link. That is the SCARIEST, most potent, and indefensible tool of oppression that I have ever seen or heard of. Once it comes to the US then we're absolutely screwed. 

It's jigs up. We'screwed. 

Mon, 12/28/2015 - 23:05 | 6972859 MKD
MKD's picture

i think i have read somewhere that it is already happening in sweden,or they will be the first country to introduce a cashless society.

the main problem with a cashless society is that the government and others can track your spending and earning habits.

i smell  minority report

 

Tue, 12/29/2015 - 01:08 | 6973114 techpriest
techpriest's picture

Here's another never-discussed problem.

In Dallas (Garland, specifically), they just had some tornadoes hit and huge sections of Garland are without power. I drove through on the way home; it's hard to communicate just how DARK it gets when there really are no house lights or street lights.

How far does a credit card get you in that situation? Given the tendency of governments to mismanage everything else, what happens when mismanaged power leads to rolling blackouts like they have had in California? Or when there's an unexpected outage like the ones caused by recent storms?

Tue, 12/29/2015 - 11:52 | 6974059 Vin
Vin's picture

Our current enslavement isn't exactly voluntary.  It's taken two generations since the time of FDR who imposed emergency banking measures on us during the 1933 bankruptcy of America.

In 1933 they needed money, so instead of simply printing it, which is the perogative of all sovereign nations, they "borrowed" it from the fed which printed it for us.  In return we were all signed over as collateral to the bankers.  Did you know that?

As a result, the health and wealth of the nation has deteriorated ever since as the nation's treasure was systematically syphoned away. 

It's time to end the 1933 banking emergency, the bogus UCC "laws" that don't really pertain to human persons, and return to the common law and our Constitution.

Hang the traitors.

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