The Unnecessary Depression

Submitted by Bill St. Clair on Mon, 02 Feb 2009 11:39:30 GMT <== Politics ==>

L. Neil Smith has a simple solution to the world's economic problems: eliminate taxation as a concept, and stop printing money. But don't expect our "leaders", who are stupid, insane, or evil, to get a clue any time soon.

Government is doing the exact opposite of what really needs to be done. George Bush and Barack Obama have pumped trillions more in counterfeit currency and credit into an economy already deathly ill from such treatment. If it goes on, we stand to suffer hyperinflation (all inflation consists of, no matter what they told you in Economics 101, is government generation of phony money) followed by another, very possibly terminal depression. Before it's over, the country--if not the whole world--will be locked down under brutal military rule, and our species likely will never again know freedom, progress, or prosperity.

What needs to be done, instead?

It depends on how far you're willing to take it.

A real economy based on real wealth must be allowed to rebuild itself. Those participating in it must be able to do so with a degree of confidence that everything they've built, or will build in the future, won't be destroyed again by political barbarians and their hangers-on.

The place to begin is with an absolute tax amnesty, under which all past due taxes of any kind are considered paid in full, without penalty. This alone might be sufficient to slow the slide into the abyss, but we are looking for more, something that will reset the scale of events, swamping out the current mess with real wealth and productivity that will make the present downturn look microscopic by comparison.

Corporate and capital gains taxes must be abolished immediately and permanently, if the country is to rebuild its capital reserves. It always infuriates me to hear Americans criticized for not savng money. Remove the outrageous penalties for doing so, and record savings will commence. Those (like me) who are unfond of corporations should know that no corporation ever really pays taxes--their customers do--and that they'll be put in their proper place when we outlaw limited liability.

The next step must be a year-long tax holiday, during whch nobody is required to pay any taxes of any kind. Given a breather like this, the economy would likely return to full health, albeit on a temporary basis.

To make the cure permanent, we must eliminate taxes altogether. Taxes are a barbaric remnant of ancient times in which early farmers, tied to the land, no longer able to roam freely, unable to fight back with awkward agricultural tools the way they once could with hunting implements, became victims, first, of itinerant plunderers, then of bandits settling down beside them to become the governments we know today.

It's time to find another basis for society. What does it teach kids to learn civilization is based on theft? The news that serious minds all over are working on the problem, could create a boom by itself.

Add comment Edit post Add post

Previous Posts:
Quote
"Camps": We are not "good Germans." We will not acquiesce in our own enslavement.
LA Gun Rights Examiner
The Question is not Whether Your Disk Will Fail, Only When
A Cinematic Preview of the Coming Excitement
Money and Our Future
For all you fellows up to no good, working hard in those garage machine shops (and I KNOW you're out there).
Quote
US too delusional to fix
The Revolution Was

Navigation

History

Quotes

Government doesn't work. Never did. Never will. Can't. But there are lots of good people. Love them.

-- Bill St. Clair

The Atlanta Declaration

Every man, woman, and responsible child has an unalienable individual, civil, Constitutional, and human right to obtain, own, and carry, openly or concealed, any weapon -- rifle, shotgun, handgun, machinegun, anything -- any time, any place, without asking anyone's permission.

-- L. Neil Smith

Reread that pesky first clause of the Second Amendment. It doesn't say what any of us thought it said. What it says is that infringing the right of the people to keep and bear arms is treason. What else do you call an act that endangers "the security of a free state"? And if it's treason, then it's punishable by death. I suggest due process, speedy trials, and public hangings.

-- L. Neil Smith

A Penalty Clause for the Bill of Rights

Any official, appointed or elected, at any level of government, who attempts, through legislative act or other means, to nullify, evade, or avoid the provisions of the first ten amendments to this Constitution, or of the Thirteenth Amendment, shall be summarily removed from office, and, upon conviction, deprived of all pay and benefits including pension, and sentenced to imprisonment for life.

-- L. Neil Smith

Based on 253 journal articles, 99 books, 43 government publications, and some of its own empirical work, the panel couldn't identify a single gun control regulation that reduced violent crime, suicide or accidents.

-- John Lott, commenting on the National Academy of Sciences report on gun control laws.

Who is a libertarian?

Zero Aggression Principle ("Zap")

"A libertarian is a person who believes that no one has the right, under any circumstances, to initiate force against another human being, or to advocate or delegate its initiation. Those who act consistently with this principle are libertarians, whether they realize it or not. Those who fail to act consistently with it are not libertarians, regardless of what they may claim."

-- L. Neil Smith

(Formerly called the "Non-Aggression Principle", or "NAP")

Why Did It Have to be... Guns?

Make no mistake: all politicians -- even those ostensibly on the side of guns and gun ownership -- hate the issue and anyone, like me, who insists on bringing it up. They hate it because it's an X-ray machine. It's a Vulcan mind-meld. It's the ultimate test to which any politician -- or political philosophy -- can be put.

If a politician isn't perfectly comfortable with the idea of his average constituent, any man, woman, or responsible child, walking into a hardware store and paying cash -- for any rifle, shotgun, handgun, machinegun, anything -- without producing ID or signing one scrap of paper, he isn't your friend no matter what he tells you.

If he isn't genuinely enthusiastic about his average constituent stuffing that weapon into a purse or pocket or tucking it under a coat and walking home without asking anybody's permission, he's a four-flusher, no matter what he claims.

What his attitude -- toward your ownership and use of weapons -- conveys is his real attitude about you. And if he doesn't trust you, then why in the name of John Moses Browning should you trust him?

-- L. Neil Smith

Concise

"Tell me," I was once asked, "What do you think about gun control? Give me the short answer." To which I replied, "If you try to take our firearms we will kill you."

-- Mike Vanderboegh

Also from The Atlanta Declaration:

... like going to the bathroom, breathing, eating, sleeping, or making love, it turns out that self-defense is a bodily function one cannot safely or effectively delegate to a second party.

-- L. Neil Smith

This does not mean that "Marijuana should be available by prescription." It means that morphine sulfate should be available in five pound bags at the supermarket for a couple of bucks, like sugar... but probably in a different aisle, to avoid confusion.

-- Vin Suprynowicz

If you refuse to pay unjust taxes, your property will be confiscated. If you attempt to defend your property, you will be arrested. If you resist arrest, you will be clubbed. If you defend yourself against clubbing, you will be shot dead. These procedures are known as the Rule of Law.

-- Edward Abbey

The state can only survive as long as a majority is programmed to believe that theft isn't wrong if it's called taxation or asset forfeiture or eminent domain, that assault and kidnapping isn't wrong if it's called arrest, that mass murder isn't wrong if it's called war.

-- Bill St. Clair