I find it harder and harder to be optimistic about other people and their reactions to those who wish to control them. The whole covid thing put a huge black eye on the idea that people will fight against tyranny. They laid down so quickly to the scare tactics and gave up their freedom and rights like they were 'passing the popcorn'. People we love and care for and respected, simply gave up the fight before it started...pretty amazing, actually. They'll do the same thing with a CBDC as they'll look at it as a "convenience"...a "cool thing". No more dirty, filthy cash. No more credit cards to lose or get hacked. And checks, well the banks don't want to give them to you anyways! No, people will just need their phone and they'll be happy, because God-forbid they leave home without it!
It's ironic that advancing technologies have actually dumbed down the population, not made people better thinkers, or more free. Sad...
Indeed. Just after the mid-term elections, libertarian Tom Woods posted the following lamentation:
“This week I've heard from numerous people with a common message: I'm tired of fighting.
They say: the odds are insurmountable, the public is too stupid, nobody seems to want liberty, and I just don't have it in me to do it anymore.
On the one hand, who can blame them?
How is it possible for there not to have been a massive and brutal repudiation of the Democrats and their bizarre and evil program, not to mention their fact-free Covid hysteria for two years that did massive damage to society without doing a thing to keep people healthy?
Just over 25 years ago we learned something important about mankind, and we learned more over the past two and a half years.
Twenty-five years ago or thereabouts, people began using web browsers on a regular basis, and more and more businesses and individuals had some kind of online presence.
Here, now, was mankind's chance to free itself from the shackles of a media and an educational establishment that consciously omitted certain books, people, and ideas from the public consciousness.
Now people could uncover the truth!
And it's true: some did. But relatively speaking, it was a trickle.
Then 2020 came, and we learned something equally as bad: a huge portion of the human race will actively cheer when people destroy their livelihoods, decimate their savings, postpone their surgeries, starve the developing world, disrupt supply chains, tear families apart, and force their grandparents to die alone and have 10 people at their funerals.
They won't even bother to check to see if any of this actually does any good. They won't compare the hysterical places with the semi-normal places, and find that the difference in outcomes is negligible to nonexistent. Or the Google mobility data, which shows that there's no correlation (1) between people moving around or ‘staying at home to save lives’ and (2) health outcomes.
All this data is available if you look. And if you cherish your life, you actively seek out that data.
A huge portion of mankind didn't even care to look.”
Beautiful summation. Pearls to swine I'm afraid. We've all heard the quip about those who don't learn from history . . . (I would change it to be . . . are Libertarians). Sorry Bill
The problem I have with comparisons with countries like North Korea, Cuba, Nicaragua etc is that the effect of economic sanctions is never referenced. That is, these countries are being artificially constrained by foreign elites which does create a 'war mentality' within the countries. Think of the limitations placed on sales of Venezuelan oil, NZ wouldn't dare buy it (assuming it was suitable for our soon to be shut down refinery) because it might upset our 'friend'. Would Venzuela be worse off if it could sell oil on the open market without restrictions? The govt there seems no more corrupt than in the US, nor NZ for that matter where the Prime Minister stated the govt is "the one source of truth".
Last night my step son and I watched BIG SHORT, at his suggestion. It's about the 2008 Real Estate melt-down. Great movie, reportedly quite an accurate portrayal, filthy language. This morning I watched MONEY FOR NOTHING: Inside the Federal Reserve 2013 | Full Documentary on Youtube. The minute or so after 1:21:10 neatly summarize our current situation.
All fascinating background, confirming what BPR has been saying about the FED being the repetitive cause of economic disaster.
Agreed. Although the Fed has blown it again on interest rates and are playing catch-up, you have the corrupt congress spending like they were flush with cash! The Fed goes one step forward and the fiscal side takes us 2-3 steps back. Nice game. How much to Ukraine so far? Billions each week it seems. How much for the illegals they are dumping at our door step? How much to solve the problems they themselves caused? Heck, they've spent millions on trying to prosecute Trump the past 6 years! All they do is spend other people's money.
We are heading for a reckoning and quickly, dare I say.
Wealth-takers are what you get when you gear the entire public education system to teach ideology that is anathema to our nature, which is to be free and prosperous. I don't have a working crystal ball (I wouldn't be reading here if I did), but when Bill says they're going to keep doing what their doing until something breaks, that something might be a lot worse than just market or finance related.
You're on fire lately. It's sad that many more don't take heed.
I won't go into too much detail, but in one of the neighborhoods I own property in Southern California the "competition" for lawn and yard maintenance was so intense that you could get a ridiculously low monthly rate all day, every day (like you described). But, they send two guys every week that barely knew how to start the lawn mower (much less speak English, though I speak enough Spanish to manage) and they'd rush through the work such that the result was consistently pathetic (the proverbially "mow and blow service").
I took the gardener that we use by the shoulder and said, "I'll pay you double what you are asking for if you do x, y and z (I laid out the details of what I wanted). Now when his "competitors" come knocking I have our tenants (which are our sons) tell them what we pay and those people just walk away with their tales between their legs. We have the best kept yards in the neighborhood. Not many will appreciate this anecdote, but not many will read it.
Here in SFL we used to call that "Chuck and a Truck." It was/is the bane of the professional landscaper's existence. Economy turning bad? Here they come out of the woodwork with a $200.00 Home Depot mower in the back. Forget about insurance, health care, IRS reporting, uniforms or experience. Like most other business, you gotta have a RELATIONSHIP with your clients or many of them will jump ship due to the false impression they are saving money - finished product be damned.
Anyway, seems we need to change it to "Jose and a...uh...um...hmm"...
LOL, Jose y un traductor o troca doesn't have quite the pizazz as "Chuck and a Truck". Maybe "Jaime y Heffe" (Jim and Boss" in English) has a little better ring to it, but then you can't the universally recognized Jose. I better shut up before someone calls me the "r" word.
The old adage, "you get what you pay for" comes to mind. Which makes me wonder what all these businesses are getting from these unskilled, uneducated people that are sauntering in across the border?
hOW CAN YOU MAKE YOUR ESSAY WIDESPREAD FOR IT TO BE READ BY MORE AMERICANS!!!!!!!I can not resign myself to thinking that our country is populated by a majority of uneducated morons?????
In terms of freedom and prosperity of the common man, haven't the past 200 years in America been nearly unique in the history of this globe? Perhaps madness is expecting freedom and prosperity to continue or return in our lifetimes.
Perhaps sanity is to expect freedom and prosperity to return to the historic mean that Bill describes here, and prepare ourselves to be happy with that. The vast majority of people in this world are now and always have been happy with that.
I'm not comfortable with that, but it bears consideration.
Trump and his 3000 lies made all politicians liers. None as bad as Trump. But even Joe Biden was found with papers he was not suppose to have outside of the white house. The Republican party is totally different now! I have never liked liberal Democrats. They are already rich and we are giving them a retirement program as well? What about the rest is us voters. We don't all get retirement. They take our money we paid in and spend it on other things besides us. Regan stopped it but when he was gine they just voted it out so they can keep spending our money!
We need more than these 2 parties to vote for. Democrats changed the numbers in the primaries. So it is not too far a reach to think they would do it in the elections. They want to take away our freedom of speech and our right to bear arms. These were given us ti protect us from the elites. Next thing they will be changing the Declaration of Independence. Look out people. Their next step is changing the dollar to digital so they can ake away our money anytime they want to. Like Canada did to disgruntled truck drives.
The Covid vaccine killed many people. And they are going to try to make it mandatory! Many people who have died after getting the vaccine has their veins al clogged up when they try to remove their bood to put in fluid to keep the from deteriorating before burial. Let's get with it people.
Oh, Bill, you are festering in Geneva. Go to Italy or Greece and get some sun and improve your winter dour cynicism. The inmates may be running the asylum, but we do NOT have to obey their every insane command.
Consider that there are simply too many rules to enforce efficiently. Try living outside the law a little. Or better yet, outside the country. But, of course, you already do that. Argentina, Ireland, France. You are a very rich man and do not need to live by the rules anywhere you live. Well, not entirely anyway. So, is it just altruism that motivates you to spew vitriol about the abuses of the current government, or is it that you are a closet world improver?
Whatever. Not every state in the Union plays by the same playbook as the Feds seem to want. Granted, Baltimore is a mess and getting worse. But how about Wyoming or Nevada? Are they all as bad as you seem to proclaim? Vote with your feet, Bill. Get out of Baltimore and maybe try Florida or Texas. Hell, even Puerto Rico is better than Baltimore.
Anyway, you are running out of time on this earth. Take a break. Just enjoy all that money you have earned and creating an oasis of freedom somewhere and attract others of like mind who will help you perpetuate it into the future.
As you so often tell us, the end is nye. Well, don't just sit there and watch it unravel and destroy us all. Be a survivor. Be an innovator. Create a better world, not with words, but with actions and deeds.
Create a new community of freedom seekers and thinkers. It will take a lot of your skill and effort. And time. And money. Let it be your legacy.
Call it a religious community and get tax breaks and other benefits.
Oh, wait a minute, this has already been tried....and failed. Damn. Well, maybe people just can't abide freedom. They seem to demand to be controlled and abused. The concept is good. The execution seems to be unreachable.
Bill, just enjoy your life, what there is left of it. Enjoy your family. Enjoy what freedoms you still have.
Be healthy and be happy in the New Year and every year.
Perhaps add to the list the elimination of national sovereignty by legalizing illegal immigration, thereby importing in significant numbers poor people from other countries and adding them to the list of worthy recipients of government alphabet soup programs.
Bill, suggest you read the new book, The Dawn of Everything. It'll give you a new perspective on human prehistory. We didn't live like orangutans until 10K years ago. There were many very sophisticated earlier societies, within which the notion of personal liberty was paramount....
Yahowah is the great liberator not one to enslave with laws no one is able to keep. The creation of enslaving laws, doctrines, and rites are a human contrivances.
I find it harder and harder to be optimistic about other people and their reactions to those who wish to control them. The whole covid thing put a huge black eye on the idea that people will fight against tyranny. They laid down so quickly to the scare tactics and gave up their freedom and rights like they were 'passing the popcorn'. People we love and care for and respected, simply gave up the fight before it started...pretty amazing, actually. They'll do the same thing with a CBDC as they'll look at it as a "convenience"...a "cool thing". No more dirty, filthy cash. No more credit cards to lose or get hacked. And checks, well the banks don't want to give them to you anyways! No, people will just need their phone and they'll be happy, because God-forbid they leave home without it!
It's ironic that advancing technologies have actually dumbed down the population, not made people better thinkers, or more free. Sad...
Indeed. Just after the mid-term elections, libertarian Tom Woods posted the following lamentation:
“This week I've heard from numerous people with a common message: I'm tired of fighting.
They say: the odds are insurmountable, the public is too stupid, nobody seems to want liberty, and I just don't have it in me to do it anymore.
On the one hand, who can blame them?
How is it possible for there not to have been a massive and brutal repudiation of the Democrats and their bizarre and evil program, not to mention their fact-free Covid hysteria for two years that did massive damage to society without doing a thing to keep people healthy?
Just over 25 years ago we learned something important about mankind, and we learned more over the past two and a half years.
Twenty-five years ago or thereabouts, people began using web browsers on a regular basis, and more and more businesses and individuals had some kind of online presence.
Here, now, was mankind's chance to free itself from the shackles of a media and an educational establishment that consciously omitted certain books, people, and ideas from the public consciousness.
Now people could uncover the truth!
And it's true: some did. But relatively speaking, it was a trickle.
Then 2020 came, and we learned something equally as bad: a huge portion of the human race will actively cheer when people destroy their livelihoods, decimate their savings, postpone their surgeries, starve the developing world, disrupt supply chains, tear families apart, and force their grandparents to die alone and have 10 people at their funerals.
They won't even bother to check to see if any of this actually does any good. They won't compare the hysterical places with the semi-normal places, and find that the difference in outcomes is negligible to nonexistent. Or the Google mobility data, which shows that there's no correlation (1) between people moving around or ‘staying at home to save lives’ and (2) health outcomes.
All this data is available if you look. And if you cherish your life, you actively seek out that data.
A huge portion of mankind didn't even care to look.”
Unfortunately, in this case, forewarned has not equated to being forearmed:
“Who controls the past controls the future. Who controls the present controls the past.”
― George Orwell, 1984
Beautiful summation. Pearls to swine I'm afraid. We've all heard the quip about those who don't learn from history . . . (I would change it to be . . . are Libertarians). Sorry Bill
He would say the military is specifically for defending U.S. terra firma. That is shortsighted and not in line with "being prepared" in my view.
The problem I have with comparisons with countries like North Korea, Cuba, Nicaragua etc is that the effect of economic sanctions is never referenced. That is, these countries are being artificially constrained by foreign elites which does create a 'war mentality' within the countries. Think of the limitations placed on sales of Venezuelan oil, NZ wouldn't dare buy it (assuming it was suitable for our soon to be shut down refinery) because it might upset our 'friend'. Would Venzuela be worse off if it could sell oil on the open market without restrictions? The govt there seems no more corrupt than in the US, nor NZ for that matter where the Prime Minister stated the govt is "the one source of truth".
Cheers
James
Well said Bill!! GMarcD
You can't eat your cake and have it too.
Last night my step son and I watched BIG SHORT, at his suggestion. It's about the 2008 Real Estate melt-down. Great movie, reportedly quite an accurate portrayal, filthy language. This morning I watched MONEY FOR NOTHING: Inside the Federal Reserve 2013 | Full Documentary on Youtube. The minute or so after 1:21:10 neatly summarize our current situation.
All fascinating background, confirming what BPR has been saying about the FED being the repetitive cause of economic disaster.
Next to watch: MARGIN CALL on VidAngel.
Agreed. Although the Fed has blown it again on interest rates and are playing catch-up, you have the corrupt congress spending like they were flush with cash! The Fed goes one step forward and the fiscal side takes us 2-3 steps back. Nice game. How much to Ukraine so far? Billions each week it seems. How much for the illegals they are dumping at our door step? How much to solve the problems they themselves caused? Heck, they've spent millions on trying to prosecute Trump the past 6 years! All they do is spend other people's money.
We are heading for a reckoning and quickly, dare I say.
As noted in the Matrix film by Agent Smith, "Human beings are a disease, a cancer of this planet."
Then again he was serving the elite robotic establishment
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mgS1Lwr8gq8
The less people, the fewer rules, regulations and mayhem.
There are too many of our species on the planet as it is.
Most are wealth-takers. We desperately need more wealth-makers
Wealth-takers are what you get when you gear the entire public education system to teach ideology that is anathema to our nature, which is to be free and prosperous. I don't have a working crystal ball (I wouldn't be reading here if I did), but when Bill says they're going to keep doing what their doing until something breaks, that something might be a lot worse than just market or finance related.
You're on fire lately. It's sad that many more don't take heed.
I won't go into too much detail, but in one of the neighborhoods I own property in Southern California the "competition" for lawn and yard maintenance was so intense that you could get a ridiculously low monthly rate all day, every day (like you described). But, they send two guys every week that barely knew how to start the lawn mower (much less speak English, though I speak enough Spanish to manage) and they'd rush through the work such that the result was consistently pathetic (the proverbially "mow and blow service").
I took the gardener that we use by the shoulder and said, "I'll pay you double what you are asking for if you do x, y and z (I laid out the details of what I wanted). Now when his "competitors" come knocking I have our tenants (which are our sons) tell them what we pay and those people just walk away with their tales between their legs. We have the best kept yards in the neighborhood. Not many will appreciate this anecdote, but not many will read it.
Hi Dave -
Here in SFL we used to call that "Chuck and a Truck." It was/is the bane of the professional landscaper's existence. Economy turning bad? Here they come out of the woodwork with a $200.00 Home Depot mower in the back. Forget about insurance, health care, IRS reporting, uniforms or experience. Like most other business, you gotta have a RELATIONSHIP with your clients or many of them will jump ship due to the false impression they are saving money - finished product be damned.
Anyway, seems we need to change it to "Jose and a...uh...um...hmm"...
LOL, Jose y un traductor o troca doesn't have quite the pizazz as "Chuck and a Truck". Maybe "Jaime y Heffe" (Jim and Boss" in English) has a little better ring to it, but then you can't the universally recognized Jose. I better shut up before someone calls me the "r" word.
The old adage, "you get what you pay for" comes to mind. Which makes me wonder what all these businesses are getting from these unskilled, uneducated people that are sauntering in across the border?
LOL, you're on to something. I don't live there anymore either.
hOW CAN YOU MAKE YOUR ESSAY WIDESPREAD FOR IT TO BE READ BY MORE AMERICANS!!!!!!!I can not resign myself to thinking that our country is populated by a majority of uneducated morons?????
How do we stop this madness??
Anton
What if we can't?
In terms of freedom and prosperity of the common man, haven't the past 200 years in America been nearly unique in the history of this globe? Perhaps madness is expecting freedom and prosperity to continue or return in our lifetimes.
Perhaps sanity is to expect freedom and prosperity to return to the historic mean that Bill describes here, and prepare ourselves to be happy with that. The vast majority of people in this world are now and always have been happy with that.
I'm not comfortable with that, but it bears consideration.
Trump and his 3000 lies made all politicians liers. None as bad as Trump. But even Joe Biden was found with papers he was not suppose to have outside of the white house. The Republican party is totally different now! I have never liked liberal Democrats. They are already rich and we are giving them a retirement program as well? What about the rest is us voters. We don't all get retirement. They take our money we paid in and spend it on other things besides us. Regan stopped it but when he was gine they just voted it out so they can keep spending our money!
We need more than these 2 parties to vote for. Democrats changed the numbers in the primaries. So it is not too far a reach to think they would do it in the elections. They want to take away our freedom of speech and our right to bear arms. These were given us ti protect us from the elites. Next thing they will be changing the Declaration of Independence. Look out people. Their next step is changing the dollar to digital so they can ake away our money anytime they want to. Like Canada did to disgruntled truck drives.
The Covid vaccine killed many people. And they are going to try to make it mandatory! Many people who have died after getting the vaccine has their veins al clogged up when they try to remove their bood to put in fluid to keep the from deteriorating before burial. Let's get with it people.
New emblem for the country. A sheep - belly up. Love it. When will you have a store for your products? I’m a ready customer.
Oh, Bill, you are festering in Geneva. Go to Italy or Greece and get some sun and improve your winter dour cynicism. The inmates may be running the asylum, but we do NOT have to obey their every insane command.
Consider that there are simply too many rules to enforce efficiently. Try living outside the law a little. Or better yet, outside the country. But, of course, you already do that. Argentina, Ireland, France. You are a very rich man and do not need to live by the rules anywhere you live. Well, not entirely anyway. So, is it just altruism that motivates you to spew vitriol about the abuses of the current government, or is it that you are a closet world improver?
Whatever. Not every state in the Union plays by the same playbook as the Feds seem to want. Granted, Baltimore is a mess and getting worse. But how about Wyoming or Nevada? Are they all as bad as you seem to proclaim? Vote with your feet, Bill. Get out of Baltimore and maybe try Florida or Texas. Hell, even Puerto Rico is better than Baltimore.
Anyway, you are running out of time on this earth. Take a break. Just enjoy all that money you have earned and creating an oasis of freedom somewhere and attract others of like mind who will help you perpetuate it into the future.
As you so often tell us, the end is nye. Well, don't just sit there and watch it unravel and destroy us all. Be a survivor. Be an innovator. Create a better world, not with words, but with actions and deeds.
Create a new community of freedom seekers and thinkers. It will take a lot of your skill and effort. And time. And money. Let it be your legacy.
Call it a religious community and get tax breaks and other benefits.
Oh, wait a minute, this has already been tried....and failed. Damn. Well, maybe people just can't abide freedom. They seem to demand to be controlled and abused. The concept is good. The execution seems to be unreachable.
Bill, just enjoy your life, what there is left of it. Enjoy your family. Enjoy what freedoms you still have.
Be healthy and be happy in the New Year and every year.
Aloha from Hawaii.
Tom
Perhaps add to the list the elimination of national sovereignty by legalizing illegal immigration, thereby importing in significant numbers poor people from other countries and adding them to the list of worthy recipients of government alphabet soup programs.
Bill, suggest you read the new book, The Dawn of Everything. It'll give you a new perspective on human prehistory. We didn't live like orangutans until 10K years ago. There were many very sophisticated earlier societies, within which the notion of personal liberty was paramount....
"Proclaim Liberty Throughout the Land!"- Moseh
Yahowah is the great liberator not one to enslave with laws no one is able to keep. The creation of enslaving laws, doctrines, and rites are a human contrivances.