TDV Week in Review March 31, 2013

March 31, 2013 / Redmond W /

Need a tax expert? I ask because National Stockholm Syndrome Day is almost upon us. All across the nation the American people are paying their federal masters not only with money but with time and worry. Meanwhile the tax reporting preparation pimps are hawking their wares like toy merchants in November. They know the time is coming for their wallets to grow fat upon the desperation of the quietly fearful tax cows.

Only a few anti-state nutters –like the staff and readers of TDV– see the federal guns pointed at us all as the IRS rifles through our pockets, accounts and mattresses for our "fair share" to Uncle Sam. The majority of tax cows, however, like to pretend that they are voluntarily and eagerly paying their taxes…that they are paying for the good things in their lives that the market simply wouldn't provide. After all, without government to steal from us, who would educate the kids, build the roads, make sure the food and water are safe, or defend them from invading armies? Right?

It simply amazes me that people can see the market providing all the other things they want…but when it comes to certain things they want –clean water, education, transportation– they assume that no one will step up and provide those things in the absence of an armed gang. They certainly can't imagine that the market would do any of those services better, even though it absolutely would. They are also imagining that the government is giving them what they want with the services it does provide, which isn't even close to true…

Education? It's actually nothing more than indoctrination and mass produciton of drone workers and soldiers. Roads? Ha! An ancient, inefficient system that diverts money from developing even better systems. Lord knows how much better our cities and suburbs would be laid out and what sci-fi hover car and bike fantasy we might be living in right now if it weren't for the government stealing our money to keep ploughing into the stone age technology of roads.

Then there are the courts and police that first become so inefficient and then so corrupt. People are kidnapped and caged for non-crimes while most real crimes go unremunerated. And need we mention the national "defense" that has grown into a textbook imperial global offense the likes of which the world has never seen?

But like hostages who've spent years under the care of their abusive kidnappers, Americans have come to identify with their kidnappers. In order to keep living, instead of feeling and exhibiting resentment that might bring more abuse, Americans have taught themselves to empathize with those who use them as bargaining chips and who are willing to shoot them dead if they resist too much.

They watch the cheery tax preparation commercials as if they were the most normal thing in the world. As if they were commercials for oil changes or lawn care. As if tax preparation weren't token protection from the threats and larceny of those in control of the prisons, judges, cops and armies.

It's no accident that the tax code is so hopelessly complicated, so rife with opportunities to report something incorrectly. It keeps the sheep afraid, hoping that they don't attract the wrath of the IRS. That's why we crypto-anarchists and voluntaryists are so happy to see Bitcoin emerging as a credible way to perform transactions. As of right now, Bitcoin is extremely private. It keeps financial activity outside the scope of the state.

Of course, the feds really don't like this whole decentralized, private currency and exchange thing. Eventually there will come laws and penalties aplenty to dissuade the use of Bitcoin. But Bitcoin is probably only the start. And it's a good one. But others like it will come. Technology is making it harder for the antiquated notion of the state and its pet banks to keep its grip on the minds and money of its victims. The whole bad idea of centralized coercion and monitoring is starting to fade like a horrible dream upon waking. Let's just hope there aren't too many casualities along the way.

Regards,

Gary Gibson
Editor, The Dollar Vigilante

Jeff Berwick announced the first Bitcoin ATM, and the world immediately took notice. Outlets such as Washington Post, Reason, Forbes and many others (you can see more at the bottom of BitCoinATM.com) have featured pieces on this new venture. Click here for more details.

Here’s what we wrote about this week…

TUESDAY, March 26

Don't Bother Raising the Minimum Wage

Gary Gibson on the foolishness of raising the minimum wage.

"Elizabeth Warren just realized that the minimum wage should be $22 if it had kept up with economic growth. She suspects in her tender, socially conscious heart that greedy employers have been shafting the lowest level employees. But she's laying her suspicions on the wrong bunch of people. She might want to read up on the currency debasement of the central bank, the command economy vampire that sits at the center of America's supposedly free market economy.”

WEDNESDAY, March 27

Totalitarianism is the New Normal

Wendy McElroy on Obama’s affection for executing US citizen’s without due process.

“First it was a secret ‘kill list’ on which Nobel Peace Laureate Barack Obama names those he wishes to be assassinated. The names included American citizens Anwar al-Awlaki and Samir Khan who died in a drone strike in Yemen on September 30th, 2011. Neither was indicted or charged with a crime. They were killed as 'terrorists' at the discretion of one man whose signature now constitutes due process.”

THURSDAY, March 28

Natural Selection

Fabian de Silva on the complacency of US citizens.

"What lives? That’s the question. What kind of lives do these Americans have that are so great that they’re pleased if the president notices them with a drone. These people are lemmings, secluding themselves in their own homes, working their same daily routine, and believing that everything is normal. They pay no attention to the gradual destruction of their rights, freedoms, or liberties, or any of the institutions like courts (the biggest joke of all) which collude with the government criminals."

FRIDAY, March 29

Feedback Friday – March 29th, 2013

In this week’s Feedback Friday: More on the Bitcoin ATM, the fall of the West, minimum wage, and more.