Money – DNC-Consulting

Economic Warfare – Your Liberty, Rights, Freedoms are at Risk!

Bobblehead Doll Many pundits have made the following statement, in one form or another, driving a car is the ultimate expression of freedom in America. Yet, your freedom to drive a vehicle is endangered by the political left and the neo-socialists who want to steal and destroy your freedoms. Mention economics, and most people’s eyes gloss over, brains disconnect, and they hope the pain will end shortly. Please, fight this impulse. I will attempt to make a highly complex topic simple and easily understood. While I might not get all the specific details correct, I aim to communicate economics to a general audience that is free and empowered to further research the topics for themselves. My links are reflected in the article for more information.

What is Money?

Money was discussed in a previous article and found here. In simple terms, money is the tool used to transfer goods from one entity to another, showing a legal purchase was made to change ownership, hence opening the first crucial role of money, legally transferring ownership of goods and services from one person to another. Unfortunately, legal ownership transference is where the government exercises its first controls, regulating cross-border commerce. When the government went on a growth spurt in the 1930s, ballooning into the behemoth, we have right now, the government used the excuse of maintaining cross-border commerce to steal products grown by farmers, regulate prices, and set up means and methods to ensure the government was the only winner. TOP 25 QUOTES BY JOAN ROBINSON (of 54) | A-Z Quotes

The 1930 legal battles that wound up in the United States Supreme Court over price controls saw the citizen’s first attempt to reign in the government and failed miserably. Worse, these first moves by the citizen were the first exchanges in an economic war that has raged ever since—money stores value. Think of the money found when you do laundry. You have no idea how long that money was lost, but the value of the money has not changed, you presume, and you celebrate finding the money. Except, the value of that money has changed through inflation, and the government’s hidden tax (inflation) has robbed you of value.

Let’s say you found $20 in the laundry. When you first lost that $20 bill, it had more value, e.g., you could purchase more with that money than you can now. Sure, the value printed on the money still has $20 worth of goods or services, but the cost of those goods and services went up, restricting your ability to purchase. Hence the economic warfare being waged by your government. The government essentially said we would not worry about inflation. Meaning they will devalue the money you hold for their own political purposes. Steve Keen Quote: "Economics is too important to leave to the economists." (12 wallpapers ...

An idea was floated by an economically challenged person to print a $5 trillion bill and use this to pay off the Chinese debt. The problem is the devaluation of the money printed will capsize American citizens due to the hidden taxes of inflation. Making that $5 trillion bill or bills would devalue the dollar and crash the American economy. The stored value in the printed bill would not stand up to and be accepted, as a medium of stored value sufficient to pay the debts incurred. Is the problem more clear; when money is printed, each dollar, pound, euro, etc., devalues the stored purchasing power of the money you currently hold in hand. Economics Funny Quotes. QuotesGram

Stored value is the second tool for waging economic warfare by the government against its citizens. Consider all the money printed to pay for the supposed Coronavirus Tax Relief and Economic Impact Payments the world’s governments made to their citizens. If you had $100,000 in savings when these monies were printed, your savings were devalued by the inflation rate, which is currently at a 40-year high in America. The government is reporting inflation at 7.9%, so your $100,000 in savings lost the equivalent of $7900. But, the government does not ever report inflation at the actual level, and the actual level of inflation is ranged between 8% and 45% depending upon the purpose or product you are trying to purchase. Meaning your $100,000 could have a value of $92,000 to $55,000 in real value. A hefty tax indeed!

Stored value, the number printed on different bill faces of currency, is static. The actual value, e.g., the number of goods and services purchasable, is not fixed, and the government allows an annual inflation rate of 2% as “normal and acceptable.” Thus, your $1 will have a purchasing power of $0.98, which is compounded year-over-year. Thus, over a decade, that 2% inflation rate is now reducing your $1 to $0.80. Multiply that for the $100,000 and a decade of saving, receiving interest that does not equal inflation to compensate means your money in your savings account has lost $20,000, just from the government allowing inflation at 2% annual growth. Let’s say your bank is generous for savings account holders and provides a published interest rate of 3%, subtract the inflation taxes of 2%, and you are only earning 1% interest on your money. Is this the bank’s fault or the government’s? Amartya Sen quote: Economic growth without investment in human development is unsustainable...

Do you see how the government is robbing you through economics? Your 5% raise is only 3% once the inflation devaluation has been factored into your budget. Play the lottery; the taxes alone might kill you, but the devaluation of the money reduces the actual purchasing power of your winnings. If you do not understand the economic warfare being waged against you by your government, you will lose more than you ever gained in winning the lottery. Yet another reason why lotteries are a tax on stupid people, for even when you win, you lose!

Cash has another problem beyond inflation, money supply. The money supply is the technical term for ensuring banks can replace worn-out, ripped, and damaged money. Money supply plays a role in how much money your local store has on hand to provide change and cashback to customers. For employers who pay employees in cash, the money supply is a significant problem with extremely high costs. The government regulates those costs and passes them onto consumers through banks and lending institutions. Are you struggling to get a loan; this is another by-product of money supply woes. Paying higher fees to change money to another currency for your trip is another money supply product. Money supply remains another weapon of the government to affect economic warfare, and many people do not understand this principle, making the government’s policies more effective. Mahatma Gandhi quote: Economics that hurt the moral well-being of an individual or...

Have you noticed the decline in the availability of $10 dollar bills? I asked for two $10.00 bills when I broke a $20.00 at a Walmart recently, I was denied because Walmart has instituted a policy to only accept $10.00 bills, not give them. Albertson’s, Staples, the in-store bank in Walmart, and the local credit union, all have a similar policy. What is the government doing forcing a reduction in $10.00 bills in circulation? In researching this single policy, I can find no written information on this issue; yet the evidence is clear, there is a manual currency reduction in process and the government needs to explain why.

Before 1980, the basic money supply was measured as the sum of currency in circulation, e.g., cash, traveler’s checks, and checkable deposits. Currency serves the medium-of-exchange function but denies people any interest earnings. However, as discussed, interest earnings are not all they are cracked up to be due to inflation. Cash under a mattress, lost in pockets of clothes, stuck in a book in your library is black money; it is as dead as yesterday’s fish and constantly devalued by inflation. The money supply tries to regulate the cash on hand to lend as a tool to protect your money from inflation. Except, the government constantly allows a 2% inflation rate, negating a lot of savings accounts and other interest-earning propositions.

Want a new car, consolidate your credit card debt, or try to buy a house; all of these loan products are an extension of the money supply and the regulation of money supply by the government. Important to note that your credit cards and bank-issued or employer-issued debit cards are not affected by the money supply, and this is another reason why credit cards and debit cards are so dangerous. These tools are agreements between you and the issuer, where money is transferred when the tool is used, and the consumer is responsible for all the fees the government insists upon to help pay for the money supply. Economy has frequently nothing whatever to... - Quote

Conclusion

In waging economic warfare, it remains imperative to know about economics, identifying what money is, its role, and the fiduciary controls the government exerts to attack its citizens. Some may call my language inflammatory, but tell me, do the inflationary costs right now not feel like your taxes have skyrocketed? Inflation is a hidden tax, a tax fully controlled by the government, and the value of your money decreases yearly because the government says 2% inflation is acceptable. Who made this decision, an unconstitutional entity called the Federal Reserve Bank. Since its inception, Congress has tried to obtain transparency and accountability from the Federal Reserve Bank to no avail. Do you understand why I take umbrage with the Federal Reserve Bank? LIC

The governors of the Federal Reserve Bank decided your money could be taxed at 2% inflation annually as a normal condition of doing business. These people set the interest rates you pay for your credit cards and are not paid for your savings accounts. Looking into the history of interest rates since 1900, there is always volatility; the Federal Reserve’s actions have since the 1980s to not allow savings rates over 5%. When adjusted for inflation, that’s a 3% interest rate for those trying to save money. What does this mean; fewer people are saving money. Look where those trying to beat the 3% have invested their money, the stock market, where volatility is a minute-to-minute occurrence, higher risks against less interest, where your money remains subject to taxes, fees hiding other taxes, government fingers, and inflation.

Your government did that to wage economic warfare against you, to empower them to steal your rights, freedoms, and liberties. There is no other way to describe what is happening globally in all governments. China plays games with the value of its currency to power trade deficits. This, in turn, changes prices and increases costs. These actions are taken to “compete,” when in reality, the activities cover massive debt problems in China. If the CCP cannot keep the tap turned wide open on trade deficits, their money supply drys up, and debts come due in a bankrupting tsunami! Milton Friedman: The Most Quotable Economist - Capitalism.com - Create the Change

The European Union has never been fiscally sound because the various members of the European Union are taking advantage of the productive members to cover the costs of the fiscally useless members. France cannot survive as a country without the European Union’s largesse; Greece, Portugal, and several other countries are all in the same boat. Their governments did this intentionally as political games to stay in power. When these countries run out of other people’s money, they will be forced to change socially, and the tsunami of debt to the World Bank and other nations will not be pretty.

Knowledge Check! Economics drives these problems mainly due to the lack of knowledge of the lines of congruence between economics and the psychology of governing. The enemies of freedom understand economics, and this is why these tools have been so successful in waging war and stealing freedom, rights, and liberties through monetary policy. Until we, the rightful owners of government, understand what is happening, we will all be at the whims of our enemies.

© Copyright 2022 – M. Dave Salisbury
The author holds no claims for the art used herein, the pictures were obtained in the public domain, and the intellectual property belongs to those who created the images. Quoted materials remain the property of the original author.

Magna Res Est Vocis Et Silentii Temperamentum – A Valuable Lesson Indeed!

The proverbs of Seneca the younger provide the title and the lesson for consideration, “The great thing is to know when to speak and when to keep quiet.” I make this statement and write on this lesson, not because I am good at knowing when to speak and when to stay silent, but in the hopes of learning more perfectly when to speak and when to talk. In reviewing my K-12 report cards, the ones my parents had to sign, the most frequent comment is knowing when to shut up, closely followed by “Does not play well with others.” The latter is a badge of honor; I have never played well with others!

But, knowing when to speak and when not to speak is a challenge, and in observing people, I find I might not be the only person afflicted with a lack of knowledge on this topic. My wife is a perfect example of someone who knows when to speak and when to stay silent. She has mastered the art of saying the exact word in season someone needs to hear and claims manners and discernment have honed her abilities.

Charles de Lint is quoted on educating children, saying in part, “Teach them to learn how to see and ask questions.” The greatest teachers I can recall easily are those who taught me to either perceive differently or how to ask questions. Long have I desired to return these lessons and remain enthusiastic about finding the opportunities to teach. I often quote and consider the lessons taught by Henry Chester, who said, “Enthusiasm is the greatest asset in the world. It beats money, power, and influence. It is nothing more or less than faith in action.” While appearing paradoxical, enthusiasm and learning when to speak and stay silent are anything but contradictory, and this is the point and the lesson for your consideration.

Why do we speak?

Of all the questions asked me in my K-12 journey, the number one question has to be an iteration of the following: “Why are you talking?” I never could understand when to shut up. Worse, there were plenty of times when my refusal to shut up would worsen the punishment, even though I considered the teacher’s actions immoral, unethical, or plain wrong. For example, in 12^th grade, Mr. Moro’s class, Camden-Rockport High School, Camden, Maine. I had been a student of this school for a grand total of 1 day; this was the second class on my second day. My first meeting with Mr. Moro, who, very clearly stated, “This is his classroom, his castle, and in his castle, he was king and demanded respect. To which I firmly replied, NO! He sent me to the principal’s office and said I would not return until he had a parent/teacher conference. Being emancipated, I told him he would have to speak with me, and he could fax me! I still have no idea what a senior class advisor is or what they do, but apparently, I had to appease Mr. Moro if I wanted to graduate.

Why was I speaking in this incident; I was not going to be pushed or bullied by what I considered at the time a pompous moron. I needed to change how I perceived Mr. Moro as a person. I graduated high school, Mr. Moro never became a friend, but we did learn how to get along with each other. Yes, I ate some crow and had to chip away at my ego. After graduating and traveling to Advanced Individual Training for the US Army, I got a nice letter from Mr. Moro. One of the reasons we speak is we feel put upon and do not know how to extricate ourselves, or in my case, extricate my foot from my mouth.

Another reason we speak is a desire to say something, but how often have we opened our mouths without forming the thought entirely, and our mouth is running way faster than our brains, common sense, and self-preservation? In my case, way too often. Several comedians call this an older person’s disease, not having the brain mouth filter, common sense, or good social skills to know when to say something and when to listen. One of the reasons I love old people is explicitly derived from this truthfulness and lack of filter.

When my mother-in-law fell and had to be placed in a nursing home, long-term care facility, I made some great friends in her facility. Not a single filter anywhere to be found. One older lady, her name regrettably escapes me, had family who would come and tell her the filthiest jokes on the weekend. During the week, I would visit my mother-in-law and slip her a couple of clean jokes, dad jokes, and just plain funny jokes. One day I told her a joke about passing gas in church after a bean supper the night before. She laughed so hard; I thought I had injured her. I came back the next day and learned she had told the entire staff this joke, and she told me she had laughed so hard so peed herself.

I apologized to the nursing staff and armed them with a few choice dad jokes. She did not want an apology, but she told me a story from her youth where the night before her church had hosted a community-wide bean supper, chili cookoff, raffle/silent auction, and how the next day’s sermon was cut short because the pastor could not stand the air in his church, which is when I began laughing hard enough to make me wonder if I was going to pee myself! Worse, this was the day after serving baked beans for supper, and she and I listened to the chorus of frogs from the patients and kept falling out of our chairs laughing.

Betty Eadie eloquently provides a caution for our words, “If we understood the power of our thoughts, we would guard them more closely. If we understood the awesome power of our words, we would prefer silence to almost anything negative. In our thoughts and words, we create our own weaknesses and our own strengths. Our limitations and joys begin in our hearts. We can always replace negative with positive.” The next lesson on why we speak is that our brains are too full of words and need an outlet. Yet, how much better would the world be if we filtered our thoughts, slowed our thinking, and kept our mouths shut?

“Those who are free of resentful thoughts surely find peace.” – Buddha

“The nearer a man comes to a calm mind, the closer he is to strength.” – Marcus Aurelius

“If you want peace, stop fighting. If you want peace of mind, stop fighting with your thoughts.” – Peter McWilliams

Three people from different periods of human history, all messaging a truth, thoughts do become things, and often the things our thoughts become are not what we wanted or desired. More specifically, the thoughts became things because we expressed the thoughts that should have stayed silent in words. In learning to control the post-traumatic stress disorder I suffer, the words of Peter McWilliams became the answer I needed and the balm in Gilead I sought. I had to stop fighting my thoughts to be able to control the pernicious and repeated images, feelings, and constant reminiscing over a terrible incident from my service in the US Navy. Every day remains a challenge to acknowledge the thoughts and let them go. Every day it becomes easier to achieve. There is hope!

Why do we listen?

Of all the questions I have never been asked, I hope to learn the lesson of controlling my thoughts so I may hear better. I suffer from tinnitus, many times though the ability to listen does not reside in my ear where the tinnitus rings, but in my brain that is a ravaged wasteland of competing ideas, factions, and imaginations. When the voices in my head go silent, I hear the birds in the trees, I hear voices of people around me, and I experience hearing. The moment I begin speaking, I lose the ability to hear.

Ken Kesey is quoted as saying, “See with your ears and hear with your eyes.” What a remarkable idea. One of the most momentous times I can ever recall occurred while onboard my ship, deep dark of night. You know how dark night can get if you have ever been beyond the hundred-fathom curve. I was an engineer on the mid-watch (0000-0400) and was roaming around topside between rounds, something I should not have been doing, but I needed fresh air and wanted to see if the stars really were more brilliant at sea. On a night with no moon, deep dark, I saw the ship passing through the water with my ears. I heard the waves; I heard the wind whistling through the ship’s rigging; I saw with my ears the stumbling of smokers going to and from the smoke deck—an experience like no other. Why do we listen; to learn, to experience, and if we choose, to marvel!

In the 1990’s I had a screen saver called psychedelic. When music was played, it changed colors according to the beat, and you had user interfaces where you could pick specific interpretations to display on the screen in colors, lines, and contrasts. This was the first time I can remember visualizing sounds. I had previously turned the stereo speakers to maximum and watched sound interface with the water in a fish tank, but this screen saver was the first time I can remember seeing sound displayed by a computer. Since this screensaver, I have watched sound played in flames (SUPER COOL), watched water falling display shapes as heard through a computer, and synthesized (unique experience indeed). I have used several computer programs that took that old screensaver’s concept and improved the display and synthesization. Yet, I am still want to hear with my eyes and see if I can improve how I listen.

Something was pointed out to me, the word silent has precisely the same letters as listen, but in the arrangement of those letters, the ability of one is lost or found. I have learned that a silent mouth precedes a silent mind, and you need both to listen. Yet, it is a rare moment indeed when my brain is silent. My brain runs lyrics to songs, words I think I should have said, words I am preparing to speak, responses to questions, responses to other people’s opinions, facts, figures, fights, and the list goes on ad nauseum ad infinitum! A book by Stephen Covey mentioned, “Most people do not listen with the intent to understand. Most people listen with the intent to reply.” Why do we listen; this is a valuable question to consider!

I have mentioned this previously and repeat myself only for emphasis; all the musical talent, knowledge, and skill I possess can be poured into a thimble and never moisten the bottom. I mention this because Linda Ronstadt said, “Ninety-Nine present of singing is listening and hearing, and so then one percent of it is singing.” A thought I had never previously considered. I love music and have an eclectic taste in music, but I hear not listen to music. Music has never been an escape from reality but has often been a balm to my world-weary soul. Music has been a tool, a weapon, and a shield, in the battles for knowledge, learning, and protecting myself from the words of others. In the US Army, Basic Training music was the key to getting me to relax and shoot the M-16A2 sufficiently to qualify and eventually graduate basic training. But, only now, when considering Lind Ronstadt’s quote, I realized I hear music, not listen to music.

Funny story, while my parents are hippies, my father is a professional musician but not a music teacher. As a kid, music in our house was how food made it to the table, how my father retreated from the world’s cares, and often a weapon against my mother. Yet, even coming from a home where music was a major part of daily life, I never learned to listen to music. Have you ever heard reveille played on a tuba, French horn, clarinet, trombone, guitar, recorder, or flute? If so, you know a little of what growing up in our house was like. When 0400 came, whatever instrument my father was playing at the time became the instrument upon which reveille was played.

A song covered by a multitude of musicians originates with Paul Simon, “The Sound of Silence.” The second link is to Disturbed’s cover of the Paul Simon song; I think this is the best version. What are the sounds of silence? Are they different for each person? Does the sound of silence change with the environment, the weather, or humanity’s influence? I once read a research report regarding the negative impact of listening to the sounds of New York City and how the city’s sound shortened the lives of those who constantly heard the city. As we consider the lesson on learning when to speak and to discern when to stay silent, may we consider how to improve listening, moving from hearing to listening, and find joy in seeing with our ears and hearing with our eyes.

The Biggest Lie in America – The Mouthpiece of Liars

Bobblehead Doll Some would say the biggest lie in America is, “I’m from the government, and I am here to help you.” While this is definitely a contender as a massive lie, there is one more insidious, and they have played the victim card for too long while being a festering wound on America’s soul. Yes, the biggest lie in America is, “I’m from Hollywood, and I am here to entertain you.” Maybe, this wasn’t a lie originally, as all good lies must contain an element of truth to keep people believing the lie; the truth is a glimmer of hope, people cling to hope, even when they know that the hope originates in a lie.

For example, Santa Claus is a lie, originating in the exploited actions of an actual person from history, and some have claimed modeled upon Jesus Christ. Thus, you have hope, dressed in the shades and colors of a lie and sold as a good story to entertain. Is the pattern clear?

Another example, the government is supposed to protect society; that’s it. Yet, people have been sold a lie, mainly by Hollywood, that government is benevolent, benign, and trusting in government is natural. Yet, even the founders of America knew never to trust the government, even as they tried to establish rules to control the government they were founding. Do you know why the phrase, “In GOD we Trust,” is on the United States of America’s money; to sell the lie that the paper in your hand has value because everyone is supposed to trust God. But, God did not print the money or cause the inflation that is crushing America and the world; the government did.

The history of Hollywood is replete with anti-Americanism. From communist sympathizers who have purchased politicians to sway rules and end investigations to the pedophiles and perverts who relentlessly attack children, Hollywood continues to hide behind facades, lies, and charlatans to keep the “entertainment” money flowing. Consider how long Weinstein was able to abuse people, cheat, and commit crimes. How many presidents have bellied up to Hollywood to get elected or remain in power after leaving office?

The Clinton’s the Obama’s, how many Senators, Congressmen, princes from foreign lands, you name it, those who swim in Hollywood tend to rise from the waters stained and filthy rich. Yet, Hollywood acts the victim, punishes real victims, and then playing the victim, has the gall to ask, “Are you not entertained?”

Russell Crowe’s film “Gladiator” uses Maximus Decimus Meridius to ask this question of Rome and her citizens. Like Rome, maybe we need to ask ourselves the same question. What price do we pay to be “entertained” by Hollywood? Here are some of the costs collected from recent Hollywood enterprises. Are they the fees America should pay, or has Hollywood reached the extreme and, like any other business, needs to face the cold hard reality of an upset public? You decide; I know my choice!

Hollywood refuses to portray America as a Constitutional Republic. Always America is painted and slandered as a democracy. Like any lie, those telling a lie know the truth and refuse to believe or accept the truth because the lie provides them power and resources. Consider how anti-American sentiment continues to be spread by Hollywood. While academics refuse to name Hollywood personally, the truth is obvious to anyone who wants to see Hollywood’s pernicious and deadly hand and the knife being wielded that is cutting America to pieces.
Did you see the Hollywood documentary “An Open Secret?” Are you aware of the volume of child molestation, abuse, and conniving in Hollywood? How the victims are always revictimized after trying to come forward? How the industry actively works to hide the secret while pampering the abusers and protecting their own? What we pay for “entertainment” helps keep the industry afloat and the victims silenced; is this not too high a cost for the morals of American Society?
Has anyone noticed, does anyone care, that Hollywood continues to attack the nuclear family, and each attack is hidden behind the excuse “we are simply imitating societal decline.” Remember, to sell a lie, there must be elements of truth. Are there certain aspects of society that imitate Hollywood and Hollywood then imitate as “art and free expression; yes, but that is not the majority of American society. Fringe groups exist, and provided they remain non-violent, let them believe and live as they choose. But, Hollywood wants everyone to think that the majority of American society is anti-nuclear families, anti-family, and anti-strong families in general, and research on the family supports the opposite of what Hollywood is pushing.

Let me hit pause for a moment; consider Will and Jada Pinkett Smith, two successful Hollywood stars, marry, actually love each other, aren’t running around cheating every other day on the other, and Hollywood cannot stand these two people being successfully married. While not the first, and unfortunately not the last, this couple reflects the poison that is Hollywood. Every successful couple, who wants to remain employed in Hollywood, gets destroyed by Hollywood, and the media is there chortling right alongside the destruction of the family. The papers are replete with examples, and the attacks stretch back to the “Golden Age” of Hollywood circa 1930.

Worse, the retaliation against those who buck the system remains the most detestable and disgusting thing. What props up the destruction of good people in Hollywood? Fear that the Hollywood machine is going to come for you next. Snakes feasting upon their own flesh is less despicable than what Hollywood does to everyone who tries to peel back the scab and expose the wound to sunshine disinfectant.

Strong female and male characters are detested, destroyed, and denigrated, also called sexism. Consider John Wayne and the Hollywood-inspired hate and contempt he had to suffer. Consider the problems Clint Eastwood regularly has to fight to make movies due to the colossal animosity directed his way. There are lots of other examples of strong men and women and their destruction by envious Hollywood types. If a person is not the current flavor of the month depravity, Hollywood will treat pets they despise better than their own who are strong-willed and capable.

Newspapers used to survive selling advertisements with the slogan, “If it bleeds, it leads.” Hollywood is bleeding morality, and this story is not leading in newspapers globally. Why; because the mouthpiece of Hollywood is the corporate media, who climbed into bed during the HUAC Committee hearings, and they have never left that incestuous relationship. Hollywood feeds the media, the media feed Hollywood, and the world is treated to daily pots of trash called “reporting and analysis.” What happens when you feed a person junk food all day, every day, for almost 100-years? The American body is sick from the trash. This is also considered “entertainment,” but only for those holding the knives cutting morales, religion, and everything good and decent out of the societies who embrace Hollywood.

Under the US Constitution, the press was granted certain rights, acting as a force neutral and helping protect America from run-away government. Instead, the press cottoned onto Hollywood and learned how to feed the circular logic that protects Hollywood from criminal charges by destroying all who oppose Hollywood. Are you entertained? Is your hard-earned money well spent at the movies whose actors, directors, producers, and affiliated staff use those funds to hinder, destroy, and criminally act? Apathy

America, Hollywood stopped entertaining us a long time ago. The media was never supposed to entertain but inform and be neutral in their reporting. I propose we, the consumers who have been abused, refuse the trash shoveled and imitate a stomach that has been abused enough; the next thing coming down, we throw it all back!

© Copyright 2021 – M. Dave Salisbury
The author holds no claims for the art used herein, the pictures were obtained in the public domain, and the intellectual property belongs to those who created the images. Quoted materials remain the property of the original author.

Cost, Value, and Manufacturing

Does anyone else remember when Walmart was first breaking onto the scene as a competitor against K-Mart, they advertised “Proud to sell ‘Made in the USA’” merchandise? Then shortly, Walmart faced its first scandal, being busted selling cheap junk boasting “Made in China” on the label. The “pride” was pushed to the side, the “Made in the USA” disappeared, and the price was all Walmart was going to compete on, “Prices are falling.” K-Mart is gone, Walmart is still selling, “Prices” are still “supposedly” falling, but where is questionable, quality is all but gone, and who has benefited?

I remember when my town got a Payless shoe store. I plunked my money down for a nice pair of shoes; they lasted less than 30-days of wear; I was told, “You get what you pay for.” The next pair of shoes I bought at Walmart turns out they were probably made on the same manufacturing line in China. Payless sold them for $20.00; Walmart sold them for $30.00. Neither lasted long enough for the new shoe smell to evaporate. Payless Shoes is gone, Walmart is still here, the quality has not improved, and I am still asking, who has benefitted?

I purchased some tools the other day; I was mystified at the following label on the tag, “Made in the USA, of parts configured mostly in the USA but manufactured in other countries of origin.” It turns out, if the assembly of parts is done inside the US, a finished product can be labeled as “Made in the USA.” If some of the sub-assemblies occur outside the USA, the manufacturer might, or might not, be legally responsible to declare such, depending upon the industry, the finished goods, and the lawyers and labor unions involved.

Country of origin labeling is real sketchy, full of hungry lawyers and fascinating self-interest, as well as enough political grandstanding to satisfy forests of trees being slaughtered for centuries to come. All in the name of, yes, you guessed it, transparency. I am oversimplifying the problem here to make a point. Your child’s pencils in school have to declare Made in China due to some lead poisoning issues in the yellow paint, but crayons can hide the country of origin because a lawyer said the transparency issue does not cause harm. This convoluted logic is rampant throughout the entire mess of country of origin labeling. Unfortunately, this is but the tip of the iceberg in manufacturing, cost, and value.

By the way, I guarantee, there are hordes of lawyers plotting ways and means of overturning country of origin labeling to hide or overturn legal decisions they find onerous, mainly to further remove any hint that “Made in China” could be traced to problems with poisoning to China.

Taking us to the first point in this article, when did America stop manufacturing? Why did America stop manufacturing? Why did stores stop selling American manufactured goods? In Home Deport today, I made a point of looking for “Made Proudly in the USA” stickers on tools, products, and other items for sale. There were no official statistics, no actual counts, just browsing shelves, looking for products, and I was not pleased. Walmart has long been turned into a proud repository for Chinese manufacturing; to see anything other than “Made in China” on their shelves would be a significant accomplishment.

Having ventured into a Hobby Lobby recently, I was again amazed at the incredibly talented people worldwide and wondered again, “When did America stop manufacturing goods?” Dollar Tree is another place where Made in China flourishes, and one has to wonder, “Why did stores stop selling American manufactured goods?”

Before anyone jumps to the conclusion that I am China-bashing or Big-Box Bashing, please note that I am sick to death of the excuses that “Manufacturing in America is too expensive to be profitable.” I detest hearing excuses that “Manufacturers cannot find enough unskilled laborers to work the machines, without illegal labor.” I am through listening to supposed experts declare that “Americans cannot compete with Chinese labor due to American expectations for benefits, job expectations, the cost of safety, etc.” The other day some ignorant putz declared that the “American worker is just plain lazy compared to workers even in Europe, which is why Americans can never work fast enough to meet production goals.”

Bringing us to the cost and value topics of this article. Long have cost accountants and operations managers had a professional love/hate relationship. We love to hate each other for one reason; we do not see eye to eye on basic fundamental reality. To a cost accountant, everything has a cost, but the difference between cost and value is not found in green money losses alone unless you are a cost accountant.

We have discussed the different types/colors of money previously. Green money is cold hard cash, and cost accounting is only, ever, concerned with the end of the day totals of cold hard cash! However, reality always has other types of money involved, relationships that cannot be qualified in monetary means, and humans are more than dollars and cents in a ledger. Value is always different than cost.

Simple explanation; a hammer costs your great-grandfather $1.00. With that hammer, your great-grandfather built a home and a cradle. That cradle rocked your grandfather, father, and you to sleep. Upon reaching the age of accountability, each, in turn, was taught how to swing a hammer, driving nails, and learning carpentry. That hammer holds four generations of value, beyond the cost of $1.00. Green money costs, that hammer has depreciated in value until it is worthless to the company and should be scrapped for a new hammer; but the value of that hammer is not measured in dollars and cents. Thus the disconnect between operations and cost accounting.

What does all of this have to do with retail establishments, manufacturing in America, and “Made in China?” What is the value of manufacturing in America; self-sufficiency in the time of trouble, pride of accomplishment, value in production, and upward economic mobility of dreams for employees. Why does America need retail establishments that will sell “Made in America;” to remind Americans who we are, why we are neighbors and provide an outlet for manufacturing in America to compete.

Ask yourself, why did President Bill Clinton pave the way for China to join the World Trade Organization and actively push to move manufacturing to China? Why did President Richard Nixon push so hard to “Open China?” What has been the cost, and where is the value in either or both of these decisions? Sufficient time has passed to evaluate both of these decisions without political rhetoric and bombastic bloviations from either political extreme. Both presidents possessed more reasons and desires than they admitted while in office for these decisions and actions; the consequences are the focus, and you can judge the consequences yourself.

Consider cost versus value, consider the toll on hometowns across America where factories lay idle, homes lay vacant, streets lay silent, and poverty is so thick generations of destitution have lived and died in its shadow. Consider how some towns have tried to restructure themselves and succeeded, others have failed, some shipped their children to schools far away, others have turned their towns into “sleeper communities” for cities 2-6 hours away. You decide! Think! Investigate! Talk to people laid off by unions and forgotten. Then remember when politicians discuss taxes, labor union special interest projects, and social spending. Remember the next time you, a citizen with a brain, are reduced to “Human Infrastructure.”

Money, Wants and Needs, Goals – This One is Mental Therapy

Bobblehead Doll Dear reader, you might want to skip this article. I write this mainly to organize some thoughts for myself. I am not preaching; I am not trying to teach anyone but myself; if you find something that helps you, you are welcome to the words and lessons. I have been struggling with learning a couple of things surrounding a couple of topics, and I want to take a minute and jot down some thoughts that have come to me. I will return to weightier matters another day. Please excuse me.

Money

My best friend, traveling companion, and spouse, once said something that stuck in my mental processes, “Money is sacred! [emphasis in original]” She continued over time to add words to the effect that, since money requires effort and sweat to earn, money should be considered sacred and spent with purpose. When spending money with a sacred purpose, we would necessarily change our spending habits to reflect the sacred nature of money, and in doing so, honor our sacrifice in earning money, respecting ourselves more.

Working Dollar Since 2000 the software industry has undergone a very subtle shift; no longer do you purchase software, you rent it. You make a monthly purchase for that software, which becomes more than the price you would ever have paid for the software previously. Now, some argue this is due to the cost of upgrading software. Some argue this is due to the price of intellectual property. Some argue this is to reduce the cost of piracy of software. Regardless, does this shift honor your sacrifice in earning money?

Games, especially phone games, are really expensive. I have an addiction problem to phone games. I quickly get hooked, then I justify making a dollar purchase here, a two-dollar purchase there, and then at the end of the month, look at the bill and see I spent $400 on a phone game. True story. I turn on the passwords; I turn on the purchase blockers, I try hard to avoid making purchases. I can only succeed when I delete the games, put down my phone, and stop playing games. I have tried playing games without making purchases and would argue that it is nearly impossible to play any game without making purchases. The games are not designed to be played; they are intended to be cash machines for the game manufacturers. Maybe I am jaded, but I have yet to find any game that does not require regular cash infusions; believe me, I have tried to find a game that can be played without spending money, and I quit looking.

I am thoroughly embarrassed, shocked, dismayed, and disgusted by how much I have spent on games. I lost my head some time ago, and it is past time I got myself back together again. I turned off the last game this morning and will begin the slow addiction recovery process this morning; if I am grumpy, edgy, and bearish to be around, my apologies. For the last couple of months, I have been overcoming sugar addictions that I think will kill me, gluten addictions that are harder than chocolate and tobacco combined, and I thought chocolate would kill me. In the quest to lose weight and clean up my life to improve my diabetes, I am left with many questions about addictions and crutches.

I was speaking to a medical professional a month or two back and jokingly said:

“Food for too long has been my comfort zone; I wonder what will take its place now that diabetes has ended food being the comfort blanket.”

Me and my big mouth!

For those going through addiction recovery for the more common drugs, alcohol, tobacco, sex, etc., know you are not alone. I have been there for tobacco, now for sugar, chocolate, gluten, money, and food! It never ceases to amaze me what humans will become addicted to, what we will use to find comfort in, what we wrap ourselves up in to find security and peace to silence the voices in our heads and a good night’s sleep. I offer you the same hope I cling to, “We were born to succeed; we can do this!”

Wants and Needs

Robert Fulghum explained this one so well in one of his early books. I will summarize his story but take the time to look up his story; you will laugh, HARD! He is staffing a reception desk at a Dude Ranch Hotel on a night shift where he gets his meals included, but he has to pay for them from his salary. The employee meals have been sauerkraut and sausages for a couple of weeks. He is frustrated; he is mad; he wants to quit. He reaches a boiling point. He unloads one night on his relief an older gentleman, a WWII POW camp survivor (I think if I remember the story right). Anyway, after listening to the rantings and ravings of a childish teenager, this older gentleman gives Mr. Fulghum a piece of advice, “you have to learn the difference between wants and needs.”

Gears I fully appreciate I struggle with this lesson. I keep getting wants and needs confused. Do I need a chocolate bar? Do I want something to eat? Do I want food? Do I need food? Much of my weight problem is trying to figure out wants versus needs. Much of my mental state is wants versus needs and the confusion between what I want and what I need. Going back to the games, do I really need a bucket of gems, or that shiny bottle of vitality?

While writing this section, the Grammarly word choices reminded me of another aspect of this conversation, words that confuse the wants versus needs selection cycle. The English language continues to be a double-edged sword, sufficient to describe and to confuse in the same stroke. Trying to figure out what I want and distinguishing between what I need has become clouded. Why? How? I have learned that it does not matter when or where the clouding occurred, these happened, it is done; the job is to get them unclouded and get moving forward!

Goals

I do not know the original source. I have heard several people make similar statements; I am not the initial source of the following thought.

“If you have a dream, write it down. Now you have an action item. With that action item, give it a date you want to have it accomplished by. Now you have a goal. With that goal, set specific steps to achieve and milestones. Now you have a plan.”

I would add a final thought. Upon completion of each milestone and especially upon completion of the goal, CELEBRATE! Celebrate failure, celebrate success. Then the day after, hold an “After Action Review (AAR)” and review what was learned, pain points, the good, the bad, and the ugly. Start anew! Too often, we miss the celebrations, and we forget to hold the self-reflections, and in doing so, we do not bring a goal to a close, and we do not write down lessons learned. Failure to learn lessons means we relive those lessons. How very tragic! Exclamation Mark

To answer the inevitable question, yes. I have a list of goals for the coming year. No, I will not be sharing this list publicly. Yes, the goals are written down. Yes, I have an end date. Yes, I look to have the goals completed in 365-days. Mental therapy is useless if I do not apply the lessons in my own life!

© 2021 M. Dave Salisbury
All Rights Reserved
The images used herein were obtained in the public domain; this author holds no copyright to the images displayed.

New Jersey, New York, California, Oregon, and Washington – Just Sell Them for Parts!

With a nod to Bill Engvall, let’s honestly discuss three complete holes in America where suicide by legislative fiat and executive stupidity has produced catastrophic failure. Let me be perfectly honest, if either of these states were a business, they would have been forced into receivership, broken up, sold for parts, and their leaders jailed for incompetency and felonious charges of malfeasance long ago! The charades have ended, the rose-tinted glasses are off, and frankly, the party is over, all the taxpayers are fleeing, and the businesses are closing shop and fleeing for healthier climates.

California this week passed another job-killing piece of legislation. The bill is targeted at Amazon and is built on hogwash, acrimony, lies, and allegations so thin you could read Apple’s User Agreement through them. Not the first time California’s legislative body has targeted a specific business for job-killing legislation, not the first time the legislation is built on sand, and the forecast is for torrential rain, not the last time this idiocy is going to happen. The fact that California keeps killing itself is depressing!

New Jersey and California hold an interesting title, and 32 other states are 100% insolvent in their Unemployment Compensation Trust Funds. Business owners, this fact alone should scare the living daylights out of you and every one of your workers right now! Now, some of you get it; some are scratching your heads and going; why is this important. For those who got it, feel free to skip the following explanation.

The unemployment trust fund is akin to the social security trust fund managed by, raided, and depleted by the Federal Government. No money means that the debts in those trust funds cannot be paid, and all the funds being collected right now are not being used for future calamities. For all you economists out there, yes, this is a very simplified explanation. Insurance trust funds are expected to be the funds of last resort to ensure payments to investors; those paying premiums for coverage can receive protection. Not having these trust funds means the state unemployment insurance fund is in deep trouble, and there is only one direction to point the blame, the legislators and executives in government.

Now, some are claiming these funds were only depleted due to the COVID pandemic. Do not believe the hype. These funds were in trouble long before COVID hit, and the fact that there are funds to replenish these trust funds and government leaders are refusing to invest money in the trust funds should be major red flags for everyone in the state! State and local governments are spending money like it’s Christmas, and the New Year will never come with the bills from the holidays. Think drunken-sailor on 7-day liberty here if you prefer that analogy. Either way, financial troubles are brewing above and beyond the current inflation woes, and the media is deftly NOT reporting this crisis. Does anyone want to venture why this topic is not being discussed?

The Article from the Tax Foundation lays out the data nicely, and you are left to draw your own conclusions from the data. But tell me, what happens when you call GEICO, Farmers, All-State, etc., with a claim and the claim is denied because the insurance company has no money? Now multiply that by every wage-earner and business in your state and tell me if maybe, just maybe, the unemployment insurance trust fund being insolvent should be a more significant issue of discussion.

If your state is insolvent, and your next paycheck is a LOT lighter, remember this tidbit about unemployment tax insurance trust funds.

“Unemployment insurance tax rates on businesses rise automatically when trust fund balances are low.”

Do you see the trouble now? First, the government maliciously raids and spends the funds, then a hidden tax kicks in, depleting your paycheck, and the government does not have to tell you why your paycheck is lighter. Especially since those in legislative bodies traditionally exempt themselves from having to pay these taxes. Now add in the other hidden taxes; inflation goes up because when taxes climb, inflation climbs, prices go up to cover the hidden taxes of higher costs to operating a business, and wages stagnate, which crimps your budget even further.

The states mentioned are not the states that did not need Federal Intervention, and they are not counted among the states spending money wisely, as discussed by Governing.com. Please tell me that nobody is surprised by this revelation. I find it alarming that Governing.com, in their analysis, was able to conclude the following:

“Despite predictions that COVID-19 would crush state tax revenues, most of them didn’t need mega-billions in pandemic aid to balance their budgets. But for the most part, they seem to be spending the money wisely.”

Leading me to ask, why did the Federal Government invest our tax dollars, venture into such incredible debts, and shut down a booming economy? COVID has proven NOT to be worthy of the title “Pandemic.” Yet, COVID remains an excuse for emergency measures, emergency spending, and emergency police actions. Will any media representative ask a politician why? I didn’t like the book, but I read Albert Camus’ book “The Plague” for light reading. That is a book about a public health crisis, a pandemic worthy of the title pandemic, and several times in world history, the title pandemic has been warranted when survivors are burning corpses in the street. COVID fits none of the definitions or situations for a Pandemic, except for the politically connected to laugh at the politically abused populations.

Look at Washington, New York, New Jersey, California, and Oregon across the COVID-19 political mania. Tell me why COVID is not an exercise in malicious government and politics gone horribly wrong. Sure, we can add New Mexico, Minnesota, Michigan, and a couple of other states into the mix for fun. These core states are where politicians made vast sums of money on COVID-Hysteria, and I would like to keep the focus small for the current article.

The House Ways and Means Subcommittee is reporting 32 states are intentionally withholding money from rural governments as a political move. When you take the top 20 receivers of COVID-Relief money and the 32 states withholding COVID-Relief money, you find some lines of congruence with states with the harshest COVID restrictions, ridiculous COVID mandates, and no correlating data to infection risk avoidance. Now, why isn’t COVID reported as a political and social experiment gone horribly wrong? Worse, why was the money borrowed by the Federal Government at extortionate rates and given pell-mell to the states when the majority of those states do not need the money and the states that did need the money have sufficient if their politicians reigned in spending?

The five states mentioned are not poor states by any stretch. They have resources, both human and natural; they have riches galore, they have potential, they used to have favorable business climates, they are committing suicide. Why should the rest of America bail them out? Why not break them up into parts, sell assets to cover debts, place them into receivership, and force them on a diet of sanity and logic until the bills are paid?

I close with a word of warning. Texas, you’re headed to California status faster than you would like to admit! Your COVID restrictions are particularly heinous and represent the infection found in Austin spreading like fast-moving cancer to steal your state and liberty. Arizona, Idaho, Wisconsin, Iowa, you are all on a similar track, the speed might not be as noticeable right now, but the infection is there and growing. Utah, Colorado, Wyoming, Montana, both Dakotas, you are all at various places in being terminally sick with the same cancer. If soft words and political expediency can conquer the Western US, the entire United States is lost. New Mexico has been lost since it was given statehood in a political move that robbed Arizona and Texas of land!

The time to awake and arise is now! The fight for liberty and freedom will be fought and won or lost in the American West. Sure, the coasts of America are well and truly infected. But, the fight for independence is not on the shores; it is right outside your doors. The media and politicians like to hyperventilate about the coasts, but the rural communities in the “Fly-Over” states are more important to liberty and freedom surviving than any other local in America. Awake and Arise!

© 2021 M. Dave Salisbury
All Rights Reserved
The images used herein were obtained in the public domain; this author holds no copyright to the images displayed.

The Proper and Improper Role of Government – Chapter 5: Socialism, Communism, Capitalism, and Envy

As a kid, the USSR loomed as an ever-present force that could at anytime wipe America off the map with a pre-emptive nuclear strike. Of course, America would retaliate with nuclear weapons, and this would create MAD or “mutually assured destruction.” People understood MAD was bad, but the communists among us were more insidious about portraying communism. The news media showed bread lines, soap lines, and the bitter pictures of enslavement under communism. Thus, socialism was the way to go, and the communists were selling socialism as the better way to government.

Except, socialism is communism light, and when the socialists run out of other people’s money, communism takes over. All because under capitalism, the results of one’s choices and consequences are harsh and cannot be hidden. Those preaching socialism and communism were envious of the capitalists who achieved and wanted what others possessed but without the hard work required to obtain benefits.

One other reality is critical to understanding the role of socialism; there is an axiom that states something like, “today’s students are tomorrow’s government policymakers.” This is precisely what has happened; the students of the 1960s are now setters of government policy, holding onto the reigns of power through sheer willpower, to see America die before they do. Socialism has been taught in the classrooms of government-mandated schools since the early 1900s to purposefully bring down the liberty and freedoms of the citizens of every representative government, out of envy for those in power in communist countries. Refusing to believe that under communism, less than .01% are powerful, rich, and mighty, whereas everyone else suffers, grovels, and struggles!

Socialism, Communism, and Capitalism – Detailed for understanding.

What is communism? Webster relates that communism is “A system of government in which the state plans and controls the economy and a single, often authoritarian party holds power, claiming to make progress toward a higher social order in which the people equally share all goods.” Except, everywhere communism has been tried, one-party rule leads to sycophants and ideologues ruling and taking what they want, while everyone else suffers, held in power by hired guns. Cuba was an incredible island nation, then Fidel Castro came along, and now Cuba is a cesspool of suffering, misery, and stagnation. Venezuela used to be the crown jewel of South America; now, it is a war zone, a catastrophe, and a pit of wasted potential. Czarist Russia was no picnic, but it was much greater than the vulture of communism that feasted on the body of Czarist Russia while it poisoned the world. China before communism was enlightened, capable, able, and has joined the ranks of failed communist planning and operations.

What is socialism? Socialism is defined in Webster as “Any of [the] various theories or systems of social organization in which the means of producing and distributing goods is owned collectively or by a centralized government that often plans and controls the economy.” As well as, “The stage in Marxist-Leninist theory intermediate between capitalism and communism, in which the means of production are collectively owned, but an utterly classless society has not yet been achieved.” Is the connection clear as to why socialism is referred to as “communism light?”

One last point about socialism, “legislation intended to improve the condition of the working-man. Among the measures include the insurance of workmen against accident, sickness, and old age, and the establishment of cooperative associations under state protection.” Envy of other countries having benefits has caused legislation that never should have happened in America and many other representative governments due to costs, loss of liberty and freedom, and the destruction of fundamental processes in the “Rule of Law.” How expensive has unemployment insurance been in non-monetary costs? Jobs have been lost forever, the expense of hiring has pushed jobs out of America, the expense has reduced wages of those lucky enough to be hired, but the growth of government and the millstone of bureaucrats has cost more than money, we have lost liberty, freedom, and potential.

What is capitalism? The common definition of capitalism in Webster states capitalism is “An economic system in which the means of production and distribution are privately or corporately owned, and development occurs through the accumulation and reinvestment of profits gained in a free market.” Webster’s dictionary has come under the same influence of plastic words and liberal ideology. Webster also defines capitalism as “The concentration or massing of capital in the hands of a few; also, the power or influence of large or combined capital.” Do a few condense capital; yes, no doubt. Except, when there is less government, and people keep their envy to themselves, capitalism brings the most freedom to the most people better than any other form of government attempted in human history. So, while capitalism has its faults, which are legion, capitalism is not the problem as it embraces private property ownership. Private property ownership is freedom from government oppression!

Please note, it is entirely acceptable to reach a level of financial comfort, look around, see suffering, and want to aid in the relief of suffering. This is a good thing and expected in a capitalistic system. Those paying for the relief of suffering are not government officials hired through forced taxation. In a socialized system, the money is stolen, legally, through forced taxation, then handed freely to those suffering, with several cuts made for wages and benefits of the workers doling out other people’s money. In a communist system, political leaders get fat and enjoy all the benefits, while everyone else suffers without relief. Yet, too many people would see you in a communist system and suffer, for there is no envy. If you believe that, I have a gravity-resistant bridge to the moon for you to buy.

Envy

Envy has been one of the seven deadliest sins for a reason; it breeds violence and discontent. Webster shines a light on envy describing it this way, “A feeling of discontent and resentment aroused by and in conjunction with desire for the possessions or qualities of another.” Fear is disgust and envy paired for the weak to overcome the powerful. The disease of envy includes admiration, jealousy, discontent, disbelief, lies, and a host of emotions that overwhelm a person’s mind to the point where they become irrational and hostile. Another resource claims envy (from Latin invidia) is an emotion that occurs when a person lacks another’s superior quality, achievement, or possession and either desire it or wishes that the other lacked it. Aristotle defined envy as pain at the sight of another’s good fortune, stirred by “those who have what we ought to have.”

While academics continue to split hairs between jealousy and envy and strive to create more distinctions, what has been described regarding envy is sufficient for my purposes. The purpose of discussing envy is to aid in clearing the confusion surrounding envious people who have a modicum of power, as they perceive it, and then abuse that power for their own benefit. For example, Trump Derangement Syndrom (TDS) was already a disease long before President Trump left the private sector for the political arena. TDS remains rooted in envious people acting violently, abusing power, and acting unethically and immorally because of the envy they feel for President Trump’s success.

Consider Speaker Pelosi (D), who ripped her copy of President Trump’s State of the Union speech up in front of cameras. She was jealous; her pride was hurt, and she felt envious and lacked a weapon to harm the president, so she acted immaturely and disrespected the sitting president. All this because, at heart, Speaker Pelosi (D) is nothing but a shallow and useless person, stuck in Congress and hating every minute of her tenure there because she could not obtain a higher office. She is envious of the Americans she despises and works 24/7/365 to destroy America, all because of her envy of other people’s success.

Social justice warriors, including President Obama, are full of envy and do everything they can to obtain revenge for self-inflicted wrongs. Envious people hate consequences for the choices they make. Envious people turn to drugs, alcohol, and other forms of self-medication, which in turn makes their self-loathing and self-hate worse. Then, these same envious people curse the success of others while demanding that someone else pay for the help they need to overcome their self-inflicted consequences.

I recently talked to a gentleman who was severely upset that democrats stole the 2020 elections, stuffing ballot boxes, allowing illegal immigration, and a host of other crimes that occur for votes. While I can understand his distress, he was envious of a political party for their success at suborning American Law. He left the conversation mad because he could not understand the role of envy in himself and what he was observing in others. Worse, the belief that justice and mercy are alive keeps him from acting to help change the situation, shift the paradigm, and improve the problems he mentioned to a solution. Envy captures the mind, placing shades and shutters over logic while unlocking emotion, many times without the person realizing what is occurring until that mind is chained in the captivity of envy.

There is a reason why envy is a deadly sin in both the Old Testament and the New Testament, mentioned in all the ancient books as a problem, and continues to infect people who refuse to learn. Unbridled emotions are captivity, not freedom! There is danger in the extremes of everything. Envy is in the extremes and imitates a minimal issue to capture the mind and control the person. Consider this, capitalism is the best, and envious people implement socialism to chain capitalism while rooting for communism to come in a takeover, thinking they will be better off and the “rich will finally pay their fair share.” Reality is always disappointing for envious people, and the result will be that everyone detests them when their plans come to fruition.

The Proper and Improper Role of Government: Chapter 4 – Tax Freedom Day – Do you know why this is important?

Working Dollar In 2019, Tax Freedom Day was 16 April 2019. For those not in the loop, Tax Freedom Day is the day all Federal, State, County, and Local taxes are paid from your paycheck. This date gets further into the new year every year, and with the amount of inflation seen since 16 April 2019, you can bet that Tax Freedom Day will shortly be in the middle of May or July.

What is Paper Money?

Dr. Clarence Carson wrote an article about paper money and the US Constitution, quoted heavily below. Paper Money, “… Paper that was intended to circulate as money but was not redeemable in gold and silver was technically described as bills of credit at the time of the Continental Congress and writing of the US Constitution and US Bill of Rights. The description was (and is) apt. Such Paper is a device for expanding the credit of the issuer.” The credit of the issuer is improved, not the benefit of those forced to use the Paper as credit. Hence, the US Government, to improve its credit, began printing money, and the problems in American Economics took off like a rocket sled on greased rails! Plato 2

Paper Money only has value when the person holding that Paper has confidence in the government printing that money. In every nation across the globe, the only thing keeping value in the paper currency is confidence in the government by citizens paying taxes. Hence, the problems with depressions, the confidence in value are shaken, and the holders of Paper Money become restless and lack confidence that their money is valuable. Bills of credit, Paper Money conveying the value of debt have been around for a long time, as discussed in a previous article on money. Why did the USSR fall; the currency had been worthless for years, and when the citizens had finally had enough, the government fell apart. A fitting tribute and pattern to be heeded from history if we, the government owners, cannot get the government to cease and desist forthwith!

Government and Paper Money

The US Constitution, as originally written, forbids the US Government from printing paper money why; because of how fast the government abuses this power, creating inflation. The Continental Congress was well aware of government abuses with Paper Money, thus restricting the Federal Government to coinage and tying the value to the gold standard. Inflation is nothing more than a hidden tax, where the government controls how much value your money is worth. Every person using US Dollars to make a purchase pays this tax. Thus, by the time a consumable product has been paid for in a store, that tax, inflation, has been paid multiple times, and the consumer is always worse for every point of inflation the government allows.

Irony Did you know that the Federal Government allows 2% inflation every year as a “target?” Consider this for a moment; the government wants your money and calls this tax a “good thing” for the economy. Thus, your prices for everything increase 2% or $.02 every year because the government wants it to. The 2% devaluation of your money is part of the Federal Reserves’ “Dual-Mandate” to achieve 100% employment and price stability. Do you see any logic in making money less valuable as a means to improve employment and stabilize prices? I don’t! Now, consider this, inflation has hit a this year (2021) and has not stopped climbing. Worse, inflation is expected to continue to grow as the government prints more Paper Money, which will eventually end in a depression preceded by massive deflation of the value of the US Dollar. Keep in mind; inflation has become a global problem, as the majority of governments spent money they did not have during the pandemic. Imagine lemmings racing for a fiscal cliff.

Lemmings 5 Josiah Quincy wrote George Washington “that there never was a paper pound, a paper dollar, or a paper promise of any kind, that ever yet obtained a general currency but by force or fraud, generally by both.” Yet, Congress still refuses to learn the lessons taught during the Continental Currency. Debts, runaway inflation, legal enforcement to demand paper money be accepted, all of these lessons were experienced by the Founding Fathers, with Rhode Island being the Continental equivalent of California for bad fiscal policy and idiotic fiscal enforcement. Tax Scheme 2

The founding fathers met during an economic period of deflation, which quickly became a severe depression caused by states issuing paper money that was useless. The founders “hoped to erect a system that would endure, and to do that, they wished to guard against the kind of fiscal adventures that produced both unpleasant economic consequences and political turmoil. Paper Money was reckoned to be one of these.” Paper Money, without the backing of silver and gold, has led to speculation, inflation, deflation, cycles of economic depression, and Congress essentially stole the right to print paper money and borrow from the citizens unconstitutionally! This cannot be stressed enough; there is a direct causal relationship between Congressional action, Executive Orders, and the economic problems America is suffering, including the bondage of debts insurmountable and the abuse of tax schemes! All of which were powers strictly limited in the US Constitution because the founders knew the government would abuse the power of Paper Money! Bait & Switch 2

History shows that when paper money was discussed, the states overwhelming voted to remove the power to print money from the US Government, seeing this as the best method for long-term economic success in America. “The vote was overwhelmingly in favor of removing the authority of the United States to emit bills of credit. The delegates voted by state, and 9 states voted in favor of the motion while only 2 opposed it. (New York delegates were not in attendance, and Rhode Island, of course, sent none.) It is a reasonable inference from the discussion that the delegates believed that by voting to strike out the words, (from the Articles of Confederation, which made up the bulk of the US Constitution), they had removed the power from the government to emit bills of credit.” It is important to note that allowing states to issue bills of credit, print their own money, or stamp coinage was also forbidden. To avoid the economic crisis, the founding fathers were in the middle of when framing the US Constitution and the US Bill of Rights from the Articles of Confederation. How many problems, and how much lower would your taxes be if the Federal and State governments had simply followed the law instead of stealing rights and powers from the governed?

Facts About Tax Freedom Day

IRS Please note, the federal deficit, state deficits, pension crisis, student loan debt crisis, and interest are not included in the numbers quoted below. The following information comes directly from the Tax Foundation (linked above):

- - Tax Freedom Day is a significant date for taxpayers and lawmakers because it represents how long Americans as a whole have to work to pay the nation’s tax burden.
  - This year, Tax Freedom Day falls on 16 April or 105 days into the year.
  - In 2019, Americans will pay $3.4 trillion in federal taxes and $1.8 trillion in state and local taxes for a total bill of over $5.2 trillion, or 29 percent of the nation’s income.
  - Americans will collectively spend more on taxes in 2019 than they will on food, clothing, and housing combined.
  - If you include annual federal borrowing, representing future taxes owed (interest on the debt), Tax Freedom Day would occur 22 days later, 8 May.
  - Tax Freedom Day in 2018 and 2019 was five days earlier than it was in 2017, primarily due to the recent federal tax law, the Tax Cuts, and Jobs Act.
  - From 1930 to at least 1995, Tax Freedom Day has taken 1.27 days longer per year to reach. – I do not have an updated reference for this information since 1995.
  - In 2019, on average, it took:
    - - 42 days to pay the income taxes
        
        26 days to pay payroll taxes
        
        15 days to pay sales and excise taxes, not including surcharges and government fees for services
        
        11 days for property taxes – states control this, some municipalities, it took a lot longer
        
        5 days for Corporate Income Taxes
        
        6 Days for other taxes that always get passed along to the consumer.

Tax Burden I have read economic reports from noted minds in economics that claim had the dollar not been loosed from the ties to the gold standard, America could not have produced the tools needed to win WWII. To which I continue to claim, as Colonel Potter from M*A*S*H so aptly stated, “HORSE HOCKEY! and BULL COOKIES!” Having Congress issuing massive letters of credit, borrowing tremendous sums of money, and the economic fallout remains a millstone about the financial neck of this country. How much longer will Americans pay for debts created during WWII? What about the ever-increasing debt burden and interest that is driving prices and taxes ever upwards?

Knowledge Check! The US Government has acted improperly since establishing the Department of the Treasury and the Internal Revenue Service. Not just improperly but illegally under the US Constitution as drafted. Illegally, immorally, and unethically towards the founders, and distorted the intent of the US Constitution to protect America from runaway government debt and inflation/deflation/depression cycles common when issuing Paper Money. This is the utter truth, and until this problem is rectified, removing paper money is the right thing to do, even if it means some financial hardship! America can survive financial difficulty; we cannot survive the bondage of runaway debt, interest that sucks all the GDP, and the socialism projects being paid for by tax dollars to buy votes from envious people looking for “equality and fairness.”

NO MORE BS: Come, Let Us Reason Together – Chapter 4

PSA: I am not a cynic; I understand the concepts being discussed, and it might appear that I am cynical about insurance companies by the tone of the writing. Please note, I am generally in favor of the insurance industry. However, when government mandates insurance coverage to spread the risks out for the benefit of the insurance industry, insurance has become a tax. When a business offers insurance, but the co-pays and the costs are too high, insurance is no longer a benefit, and I want the option to opt-out of the employer “benefit.”

Insurance as a concept has been around for a long time, historically speaking. Maritime insurance was a concept from the 1340s, and Benjamin Franklin dreamed up property insurance in 1752, becoming America’s first insurer. Insurance separated investment as a method of managing risk, making investing more palatable and shoving the consequences of natural disasters, pirates, and other methods of losing onto another responsible party. Some of the biggest names in insurance can trace their roots to the Great Fire in London in the 1660s. We mention all of this, as a foundation for understanding the role and the meaning of insurance.

Interest vs. Investing

Ziggy - The Government Interest, in this usage is referring to the advantage to a group or single person, as well as improving one’s welfare. Maritime shipping would take on several loads, and people who owned those loads had a vested interest (having a personal stake in something) in seeing that ship arrive on time at its intended destination. For example, sugar has been a huge commodity in history, and a sugar mill would ship the sugar to destinations for sale. People interested in improving their welfare could invest in the sugar mill, or with a higher risk, expecting a higher return, invest in the shipping company, or the ship. Thus, investing became one where opportunities to increase interest became popular.

The modern stock market traces its roots to the 1600s and the Amsterdam Stock Exchange, where for the first time, people interested in investing could be joined to companies needing investors, and money could exchange hands for certificates (stocks or bonds) showing interest. A point of reference, the Dutch East India Trading Company was an original benefactor of the Amsterdam Stock Exchange, and sugar, molasses, and spices were the commodities being shipped. Not saying all the Dutch East India Trading was in non-human commodities, but sugar was a huge driving factor for separating risk through insurance that drove the stock exchange creation.

photo_slideshow_max One final point, government’s have interests, generally traced to those paying the highest taxes, or with the most political connections. Government’s do not have allies, as much as they have groups of governments that share a common interest. For example, countries belonging to NATO. NATO is the North Atlantic Treaty Organization and was designed for those countries with interests in seeing trade safely through the North Atlantic. Not all the countries in NATO are friendly with all the other countries, but the common interest in seeing trade and markets operate smoothly has generated NATO and kept it alive since 1949. Government never has friends; they only have relationships based upon mutual interests. These are cogent points that must be remembered! Incredible as it seems, interests change, and when interests change, relationships between countries and governments force ideological changes, and today’s relationship might not be the same tomorrow, which is one of the reasons why the United Nations is such a pile of hypocrisy and uselessness!

Insurance and Investing

Insurance as described by Webster’s dictionary is a practice or arrangement by which a company or government agency provides a guarantee of compensation for specified loss, damage, illness, or death in return for payment of a premium. The payments of premiums provide the insurance company with vast sums of cash. Some of which are placed into long-term investments, medium -term investments, stocks, bonds, T-bills, and other methods of protecting the money paid in premiums. The higher the risk, the higher the cost of the premium. The one rule in insurance that has never changed from the 1300s is, if the insurance company can collect a premium, and not pay on a claim, the interest the premiums collect remains and the shareholders see larger returns on their investments.

Calvin & Hobbes - Enmity Hence, lawyers and bankers have a vested interest in seeing insurance companies not have to pay claims, but still collect premiums. Thus, contract law was established, and the insurance companies took full advantage of language to protect their premiums from paying a claim. Another growth industry directly tied to the insurance industry, was special courts for hearing claims and awarding damages (Tort Law). Cornell Law university provides some clarity on tort law, “A tort is an act or omission that gives rise to injury or harm to another and amounts to a civil wrong for which courts impose liability. In the context of torts, “injury” describes the invasion of any legal right, whereas “harm” describes a loss or detriment in fact that an individual suffers.” Placing insurance companies squarely into the middle of tort law, and thus opening up new avenues for protecting against paying a claim from the premiums paid and invested.

Types of Insurance

Apathy Important to understanding, Carl Marx and communism uses the ideas of mutual insurance companies to create a society where all share the risks, all benefit in the gains, at least in theory. However, like insurance companies, someone in communism must enjoy all the benefits for taking the risk of establishing the community, and the reality of China, Cuba, and USSR become evident. Where the leaders take everything for themselves, and the regular people live in squalor and depredation.

Janet Hunt wrote an great article on types of insurance companies and her article can be found here. Currently there are nine different types of insurance companies available and are detailed below:

- Mutual Companies – owned by policy holders who are also considered shareholders, sharing the risks, and benefiting from the lack of paid claims. The mutual society of this type of insurance company shares dividends and when losses occur, generally the shareholders (policyholders) might not see an increase in premiums.
- Stock Companies and Mono-Line Carriers – Stock companies are corporations and the distribution of dividends become payments to shareholders. These insurance companies are very averse to paying claims. Mono-line carriers only carry a single type of insurance. For example, a company might only carry car insurance, specializing in just car insurance provides savings in overhead, and they might have agreements with other carriers to provide linked coverage for other insurance products.
- Lloyds of London – When you want to insure the weird, Lloyds of London is the carrier of choice. I cannot tell you how hard I have laughed at people willing to insure body parts, unusual, or high-risk items. Share my laugh, look up what policies Lloyds has written insurance policies for and you too can have a good chuckle. Lloyd’s does carry insurance for mundane and normal, but those policies do not make me laugh. I feel sorry for the citizens of the United Kingdom, since Lloyd’s of London is backed by parliament, the taxpayers are on the hook for Lloyd’s losses eventually.
- Alien Carriers – These are insurance carriers that are owned and operated in one country, doing business in another country, selling premiums, and paying claims. Important to note about alien carriers, the lawyers charged with engineering methods to control risks to paying claims can create a nightmare using the laws of both countries. Alien carriers can also be operating in one US State but be owned and governed in another US State.
- Domestic Insurance – These are companies who are owned and operate in a single US State, or other geographical area. For example, a domestic insurance company in Texas, might or might not have the ability to operate outside Texas, where it would be considered an alien provider.
- Direct Sellers – Do not use insurance agents, selling directly to the public or insurance consumer. To be considered a direct seller, the majority of the business occurs online or over the phone. Direct sellers are pretty straight forward, and some of the biggest names in insurance providers are direct sellers.
- Captives – A captive insurance company is a unique insurance provider, generally specializing in one type of insurance product for a specific industry or groups of individuals. For example, if a business owns a fleet of vehicles, they will have insurance through a captive insurance company who specializes in handling the risks of fleet vehicles. Another type of captive insurance company occurs when a parent corporation needs insurance but builds a branch of their company to handle the insurance instead of going through an insurance company. In this model, the parent company keeps the premiums in-house and has a vested interest in protecting their investments.
- Standard Lines – This is your normal insurance company with insurance agents, local offices, is regulated by the state board of insurance, pay fees into the general state guarantee fund, and are subject to the laws and ordinances of the state in which they operate.
- Excess Lines – Think of these companies as insurance for high-risk individuals and companies, who cannot get insurance through a standard line company.

I know, that is a whole lot more than you think you want to know about insurance companies. However, my only logic for making these distinctions in this article is to aid in understanding the classifications of insurance company, and some of the peculiarities in insurance products. I feel the more you know, the better questions you can ask, leading to improvements in your bottom-line.

Emtional Investment Cycle With all the ties to investing, savings products, and the flow of money into and out of an insurance company, the discussion of insurance companies remains critical. Especially when the government can create an insurance company, then mandate that company be used to provide coverage, creating a tax and fee that the taxpayer might not realize. For example, around the time that states began demanding drivers have car insurance, GEICO began selling policies to non-government employees. GEICO is an acronym for Government Employees Insurance Company, and by selling policies to non-government employees, the government is able to reduce the risk of insuring their employees. Thus, an argument can be made that the government only created GEICO to reduce the risks of insuring government employees, as well as benefiting from a flush of cash from premiums paid.

Ziggy on Government Both Lloyds of London and GEICO leave me worrying for taxpayers. However, since the US Government is the only provider for some types of insurance, specifically flood insurance, which is mandatory for homeowners living in a flood plain, one must ask more questions about where the money goes and why? What steps have been taken to protect the public from large scale incidents where the insurance company will have to make massive payments? What does the government invest in to protect the premiums paid against the time of claims?

When a person begins discussing savings instruments, investments, and the links between insurance companies and government, a lot of potential questions arise, and the answers become more sparse inversely to the specificity of the questions asked. For example, if a savings account interest is so low, due to inflationary spending by the government, what interest does the government, as a holder of savings accounts, receive for their investment? Where does the government invest their premiums from insurance payments? How is the government protecting their customers from inflation as a result of poor fiscal policy? Plato 2

Never forget, an insurance company must pay dividends to their shareholders who have invested interests (money). GEICO is a Berkshire Hathaway company, and stopped being publicly held in 1996. The questions for why the Government Employee Insurance Company is wholly owned and operated by Berkshire Hathaway opens a lot of questions. This would be akin to Lloyds of London being sold to a private company, where parliament stopped caring or backing Lloyds. Why becomes a major question requiring detailed answers. Look at the political situation in America at the time of the sell, and more questions rise, and less answers are provided.

Knowledge Check! America, when it comes to cash flow, money, and government fiscal policy, we need answers. We need the elected representatives to understand basic economics, and we need to hold a tighter rein on those elected representatives. The current fiscal health of America is poor, solely because of the elected representatives and their bureaucratic minions. We must have a solution that protects America, and this solution needs every citizen involved and engaged.

NO MORE BS: Come, Let Us Reason Together – Chapter 3

Making Money Online: A Guide on How to Earn Money From Home | ResellerClub Blog When a person discusses making money, what does the phrase “making money” mean? When talking about money, we are not discussing printing actual cash; while that is certainly a way to create money, that always leads to inflationary problems. Simple economics relates there are two different avenues to make money. These methods are as old as the Old Testament or recorded history, and every single civilization has used these methods. The first method is to save money, where interest is paid while someone else uses your money to create products and services, bet on the futures markets for farmers, ranchers, etc., or stock and bonds markets. Regardless, the first method generally involves receiving interest from saving money. The second method is also well known; you borrow money and pay usury (interest). The people who save money make money on those who borrow money and pay the penalty interest. Through defaults on loans and bankruptcy, the unpaid interest penalty causes risks to increase, and classes of borrowers are created. Risks also raise prices, remove the ability to borrow funds, and establishes another market, insurance. Taxpayer Money Cartoons and Comics - funny pictures from CartoonStock

In Las Vegas, the saying goes, “The house always wins.” In simple economics, the house is a runaway government that claims, “let’s make things more fair to lower-income earners.” In reality, they make the low earning income earners and fiscal illiterates, suckers, betting on the government to save them every time they make poor fiscal decisions. These fiscal illiterates come in every shape, size, color, culture, and financial background in our modern times, but these two ways to make money remain essential to the following article. Please note that the insurance topic will be covered in a later article; for now, just keep in mind the two methods of creating money, saving money and earning interest, and borrowing money and paying interest.

The Radical Theory That the Government Has Unlimited Money | Occupy.com The Federal Government during this COVID-Hysteria has paid out vast sums of money, some of which in loans, placing the businesses who borrowed at significant risk, and other sums as payments to individual people. Either way, that money is not “Free Money.” Those funds were borrowed from somewhere, and the government will have to pay interest on those dollars borrowed. When governments borrow money, higher taxes are a direct result from the school board to the Federal Level. Except, every person in the world will have to be now also penalized a second and third time for the government borrowing money. Inflationary prices are the second penalty for government spending/borrowing. Lower interest rates on saving money are the third penalty for government spending/borrowing.

Deficit and Budget Cartoons | Cartoons | US News The secondary and tertiary penalties are often called hidden penalties, or fees, that occur as natural consequences to the government borrowing money. These penalties cannot be escaped! The higher the inflation goes, the more people cannot borrow money, the higher prices go, and the less paid as interest for saving money, even if stocks and bonds continue to be traded at record levels. Look at the stock market growth as the government has borrowed more and more money over the years, and you can trace this pattern. As the stock market grows, savings accounts empty, and those savings accounts which remain are paid less and less interest year over year.

How to Make Money Online Without Using Google Adsense The banks, credit unions, and other saving institutions and markets will continue to use other people’s money on the stock exchanges and futures markets to return a profit to shareholders, but the account holders do not earn the same as a shareholder, even though their money is what is being bet on the stock exchanges, futures markets, and in government investment instruments. Thus, one needs to understand these essential money creation tools to judge the following facts correctly.

1. 1. Some states and cities are about to be given $360 Billion in government stimulus to spur post-COVID-economic growth. Laying aside the facts previously covered that spending does not “spur economic growth.” We, the citizenry, need to understand the money being dumped onto these states comes with a very high price for us individually.
  2. The money being dumped on the states will not be fairly divided but divided by political connection! The pattern was established long ago by the Federal Government and has been used every time the Federal Government wants to reward certain states while punishing others.
  3. There is no such thing as free money. Never has, never will, even money found on the street is not free. The money found on the street was a loss by the person who dropped the money. Hence credit and debit are the terms of money, for money cannot just disappear. A credit to one person always creates a debit to another person. Simple economics and the credit/debit of money are universal and historically accurate in every economy man has ever produced.
  4. Credits in one category have to come from somewhere as they travel to another area as debits.
  5. Debits in one category have to come from somewhere as they travel to another area as credits.
  6. Money cannot disappear. Money can be physically destroyed, but it never evaporates like water moving from a liquid into a gas. Money travels, money travel, can be tracked, and even cash comes with these same conditions.

An easily understood example is paychecks. Your employer pays you for your time as a credit to your wallet. You deposit your paycheck (a credit to the bank) and immediately start paying bills (debits) to those whose services you enjoy (credits). Make sense; the debits of your employer to you as a paycheck comes from both the sale of goods and services and through investors who expect to be paid for their continued contributions to that business. The employee is not “making” money when they are getting paid; they have traded time, sweat, and labor; no money was created for a paycheck. But that paycheck allowed that employee to pay for groceries, clothes, fuel to get to work, along with other goods and services. Credits and debits tell the story of where money travels, recording prices for goods and services along the way that governments are supposed to understand as they set tax rates. However, the more a government borrows and spends, the more the tax rates are set not by people in government but by the penalties of interest.

lb0602cd20160601043644 | Peter Grandich and Company Many, if not most, of the American States, are in this predicament right now. The Federal Government has been in this predicament since at least the 1960s due to the imbalance in trade going to China, the loss of manufacturing jobs in America, and the incredible rate of spending the government has done since WWII. The states and the federal governments are in this predicament also because of union wages.

I am not anti-labor union, I do believe that labor unions are a tremendous legal Ponzi-Scheme, and the victims of labor unions are the people forced to pay higher taxes for the wages and the retirement benefits, as well as the medical, vision, dental, and other benefits of union workers both in the private and public sector. I also firmly believe that government workers should never be allowed to unionize as the government pays the wages through forced taxation. In the New Testament, regardless of how you perceive Jesus Christ, there is a story about the Pharisees and Caesar’s Poll Tax which was grievous to be born by the conquered nations in the Roman Empire. As a point of interest, every time taxes are mentioned in the oldest books known to man; they are always referred to as grievous, or in a negative term; why, because taxes are always a penalty, a legal way to weaken the populace and bribe the citizens with their own money. Chris Hedges Quotes | Labor Unions Rise Against Wage Slavery ...

Historically, conquered nations used to be forced to pay tribute to the conquering governments for the purpose of keeping that nation weakened and unable to rebel sufficiently to overthrow the conqueror. When standing armies and navies became the norm in history for nations to keep, taxes followed to pay for the standing armies and navies. Throughout history the story of tribute and taxes have driven people to rebel, become slaves to be bought and sold, and prisons to fill up when the citizenry could not, or would not, pay the tax collector. The same tax collector who incidentally received for his time, wages from the taxes collected. Many times, the tax collector was also known to the population as a neighbor, making the paying of taxes a mental as well as a physical burden. When you have personal friendships with the conquered nations representatives, the story of Ben-Hur becomes more poignant and the appearance of the burdens of the conquered as bitter bondage is better understood.

Gary Varvel's Editorial Cartoons - Lemonade Comics And Cartoons | The Cartoonist Group My aim is to help improve understanding and open the discussion on money, taxes, and what your government has done in the name of “COVID-Relief.” When the fraudulent president considers inflation to not matter, one must begin asking why inflation was a major issue when President Obama dumped money into the economy, but magically, President Biden can sleep peacefully knowing there are no inflationary concerns. The more the current sitting US President speaks, the more I wonder about who is pulling his strings to make him talk!

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