Redefining Capitalism After the Fall

[dendro]

OK LW, let me rephrase and redefine.

By "fed", I mean the Federal Reserve Board, not the US federal gov't. And by "state", I mean the general term for a governing body/political body (as in, the USA is a state), not a US state gov't.

I know I don't need to spell out the functions of the fed to you. Nutshell, they set monetary policy and broadly control the macro economy through policy. And they control the micro economies in specific through influence and subsidiaries. Thus they control taxation, both direct and indirect, and all forms of elected and appointed governmental bodies in the US. By the terms of this system, all US citizens collectively are legally responsible to repay the debt owed to the fed. Under this system, we are not sovereign citizens of a mutually governed state, but are chattels of the unelected corporation.

So again, how are we not already "explicit slaves" to the fed?

BTW,  I'm not parsing costings here. That's irrelevant to my point. But I note that somehow, the various forms of US government, sometimes in partnership with private enterprise,  built infrastructure and provided services according to the US constitution for we the people long before there was any fed or federal income tax. Funny dat.

And I note further that Poppy Bush signed a statement in '92 allowing the various US governmental bodies to sell off publicly owned and financed infrastructure to private interests, without any oversight or disclosure to we the people. What and how much has been sold? To whom? For how much? And what happened to all the proceeds of these sales?

Who owns America?

Are you actually free because you have the illusion that rolling the dice and moving your race car or scotty dog around on their monopoly board makes you free? They own the board, and can sweep you off into the box any time they like.

[laughingwillow]

Let's say we manage to abolish the fed reserve..... (I do agree with the idea.)

Would that make us any more free? Would it free us monetarily?

Imo, a slave to money is still a slave.

lw

[laughingwillow]

Here's a solution for you, bruddah den....

I propose an end to personal income tax. Individuals will pay sales tax and maybe a usery  tax for things like the highway system while corporate entities will pay a sales tax on raw materials and income tax from a schedule not fraught with loopholes.

Feel free to expand our master plan.

lw

[dendro]

Sure, greed engenders such situations as USA is in today. As does the whole dualistic, egoic and materialistic paradigm that almost all mankind is bound up with. Nothing new there.

And maybe ending the fed and the income tax would be good beginnings to reducing the harms caused by such systems. Such measures could possibly at least help restore constitutional government.

I don't have all the answers or solutions to problems, and I'm not sure I care at this point. I think the system is so broke, it can't be fixed. I do think that, regardless of the various pervasive mythologies promoted by the Masters of War, we can dispense with myths if we choose to do so. We need not believe myth, or even use the language of the mythmakers, to define our reality.

I choose to dispense with myth in my own reality, but others may prefer myth for a variety of reasons. And that may work for them, I don't know. But it doesn't work for me.

I simply point out that the current system in real terms forces all US workers to be debt slaves to a central bank. There are ways to opt out of this system, I suppose. But if anyone chooses to participate in the USA game, to pursue perceived benefits, then they must accept the status of debt slave. No amount of mythmaking will change that simple fact.

[Amomynous]

Are you actually free because you have the illusion that rolling the dice and moving your race car or scotty dog around on their monopoly board makes you free? They own the board, and can sweep you off into the box any time they like.

At the risk of sounding muddle-headed or stupid, I think a lot about freedom when I ingest an entheogen. On one hand I know that I am "not free" to do so, and, at least in theory, I could have guns pointed at my head, be taken bodily from my family and life, and be incarcerated for a long period of time.

On the other hand I have the distinct insight that true freedom can only exist between the ears anyway.

Not too long ago I heard a recording of a long speech by Nick Sand in which he talked at length about his years of incarceration stemming from his work as a psychedelic chemist with the League of Spiritual Discovery (and then later work in Canada). It was disturbing of course, but it was also strangely inspiring, in an "I am not a number, I am a free man!" kind of way, because it seems -- paradoxically -- that he ultimately found some quantity of that true freedom when his physical freedom had been brutally stripped from him.  

It pisses me off (if I can speak frankly) that I -- and everyone else -- lives under so many yokes of control, and it pisses me off that the control always deepens and becomes wider ranging. For my entire life the process has only gotten worse, and with Bush (and now with Obama, although the control is of a different sort) it has been rapidly accelerating over the past decade or so.

[A shout-out to an acquaintance of mine: Anyone interested in the "agenda of control" should seriously consider reading Charles Eisenstein's Ascent of Humanity, which is available in both dead-tree and free on-line form. Seriously, this is one of the most insightful books on the human condition that I've ever read. I don't necessarily agree with everything he says, but his analysis is much deeper than I've ever seen in this kind of book.]

But it also pisses me off that I'm not free between the ears. My work with entheogens has gifted me with very clear insight into just how un-free I really am on the inside. Even if a miracle occurred and freedom and human dignity were restored overnight in some divine intervention, I'd still be a slave.  Not a slave to anyone in particular, but a slave by design.

So again, how are we not already "explicit slaves" to the fed?

Since I think I was the one who used the term "explicit,"  perhaps I should address this, as it is slightly relevant to what I said above.

Despite the truth of the situation, most people believe themselves to be free. As I opined above, this is actually true neither internally nor externally, but most folks hold it to be true anyway.  At some point, though (if things continue), the man in the street will be forced to admit that he exists to serve the state, and if fact he'll probably be OK with that. When Kennedy famously said "ask not what your country can do for you. Ask what you can do for your country" most people missed the fact that in practical terms this is the same thing as saying "ask what you can do for your government," and they applauded when they should have been recoiling.

So by "explicit" what I meant was that people would know and admit that they exist to serve the state and all of the associated institutions. Nothing more.

But on a fun note -- -- did you know that the current "economic bailout" has cost more than WW I & 2, the New Deal, the Vietnam and Korean wars, the race to the moon, and the invasion of Iraq.... combined?!

http://www.ritholtz.com/blog/2009/06/ba ... al-events/

That right. In one year we've spend -- adjusted for inflation -- more money than all of the big, one-time expenditures in the 233 year history of the country. Combined.

[dendro]

Thanks, Amom, I see your meaning now.

I also recognize that I too am not perfectly free "between the ears". But I'm working on it. And I do enjoy short periods when I do feel free, I know how I arrived there, and I am trying to re-access free states more and more often, for longer periods.

In the Baghavad Gita, Lord Krishna states that man is not truly free until all selfish desire is dissolved. This, for me, is a big onion to peel. I do feel freedom from desire is achievable. I wish to keep trying, though the way ahead is obscure at present.

[Amomynous]

I also recognize that I too am not perfectly free "between the ears". But I'm working on it. And I do enjoy short periods when I do feel free, I know how I arrived there, and I am trying to re-access free states more and more often, for longer periods.

Ditto. On the few occasions that freedom has emerged the experience is quite.... profound.

[laughingwillow]

While I really hate the WSJ (the newspaper of fascist/corporate amerikka) I do believe our economy might be in for further surprises due a failure to pay off mortgage obligations of commercial real estate ventures.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB125167422962070925.html

quote from linked article: ....efforts could be undermined by a surge in foreclosures of commercial property carrying mortgages that were packaged and sold by Wall Street as bonds. Similar mortgage-backed securities created out of home loans played a big role in undoing that sector and triggering the global economic recession. Now the $700 billion of commercial-mortgage-backed securities outstanding are being tested for the first time by a massive downturn, and the outcome so far hasn't been pretty.

lw

[laughingwillow]

Just came across this interesting article.

http://www.slate.com/id/2226921/

quote from linked story..... Most Americans have a lot riding on the success of the government's efforts to pull the U.S. economy out of its ditch: individual investors, bankers, Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke, Democratic politicians, and taxpayers. A somewhat smaller group has a lot riding on the failure of these efforts. I'm not simply talking about investors who are betting against the markets and who believe the recent stock-market rally is overdone. I'm talking about the Failure Caucus, a group spanning the political spectrum that has invested reputations, egos, and, in some instances, their political futures on the notion that we're in for several more years of economic trauma.

lw