Sorry, folks, but I had to rant this morning.
One of the problems with this depression is that everyone is blaming capitalism for the mess we're in.
Oh, really....
This country hasn't been capitalist in decades. In fact, I wouldn't even say we have had a constitutional republic with democratic overtones in decades.
Confused? Let me explain, then.
Capitalism is simply this...you make a product, you sell a product. If people like the product, you make and sell more. If you are not successful...well, you try something else. (Product can also mean a service, such as teaching or taxi service.) The government doesn't punish you for doing well, and they don't bail you out when you fail. There is enough law to keep you honest, but the smart and self reliant are equally free to simply walk away from a product they don't want or need.
Once upon a time, this country was capitalist. A man could build his house with scrounged materials. A woman could cut hair or make clothing in her living room. Her husband could build things in his garage. If they were successful, they could sell whatever extra they had. Their teenager could go out hunting or fishing for that day's meal. Their younger children could go pick berries. They had a vegetable garden and chickens in their back yard. Even if a family were poor, they could survive on very little money. If they had moxy, they could survive quite well...and even be quite happy.
Today, its all topsy-turvey.
It is illegal to build anything on your own property without a permit from the government. It is illegal to run a business without a permit from the government. In many places, it is illegal to have a business in a residential district. If a teen walks down the street with a shot gun, on his way to go hunting, all those neighbors who notice him call the police...the gun is emmedietly confiscated whether or not the teen has a permit. (This happens to farmers carrying a rifle on their own property, too.) If the children go pick berries, CPS is called because the children are "doing something dangerous". Keeping chickens in the back yard is illegal in many areas. And now...now the government wants to either license you to grow veggies in your back yard (with frequent inspections), or they want to ban it outright. You can't even have a garage sale anymore without the government coming to inspect it and make sure you aren't selling something that they have decided could be a no-no.
Oh, there is always some "reasonable" reason for these laws that discourage self-reliance.
But who is behind these laws? Well, we always thought that it was for our own safety. But as the noose gets tighter and tighter, we now realize that it was the corporations.
Case in point...guess who was behind the "public health insurance" bill. Can't guess? It was the health insurance companies. They knew that most people did not want a public option. But, also tucked neatly into the bill, was an excessive fine for not getting health insurance...over double the cost of having health insurance.
You see, there are groups of people who, for one reason or another, refuse health insurance. The Amish. Those wealthy enough to pay for their own medical costs should something suddenly happen. Those who believe in prayer rather than medicine. Those who believe in using the medicine God gave us. People who have dropped their health insurance because what they pay into it far exceeds what they have ever gotten out of it, and they just can't afford it any more.
Either way, there are just people who refuse to get health insurance. So, faced with an excessive fine, a horrible public option, or the private insurance, these people would be forced to go with the best option...paying for private health insurance.
Then someone dropped the cost of the fine to being just about the same, if not less, than actually purchasing private insurance. And now, suddenly, the insurance companies "cannot back the bill anymore". They actually stated this (yesterday, I think it was).
So, now...think about who is behind every "reasonable" law and bill out there. Who is behind it? Could it be someone selling that product? Could it be someone attempting to silence the opposition?
Now think of the way life is today, and the way it was just 60 years ago. How did you or your parents ever survive your child hood without all of the safety devices, trips to the doctor every two months (with about five shots every visit), and all of the psychologists telling our parents, and their parents before them, how their children should be raised!
No, today we are probably closer to Plutocratic Corporatism. Corporatism is a system of economic, political, and social organization where corporate groups, such as business, ethnic, farmer, labour, military, patronage, or religious groups, are joined together into a single governing body in which the different groups are mandated to negotiate with each other to establish policies in the interest of the multiple groups within the body. Plutocracy is simply rule by the rich. They are the ones who are writing the bills, lobbying the government...heck, they even control the voting machines! They control what you eat, down to the variety of tomato at the grocery store. They raise your children because both parents must work to buy those things in order that your children aren't "deprived". Some high fashion goonie-goohoo determines the color and cut and style of your clothes, your makeup, your hair, your scent...and all companies below them follow suit. They even tell you what you must put into your body. Don't worry about MSG...don't worry about mercury...we'll just tell you that these poisons are good for you!
And frankly, we're even touching upon Kleptocracy. Kleptocracy is where the plutarchs attempt to grab as much as they can for themselves...such as when a corporation convinces a local government that it is in the public interest to kick people out of their homes, at the compensation the corporation dictates, in order to build their business there....oh, and buy the way, tax dollars will go to build the business, and the business will not have to pay taxes for the next 15 years. But hey! They will provide jobs! That isn't capitalism....that's theft.
Socialist mentality seems to think that all forms of capitalism are Kleptocracies. While we have devolved into this, its only because we were too blind to see what was happening. Of course, there was always a public interest for this. Jobs. Public health. Saving lives. We lived for centuries on this land without the corporation controlling every aspect of our lives. Well, now they own everything...including you. "Buy n Large", as seen in WALL*E, may seem to be a farce...is it really?
They don't like us being self-reliant, either. When people find a legal way to skirt around government regulations, they'll send an under-cover agent to your door to bully you into selling him a gallon of unpasturized milk, a dozen eggs, or a pelt that is illegal within the state. And when you finally GIVE (not sell) something to the agent just to make him go away, that's when they'll send in the jack booted thugs to hold you and your ten children at gunpoint for hours and steal every scrap of food you have in your house, or destroy every aspect of your business.
But believe me...throwing off just one of the shackels is liberating. I was thinking this while I was working yesterday....I had just finished a batch of home-made pretzels, was working on preserving goodies from our garden, all while my pretty princess played with the water in the sink nearby, chatting away with me. Grow at least some of my own food. Bake my own food from scratch. Raise my own children.
They haven't made everything self-reliant illegal...yet. They can't, because then we would know what they were up to. But some day, they might convince the sheeple that there is a reasonable purpose for those laws.
Perhaps, with this depression, people will wake up and see that the corporate state is stomping on them. Maybe they'll start taking back some aspects of their lives...and feeling that freedom, maybe they'll take some more back.
I can dream.
One of the problems with this depression is that everyone is blaming capitalism for the mess we're in.
Oh, really....
This country hasn't been capitalist in decades. In fact, I wouldn't even say we have had a constitutional republic with democratic overtones in decades.
Confused? Let me explain, then.
Capitalism is simply this...you make a product, you sell a product. If people like the product, you make and sell more. If you are not successful...well, you try something else. (Product can also mean a service, such as teaching or taxi service.) The government doesn't punish you for doing well, and they don't bail you out when you fail. There is enough law to keep you honest, but the smart and self reliant are equally free to simply walk away from a product they don't want or need.
Once upon a time, this country was capitalist. A man could build his house with scrounged materials. A woman could cut hair or make clothing in her living room. Her husband could build things in his garage. If they were successful, they could sell whatever extra they had. Their teenager could go out hunting or fishing for that day's meal. Their younger children could go pick berries. They had a vegetable garden and chickens in their back yard. Even if a family were poor, they could survive on very little money. If they had moxy, they could survive quite well...and even be quite happy.
Today, its all topsy-turvey.
It is illegal to build anything on your own property without a permit from the government. It is illegal to run a business without a permit from the government. In many places, it is illegal to have a business in a residential district. If a teen walks down the street with a shot gun, on his way to go hunting, all those neighbors who notice him call the police...the gun is emmedietly confiscated whether or not the teen has a permit. (This happens to farmers carrying a rifle on their own property, too.) If the children go pick berries, CPS is called because the children are "doing something dangerous". Keeping chickens in the back yard is illegal in many areas. And now...now the government wants to either license you to grow veggies in your back yard (with frequent inspections), or they want to ban it outright. You can't even have a garage sale anymore without the government coming to inspect it and make sure you aren't selling something that they have decided could be a no-no.
Oh, there is always some "reasonable" reason for these laws that discourage self-reliance.
But who is behind these laws? Well, we always thought that it was for our own safety. But as the noose gets tighter and tighter, we now realize that it was the corporations.
Case in point...guess who was behind the "public health insurance" bill. Can't guess? It was the health insurance companies. They knew that most people did not want a public option. But, also tucked neatly into the bill, was an excessive fine for not getting health insurance...over double the cost of having health insurance.
You see, there are groups of people who, for one reason or another, refuse health insurance. The Amish. Those wealthy enough to pay for their own medical costs should something suddenly happen. Those who believe in prayer rather than medicine. Those who believe in using the medicine God gave us. People who have dropped their health insurance because what they pay into it far exceeds what they have ever gotten out of it, and they just can't afford it any more.
Either way, there are just people who refuse to get health insurance. So, faced with an excessive fine, a horrible public option, or the private insurance, these people would be forced to go with the best option...paying for private health insurance.
Then someone dropped the cost of the fine to being just about the same, if not less, than actually purchasing private insurance. And now, suddenly, the insurance companies "cannot back the bill anymore". They actually stated this (yesterday, I think it was).
So, now...think about who is behind every "reasonable" law and bill out there. Who is behind it? Could it be someone selling that product? Could it be someone attempting to silence the opposition?
Now think of the way life is today, and the way it was just 60 years ago. How did you or your parents ever survive your child hood without all of the safety devices, trips to the doctor every two months (with about five shots every visit), and all of the psychologists telling our parents, and their parents before them, how their children should be raised!
No, today we are probably closer to Plutocratic Corporatism. Corporatism is a system of economic, political, and social organization where corporate groups, such as business, ethnic, farmer, labour, military, patronage, or religious groups, are joined together into a single governing body in which the different groups are mandated to negotiate with each other to establish policies in the interest of the multiple groups within the body. Plutocracy is simply rule by the rich. They are the ones who are writing the bills, lobbying the government...heck, they even control the voting machines! They control what you eat, down to the variety of tomato at the grocery store. They raise your children because both parents must work to buy those things in order that your children aren't "deprived". Some high fashion goonie-goohoo determines the color and cut and style of your clothes, your makeup, your hair, your scent...and all companies below them follow suit. They even tell you what you must put into your body. Don't worry about MSG...don't worry about mercury...we'll just tell you that these poisons are good for you!
And frankly, we're even touching upon Kleptocracy. Kleptocracy is where the plutarchs attempt to grab as much as they can for themselves...such as when a corporation convinces a local government that it is in the public interest to kick people out of their homes, at the compensation the corporation dictates, in order to build their business there....oh, and buy the way, tax dollars will go to build the business, and the business will not have to pay taxes for the next 15 years. But hey! They will provide jobs! That isn't capitalism....that's theft.
Socialist mentality seems to think that all forms of capitalism are Kleptocracies. While we have devolved into this, its only because we were too blind to see what was happening. Of course, there was always a public interest for this. Jobs. Public health. Saving lives. We lived for centuries on this land without the corporation controlling every aspect of our lives. Well, now they own everything...including you. "Buy n Large", as seen in WALL*E, may seem to be a farce...is it really?
They don't like us being self-reliant, either. When people find a legal way to skirt around government regulations, they'll send an under-cover agent to your door to bully you into selling him a gallon of unpasturized milk, a dozen eggs, or a pelt that is illegal within the state. And when you finally GIVE (not sell) something to the agent just to make him go away, that's when they'll send in the jack booted thugs to hold you and your ten children at gunpoint for hours and steal every scrap of food you have in your house, or destroy every aspect of your business.
But believe me...throwing off just one of the shackels is liberating. I was thinking this while I was working yesterday....I had just finished a batch of home-made pretzels, was working on preserving goodies from our garden, all while my pretty princess played with the water in the sink nearby, chatting away with me. Grow at least some of my own food. Bake my own food from scratch. Raise my own children.
They haven't made everything self-reliant illegal...yet. They can't, because then we would know what they were up to. But some day, they might convince the sheeple that there is a reasonable purpose for those laws.
Perhaps, with this depression, people will wake up and see that the corporate state is stomping on them. Maybe they'll start taking back some aspects of their lives...and feeling that freedom, maybe they'll take some more back.
I can dream.
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