If the Obamacare individual mandate isn’t a tax – and the IRS has no lawful power to collect it as a tax – then why did I receive a threatening letter from the IRS claiming very much otherwise?
The letter states that I “have an unpaid shared responsibility payment” of $695 that is owed – imagine that! – because I did not sign up for Obamacare or otherwise send money to the health insurance mafia. The mafia which succeeded in hiring the federal government as its Luca Brasi – its enforcer – to threaten and bully people into buying insurance.
This is an important distinction. Insurance is just a policy; it is not medical care. It means the insurance mafia may pay some of the cost of medical care, some of the time. But you will pay for the insurance all of the time. This is why the insurance mafia is a mafia.
Mafias use force against unwilling victims, to line their pockets. They will claim it’s for “protection” – a synonym for “coverage.”
Obamacare is doubly outrageous for this reason. Bad enough that this country has slipped so far away from the idea that government exists to keep the peace and toward the idea that it is our Mommy, from which we are never to be emancipated – like Down Syndrome children.
But it is a far worse thing that our liberty and our money have been taken from us for the financial gain of private business. Socialized medicine is objectionable on many grounds but at least in countries where it exists, the profit element is removed.
In this country, it is all about profit – at gunpoint. You are, after all, not being asked. Because you are not free to say no.
Not without being threatened with violence, including murderous violence.
The mafia is enormously rich; its executives rake in seven figure incomes and spend their days in fancy suites in high-rise office buildings with marble foyers and chromed/paneled elevators.
These parasites use the government to pluck us – like the Geese who exist to provide down for pillows. Like the plucked goose, we may receive “care” at some point. But not necessarily. It is at the discretion of the mafia – which may always raise the price of its protection/coverage.
Whereas we have no discretion about paying them. Not for care – but for “coverage.” ‘
And what if “care” isn’t necessary?
Why pay for what one does not need?
This is the reasoning I followed when, after my divorce, I decided to skip “coverage.” I have not been to a doctor’s office in years. Because I have not had need of doctoring. I’m healthy and fit. I take care of myself and rely on good habits and good genetics. That is my health insurance. I judge the paying of large sums of money each month – several hundred dollars, at least – for “coverage” I don’t use and probably won’t need to be a very poor use of my money. I consider it a much better use of my money to save it in the event I need it for something – including medical care.
But if I don’t need medical care, I will still have my money. If I buy “coverage,” I will not. So I did not buy “coverage.”
And – like many Americans – was under the impression that when the Supreme Court somehow discovered the authority in the Constitution for the federal government to mandate that Americans buy coverage, it was only able to do so by parsing the so-called Individual Mandate – the obligation to buy “coverage” – as a not-tax.
Suposedly, the not-tax differed from the income tax and other actual taxes in that the feds could not collect it in the same manner as other taxes.
There was an Out.
For us.
The odd ducks who for reasons which seem judicious to us prefer not to be “covered,” prefer not to be taxed both by the government and the insurance mafia. That Out was – so we were led to believe – that the government lacked the power to tax us for not buying “coverage.” It could only deduct from our tax refunds a kind of punishment levy. This being the so-called “shared responsibility payment” described in the letter sent to me.
But it could not otherwise force us to pay.
I was told exactly this by my accountant – who ought to know. And yet, here is the letter. Possibly, it is braggadocious – a bluff, written in the government’s typically threatening style but without real teeth. It reads: “You owe this payment because one or more members of your tax household didn’t have minimum essential health coverage.”
Italics for reasons of hilarity – and depression.
“Essential”? To whom?
I do not consider it the least bit essential, else I would have purchased it. You know, like food and rent. Those things are essential to me. Being made to hand over 20 percent of my income to a private, for-profit mafia to be “covered” – maybe – for services I neither use nor desire for that very reason is as “essential” as I am a “customer” of the IRS.
My accountant insists they – the IRS – can’t do anything, in terms of using actual force to make me hand over what they style my “unpaid shared responsibility payment” of $695 unless, at some point, I am “owed” a tax refund. This, of course, is another perversion of language. A refund?
Do muggers give refunds?
At any rate, my accountant says they can only extract the “unpaid shared responsibility payment” from any tax refund I may be owed in the future. So as long as I am careful to end the tax year owing them money (sigh, an even more despicable inversion of language – and morality) they cannot do more than frown angrily and send angry letters.
But, I am concerned – and perhaps you should be, too.
If you are like me and have elected to not purchase “coverage,” for whatever reason (on the reasoning that you are a free man and thus it’s none of the government’s business whether you are “covered”).
Here’s why.
On the second page of the letter, I find the following:
“Pay $695 by July 2, 2018 to avoid interest charges. We charge interest if you don’t pay the SRP in full within 21 days from the date of this notice.”
The IRS is infamous for piling on interest – and penalties – which often ultimately dwarf the original amount “owed.” Do those of us who choose not to buy “coverage” stand in peril of having the Unpaid Shared Responsibility Payment we supposedly “owe” double or triple – or worse – over time, on account of interest (and penalties)?
Is that the means by which they will force everyone to pay up?
It is very worrisome, given $695 – in my case – could quickly metastasize into thousands of dollars. And that’s just the Unpaid Shared Responsibility Payment for 2017. What about this year’s Unpaid Shared Responsibility Payment? I am already up to $1,400 – last year’s $695 plus this year’s, since I have not bought “coverage” this year, either.
Will the filthy animals bankrupt me (and others) with interest and penalties – and can those interest and penalty assaults be applied to my assets? Can the IRS, for example, put a lien on my home? Levy – seize – my bank account?
These are very important questions and I intend to obtain the answers.
Stay tuned.
. . .
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To open an additional can of insurance-related worms: Another scam we in the U.S. get to pay for is the National Flood Insurance Program. Long ago, the federal government in its compassion took over flood insurance. Too many poor people in flood plains couldn’t afford to pay what the evil for-profit insurance companies were charging, so the grandstanding politicians just had to DO SOMETHING, you see. What followed, of course, is a textbook case of moral hazard. Now NFIP is hemorrhaging billions. The Biggert-Waters Reform Act of 2012 attempted to slow the bleeding by adjusting rates to be more actuarially sound. Some homeowners saw their rates skyrocket to five figures. Now they’re stuck, waiting for the next flood to wipe them out. They can’t afford the insurance, and nobody will purchase their homes because potential buyers know they won’t be able to afford it either.
If the government had not interfered, these problems never would have arisen. Absent government meddling, charging “actuarially sound” rates is what the insurance market does, day in and day out. Many of these structures that taxpayers are now being forced to pay for – sometimes over and over – never would have been built in the first place if not for politicians’ stupid antics, with an economically-illiterate electorate cheering them on.
When your agent quotes you a flood premium of $30,000 a year for your planned $250,000 home, the market is trying to tell you something: “It’s too risky to build here.”
Amen, Roland… I know some people will think me a meanie, but why would anyone build a house within yards of the ocean and then whine when the tide (or hurricane) comes in? Why are such places “insurable” at all?
It’s of a piece with granting health insurance without considering pre-existing conditions…
Hey Eric, I’m curious about your thoughts on insurance in general. Of course the main point of the article, and the theme running throughout the comments, is that we shouldn’t be forced by the state to buy it. No disagreement there. And, granted, much of what is called insurance today is not really insurance at all. But many here seem to believe that insurance is inherently a scam, where you pay and pay and pay and never get anything of value in return. I think many free-market economists would agree with me that that attitude is shallow and misinformed.
For almost 20 years I’ve served on the board of a small rural mutual property & casualty insurance company. We currently have about 3,600 policies. Personally I find the business pretty boring, but I joined the board at the request of a friend, and inertia has kept me there. Our mission is to help our policyholders avoid the financial ruin that could result from events beyond their control. The products we sell enable them to share risk with other people in similar circumstances. If they don’t want to buy what we’re selling, or if they can get it cheaper somewhere else, they can tell us to take a hike. When they have a loss we will pay them, but only in accordance with the contract they have made with us.
Setting rates is a never-ending headache. We are competing with big companies like State Farm that have office buildings full of actuaries to make sure their rates are exactly right. Some years we make a profit; some years we don’t. Of course no insurance is free of government regulation anymore; it is one of the most highly regulated businesses on earth. If they would butt out entirely, we could do a better job of serving our customers, and our products would be much cheaper.
Hi Roland,
Insurance is a bet that something catastrophic will go wrong which probably won’t. People have been conditioned to believe that catastrophe is imminent and have become so risk-averse that, in my opinion, it verges on the neurotic.
That said…
I am not opposed to insurance when it makes sense – and of course, assuming it is entirely voluntary.
Example: I would probably consider buying (on my own, without coercion) a catastrophic coverage health insurance policy with a very high deductible – which I’d avail myself of only in extremis – as for instance cancer or a similar major illness. Such a policy would not “cover” anything else, particularly routine poultices, etc. These can and should be paid for out of pocket. It is a contradiction in terms to use insurance for anything other than a highly unlikely, highly expensive catastrophe.
A policy as described above would be very inexpensive precisely because it is probable no claim would ever be filed by a majority of policyholders.
But that sort of insurance isn’t profitable for the insurance mafia – which is why we’re forced to buy “coverage” which is.
A second example: I do not have homeowner’s insurance because – unlike cancer or a heart attack – the odds of a catastrophe occurring that destroys my house are close to nil. I save at least $1,500 annually this way. Over the past ten years alone I have thus saved $15,000 – a large sum and sufficient to pay out of pocket almost anything short of a major catastrophe.
My point is that (a) people are over-insured and neurotic about risk and (b) bankrupting themselves paying for “coverage” they probably will never need.
I once added up the cost to the average person of health, car and homeowner’s coverage over a 30 year span. The sum is boggling. Most people never file a boggling claim. If they’d taken the slight risk, skipped “coverage,”they’d have that huge sum in their hands – in the bank – rather than disappeared down the rabbit hole. They could use it if they needed for the things the insurance “covered.” But if they didn’t need it for that, they’d have the money for other things…
Well, I’ve got some bad news for you eric, I had catastrophic coverage for years because I’m prone to accidents. However, I took serious steps to make sure I didn’t have any serious accidents, and for the last dozen or so years I’ve watched my catastrophic coverage reach for the stars. My premium was over $3k with a $960.00 a month payment. So I was paying almost $15k a year when I finally decided to cancel. Slowly, but surely I’m waking up to the fact that I’m an idiot; better late than never.
Hi Scharkle,
Yup. That’s why I refuse to be “covered.”
I’m not working my ass off just to pay for insurance I don’t need and so do not want and therefore will not buy.
Shnarkle,
I had inexpensive catastrophic coverage also, until Obamacare made it illegal. Now I have an expensive bloated plan I never use.
All good points, and of course I agree that we should be able to buy what we want for medical insurance, or nothing at all if that’s our preference. But I believe it’s incorrect to say that insurance companies would not be able to make a profit on catastrophic-only policies. Absent government interference, if that’s what consumers wanted, that’s what companies would offer, and they would be forced to either make a profit at it through actuarially-sound underwriting or go bankrupt. But naturally, when politicians wave the red meat of mandatory “insurance” in front of them, they’re more than happy to grab it – and become more mafia-like than they otherwise would be.
I’ve seen the P&C insurance industry from the inside. With only 3,600 policies, it’s not unusual for our company to pay for several total losses of $300,000+ homes in a year (we in turn purchase reinsurance to protect us from excessive losses). Self-insuring is great if you have the resources, but experience tells me that the risk of a total loss of one’s home is far from “nil,” and most people would be devastated by it financially. Therefore, it’s not a sign of mental illness or naivete to purchase a contract to voluntarily share that risk.
I used to think that buying insurance was akin to betting too, but experience has taught me – and I think most economists would agree – that that’s not the right way to look at it.
Hi Roland,
I should have couched my comment in re profit as follows: Not enough profit. Insurance-at-gunpoint is hugely (obscenely) profitable; voluntary insurance would be minimally so. Just enough to cover the overhead. After all, the idea is shared risk – to spread out the occasional cost – not to make huge sums of money.
Introducing force into human relationships poisons everything; makes man fear and hate his fellow man.
I used to respect doctors; I come from a family of them. But they are becoming yet another hand in my pocket – with a gun in my back – and so I begin to despise them for it.
Well said, Eric. Btw, the small company that I’m involved with started out 110 years ago as a “mutual aid society.” Members didn’t pay any premium. When someone had a covered loss, the officers would simply divide the dollar amount by the number of members and send everybody an “assessment” (bill) for their part. By statute, mutual companies in our state can still do it that way, but almost all have converted to a premium basis, and try to make a profit.
“I used to think that buying insurance was akin to betting too”
I doubt you’ve ever viewed insurance as anything other than a “product” that you want to sell to someone. Insurance is betting, when reduced to its basic components. It can’t be called gambling, because the game is rigged to maximum extent to favor the house, just as in a casino. Actuaries are simply calculators of odds.
In a casino, a blackjack player who tries to apply actuarial calculations to his game is considered by the house to be cheating. Insurance casino managers tie up the terms of the betting so that a card counter doesn’t even get to place a bet.
Every aspect of insurance underwriting has its parallels in casino operation. It is highly controlled betting, with as much risk to the house as possible factored out by the terms of the bet.
What’s wrong with selling a product, so long as the transaction is voluntary on both sides?
Robert Murphy explains better than I can the nature of private insurance, and how it could replace some of the government functions that most people think we can’t do without:
https://mises.org/library/social-function-insurance
I can’t remember whether the comment section here allows URLs to be posted, so if it doesn’t, just search for “Robert Murphy Mises the social function of insurance.”
Of course the game is “rigged.” An insurance company, like any other private business, has to make a profit. If they charge too much or don’t deliver for their customers, their competitors will have them for lunch. Surely you don’t hate profit, do you?
There is nothing at all wrong with selling a product. Where the wrong comes in is misrepresentation of a product. Misrepresentation is fraud. Surely you don’t want to excuse the intitiation of fraud, do you?
Once the game is rigged by the huge volumes of statutory regulation, what is sold as “insurance” becomes a fraudulent contract because the buyer of insurance is unlikely to understand the terms that he is going to be held to when he engages the service of the insurer.
If the salesman refers to the policy as “protection”, he is misrepresenting the policy. If he fails to describe exactly the process that his employer uses to adjudicate a claim, he is also misrepresenting the “product”.
Insurers routinely charge too much and fail to deliver. Their “competitors” do the same and none of them eat each other for lunch. The insured are the only ones eaten.
Bob’s article is obviously what you’re basing all of your
contentions upon, but he uses grossly inaccurate statements (such as: “In short, there is nothing irrational or uneconomic about a family being willing to pay $210 to eliminate a 0.1 percent chance of losing $200,000.”) in order to make his idea palatable. You aren’t going to insure your $200k house for $210 per year.
Linking to an opinion piece doesn’t actually prove your assertions, it just adds the author’s opinion to the discussion.
Posting urls is allowed. The siteware converts a url into a hyperlink, but you’ve already noticed that by now.
“Once the game is rigged by the huge volumes of statutory regulation…”
So you think insurance would be OK if the government stayed out of it? I agree.
I know people think insurance policies are deceptive and difficult to understand, but the fact is that they very seldom read them, so how would they know? Ours are really quite clear. In this business (which is not my livelihood, btw), policy language is everything. There has to be a contract, and it has to be specific. That’s part of what’s wrong with medical insurance: bleeding hearts think it should cover everything, even things that are specifically excluded in the policy, and reporters are always eager to run boo-hoo stories that take the side of the insured when there’s a dispute.
I’m curious whether you have an alternative to private, voluntary insurance. In my business before I retired (CNC machining), I had a small shop building worth about $100k and equipment worth several hundred thousand. If a tornado had come through and blown it all to Oz, it would have been a severe hardship, so I opted for insurance. I paid many thousands in premiums and never had a claim. I don’t think I was exploited, cheated or lied to. Was I a sucker?
While on the subject: The stories about insurance that ya here over the years can be interesting. More often than not, it seems that the insured comes out the loser.
One case where it worked out good for someone though:
An long-time internet friend of mine bought a used mobile home to live in on his property. Think he paid in the teens for it- it was fairly new, and quite nice. It was insured for the transport to his property…and as luck would have it, a gust of wind caught it as the tow vehicle was making a turn, and it flipped over and was totaled. They paid him somewhere around $40K for it. He used the money to build a house.
On the not-so-nice: Friend of a friend: His log cabin burnt down. Took him 10 YEARS to get his insurance money. The company kept trying to accuse him of arson, despite the fact that there was no proof; no charges, etc. I really don’t see how they can get away with that, without being sued into oblivion.(Maybe they were right, and the guy didn’t want to press it!- who knows)
Arson can be hard to prove. I know we’ve had total-loss house fires where our adjuster was sure it was intentionally set, but didn’t think he had enough proof. As you indicated, these things can drag on for many years (and cost big bucks in legal fees), so most of the time it’s best to just take a deep breath and pay the claim. But fortunately, nobody can force us to continue to do business with such an individual. We can cancel anybody’s policy at any time, for any reason, or for no reason at all, and the policyholder can do the same. That’s as it should be in a free society.
-“That’s as it should be in a free society”-
SHhhhhhh!!!!!! Don’t remind them that they’ve left us any vestiges of freedom, or THAT one will disappear too.
I mean, after all, we’re not free to hire and fire whom we want (or don’t want) for any reason; not free to rent our property to those who meet our criteria; not free to exist without health “insurance'(maintenance plan), etc. etc.
Somehow, they must have forgotten about the one you mentioned, or just didn’t get around to destroying it yet…. 😉
Yep, I hear you. Insurance companies are among the most-regulated of businesses, and do-gooders keep clamoring for more federal and even international rules. Our company is a mutual, meaning it is owned by the policyholders. We’re exempt from some of the state statutes that the big corporate companies have to comply with. For example, they have to get permission to change their rates, but we can change ours at will, and charge any amount we want. Yippee! Let’s stick everybody for $80,000 a year and we’ll all be rich! Scary to think there are people voting who actually believe that’s how business works when it’s not regulated by the state.
Morning, Roland!
I mentioned this previously, but it bears on our theme – and you may not have caught it on the earlier thread:
A good friend of mine is similarly situated in that he and I are self-employed, middle-aged and lost our health insurance post-divorce.
The difference is I’m healthy and he’s not. He’s morbidly obese (400 pounds) and I’m not. I exercise regularly; he doesn’t.
But these facts are immaterial as regards “coverage.” No physical exam, no taking account of actual individual risk factors as opposed to general statistical ones.
We pay the same rate. It is fair to say I pay for him. It’s an outrage.
Yet most people do not agree – because somehow health insurance is “different.”
Really? How so?
Few people get unsettled by the notion that a driver who bends metal (and worse) pays more for insurance than a driver who does not.
Why is health insurance any different?
Why shouldn’t grossly overweight, unhealthy people pay more to be covered than healthy people? It’s “unfair”?
Certainly to the healthy!
People think that price gouging will occur without government because that is what they are taught in the government schools.
Hi Eric,
Of course you are spot-on. Discrimination has to be practiced if insurance is to work right (discrimination is a good thing; we’d all be dead if we didn’t discriminate between ground beef and drain cleaner at dinnertime). Underwriters have to be able to put policyholders in pools with others who present similar risk. Politicians play on emotions and economic ignorance when they grandstand about the “unfairness” of pre-existing conditions and such. The principles of insurance are a very hard sell when few people ever learn the simplest economic concepts, like scarcity.
What a lot of people seem to lose sight of these days, is that insurance is only ever a good deal when you have a lot of people who are insured, but only a small number who actually become claimants.
e.g.:
Life insurance. It’s cheap when you’re young, because not many 30 year-olds drop dead. So you have a lot of people paying for coverage “just in case” but few claims that are actually paid out.
Ditto car insurance: It’s relatively cheap, because while a fair number of people may be involved in minor scrapes, the percentage of policy-holders who are involved in substantial accidents are more rare- self-preservation being what it is.
Same with homeowners . Most policy-holders will not even have a claim which exceeds their deductible- and the chances of your house burning down or being blown away, and very slight.
But when it comes to health insurance….there is no benefit to “sharing the risK” via insurance, because 99.8% of the population use healthcare services regularly (Since modern man has somehow as of late become incapable of taking care of himself…)- and since the only advantage to insurance is when you have a lot of people sharing the risk, but few actually getting paid, health insurance doesn’t work, because you have as many people paying in, as getting paid; and it’s even worse, because when people have “coverage”, they tend to use even MORE services, since they’re “already paying for it”- so all that happens in a scenario like that, is that those who use fewer/less expensive services, end up subsidizing those who use more/costlier services. So there’s really no way that health insurance can work in an economical and fair manner. It’s actually worse than everyone just paying for what they use, because it costs insurance companies (or socialist gov’ts) money to administer the insurance…and they have to make a profit on it, no less….for a commodity for which all who are covered will be using….
It’s utter stupidity. No wonder the government goons have to force it upon us.
Nunzio, more important than the number of claims, I think, is the reality that insurance only works for insurable events. To be insurable, an event has to be random, unpredictable, and not planned or initiated by the insured. In our little company, if a policyholder’s asphalt shingle roof is beat to hell by hail, we will pay for it, subject to the terms of the policy. But if it’s 40 years old with most of the grain gone and it starts to leak, we won’t pay a dime.
People have come to view insurance policies, especially those covering medical care, as maintenance plans, but if we want them to work as real insurance, they need to get back to covering only insurable events. If I fall off a ladder and break my back, it should cover that. But if I’m an 80-year-old guy with 10 prescriptions and I’m going to the pharmacy for refills, that’s predictable and planned, and therefore not an insurable event. Ditto for “preventive care.” For a long time people have had the goofy idea that getting “screened” for a condition that you probably don’t have holds down the collective cost of medical care, but in reality it does the opposite, since if the policy covers it, you’re very likely to say “Yes, I’ll take it.”
Exactly, Roland. Pretty much amounts to the same thing: Predictable=everyone will have a claim. Unpredictable/random=only a small percentage will suffer a loss.
The way most simplistic, greedy Americans think of it though, they just imagine it as though it’s some kind of magic, in which they can pay only a little and receive things of great value- not realizing that someone ultimately has to pay the bill….and in a share-the-risk environment in which everyone is a claimant, either someone else pays more to cover your bill…or your own costs are inherently higher, since ultimately you’re among those who cover the bills of everyone.
Forced insurance/maintenance plans amount to nothing more than socialism.
One aspect of voluntary insurance that many overlook, is the value of legal defense. I, like Eric, had not been carrying homeowner’s- but I recently started to. A cheap policy- with high deductible and high liability limits…but nowhere near enough to cover my dwelling and contents.
With the multi-line discount for it and my vehicles, it only costs me around $300 a year. The only reason I have it? This idiotic “justice” system. If someone crashes into my fance post (old telephone poles) or goes flying off the dirt bank, and kills themself and sues me, even if they don’t win, the cost of just defending oneself can be staggering. I got a policy with high enough limits on liability so that they won’t just “throw in the policy” if anything actually happens, but will actually defend it.
To me, that is worth $300 a year. ‘Cause I could just see something happening, and a lien being placed on my property, just as I’m ready to sell and get out of this police-state of a country….and then I’d be forced to stay here, having no way to start anew somewhere else!
Two vehicles- one with comp and collision- and the homeowner’s, = $1200 a year. Seems like a lot- ‘specially for someone who has never had a claim in my life, nor caused an ins. co. to pay out so much as a dime- It’s actually my biggest expense…for something that I can’t even touch and hold or use or get any value out of, unless something bad happens; but in the scheme of things, it seems propitious. At least I’m not paying for “health insurance” that I’d never use…..
They wrote you a policy that doesn’t cover the full value of the house? That’s surprising. Our company insists on “insuring to value.” It might seem like you should be able to buy only the amount of insurance that you want, say, $150k on a $200k house, and then settle for a payment of only $150k if it burns to the ground. But in reality most companies won’t do that, because they’ll still be on the hook for just as much money replacing roofs and such, while their premium income is reduced by not insuring those homes to value. It’s generally accepted in the industry that this is a good way to go broke.
Yes, Roland- they actually did- but I suspect it has something to do with the fact that my dwelling is a mobile home (And the ins. [somewhat] covers mine, and not my mother’s- which I also have on the property]….so if it goes away, they’re only on the hook for $10K for the trailer and $10K for the furniture & stuff + a few grand for out-buildings [not enough to actually cover them, either] )
I think my deductible is like a grand…so really, it’s essentially just a liability policy- and their only real exposure if a tornado sweeps everything away, is c. $25K. So it’s pretty sweet for them actually.
I guess too, when there’s no coercion involved, nor any creditor…they’re more apt to sell ya what ya want, ’cause otherwise, you can just tell ’em to go scratch.
Another aside: A lot of people don’t realize that you can really up your liability limits, on home and vehicles, for practically nothing. I carry $300K on the vehicles, and $1M on the homestead, and the difference between those and the minimums is literally like $50 a year combined.
And that brings us to another injustice: Someone crasjes into me or my property, and sees I have that insurance, they’re gonna do their damnedest to sue. If I had a $10K policy or nothing at all and was mortgaged up the wazoo, they wouldn’t even be able to find a lawyer who’d want to talk to them.
Thanks for the details, Nunzio. Yeah, liability insurance is pretty cheap. We have $500k on our 56 acres, and I worry that in today’s sue-everybody environment it’s not enough. I’ve never understood the tradition that assumes if somebody gets hurt on my property – regardless of what happened or how it happened – I have to pay.
Roland, the sue’em-if’I-just-happen-to-get-hurt-on-their-property is kind of a state-by-state thing. In liberal loony states like NY and CA, yeah…trip over your own two feet, and the asshat jurists will award ya a million dollars even if it was completely your fault and the property owner had zero negligence. Not so much here in KY- but I’m paranoid, being a former NYer- and there will no doubt come a time when it starts happening here, what with the American people being what they are, and who knows who will be the first victim to establish the precedent? (Oh, you have almost twice as much land as I, you lucky so-and-so!! 😉 )
Oh, and I forgot earlier: I tried to get just a plain liability policy for the property- but they wouldn’t do that- said it needed to be part of a whole shebang….so they made a policy with the lowest limits for structure and all. But it would’ve been sweet had they been willing to do just liability- probably would’ve been no more than $100 a year.
Funny that this subject should come up NOW!~ I just sent them my check for $386 yesterday! (I was debating if I should- but then when I considered that if I didn’t, I’d pay more for the vehicles- losing the multi-line discount, I figured I may as well, since after figuring in the discount, it’s like I’m really paying a little less than $300 a year for the homeowner’s.
They’d let me have 8 cows in the past and still consider it non-commercial/non-farm (I used to have 9 or 10…but one could easily find it’s way to one of my neighbors…if need be :D) -Now I think they lowered it to 4 cows. If I get cows again, I may as well just drop the ins.
Yeah, I think it’s pretty common practice not to write just liability with no other supporting business. The multi-line discounts that the big guys offer take a lot of business away from our small company, since we don’t offer auto. We had a liability claim last year where a nutty jury socked us for $3 million. Fortunately, we have insurance that covered most of that.
Ahh replacement value. It will cost $250K to replace but it only cost $100K to buy. If it’s replaced at $250K it will sell for $100K, but it must be insured for replacement value.
This is what happens in places with well built pre 1960s homes where the jobs went away. Still nice areas but you can buy a house and the land it sits on for half or less what it would cost to build today.
Yeah, our company offers both replacement value and actual cash value policies. Generally, the policies sold for newer and higher-end homes are replacement, and cheaper older homes are ACV. Roofs are sometimes done ACV too, or excluded altogether if they’re really crappy. We don’t want to be on the hook for replacement cost on a roof that the owner should have replaced 10 years ago.
Insurers have started blackmailing our HOA here.
Once a unit in our development sells, the insurance company comes out and tells the new owner that they’ll cancel the policy unless the roof is replaced immediately, no matter the opinion of the roofer we’ve used for the past 20 years.
So our HOA has to cover the cost – we’ve had so much of the above BS lately we finally had to vote in a special assessment to have ALL the roofs replaced in the next few years.
In any sort of condo/townhome situation the association’s insurance should cover the structure. The unit owner’s insurance covers contents and things like kitchen cabinets.
God. “Shared responsibility.” Doesn’t that sound just like Obama? Reminds me of when he was stumping for a tax increase and said “We are just going to ask (group X) to pay a little more.” Ummm, you are the feds. You don’t ASK. Ever. If you were asking, we would have the option to say no.
I got my shared responsibility letter, too. The difference is that I do actually have health insurance through my husband’s work. I didn’t check the correct box on my tax form, I guess. So the letter said check a box stating I have insurance, check a box stating I am exempt, or get ready to pay a fine. It was weird that the letter did not ask for any piece of paper containing actual proof that I have insurance; it just told me to check a box and send it back. I’ve never heard of the government relying on the honor system for anything except maybe voting. (And states are phasing that out as allowed.)
Amy, I don’t think it’s an honor system deal. I think it’s a trap. Checking the wrong box can bring a charge of perjury if some dweeb at the IRS decides to jump you.
Hi Ed,
Exactly. We are under duress to provide evidence that can and will be used against us in a criminal proceeding. So much for the 5th Amendment!
Hmm. You may be right. It just seemed so ridiculous to be making this effort for something that’s been canceled or phased out anyway. But then I consider the source and remember that nitpicking and niggling is par for the course in this den of pin-headed thieves and retards. (“It’s the rules:” the battle cry of the petty functionary.) Anyway, I have their piece of paper if and when they request it.
I think your assessment is accurate Nunzio. I’m no longer even thinking of buying real estate down there. I’ll wait for the crash, but I want to be down there when things go bad because then I can pick up property cheap, and people are more self reliant down there so it won’t be as catastrophic as it will be in the land of the spoiled and lazy. I was only suggesting Costa Rica if you’ve never been down there. It’s a good place to acclimate before heading over to Guatemala or Nicaragua. From what I’ve seen you can still pick up some nice secluded property in Panama, and that’s where you want to move at least some of your money. You can fly down there for just a couple of days, open a bank account and fill out all the paperwork to become a citizen. I think they only require something like $5k which is nothing compared to the other economic citizenship programs out there. Then you only have to go down for another couple days a year or so later. That’s all the up front work that has to be done, but this is if you’re thinking of moving there because at some point you do have to live there. I’ve been down there in the summer as well, and it’s no worse than anyplace that has high humidity in the summer months. Ac units are dirt cheap down there too.
Eric, lamestream news is reporting that the World Health Organization now classifies video-game addiction as a mental health disorder, so we can look forward to being forced to have “insurance” for that too.
Hi Roland,
I caught that, too. The swirling around the drain continues to pick up speed…
I am just as curious about the answers to those questions, too, Eric. It seems odd that the government would have to levy a tax based upon the idea that we “enjoy” medical payments insurance.
The idea that they will force people to buy something they don’t want or be taxed for it is absurd on its face. Who ever would dream up such negative-taxation issues can only be a complete statist. Those years we were “enriched” by the presence of 0bama in the White House were pure tyranny by the majority.
Hi Travis,
Yes. In law, precedent is the thing. If the principle is established that Congress has the power to compel the purchase of X by threatening (and imposing) a tax then why not also for Y and Z?
One could – if one were a Clover – make the argument that it is “essential” to the “health of the economy” and “everyone’s shared responsibility” that we all either buy a new car every five years else be compelled to pay a tax.
The arguments for Obamacare are quite similar. The precedent set is identical.
Certainly, if the government can force us to buy health insurance (or else) then why not life insurance? And home insurance, for that matter – even if the house is paid off.
Your going uninsured is “risky,” it is an affront to “shared responsibility”!
Funny… except it’s not.
Nunzio, maybe it was always headed that way, the internet, I mean. In the days of the 26k modem, when there was little flash and glitter and no video to speak of, we could participate in discussions in chatrooms and on one BBS or another, and a lot of people did that and nothing else online.
Improving access speeds and bandwidth made it all commercially useful and it has taken on a life beyond what I remember from ’95 to ’98. In some ways, it’s good, and in other ways it ain’t. Buying for a business online today just beats the shit out of having a whole bookcase full of Sweets Files, if you remember that method of buying for your business needs.
The Supreme Court is messed up. Long ago, it denied the humanity of blacks and declared them to be property. Later in its history, six justices denied the humanity of the pre-born child and said that it’s okay to rip them apart limb from limb while in the womb. More recently, the court tossed out thousands of years of history, tradition, religious teaching, and common sense and said that people of the same sex could marry one another. And with ObamaCare it completely upended the clearly written law in Congress that the fine was not a tax.
The Supreme Court has zero credibility.
Government used not to be involved in marriage. If that had been maintained if gays wanted to marry they would have had to establish their own institutions and traditions. With that would we live and let live types even care what they did among themselves? No. But instead a long time ago people wanted to control who could marry who and the state got involved. So now we have state approved ‘gay marriage’. Things should just be in government hands.
ack editing error… Things just should not be in government hands.
Exactly, Brent. Marriage is a religious institution/social custom. The gov’t had no right to get involved; no ability to force people to obtain a license….so they proffered such things as tax benefits and mandated insurance coverage for spouses; and alimony as perks to tempt people to voluntarily obtain that license.
Now they have become the definers of what constitutes “marriage” in their realm.
Now a man can “marry” a man (not they couldn’t before- now they just get the gov’t license and perks, which come at the expense of other citizens and businesses)…but a man can not marry two or three women- simultaneously…. What basis does the government have for making that prohibition? Oh, they might say religion and tradition…. So that somehow applies to heteros, but can be discarded for queers….
All because government has interfered in the most personal of relationships and institutions……
Ah come on, Eric. Don’t you know your gooberment loves you and everything it does is for the children? And whose gonna love you more than a politician and a bureaucrat?
But seriously, thanks for showing again gooberment is the biggest rip-off there is!
And this Unaffordable No Care Act is nothing but a criminal enterprise.
Why should we be fined if we don’t by crappy Bammycare which we can’t even afford?
And it is crappy. You can pay tens of thousands a year for what amounts to a lousy catastrophic policy because the deductible and co-insurance amounts are so high.
It is beyond comprehension why the American people tolerate these GD politicians who force this tyranny upon us.
And speaking of rip-offs here’s the Goober who got rich off stuffing this sh*t down our throats…
ObamaCare architect: ‘Stupidity’ of voters helped bill pass
http://thehill.com/policy/healthcare/223578-obamacare-architect-lack-of-transparency-helped-law-pass
Any politician who ever votes to approve ANY legislation that they have not thoroughly read and fully understood and considered the implications of, should be immediately impeached.
If the bill is “too big” or proffered “too late” to be fully exposited, then it should be an automatic “no” vote..
To think! People are jailed for failing to snitch on themselves when reporting every minute financial transaction to the IRS….but these bastards who are supposed to be “representing” the public, and who are well paid for doing so, can blindly flip a coin on matters on which they are totally ignorant; matters which affect the fortunes and lives of millions- without so much as a slap on the wrist!
That is their “democracy”!
Nunzio, I’m surprised at you. I’m sure you’re aware of the Princeton study that went back something like 40 or 50 years showing that Congress always votes according to the will of corporate Amerika. Your congressman is nothing more than a glorified page boy for the oligarchs. They bought and paid for their rubber stamp machines. If you want them to vote for your best interests, you’re going to have to pay them directly, rather than just paying down interest on a debt they ran up on your behalf. It’s not a democracy either; it’s a corporate republic.
Yes, only by controlling schools can they get people to believe the nonsense of “representative” government. When somebody truly represents me, he does exactly what I tell him to do, every time. But let’s say there’s a gun-control bill in the Senate. I want my senator to vote no, but my neighbor wants her to vote yes. How can she represent both of us? If she votes no, she is representing me but not my neighbor. If she votes yes, she is representing my neighbor but not me. If she abstains, she isn’t representing either of us. So if she can’t even represent two people, how can she represent 6 million? The silliness of this representative-government religion is mind-boggling.
Roland, the principle of representation is only valid in the case of interposition of your state in defense of your rights against the federal government. House members are supposed to represent the interests of individuals regarding protection of their rights, which was why they were elected to short terms.
Senators were originally tasked with representing the interests of their states against federal arrogation of state powers, which is why they were originally appointed by their state legislatures and could be fired by their legislatures and left to find their own way home from Washington DC..
The democracy hounds wanted to use government to pick the pockets of their fellow citizens and to force their fellow men to behave in certain prescribed ways. That was the reason for making senators elected officials instead of being appointed by state legislatures.
Democracy hounds accomplished this by pushing the 17th amendment, which failed ratification but was enacted anyway, just as the 14th, 15th and 16th had been.
It was all a bunch of yankee horse shit promoted by Massholes and other yankee shitheels. Pardon my language, of course, and present company excused, of course.
Hi Ed,
Agreed on all counts save one. Yankee shitheels are often Southern born, too. Witness Clintigula. And (locally, for me) the odious McAuliffe and his crew. I was born in Noo Yoik City by my attitude is as sothren as can be. It’s a mindset difference more so than about accidents of birth.
The dilemma is: How to separate ourselves from . . . them?
^Why does that post say “Eric” when it seems to have been written by me?! 😀
Yeah, yankee is an ideology that has little to do with where you were born. In the 19th century and part of the 20th, most adherents to that ideology were from New England, but it has spread all over the continental US now.
Even in the 19th century, New York wasn’t part of yankeedom, it was just yankee occupied territory. The best friends that the occupied south had after the war were New Yorkers and Pennsylvanians. In NY, the Irish Catholics usually tried to defend the southern states that were under military occupation.
It’s a state of mind, as you said.
Point taken, Ed. Because of the history that you aptly point out, I probably should use “representative” (as in House of Representatives) instead of “senator” when arguing this.
And no need to apologize for the language. When it comes to describing politicians and their democracy-worshiping enablers, it’s not possible to offend me.
Roland, I luvs all them polytishans. Z’at enough?
“Again I tell you: it is easier for an accountant to back a set of doubles across Texas than for a politician to enter the kingdom of God.”
Of course, Shnarkle! My point was merely the absurdity of using the excuse of “not knowing what’s in it” to justify their participation in the eyes of the fools who particpate in their elections and “democracy”.
Of course, the architecture for Obammycare was started way back in the days of LBJ- and was prescribed by the socialist UN agenda and globalists, with the aid and abettment of big pharma and insurance, and many others who profit from the redistributed loot and control of the subjects.
Years ago while I was living in California, the news had some video of the CA legislature in session. Half of them were absent, the rest were voting for those who were gone, and while they waited, they played video games on their laptops, slept, etc. I don’t know why they don’t just make it a civic duty like jury duty; at least stop paying these clowns to play video games all day.
Eric, the same thing happened when I sold my place in CA. I bought when things were cheap, but all the libtard snobs from Marin and Sonoma counties were already buying up old single and double wides combining lots and building their MacMansions on dirt roads. Then they started voting in improvements which the locals couldn’t afford. In no time the town went from one street light to four, and the cement trucks were running all day long. The place I’m living in here in Florida is right next to some property the county just cleared to be developed. I’m out in the middle of nowhere, and they just cleared over 70 acres for industrial use. The assessment on my place has almost tripled since I bought it six years ago.
Morning, Schnarkle… depressing stuff.
If I have to move, next time it will be to a place so deep in the Woods they’ll never catch up with me during the course of the rest of my life. Montana… Idaho… maybe even Alaska. Maybe the Nazis under Antarctica will invite me to the “impenetrable fortress” Admiral Doenitz mentioned.
Eric, today, here in the states, they use The War On (Some) Drugs and The War On Terror to single-out and scrutinize anyone who ventures off the beaten track and lives remotely (or in small groups)- which is one of the reasons I long-ago abandoned my thoughts of living somewhere out in the middle of nowhere in a place like NV or west TX.
Seriously, this country is so effed-up, it’s easier to fly under the radar in a communist country than it is here (Not that I’d live in a communist country…but just saying- to illustrate the absurd level of tyranny we have here).
There’s no getting away from it anywhere within the borders of the US or it’s possessions. Look at the Bundy’s (Cliven and co., not Al)- who’d have thunk they’d ever have a problem?
Nunzio, there was an article recently in LewRockwell talking about all the Americans who are moving to Russia and picking up these really good deals on real estate. Places like China and Russia are looking more and more like free markets; more so than in the US.
Yes, Shnarkle, these days, even Russia offers more freedom than here. Not really enough though- it’s still an authoritarian-collectivist empire with big government and their requisite henchmen- and the resources and technology of the modern warfare-welfare state…but definitely a step above here.
Even back in the 90’s. Back in NY, I had these customers; Russian immigrants- 3 guys and 3 girls who used to always show up as a group- nice people. One day they came to say goodbye. Turns out, they were going back to Russia- they said if they had to live in a police state, they might as well be home, where there is far less crime, and where their government doesn’t intrude into personal lives and relationships a tenth as much as ours does…even in the 90’s!
Maybe things will get even better in Russia. Russians, after having endured Soviet communism for so long, now, unlike Americans, appreciate the value of freedom, and many are pursuing liberty with a vigor not seen in this country since the Old South.
And man, if China were more free…. I’m sure one could find just about anything in their vast and varied countryside! China might be relenting a little as far as economics and the free-market go, but it is still a very oppressive and tightly controlled place. They managed to gain control over a vast nation of immense population- and now that they have that control, they may’ve lightened up on the brutality a little, since there is no real resistence left, and for economic practicality….but they’re not giving up that power any time soon.
That’s why C.A. has always interested me: So many small, poor places, with really nothing to exploit….if there’s a place there that’s not a military dictatorship and not holding hands withv the US, or on the US shit-list, it may be viable….
Nunzio, I can relate to not wanting the government telling me what to do, and yet you’ve pointed out that there’s also something to be said for countries that are moving up in the world. The standard of living is skyrocketing in China while the standard of living in the US is plummeting. Capital flight is endemic in the US and most of it is going to China. I agree that in the near term, moving south is the way to go. At least from that vantage point, one can keep an eye on the far east knowing there’s no one to stop you if you decide to seek those economic opportunities
I don’t buy that standard-of-living, Shnark. Standard of living/quality of life is what you make it, unless you are prevented by doing so, by tyranny, or depend upon the state to provide many of things one needs.
Places that have the “highest quality of life” are also the places which have the biggest impediments to obtaining that quality of life- assuming one even agrees with what constitutes quality of life.
The quality of life I have here on a pauper’s income, on my 28 acres, with 3 bedrooms and 2 baths for myself, and a separate joint for my mother, I’d have to be a multi-millionaire to even come close to back in NY where they say they have a “high quality of life”.
So now the Chinese are driving cars in traffic jams instead of riding bikes…but is that better, or is it just more control; more illness; more to tax; more hours to work; more to buy, etc.?
My quality of life rose immensely when I got away from the city, and got some land! Own some land free and clear, even on very little income, you can make your quality of life what you want, and suddenly, you don’t have to listen to everyone telling you what to do.
The Chinese government realized that the economics of communism don’t work…so they’re allowing what does work, so they can reap the profits, in taxes; compliant content citizens (Give ’em bread and circuses, and they’ll be happy), and cities full of captive productive labor.
Quality of life sucks in those crowded cities, where people live in tall modern building, stacked like sardines…but give them iPhones and little cars and discos, and they think that’s the life.
Hey Eric, there are some beautiful vistas in Idaho, Montana, Wyoming, etc., and yet the government doesn’t seem to have a problem getting into those places either. I think the optimal solution is to have a place to hunker down as well as a place outside
Shnark, that is SO true, and unfortunately, so common.
I had that in mind when I moved here. I picked an off-the-beaten-track area (it really is a pain to get here from many places like the northeast!)…and a “poor” area where they can’t just start doubling the property taxes every year like they did back on Long Island in the 80’s, because on one would be able to afford to pay them.
Being hard to get to also helps keep out industry (But they sure do try to bring it in and destroy the agricultural economy which keeps this place so nice!).
We do tend to get some escapees from Shitcago and Indiana, and even the occasional NYer [shudder]…but not enough to start screwing things up- as luckily, there are no high-paying jobs here.
Few years ago I was at the courthouse renewing my truck’s ear tag, and there was this guy who was definitely a transplant from CA., ranting to the county clerk about how the roads here should have shoulders and sidewalks, like “back there”… I really wanted to say to the guy “Why didn’t you just stay there if that stuff is important to you and you don’t mind paying for it”- but I didn’t, because I was a afraid if I got started, I might end up beating him and throwing his corpse in the dumpster or something- so I was “tolerant” 😉 .
I agree Nunzio, but not all of China is stacked like sardines. There is nothing that forces people to live in the cities of China than being forced to live in the cities here in the US. I agree that a high cost of living doesn’t necessarily correlate to a high standard of living. I wasn’t making that argument. I’m simply pointing out that this is where most of the money is going. I just sold a sailboat to a guy who just got back from China. He’s invented this recreational multipurpose tourniquet, but can’t find anyone here in the US to mass produce it to his specifications. He flew over to China and met with a couple of people who then called him up the next day to tell him it was done. He checked it out and it was exactly what he wanted. They could mass produce it for a fraction of what it would cost to produce here. The big difference is that there’s no one here willing to produce it. It’s the same story with finding anyone to do woodwork on a sailboat. You can call a few dozen people in the business of doing brightwork, and none of them will even call you back because they know that it will cost more than the boat is worth to do the job. However, go down to Guatemala and not only will you get a response, but the job will be done in a week; again for a fraction of what it would have cost in the US. Neither of these outcomes are dependent upon living in some cramped apartment in smog so thick you can’t see your hand in front of your face.
Oh, I absolutely agree with everything you said there, Shnark[?].
What I mweant was, generally, for “statistical purposes” they equate quality of life with quantity of dollars and availability of “services”, etc.
But we BOTH know that that’s a crock- but that’s what drives the average idiot into the big cities and metro areas, and keeps them paying their taxes and tolerating all the regs.
I wouldn’t even THINK of having anything manufactured here in the US. It would cost a fortune- and probably be of inferior quality. Only bad thing about China as far as that goes though, is that they will steal the idea and flood the market with zillions of cheaper units of your friend’s invention, if it proves to be at viable.
Ah, yes, places where you can actually get real craftsmanship, and cheap! Even here, I somewhat experience that. If your starter goes bad in NY…buy another one for $300.
Here, we still have a shop where a rebuilds alternators and starters. $40-$60 usually does it!-rebuild or repair. Haven’t bought a new starter or alternator in the 17 years I’ve lived here.
How is Guatemala? That was always a place of potential interest to me.
Guatemala is a great place to relax, and a great place to find quality affordable services as well. If you’re living on your own already, pretty much any place down there will suit your needs. People from the big cities usually can’t handle the lack of technological crap. They don’t know how to relax. Watching the tourists running around on those cheap tours is always a spectacle, and yet the contrast makes me all the more grateful.
Ah! Just as I thought! I hope it stays that way! I had kind of written off C.A.- but Guatemala is one place I have to check out…if nothing else, it would be a good jumping-off point…and who knows.
But that’s exactly what I want- just plain old unadorned life, the way it used to be.
And even there, I’ll bet half the locals are already walking around with cellphones. I know a guy who goes to places like Equador and such to do charity work, and he says people that can’t afford shoes, have cellphones.
I’m hoping there might still be a place where that is not the case…I doubt it…but ya never know.
Just good old-fashioned analog life. I’d gladly live in a hut. In fact, I’d like to! (If only Gilligan’s Island were real…that would be for me!!!)
Nunzio, I think you’d like Nicaragua,and Costa Rica too. It’s the best of both worlds in that you can stay in town and have all the technology you want, or cruise out a few miles and you’re in the jungle. Panama is also a good choice for banking as well as getting a second passport.
Shnark, I was really interested in Costa Rica many years ago- but I think it’s time has passed- everyone found out about it, and it’s spoiled now. R.E. are high, and the government is trying their best to get up and into the first world (or aty least the 2nd- depending on where they stand now).
I’ve heard good things about Panama- know one guy who moved their and loves it….but them being in bed with our gov’t/military kinda worries me. The good is, us gringos can own R.E. and start businesses cheaply and without much restriction.
Nicaragua I haven’t really investigated too much. Worth a look, I’m sure. Used to hear a lot of negatives about it…but things do change.
My overall impression of Central and Sud America, is that they are heavily pushing socialism there, and one by one, the various countries are falling to it- that’s why I had kinda given up on that part of the world…but it’s been a while, and I suppose a fresh look is in order. And now with things being so much worse here than when I initially was looking at these places years agop….. It’s all relative I guess… Who ever thought Russia would even be looking better as a place offering more freedom and a culture embracing Christianity much more so than here, now?!
Ah, yes, the old “blame the stupid American people” for failing to stop their Leviathan government from doing whatever the bosses behind the scene want done. I’m going to beat the fuck out of the next dickweed who tells me that it’s all our fault for not rising up and killing them, which is the only thing that could be done to stop these fiends.
Sometimes I crack my own self up.
That was a good post, Ed…but it would have been even better if you had included “ringmeat”: and “Mongoloid”.
It’s true though- not that Americans don’t rise up….but that everything that has led to this has basically been done with their full participation and blessing.
The average American now wants socialized medicine- and among the young, a majority want it.
If they didn’t want it, even just a minority percentage could simply refuse to participate- say 10% of the population- and what could the government do against 30 million people?
If people (even 10%) just stopped participating in everything; if they said fuck driver’s licenses; or even somethjing of no consequence, like not getting a state marriage license…but no, they’ll gladly sell their freedom and indenture themselves to fmably courts, just to save a few dollars on taxes for a few years…taxes they shouldn’t even be paying- ’cause if they had any sense, they’d keep their incomes below taxable levels or just work in the underground economy.
Just like in Atlas Shrugged- if all the productive capable people just stopped participating; stopped funding the Beast; stopped working for gov’t and corporations, and just did their own thing among their own kind, the rest of the system would collapse under it’s own weight.
Who’s gonna drive the Medicaid taxi that takes the welfare queen to the ER because bastard kid #5 has an ear ache? Who’s gonna make the A/C in the politicians office blow cold again, to displace all of the hot air? Who’s gonna point that radar gun and write that ticket?
I’ve thought about that, why more than a few here and there won’t just decide that enough is enough and do an old timey Cheyenne declaration, “It’s a good day to die”.
People in the former Confederate states had been shown an example of how far the government would go to enforce their will on people. That lesson was handed down generation by generation. The government orcs are always willing to make an example of somebody else, and they do it periodically.
Even people who aren’t afraid to die don’t want a pointless death, and don’t want their families and friends to be punished along with them. That’s what I think is behind the lack of resistance, along with what you observed about how a mass of people actually want to be ruled.
Some people would rather be someone else’s dog than to be their own man. When surrounded by such assholes, it kind of takes the heart out of me, and maybe the same is true of some other guys, too.
However, I keep remembering that line in a song by Levon Helm about Jesse James: “You give your life to live your life, so live it like a ball of flame.”
Goddam, levon Helm, what a great quote. Not many of us still believe . excuse me, ever believed there was something legitimate in all this.
I have W0wthing @il3r4.
Yeah, that Legend of Jesse James album that Levon did back in the 80s had that line in one of the songs. I hadn’t heard that for years, until recently.
“It’s never over… Venal and evil people are destroying the world you were born in. It’s us against them my good friend. Don’t compromise your principles or abandon your cause.” — Levon Helm, playing Confederate General John Bell Hood (In the Electric Mist)
Also highly recommended is Helm’s book “This Wheel’s On Fire.” The man led an amazing life.
“In the Electric Mist With the Confederate Dead” was a pretty good novel, too. The author, James Lee Burke is pretty obviously a libtard in his private life, but his series of books about an unlikable alcoholic cop contain some good lines from characters who are true to life, like the ghost of John Bell Hood.
Levon was a good choice for the part. It is kind of rare for novels and films to cast Confederates in a sympathetic light.
Another great line from a Burke novel was what an older cajun man said:
“When everybody’s telling the same story, it’s bound to be a lie”. I think of that when I review the MSM’s coverage of 911. They were all on the same page, telling the same tale in the same words.
Ed, I’ve been a non-participant all of my life- formalized when I dropped out of school/their system at age 16.
Trouble with The South was that it was an organized movement, in a specific location, and was at least in-part about money (They had something -cotton and taxes- that was vital to the North and to the Limeys.
It’s not quite so easy to fight the drop-outs among us- or even know who they are. Simply by our non-participation, we fly below the radar.
And now, it may indeed be getting to the point where that is no longer possible- which is why people such as I are planning on leaving- but the thing is, in all the decades leading up to this BS, before all of the infrastructure of tyranny was fully in place and so technologized, it was much easier to not participate, and had more done so, it would have made a huge difference.
And even today- look at the Amish.
Heck, I see more men being ruled by their wives, before politicians. I know so many guys who would drop out, but they have to pay the big mortgage on the McMansion to keep “her” happy. (You think it might occur to them that if that’s what’s keeping her around, why are they sacrificing themselves for someone who is ultimately more attached to their money than to them?).
Or “the grandkids” that the guy with the nice pension who could live just about anywhere as to stay around for, so he can see them once or twice a month for half an hour, and watch them play video games….
Our countrymen have made their own chains- the pricks in office just keep them oiled.
Car insurance pays for injures due to someone injuring you with their car and this is the only medical insurance I have ever used.
http://www.rpc.senate.gov/policy-papers/supreme-court-rules-individual-mandate-is-a-tax
Hi Bill,
Yes. It’s a weird one, though. Apparently the way the ACA is written, the IRS cannot collect it, as they have the power to do otherwise…
what nobody has said yet piling on rightfully on the insurance companies is that obongocare is just another transfer of mostly white peoples money to non whites. all the illegals sub humans and our home grown ones are feasting on the whites money bringing their fat diseased relatives here by the trainloads. that is the main reason to me for obongocare.
Hi SPQR,
Well, it was Mitt Romney – a white man – who imposed the first insurance-at-gunpoint regime on America and Romneycare served as the basis for Obamacare, which loathsome white Republicans such as Grampy McSame, Paul Ryan and the whole rotten nest of them in Congress refused to repeal when they had the power to do so.
Instead, they talk of “replacing” it.
And let’s not forget the deciding Supreme Court vote which decreed Obamacare lawful – it was another white man, John Roberts. Who probably diddles little kids and they have the negatives.
They hung a black face on insurance at gunpoint, in order to shift the blame away from themselves and also to give them a black pinata to whack at each election, all the while doing nothing to get rid of the government-insurance bukkake they are doing to us.
SPQR, Medicaid (another invention of white liberals) fulfilled what you describe, while Obozo was just a little turdler at his white coal-burner mammy’s apron strings. The schvatzes can’t do anything- they can’t even live like civilized human beings, without help from the white man. Remember who it was who put that Marxist piece-O-feces monkey in office- not once, but twice: All the idiot whites who voted for him, because they are all just as much members of the free-shit army now, as are the jungle-bunnies.
Knee-grows have been getting free healthcare for decades- Obammycare doesn’t even impact most of ’em, as far as getting mo’ free stuff, or having to pay for it. Eric is absolutely correct- this is something done by white politicians, insurance execs and voters, to other whites.
In 1977 at age 45, I had had enough! Supporting the growing welfare/warfare system and being put upon by your never-ending greedy government and its redistribution system to provide government pelf is abominable to say the least.
So… In ’77 I left the land of the fleeced, home of slaves – I renounced citizenship, as well. Do you “know” what it’s like to live life unimpeded by a thug who employs a badge & gun to persuade you to comply? I found out. The day I received my “CLN” (Certificate of Loss of Nationality) from the U.S. Dept. of State was simply the best day of my life! I’m an ex-American for 41-years now.
That “ends” the monetary threats and coercion! It is the only “legal” way that I know of getting the “rapacious ape” off your back for good.
Best of luck to you Eric and the slaves that carry the collective’s yoke cradle to grave.
A PT
Principauté de Monaco
Côte d’Azur
“Freedom in America is feeling ‘free & easy’ in your harness, as long as the masters and overlords maintain absolute control of the reins.” And Americans ‘think’ they are free!
Hey A PT, just out of curiosity, how long did you have to wait for your application to go through, and was there a fee? The reason I ask is because today the application fee is almost $4K and the wait is around three years before they can get to it because of the long line of people waiting to renounce their status as cash cow for their lazy uncle.
shnarkle – There was no fee to renunciation in 1977 and prior. When I filled out the several forms and took them to the Embassy in Switzerland, it took about 3-weeks for the CLN to arrive. (Again, best day of my life!)
The U.S. Dept. State site recently showed a renunciation fee of $2350. Unbelievable! You now must PAY your thugatarian government extortion fees to get rid of the anchor around your neck!
I look back now and the only thing I regret was not getting out of the U.S. government’s clutches much earlier in my life.
Best to you shnarkle.
A PT
“Anyone who needs to be persuaded to be free, doesn’t deserve to be.” ~ L, Neil Smith
Hi APT,
I have a Swiss passport; but Switzerland – though beautiful – is an extremely expensive place to live. I’d be even more pauperized if I were to move there.
And they would never let me bring the Trans Am…
The T-A is old enough now that I think you can take it most everywhere in the world. Pretty much every so-called civilized country has exceptions for cars so old that nobody is going to daily drive them. Why? Every country of that description has very rich people who collect old cars.
That Swiss passport may be able to allow you to live in various places the US one won’t.
On second thought, you may be right. I met the owner of Swiss based manufacturing company once. He keeps a car collection at his place near the company’s US plant.
Switzerland is not the libertarian paradise we’re all led to believe. Even they have compulsory insurance laws.
Let’s face it, there is nowhere to run.
Yeah, I have to laugh when I hear people refer to Switzerland as “Libertarian”. Hmmm..let’s see: Compulsory military service for all; Gun control (despite myths to the contrary); Tool control (Mustn’t take wor k away from the tradesmen!); blue laws; Federal, canton and municipal income taxes (which amount to about what we pay here); high property taxes (can be as many as 8 different varieties!)….licenses, fees and regulations for everything….
Whoever equated Switzerland with Libertarianism, must hate Libertarians!
There are plenty of places to go though- just not in the first world. Much of the rest of the world only has one level of government (as opposed to the 5 or more layers we can have here)….most, despite what their legal system might be about, just don’t have the resources or the infrastructure to exert anywhere near the level of tyranny we see now in the first world. Most of the residents of such places, not having been conditioned for generations as we have, would not readily accept such tyranny. And once you get out of the big cities, you basically have no dealings with the government unless YOU seek them out.
There’s nowhere to go if you want to live in a big city with all “services” and work at a corporate job in an air-conditioned office, and indulge in culture and nightlife….. Where ever you have such infrastructure, you also have the resultant government which created it, because it is not natural for men to create such. But if you really want to live, as a free man, on your own terms and by your own means…there are a lot of places out there where no one will care or bother you. More than half the people in the world still live like that. We just tend to want the “benefits” of the big collective state….so we look around and conclude that since every locale that has those “benefits” also has the collective oppressor state which created them, that there is nowhere else to go.
We’re so used to not being free, that we often can not even envision life without chains. To wit:
I bought a vehicle from a friend in another state and he delivered it to me on a trailer. I was new here, so I called the courthouse and asked how I’d go about registering it. They said “Just drive it down, we just need to make sure the VIN# matches the title, and then you can register it”.
I said “But it has no plates”. They said “That’s O-K, if you get stopped, just tell ’em you’re on the way here”.!!!
The first time (and even the 2nd and 3rd time) I did that, it was really freaky- driving on their roads, without their official signage attached! I felt5 paranoid! In my former state of NY, had I done that, I would have definitely gotten stopped; arrested; and the vehicle impounded.
We’re so well trained to accept tyranny, that it’s like we don’t know what to do without it. We’re like the proverbial sheep who wont go through the gate to freedom, even when it’s wide open, ’cause we’re used to the barrier being there. We’re trained to comply, and to accept that behavior as the norm.
Meanwhile, a foreigner comes here (and I’ve personally seen this) and he won’t hesitate to hop in an unregistered car and knowingly drive right past a cop. They don’t expect anything to happen, because after all, they’re not hurting anyone or doing anything bad- they’re not used to mindless obedience. It’s very telling.
Is it mindless obedience? Maybe for some people. For me, I’ve been selected for enforcement & punishment since I was a child. I also see the traps they set up for people and have seen how many people get caught in them.
Like you mentioned, it’s that big city/big state knowing from experience the hassles that result from the government double binds. Double binds set up specifically to fine and punish people.
The reason foreigners don’t have an issue is they are foreigners. They know the government here can’t do anything to them. At home their behavior would be different. Well different if they come from a place where people are endlessly hassled about little things. But so long as they are going home they know there isn’t much government here can do to them wrt minor things.
I’ve had neighbors and coworkers from Canada. They would drive around on expired Canadian plates. What’s a cop going to do? It’s just a lot of hassle for the cop so they are left alone.
True what you say about foreigners, Brent- that’s one aspect of it- but what I was thinking, was more of how many come here from places where they were freer, and the idea of being punished for some legality/technicality doesn’t even cross their mind, because had never lived in a situation where they were directly exposed to several layers of heavy-handed government which punishes people who not harmed anyone.
A lot of people look at it like: “Oh, they come here and think they can do anything and get away with anything, and that they don’t have to obey our laws”- and while for some, that may be true, for many it is that they are ignorant of our plethora of laws on every little aspect of life, and the thought that they may be doing something highly illegal and punishable, just by engaging in a normal everyday pursuit, doesn’t even cross their minds; they’ve never experienced such.
It’s like someone who believes that “the policeman is your friend”…until they actually deal with one.
And yes, the traps they set, and the punishment and enforcement. That is something I was able to observe since i was a child, and largely able to avoid….but I’m not talking about people like you or I when I say mindless obedience. We selectively obey, as we try and maintain a good deal of freedom, while either avoiding certain pursuits, or obeying some of the lesser dictates- like wearing a seatbelt: It’s just not worth the fight, considering that we’re not free in so many other areas anyway- why take a stand over one of the least offensive/one with least impact?
What I meant was people who just do what they’re told, because they don’t know any better; worship government; think it is their duty; feel some moral obligation to do so; or just don’t care, because they don’t have any higher power to direct them, be it a deity or their own judgment.
The “It’s the law, so we have to obey it” types. The ones who sit on juries and who condemn people for not paying extortion[taxes] or for growing a prohibited plant, or anything else that the gov’t told them was “wrong”.
Such people now make up the majority of residents of the Western world.
Most of us here on this site resist that.
Brent,
A good example of mindless obedience- sadly, my own mother:
My idiot sister drives her car one day from the apartment complex where she lives, to the next driveway not 10′ over (the Post Office) and gets a ticket for not wearing her seatbelt!
My mother’s response? Instead of outrage- “Well, she broke the law”….[cymbal crash]
And they wonder how a Nazi Germany gets built…. I guess that would be what ya call a “good German”- A kind, sweet old lady who never harmed anyone, is not even outraged when her own child is the victim of mindless tyranny- but rather sides with the state.
And if that’s what the nice people- the kind sweet old ladies are doing…imagine the radicals and liberals, and sadistic types with axes to grind [Even those who don’t become cops!]
Fuck their seat belt rules. I don’t wear it. I don’t sport a front plate either. Got pulled over in April for not having one. Didn’t get ticketed for that. Got ticketed for expired registration-just over a year. The fine was $68. Last time a I got a registration ticket it was 4 years expired. Better to pay every 4 years or so than every year. If they don’t pull you over for that, they will find another reason.
I got made fun of when I was younger for having a “bad attitude” and being negative because of my view of compliance. Not so much any more. People admire it. Some of them secretly, but still admire it. I, on the other hand feel like I comply too much for not fighting them more and paying their extortion fee’s in many instances to remain a free range bull, rather than a caged bull.
While no places in the u.s. are free, Idaho/Wyoming/Montana offer more than most places. And the weather, while harsh in the winter, isn’t as bad as many believe–except for Wyoming. Wyoming sucks. If you live in the rural area’s and avoid the local leo dipshit’s where possible, it’s tolerable.
I’ve only ever been pulled over twice in my life- got a ticket once (Burnt-out turn signal bulb, half a black from home. Forged a reapir bill and sent it in, so I didn’t have to pay it.)
But I try and avoid confrontations with pigs. I’m not the “Yes sir, officer” type. I’m the “None of your fucking business where I’m going” type. The way things are today, someone would likely die. Probably me.
I manage to avoid most of their BS- especially the bigger things….so the seat belt doesn’t bother me too much- it’s not as though we live in a free country, after all. We’re more like the German Jew who just avoids speaking Yiddish around the SS guys…he shouldn’;t have to- but if it keeps him from going to Auschwitz….
Yeah, Montana. If I didn’t hate the cold so much, I would have gone there until my escape. Places like ID though, where the Feds own 80% of the land, and they have all of those federalized pigs…beautiful place, but not so free these days.
Same deal with all the nice sparsely populated desert areas in NV, AZ and CA…ya’d think they were great places to be left alone, since they’re remote and empty….but go 5MPH over the 70MPH speed limit on the highway in the middle of nowhere, and BOOM, occifer Sluggo not only nabs ya, but treats ya like you’re some gang-banging thug who just robbed a bank and has been on the Most Wanted list for 10 years.
Might be a li’l too crowded here in KY, but one just blends in among the hills and farmers, and “law enforcement” is still rather unobtrusive- but likely wont remain so for too much longer.
But man, if this were still America…just gimme a place out in the middle of the desert….with no other structures in sight, and no noise…. West TX, AZ, NV., NM (Ironically, it seems like these are the places the freedom seekers of the recent past went to…and now it appears that the gov’t is going out of it’s way to make war with them and eradicate them).
WY. I don’t know much about. Passed though once…beautiful place, with lots of open space…prolly too cold for me…and of course, the usual bevvy of uniformed thugs…
LADIES & GENTLEMAN:
Several things to consider:
The U.S. government is the ONLY government that ties taxation to citizenship. (Forget Eritrea!) Next…
Some of your astute observations are spot on. Switzerland, as Eric noted is a seriously beautiful country – but it too has serious growing flaws. Now for the crux…
If you are really serious about your freedom, liberty, privacy etc. you’ll do as I did 41-years ago, you become a “PT.” (When Wikipedia first came into being I submitted/started a page: “perpetual traveler.” I felt that individuals would at least have the option to gain the greatest freedom on this earth by having the knowledge that there was a way to extricate one’s self from the formidable clutches of government. Becoming a PT is the ONLY way I’ve found, as a workable solution for individuals who have a profound anathema to subjection. Becoming a PT is NOT for everyone! As a PT you’ll learn how to “flag” your life according to your personal & business needs. It works well but does require “thought.” Essentially, you are becoming an adversary of ALL governments! It requires “brains” so as to not to step in “it.” I was a single man when I became a PT in 1977. My mentor was the laudable Harry D. Schultz. (You can find him on Wikipedia, as well.) YOU DO NOT “reside” in ANY country – you merely “stay” in various countries – as a welcomed visitor! Governments do not tax (Income, et al.) visitors, as they tax their citizens and residents. That’s a very important point to remember. I chose “staying” in Monaco and several other “micro-states” for very good reasons. (Look it up in Wikipedia, as well and you come to know why.) I carry 4-passports acquired over my time, as a PT. I’m 86-years old, in excellent health with a proclivity for life in the late nineties. It’s been a wonderful experience to live my life according to my wants and needs – not some government’s dictum.
Finally, let me state, “It’s NOT easy to become a PT!” It requires assiduous dedication and perseverance. Is it worth it? That’s a question only YOU can answer. I VALUED my personal & business freedom above all else than to remain in America, an enchained villein. For me it was simply the BEST thing I have done in my life. Once you get the ‘bonafide’ taste of freedom and liberty you’ll never lower your culinary taste for anything less! If you are in profound denial, as most Americans citizens are, then you rationalize away the fetters you wear no matter how quietly the chains clang. I have convinced 6-people in 41-years to become PTs. They simply smile at me when I ask them, “Was it worth it to become a freeman?” Sorry for the prolixity! It sometimes takes a bit to get the point across.
Best to you all,
A PT
Thanks for that inspirational post A PT, I’m not quite a PT yet, but working on it. Every time I leave the confines of this plantation, I don’t want to return. What inevitably compels me to return are all of my toys. I’ve been slowly but surely getting rid of all of them. I’m down to one last piece of property that I personally own. The other properties are jointly owned so I can’t do much of anything about them. I don’t have the means to renounce yet, but I can at least get out of the prison; I guess I’m sorta like an ex con. I’ll have that label until I can renounce. The only way I can see it happening is through one of the many economic citizenship programs offered by the countries I want to live in. At least I can live there until that day comes.
The gratification I feel being able to look at what’s going on inside the US from the outside is more than words can convey. I love my place here, but I’m also surrounded by government thugs who have been to my place on more than a few occasions. I can’t wait to leave this glorified prison for good.
shnarkle – I applaud you for at least discovering the chains involuntarily attached to your life by your government! That’s a good first step.
I liquidated all of my personal & business assets between 1972 – 1977 prior to leaving the Panopticon. What I personally learned in life is that if you “allow” your toys and non-liquid assets to “tie” you to a geographical venue – you have in fact become a slave voluntarily. That’s the American way! But you are vigilant … you see that you really DO NOT OWN assets in the land of the fleeced, home of slaves! If your government wants to “strip” you of those assets – it can and will. You do not have “private property rights” in America. I know of what I speak and several of my old friends have learned the “hard way” too!
When I left the U.S. in 1977, I did so with an accumulated net worth of Approx. $50,000. Not much … but enough to start over in this world. I graduated from M.I.T. in 1954 with a Ph.D. in both applied & theoretical mathematics. I won’t bother you with the trials and tribulations that encumbered me both in business and personally – suffice to say it was sufficient to raise my ire – enough to finally stop submitting to those “thugs” that you so aptly alluded to in your comment. It can be done, shnarkle. I and oh so many other ex-Americans are proof that life can be far more exhilarating lived, as a true freeman than an enchained slave submitting to a never-ending rape session of your productivity. It is only the unfree, winkered vassals that wave their flags and chant the dogma of their masters and overlords. It takes introspection and guts to face truth. You have “conveyed” your thoughts and sentiments well. Act. I don’t know your age but the younger you are when you “get out” the better. Life lived outside the master’s realm is known only to vigilant and freedom-seeking individuals. The rest can carry the yoke – they deserve nothing less. It’s been my pleasure to correspond with you shnarkle. I trust that you will one day find that which you seek. I trust I’ve given you a start in my previous comments. I for one can’t imagine living the only the life you will ever have, as an enchained slave; I find the thought repugnant and repulsive.
Take care of yourself.
Regards,
A PT
Anon, the thing that really freaked me out was that I really wasn’t aware of how enslaved I truly was until I experienced what it was like to have all those freedoms we’ve lost in the US. I really couldn’t see it until I was outside looking in. At the time, I had quite a lot of expensive toys, and they suddenly looked like a burden, but I knew I couldn’t just leave it all behind so I came back and started selling it all off.
I was young when I started traveling, but didn’t notice the loss of rights, freedoms, etc. until about 20 years ago. Now, when I’m outside the country, I spend a lot more time outside. This last trip really outside, really motivated me to make my next trip out my last. In other words, this is the last trip I’m planning on taking with a return trip.
The thing I’ve noticed about running into expats down in central America or the Caribbean is this sort of knowing grin I get from them when the subject of where they’re from or when they’re planning on returning. They’re not returning home because they are home.
My problem is that of all the places I’ve been, it’s really difficult to pick one place to stay. I’ve done almost all of my travels by boat, which makes travel and accommodations literally a breeze. I just sold my last sailboat though. I’m going to give sailing a rest for a while, and try boating without the sails for a while.
On some level I can relate to the stereotype of the enslaved in that I know what it feels like to be out on the ocean and have some system failure which leaves us dead in the water until we figure out how to fix it. The guy sitting in the cubicle with the Tropic Tan Calendar of white sandy beaches dreams of sitting on one of those beaches some day relaxing, but when they get there, they don’t have time to relax because they can’t see everything they have to see during their week long vacation. They also don’t know how to calm their tortured mind without a lot of technology preoccupying their minds. I can wander around on deserted shorelines all day long and never get bored. When I have no internet or cell service, my shoulders drop and time starts to slow down to a pace I’m in no rush to end.
There’s a learning curve, and I’ve encountered a few hard knocks, but it’s all worth it when I see the equivalent of a government employee at a gas dock accept the invitation for a cold beer while we chat and have a few laughs. That’s just not the kind of thing I’m ever going to see in the US ever.
Ah, Shnarkle! What a beautiful picture you paint. That’s the way life should be. That’s the way life could be for almost anyone, if it weren’t for the chains they choose to cling to.
How much time have you spent in Central America? I was always interested in C.A., ’cause it’s so accessible- or if nothing else, would at least make a good jumping-off point; It’s beautiful; and the climate is good…..but I wonder, because I’d see so many nationals from there when I lived in NY- living in a cesspool. I’d think, if C.A. were the paradise we seem to think it is, why the hell would they leave that, to come to this dump, and work 12 hours a day and live with 4 other families in a small dilapidated apartment, and thinking they had arrived?!
There are people who live in South and Central America who are dirt poor and can’t find employment because of racism. I can’t tell one from another, but these people look different to the more affluent or middle classes down there. So they make their way up to the “land of opportunity” and work for slave wages because even slave wages are fantastic when they take it back home. It isn’t that they’ve arrived when they get here and double or triple up on the occupancy of their dwellings; it’s that they’ve got an opportunity to save up some money and live much better when they return.
I used to work with these people during the harvest in California, and they live and work like dogs. If you don’t have money, it really doesn’t matter where you live down there, whereas up here, if you don’t have money, you can walk into a hospital and get free medical care, you can place your children into a school where they’ll be fed, etc. It’s a great deal when you don’t have any money. When you do have money, keeping uncle’s hands off of it becomes the top priority so heading south is the answer; at least as far as I can see. The cost of living is fantastic down there, and like you say, the weather is great.
Except for a few trips down to Tijuana on foot, and a couple of plane flights down, all of my trips have been by boat, so most of my experience has been coastal locations; many are quite touristy so those places don’t present much of a cultural shock because they’re all tailored for you. Although the nice thing is that you don’t have to go far to get away from the tourist crowd.
Most of my time has been down in Mexico; mostly Baja and Cozumel. The rest was down in Nicaragua, Guatemala, and Costa Rica with one trip down to Panama. My focus now is on the eastern Caribbean.
I’m with you, Shnarkle- I want to sit back and watch the flames from far away…. The good things we once had here are long gone. I’ll enjoy hearing the crackles and screams of those who destroyed the good, being destroyed by the very fire they set and which they threw gasoline on.
Hey Nunzio, to be honest, I’m not even really interested in watching the US implode. What I’ve noticed most is a complete lack of concern for the US when I’m not within its boundaries. It’s like being released from prison. You may not like the place, but the last thing you want to think about is how well its functioning without you. Even if you hear that it burned to the ground, the only thing you’ll wish is that it burned prior to your stay there.
My only concern now is to get my act together in time to get out. I don’t want to think about this place burning before I’m gone.
Shnarkle, I know that when I left the hell that is NY, 17 years ago, I always had a morbid curiosity to see what was going on in my old haunt.
I used to check my old local NY news sites daily…..which was more than I did when I still lived there. It was like: Now I can enjoy the dysfunction, since it no longer affects me!
The contrast of seeing that, vs. what I have here in KY. just made me feel good- It was as if I were playing a video of the best moment of my life, over and over again!
Then, as time went on, I’d only check the NY sites once in a while, when I was bored.
Now, it’s to the point where I no longer care. The place has gotten infinitely worse since I left there; and those with an iota of sense have also left. People who used to swear they’d never leave, are leaving; and of course, there’s the usual cast of “I’ll stay and pay $16K a year in property taxes to live in this police state, because the schools are good, and I’ll I get a good pension if I live that long and if the pension fund doesn’t go bust…plus my wife wants to stay, even though all our friends and relatives have left, and no one on our block speaks English…” types…
But it no longer affects me, and it just astounds me that others are willing to live under those circumstances…and life is just better not even being tainted with thoughts of such a place…so I just don’t care.
So I think you are correct- once I am out of here, I will put this whole country behind me quickly, as it is of no consequence. The good things are long gone; and there’s no sense being concerned with the crap that is left.
O-K…there is a certain satisfaction in seeing what I predicted about the decline of NY coming to pass…and in seeing that those who thought I was vrazy for leaving and who swore they’d never leave, are now trying to get out…..
Nunzio, I did something similar about 20 years ago. I found a county up in northern California that didn’t have smog, or smog certification requirements. Property was affordable, and I was able to live in a 2,000 sq.ft. home on half an acre for a fraction of what I would have had to pay to live in a crack house in the worst part of Oakland. It was like I’d died and gone to heaven. The only thing that reminded me that I hadn’t gone to my eternal reward were the government enforcers who did show up from time to time to make sure I was up to snuff on code enforcement etc. Most of it was petty stuff that still made living in the big city look horrid in comparison. The thing is that I got spoiled living there, and when I helped a friend move to Florida, I saw an even better deal. I had already been taking a few trips south, but this was just simply a better place to return to in the US. However, the writing is on the walls here as well. So I’m going to keep this place until I’m settled down south. I’ve left it empty for quite a while without any problems, and it doesn’t cost me anything to keep it. My plan is to call a realtor and have them sell it after I’ve settled down south.
I was very lucky, Snarkle; I went from CA-like NY, to this nice out-of-the-way [hard to get to- keeps it nice] very rural area of KY.
No building codes or code enforcement nonsense [yet]…dirt cheap land [Went from living in a studio apartment and sleeping on the floor in NY, to having 28 acres and 2 mobile homes here…one for Mama]…negligible property taxes….gun freedom…and pretty much about as much freedom as one can have in the US today.
FL is full of exNYers….may seem nice compared to CA. but it’s gone, as far as I’m concerned.
Oakland? Dear goodness! That’s the CA. equivalent of Brooklyn! Pay top dollar to live in a crime-infested slum and be hassled by the Nazis, while the robbers and murderers walk around laughing. Bet you were glad tro get out of there!
FL is a good location for you now, for accessing C.A.. I wish my friend down there still had his 52′ sailboat….I was thinking that might’ve been a nice means of escape. (He got rid of it because the mast was 4′ too tall to fit under the local bridges…).
Knew a guy from TX who drove to C.A. -seeing the scenery would be nice, but I think all the political stuff ya avoid by sailing makes boat the way to go!
Yep, the Yankees are a problem down here. They all want to run the locals out and recreate the hell they left up north. Cozumel is 280 miles from West Palm Beach so it’s just a few days cruise. Grand Bahama Island is 68 miles from West Palm Beach. The last trip back took me 6 hours, but that was running into a storm for the first 25 miles.
I had a 56′ sailboat, which was also a bit too tall for some of the local bridges which required some repairs to the masthead light.
Hi Schnarkle!
Same issue here; same issue everywhere, I think. You find – and move to – an out-of-the-way place, to get away from them and all they have created – and after a few years, you notice little things here and there, like the signs of carpenter ants in your wall. They are coming. Some are already here. The place is becoming like the place you left. Because of them.
I take consolation in one thing. If they ruin this place – by making it into another Northern Virginia – the value of land/homes here will skyrocket to absurd heights as they drive up the prices. I will then be able to get one of these creatures to pay me a ludicrous sum for my acreage and house and use the proceeds to go far, far away. And forget all about them, forever – amen!
This is wonderful, APT!
More details would be welcomed and appreciated…
Hello Eric,
Judging from your previous comment, already possessing a Swiss Passport – you are two-thirds on your way to becoming a PT! (The other third is monetary) Gaining a passport prior to renouncing U.S. citizenship is (to preclude future problems with ANY State) simply the first step an individual should take so, as to avoid being classified, “stateless.” It’s the way of nation-states to corral individuals and much like Masai tribesmen, “draining your blood” systematically on a schedule. As I alluded in my previous comment, “if your government wants to force you to comply with its mandates it will take steps to apply serious pressure to you and your wallet. (Obamacare etc.) You will not win, as long as you remain in a jurisdiction of your government. That’s a guarantee! The “badge & gun club” will make life unbearable if necessary. That’s incontrovertible.
Yes, yes, … there are citizens that “play the tough-guy” and suggest they will not relent – they’re nincompoops! Why waste your time and perhaps your life arguing with Leviathan? That’s codswallop! Leave, renounce citizenship, get your CLN (Certificate of Loss of Nationality) and breathe free from the punitive extortion of a seething parasite. Anything less simply doesn’t make rational sense.
The American Collective’s government inculcates & institutionalizes you from cradle to grave. If and only if you’ve been rescued from your collective’s clutches by a mentor who “knows the game” can you become from an early age, a “renegade!” Governments HATE renegades! They can’t engage in despoliation of your productive efforts and capabilities. SOMEONE has to pay for the welfare/warfare state!
Think about this Eric… IF your government can get you into a stultified state, not making waves, it’s easier to “stick the needle into your vein” to drain your blood. (taxes) “Voilà! The chump is our chattel! And so it is…. You are “wasting” your life to “fight” the band of highwaymen. I had a mentor who taught me well and saved me “time” having to learn otherwise. My mentor use to tell me, “Sometimes ‘time’ spent trying to change something, is time best spent looking for something you don’t have to change!” I could go on but I trust that you are simply too smart to not know this too.
I trust you’ve had a chance to peruse several of the mentioned sites from my previous comments. It’s where you start. YOU may NOT have what it takes to become a “PT.” Thought on the matter is a requirement.
By the way, I have an old friend whose grandson received a notice from the IRS similar to the one you displayed. His son much like you was bristling & bruxating. His solution: he lived in Florida; he simply moved offshore to live in the Grand Bahamas! If you do not live in the jurisdiction – no plunder, your residency becomes the focal point. Why fight city hall? Do what you must do — OR bend over! I simply tell you my experience gleaned over many years. Get out, renounce, adios MFs.
Best to you Eric.
A PT
Tirez vos marrons du feu!
Amen to all of that, A PT! There’s no winning when you live in the den of the Beast. You either get out, or serve the Beast, or die. Getting out is the only option for those of us who will not serve the Beast.
Those who exhibit bravado and claim that they will only be pushed so far and no further, or die….are usually the ones who end up scrambling to comply at the slightest threat; and after enough repetitions of that over and over, end up being Massa’s most obedient children, being oh so careful to obey every edict.
The line in the sand keeps getting erased and moved backward, because they know there are no options if they stay in the Beast’s dominion- so if leaving is not an option, they at least subconsciously accept that there is nothing else that they can do if they don’t want to lose everything (and that ball starts rolling very quickly- as Eric has just experienced- all it takes is one simple letter from the IRS…), so they essentially accept defeat….which is inevitable if they stay.
BTW: I’ve been greatly enjoying all of your posts. We need more people such as yourself, to show ’em that it really can be done! There is life outside of the USA! One still can escape, and enjoy real living, in an environment where every aspect of life is not controlled and regulated, and where we are not constantly facing the thinly veiled threat of violence from the government which we fund.
Nunzio – Thank you for your kind words. It’s always good to find sagacious individuals who are fully aware of reality, living, as you say in the midst of the Beast. It is truly unfortunate that America has degraded into an authoritarian cesspool! And just think – I had had enough of the Beast back in 1977 when I couldn’t even sleep on my final day prior to leaving the country. Gosh, it has gone by so fast and yet I’m thankful for those individuals that steered me in the right direction to freedom so long ago. I’m forever thankful to them. It’s a life lived, as free as is possible on this earth.
Nothing can destroy value and freedom as rapidly as government measures. Just look to America, as the exemplar.
Best to you, Nunzio.
Ciao,
A PT
Principauté de Monaco
Côte d’Azur
P.S. You might check this out:
Federal Register | Quarterly Publication of Individuals, Who Have Chosen to Expatriate
https://www.federalregister.gov/quarterly-publication-of-individuals-who-have-chosen-to-expatriate
Over 20,000 Americans gave up their citizenship under the Obama Administration!
Thank you, A PT!
Our timing was very similar. You left in ’77. I formally renounced “the system” in ’78 by freeing myself from the shackles of public school on the day I turned 16. (One of the greatest days of my life!)
The US was already too oppressive then…and yet in comparison to the way things are now, those were “the good old days”!
Dropping out was step number 1.
Getting out of NY was step two.
Now I am on the verge of the next logical step, as I’ve done as much as I can here, and there is nowhere else to go in this country- so step number three is to leave.
You are very wise to have left when you did, and to have thus been able to enjoy at least half of your life in peace and on your own terms.
I ended up paying the penalty, which stung for a little bit. Shared responsibility. Orwell was right.
This is a deeply depressing subject for me as well. I hate the thought of ditching my life’s passion for a corporate job in order to live. Unfortunately, many Americans are too stupid to realize this is a blatantly criminal act.
By the way, I can’t believe there’s still people foolish enough to fight the IRS. Good luck with that. I’d rather be in this prison than actual prison.
After our daughter graduated a few years ago, she got her first job through an employment agency, which of course offered her insurance. We found that what the government calls “minimum essential coverage” doesn’t cover any real medical care at all, only a raft of politically correct but useless screenings and preventive crap. Smoking cessation programs were covered, even though she’s never smoked. But if she wanted something that would pay if she got sick or hurt and actually needed care, she had to pay a separate premium for an additional policy. Such is the lunacy of Obamacare.
Btw, insurance is not inherently a racket. In a market economy, such voluntary contracts serve to spread risk and thereby protect individuals from financial ruin. It only becomes a scam when the state butts in.
Hi Roland,
Yup. I’m a middle-aged/divorced man; no kids. What the hell do I need maternity coverage for? I neither drink nor smoke. What the hell do I need substance abuse coverage for? Etc.
You’re going to need substance abuse coverage because this is only going to get worse, and eventually you’ll see that abusing drugs helps ease the pain of watching this country work its way down the toilet. Just out of curiosity, do you know what the poverty level is in your area? It wouldn’t surprise me if the IRS goofed on the amount owed. I used to live in Marin County, CA. which boasted a poverty level of just over $51k. if you can find a place where the poverty level is above your income; problem solved.
Oh, and btw, Some Down Syndrome adults can and co live on their own
Hi Schnarkle,
No – but it is probably very low; I live in a rural, low-cost area. It’s how I survive… so far.
eric, I worked hard today and I have some fair to middlin aches. i told the b&c I’d like to have 2-3 mg. of some opioid but nothing adulterated with acetaminophen, the killer drug that’s legal for all. But I don’t want more tomorrow to ease those bigger hurties coming them. Oh, a hit of two of pot would help a lot…..but no corporation can claim a patent on it
And then there’s the legal ramification of being a CDL holder so that I’d be blamed for whatever might happen if I were involved in a wreck. I could be parked in a field a long distance off the road but if some idiot in a 4 wheeler caromed their ride into mine I’d be cuffed and hauled to the horspita “until proven not guilty” of substance abuse. No doubt some shyster with a License of some legal bar would still make me at fault if the DPS itself didn’t.
I saw two examples last year when one driver got to a 4 way stop….and stopped, then turned the direction of his signals and while turning a guy ran the stop sign for his direction and ran into the trailer. The DPS ticketed the driver saying he was changing lanes. He also said it would be same when exiting the interstate and a vehicle hit the truck not yielding. Of course that’s not right but he says it is so there’s another shitty with the driver having to shoulder the cost of a, a, another double indemnity just cause the porker thinks so…….idiot.
Good point, Schnarkle- but think “they” go by the Fed Gov “poverty” level- which I believe is around $17K for an individual- and of course, the Fed Gov makes no distinction as to whether you live on Long Island, where you’re a pauper if you make less than $100K- or here in Bumblephuk, where you can live the life of Riley on $17K. (And think of the implications of THAT! Productive people are often forced out of areas because they can no longer afford to live there….while parasites, who if they had to provide for themselves, would simply move to cheaper areas, are instead given subsidized housing and all sorts of freebies, so they can continue to live in some of the most expensive places in the country…)
Down Syndrome? I think I think I knew a goose once, who had that.
Hey Nunzio, when I lived in Marin, Co. CA. the poverty level was $51k That was back around 2000. That wasn’t the level everywhere, was it?
No, Shnark, what I’m saying is that the feds have just one “poverty” level tnhat apply indiscriminately everywhere. If a place has a local poverty level which is different, it is because the state has defined that- but the IRS goes by the one-size-fits-all federal rate. So CA or Marin County may’ve considered you “impoverished”, but for tax purposes, you still pay the same as someone who earns $50K in Porked Butte MT. and are still subject to the Unaffordable Care nonsense ’cause ya make over $17K (Unless you have enough kids to still be consider “impoverished” by the Feds, too).
I wonder how they’d view me? Under the $17K, but of course I wont sign up for Medicaid and any of the free/cheap Obammycare nonsense…. So do ya have to be impoverished AND on some welfare program, or just impoverished? (They probably just assume that most people who “qualify” would sign up for the free goodies…. The few people like us likely aren’t even in their sights, because the statist pricks who draft the laws and work for the various agencies can not even conceive of anyone not groping after free shit….)
If you’ve got money in the bank, invested, in a retirement account, they’ve got their sights on it. They’ve been talking about confiscating retirement accounts for years, and when they get around to going after my IRA, I’m liquidating it, and paying the penalties.; or maybe I wont’ pay the penalties, who knows?
I remember when Jesse Jackson wanted to grab such accounts and “invest” the stolen funds in the inner city.
Banks….LOL. Only thing I invest in is me, and tools and equipment that I use, which hold their value or appreciate (Just sold a tractor that I used for 7 years, and made a 25% profit on it). And I don’t believe in retirement. (My aunt’s sister-in-law was still going to work every day when she dropped dead at 97).
I’m all about non-participation. All that crap is for those who participate…and in so participating, they’ve got you, unless you’re willing to just walk away from it all.
Some people want to avoid the taxes and such, but still want the benefits of the collectivist system- ya can’t really have it both ways though- you have to pick a side.
@snarkle – if your IRAs are with Fidelity you will pay the penalty as it will be deducted at the time you liquidate your account. also fidelity now charges $50 to liquidate an IRA whereas they didn’t use to.
Hey lyn, it’s not with Fidelity, but they might have the same requirements for liquidation as well. I’ll have to check it out. I’ve got a Roth, but thinking about changing it to a self directed Roth. I’d like to see about selling what’s in it and buying some property outside the US with the proceeds. I just want to get it to a point where uncle can’t get his hands on it.
me too. here in ky they are instituting lowering the withdrawal amount that applies before they tax any personal IRA withdrawal from 41,100 to 31,100. this is because KY ranks among one of the least under funded states for all their government pension plans. I have always wondered why we should be paying into their pension fund at all. they get paid…why can’t they pay it themselves. also someone said the cops here Aren’t so bad’. that hasn’t been my experience. when u moved here from CA in 2007 I was robbed and they made off with over $500 in personal property (prescription eyewear alone) and they did nothing but tell me not to worry it was probably just someone looking for drug money’. in 2008, 6 cops showed up 3 in full swat gear with 2 detectives and a warrant to seize my camera recording equipment to force me into providing footage for a theft that occurred 3 houses down where some section 8s were living. fast forward to a week ago, one of the same detectives from that raid showed up with some jackboot from the FBI to question me about an allegation some employee at the utility company made supposedly because I had written on the memo part of my check to them ‘kill government. they are pimps and whores’. it was claimed by persons unknown that they felt threatened. but there is no check where this is ever stated. this pig actually had tge arrogance to claim that it was against the law to threaten a government employee as though anyone specifically had been threatened and as though their parasitical life off the backs of others was somehow more valuable. the first thing out of my mouyh was to say ‘my political beliefs are not your business, I also support the abolition of the Federal Reserve and you should be ashamed of yourself for working for and supporting a government whose sole existence depends upon theft and murder using the common man as cannon fodder’. I recorded the whole conversation. adding insult to injury, the detective who had issued a warrant back in 2008 to force me to ket them make copies of my camera footage, had the breathtaking arrogance to state when I brought her lawlessness up, that ‘well, that was a long time ago and you did your duty’. the most revealing part as to just how corrupt these peopke are here came when I finally said ‘rather than try accusing me if threatening anyone, why don’t. we talk about your criminal behavior starting with Ruby Ridge and ending with the Hillary Clinton/spygate debacle.’
BTW, the ‘kill government’ was on the outside of my envelopes, just like all my political bumper stickers are all over my SUV. but it is alleged I wrote this on a check and presumably threatened someone specifically. to make a long story short, this jackboot didn’t like my answers and left saying ‘I’m going to talk to a legal attorney’. my response, ‘if you can find one, please do so’. another to note that in this City, virtually every attorney has a conflict of interest with the city. I found that out from a law furm in Covington which I wanted to retain to represent me against the local tammany hall when some code enforcement officer came on my property and expected me to install a French drain system that extended from my side of tge fence into the yard if my neighbor. turns out the city failed to install one at the top of the hill 8 houses up when the hood was under construction but this dumbass actually thought that if I put part of one 4 to 6 feet long at the bottom of the slope, this would somehow prevent the flooding of the yard one house up from me. all my years in CA and never encountered the stupidity I have encountered here. the apathy of the people, largely welfare, is beyond astounding. currently, KY ranks number 5 in federal welfare funding and last year it ranked number 8 in the top 10 states where people were electing to move from. my gut instinct tells me, this will become the next barrier that corrupt bankrupt states look to erect. to prevent their slaves from moving even within the US. there was a time in the US where states made their own laws. now they are all the same. I suspect the CSG has played a role in that and yet they remain out of the limelight. and they are located in Lexington, ky.
I could write a tome on the crap that goes on here and the ignorance and complete lack of concern among the general population at least within my locale.
I need a shower just writing about it.
And some Mongos graduate HS and go to college, but we know what a PC joke that is, sort of like crowning then king and queen of their proms or allowing them into a bassetball game to score a basket.
Now the Pa. conservatives want to ban all abortions of these lifetime burdens.
The medical racket begins with largely two goals:
1) eliminate competition to pharmaceuticals and surgery.
2) crush the people’s voluntary cooperation with each other.
As cover on here before, I may have even learned it here, there used to be the lodge system. People would be members of lodges. (you can see this in old TV programs like the Honey Mooners) The lodges would then contract at group rates for medical services and collect a fee from participating members. The fee was tiny even for the time. For that most plans had unlimited use of the lodge doctor(s).
Doctors didn’t earn all that much back then either. In the quest for 1) the medical schools were greatly reduced and the supply of doctors constricted. in the move to 2) licensing was leveraged to prevent doctors from taking lodge contracts and other price related aspects. This breaks price competition between doctors.
To this day if a doctor offers contract terms such as $X for all the visits you want, etc or charges too little he or she will be attacked by the system in some form. The former is considered selling insurance without a license.
Now as prices rose by design they had to keep them rising and squeeze more wealth from everyone else. Every “reform” since has been designed for the medical industry to get a greater hunk of cash from the people as a whole for less goods and services. But all the simplistic morons around us see is ‘medical care is expensive, help the poor’. Object and you hate the poor. No, I want system returned to where it was going in 1910. A place where the poor could pay cash out of pocket, dependent on nobody else. The poor are only really helped by making things affordable. Reduced prices or increased productivity and income. Everything else is dependency.
Sounds like you’ve read Michel Accad’s work on this. Yes, 1910 was a turning point with the Flexner Report, which spurred a restriction in the supply of physicians. As in so many areas where government has interfered, it’s fun to imagine what medicine would look like if it were unhampered by busybody politicians. A few years ago a young obstetrician friend posited that he could take a reasonably bright high school graduate and teach him everything he needed to become competent in obstetrics in a couple of years’ on-the-job training.
Hi Roland (and Brent and others on this thread) –
Both my dad and granddad were doctors. It used to be very different. My granddad was an allergist; he had a practice on the first floor of his home in Allentown, PA. He had a nurse to help him. She also served as his receptionist. That was it. No gaggle of transplanted DMV fraus to handle insurance – because most people paid cash and they could because the visits (shots) were cheap. He earned a comfortable middle class living but was far from being rich – or in debt. Just middle class.
The entire medical system went to hell after Medicare (LBJ) and HMOs (Nixon) and now it is outright fascist in the literal meaning of the term. Big business using Big Government to extract money from people, as well as their liberty.
It is beyond despicable – and the time has come to fight this somehow.
Maybe it will fall on me to do so. I have little to lose at this point. I’m not married; no children. So, molon labe you pig fuckers.
After seeing three doctors this year who all turned out to be crooks, I suddenly realized that my insurance premium was a complete waste of money. I cancelled my coverage and am looking at getting out of the country for good. I never planned on collecting social security so I don’t care if they keep any of that. What are they going to do to me when they can’t even find me?
For me it’s really the last straw. Regardless of whether one is forced or suckered into it, insurance is a scam. Mark my words, one of these days, the insurance companies are going to start offering routine maintenance coverage for your car. The automotive industry will be right in there with them because with maintenance insurance, more people will be bringing their cars in to get oil, filter, lube etc. I suspect they will engineer the cars to be more and more difficult to do routine maintenance as well. With insurance, the prices will inevitably go up as well, hence creating even more incentive for more people to get maintenance insurance for their cars.
Hi Scharckle,
Yes. If the government can force us to buy health insurance, why not life insurance? How about home insurance – even if you no longer have a mortgage. No? Why not?
And yes, car maintenance insurance, too. They will say it is necessary to make sure people “properly maintain” their cars… for saaaaaaafety.
“Mark my words, one of these days, the insurance companies are going to start offering routine maintenance coverage for your car.”
The science fiction story “Positive Feedback” is what you are looking for.
http://hell.pl/szymon/Baen/1635%20The%20Eastern%20Front/Prescription%20for%20Chaos/1416591435__13.htm
Hey BrentP, it’s not exactly what anyone is looking for, but yeah, that’s the nightmare I’m thinking is quickly approaching.
I believe Lew Rockwell’s father was a physician too, no? I’m old enough to remember house calls in our rural area. Our doctor, who didn’t have a nurse or a secretary, would come to us if we were too sick to travel. When he finished, Mom or Dad would write him a check.
My doctor’s office has two doctors, four nurses and six paper shufflers, surrounded on all sides up to the ceiling by files full of paperwork.
Because of the barriers to entry many people who could be good doctors are sorted out because the first thing one must be to be a doctor is good at school. It’s also why there are so many bad doctors, because being good at school is how people are sorted for the profession, not if they have the aptitude for being a doctor.
Hey, I really like your idea to get doctors to sell their own insurance. Why don’t doctors just get a licensed to sell insurance??? This would make any doctor look quite a bit more appealing if they have a significantly reduced rate. After all, it isn’t like they need the money that would have gone to the insurance company anyways. They could take a fraction of that, and still be making more money than before while giving their patients a better deal as well; a win/win.
Hi shnarkle, keep in mind that selling insurance (which is what licensed agents do in return for a commission) is not the same as underwriting insurance, which is what State Farm, Progressive, Aetna, etc., do when they promise in a contract to pay the policyholder in the event of a specific loss. If a physician became a licensed agent, he could sell policies, but the rates would be dictated by the underwriting company. I doubt many doctors would be interested in actually underwriting policies because they would be on the hook for losses claimed by their policyholders, and could lose their shirts in a hurry. Setting rates is very very difficult, and the big guys have office towers full of actuaries working to make sure they stay in the black.
Of course most of what people nowadays call health insurance is not really insurance at all. To be insurable, an event has to be random and unpredictable. Picking up birth control pills or getting a colonoscopy don’t qualify.
They weren’t actually selling insurance. They were marketing their own services in a manner that was better for their customers than insurance for many people. One of the reasons doctors are licensed is to stop that competition between them. The government then decided to charge them with selling insurance w/o a license. It’s one of those things where the government has to find a charge to stop something.
https://en.wikipedia. org/wiki/Concierge_medicine
chministries.org/programs.aspx
$45 per month, or $540 per year for the bronze plan.
It’s not zero, but it is cheaper than the penalty, and you will be covered in case of a serious injury or illness.
Paul
Thanks for that resource. It seems they throw some quarterly and annual fees in there in addition to the main plan, but a good alternative nonetheless.
I received the exact same letter several years back. I wound up paying almost $400. then I reread what type of coverages qualify as exemptions. turns out Medicare A qualifies. of course it’s no coverage really but I don’t use it and I’m not paying insurance for the welfare breeders who use kids as a government paycheck. I can’t afford to pay their premiums either and it incenses me that anyone should be forced into paying coverage for others when they can’t. even do so for themselves.
I currently have filed 2 claims for overpayment of taxes commencing with the 2015 returns which they though the IRS acknowledged, never sent me a refund and keep charging me tax since then whenever I try to write it off, despite attaching supporting documents. every letter is the same, ‘please allow us 40 days to investigate’. this will continue till the end of the year and I will receive a new one at the end of 40 days with no money in sight. prior to that the IRS actually tried to bill me twice for taxes I had already paid (over $10k) and had the nerve to attach penalties. this was despite the fact the tax was paid certified mail requiring a signature at their end and my bank had cashed it out within days of the IRS receiving. that went on ALL year till November till they sent me a letter they had located my check. (the check had been stamped ‘received by JP Morgan agent’, no name per se.) the only time I responded was to send a copy of the cancelled check and the return receipt I had received where I indicated in large bold letters, I wasn’t paying them another sou. call me paranoid, but I’ve always wondered if someone actually working for the IRS wasn’t trying to steal from the IRS for further personal profit. I guess 10k of someone else’s money is such a drop in their buckets that competent oversight isn’t warranted.
I despise this bloody government. to the last man, they are pimps, whores, thieves and murderers. and as far as the public is concerned, I think George Carlin was spot on in saying we have a lot of dumb M-F-kers in this country. but hey, when you are willing to live off the backs of others given the chance undoubtedly the pus and pestilence at the bottom will clamor for and support the pus and pestilence at the top.
for whatever it’s worth Eric, you are not alone. you and so many others, past and present, are very much alive in my mind. your life does matter to others.
Thank you, Lyn, for the kind words…
This whole thing is infuriating. As vile as socialized medicine is, at least you are not being mulcted for the profit of private corporations, the government serving as the enforcement arm. But this business – Obamacare – is all about fleecing us for the profit of private corporations. It is beyond despicable and I am depressed beyond words that, like so many other recent outrages, people seem willing to just take it.
I am so sorry, Eric. I just realized that you are not old enough to use this ‘out’. forgive me. but I do know what it’s like to be mulcted. which is why I used this as an ‘out’. I have wondered for sometime if insurance wasn’t largely a scam. especially in regards to homeowners. every year my premiums increase with the latest being a 5% inflation adage and I’m now paying for coverage in excess of 35k. though the property became devalued back in the 2008 crisis, I am still paying for more coverage than I need. and here, where I currently live, it is law that I have to have replacement cost coverage even though I myself would not rebuild if the place burned down to the ground. to me it doesn’t seem like anyone here ever really owns their home much less their bodies and their minds. I do not see choice as an option. it is either/or by mandate which is no choice. we have in most aspects of life, only the illusion of freedom. I was born in 1950 and spent my life observing the Fabian socialism and Marxist doctrine spreading like wildfire after JFK and RFK were assassinated and have in fact spent my entire life thus far being mulcted by government, corporations, NGOs, and members of the public who thought they or some self appointed group were entitled to what they hadn’t earned. all of which contributed to the current state of affairs, with the head of the octopus being the Federal Reserve. without this organization of private bankers coining and controlling America’s currency in violation of the constitution, the coup that replaced the republic with mob rule democracy and leviathan government and all their regulations and mandates, would not have been possible without their ability to create money out of thin air. coming from where I am in my life I would like to see just one year before I die where people actually recognize that government is the problem and not the solution and stop clamoring for assistance and more handouts. as a member of the Mises Institute and sharing the political views of Rothbard, I don’t see this as happening until the masses find themselves homeless and eating dirt on the continent their forefathers conquered.
In short, we in America, are breaking the law if we do not pay an insurance premium every month for a service we may or may not need. American government has turned the concept of law on its head, that it now punishes people for not giving up their property. But support the troops, they are fighting for our freedom!!!
Yes, Bob, it’s just like compulsory automobile liability insurance. I’ve been driving for 36 years- never had to have an insurance co. pay out so much as a dime on my behalf- but I’ve paid tens of thousands of dollars for that insurance. Now they want me to pay for even MORE insurance, for a service I haven’t used in 40 years?!
Hi Nunz,
Exactly. Same deal. Let’s do some quick maff. Over the past 30 years, I’ve been forced to spend about $1,000 annually to “cover” my vehicles; actually, not to “cover” them – or even me. For liability-only “coverage” to “cover” damage I do to others. Which has been zilch.
So, that’s $30,000 out the window – not counting the lost opportunity cost.
If I had that money now, I could invest in a custom-designed web site. Or hire a computer guy. Instead, I was forced to throw it down the gullet of the insurance mafia.
I could be wrong here, but it’s my understanding that there is the option of simply handing the dmv a bond for $30k. You’d still have that bond now, and can pull it anytime you need it. I don’t know the specifics, it it’s $30k per vehicle, then it wouldn’t be that great of a deal for those with more than a few cars, but if it’s $30k for whichever car you’re driving, then it would be a great deal.
Depends on what state, Shnark- I know in NY it used to be (Don’t know if it still is] You could post a bond, or prove you had unencumbered property worth a certain amount, in lieu of insurance- but here in KY. you can’t- you MUST carry insurance, even if you’re as rich as Trump. It truly is a Mafia-style racket.
Although, I suspect that a bond would cost roughly the same as the insurance [funny how that works out, eh?], and quite frankly, when ya own property, and considering our whacky “justice” system and the price of legal defense (knowing that someone could hit you and THEY could be 100% at fault, and still sue you…and could win- ‘specially in the lefty-liberal states) the $300 per year insurance per vehicle starts to not look that bad. Although, for what it’s cost over the years, I could’ve just hired Clarence Darrow if ever needed (Including digging jim up and dusting him off!).
It’s like everything else in the effed-up country though: Designed to punish/extort the productive and responsible, while letting the slouches skate.
I mean, when some homie hits you, and it turns out that he has no insurance….what happens to him? Oh, he may pay a small fine to the state….but YOU’LL never get a dime out of him…..no indentured servitude; and YOU’D be charged with robbery if you confiscated his [probably stolen, anyway] goods……
The bond doesn’t cost you anything until you have to pay out on an accident you caused. You can collect your bond at any time. The other trick that more people really need to clue into is to take your assets out of your name. Place your home, businesses, bank accounts, etc. into an international trust, and no lawyer in the world is going to bother suing someone who has nothing in their name. They can’t bleed a rock, and no country is obligated to fork open a trust. In fact, they will flat out refuse. They will tell anyone dumb enough to ask, to simply go pound sand.
Hi Schnarkle,
Yes, but the end result is the same: You are compelled to tie up your assets, which effectively means you can’t use the money. Plus, who has the $30k to just set aside?
This whole business also amounts to presumptive guilt/punishment-before-the-fact.
I endorse holding people criminally and civilly responsible for any harms they cause – but not before they cause harm.
Mandatory insurance/surety bonds are presumptively punitive by definition. You are being punished not for what you’ve done but what you may do. And even though you may never do it – cause harm – you are nonetheless punished.
Think about how dangerous to liberty this idea is. If we can be forced to buy car/health insurance on the basis of “harms” we haven’t caused and costs we’ve not imposed, then what is to stop them from forcing us to buy life insurance? Why not “He Might Go Crazy” insurance? Certainly gun insurance. And insurance to cover your pets – after all, someone might get fleas from them, or bitten.
Shouldn’t I – and others who’ve never caused harm – be able to recover the money extracted from us for “coverage” we were forced to buy for harms we never caused?
Hey Eric, when you say “Who has the $30k to set aside?”, you’re making their case for them. If you don’t have the scratch to pay for damages to someone else’s car you damage, then perhaps you’d be willing to put up your house, or your car, motorcycle, etc. collection? You’ve got quite a bit of money tied up in that don’t you? Don’t get me wrong here, I’m not in favor of insurance in the slightest. If there were no insurance, or car loans, the cost to fix a car would probably be less than what you pay for one year. Here again, I think people don’t have their priorities straight. People make money and they blow it on junk they don’t really need and then when it comes to things like insurance, they have to fork out all that money for the rest of their lives. IF they had their priorities straight they could simply tie up some money in a bond that wouldn’t be earining interest in a bank account anyways, and then when they decide to leave the country, or stop driving, etc. they can have it all back. Heck, they might even earn some interest for all I know. I’ve always had motorcycles which don’t require much in the way of insurance, and here in Florida no insurance is required. My boats have never been insured either. Primarily because I spend more time just living on them than driving them around in close quarters. When I am cruising around, it’s out in open water where there isn’t much chance of a collision taking place. I’m sick of these scams though so I’m selling my toys. I just don’t enjoy them as much when I look at how much money I have to fork over just for the right to call them my own. It’s a pathetic joke. I can even laugh about it now that I’m getting rid of everything.
Hi Schnarkle,
This is exactly like saying I have to buy life insurance (and all the other insurances) because otherwise I might impose costs on society if I croak. Why not a $30,000 surety bond for that, too?
I oppose holding people responsible for harms they haven’t caused, as explained. This idea that people should be forced to indemnify against what they might do is un-American. Make them accountable for what they actually do. And yes, I realize there will be “deabeats” out there. But, there are already are – despite all this mandated insurance. In the same way that gun control punishes people who never shot anyone, mandatory insurance punishes the people who aren’t the problem.
Americans used to accept that risk is the necessary corollary of freedom. That if you insist on risk being forcibly taken out of life, the cost is freedom being taken out of our lives.
I am not required – yet – to indemnify myself or buy Murder Insurance. Why not? Using the same logic that is used to force people to buy car insurance. After all, I might lose control of myself while out in public and who will pay?
Ever notice that the people who _are_ imposing costs on “society” are never held to account? Why? Because they have nothing to take and without them government would lose its reason to take from others.
Hi Brent,
In my darker moments, I think about quitting… no more writing 7-9 columns a week, the radio… paying my bills with money I earned. Just quit. Now, gibs me my EBT card. I’ll sleep in. Go out later – after smoking some weed. Maybe knock some girl up. Go take a nap. Drive my uninsured hooptie around; if I wreck it, I’ll just flee the scene. What the Hell… no assets to seize, no wages to garnish…
Sometimes, it sucks having a conscience…
Shnark, why stop at $30K for that matter? You might knock over a school bus, and cause millions of dollars in damages to property, life and limb? Or you may hit someone’s Bentley, or the Fabergé egg delivery truck… 🙂
And why just limit it to drivers? Why not have mandatory pedestrian insurance? You never know, you may just veer out into traffic and cause an accident!
A while back, some lefty states were even proposing (Don’t know if it ever went through) that gun owners carry mandatory insurance!
The way it’s supposed to be, is that we are supposed to be accountable for actual harm that we cause, when and if we cause it. This is why they used to have debtor’s prisons. Today, we are all presumed guilty when we have caused no harm, and put into economic prison.
The way it would work in a truly free society/Libertarian-anarchistic world, is just like the way it had indeed worked throughout most of history from Patriarchal times: You cause damages and can’t pay for it, your victim becomes the possessor of the corresponding amount of your property (real or personal) or you sell your property or otherwise come up with the funds to pay, or else you become an indentured servant, with the price of the sale of YOU for however many years being given to the victim.
Instead, under this system of mandatory insurance(s), we all essentially become indentured servants…forever. (At least , under the patriarchakl-type system, once your debt has been paid, you are again free).
It’s amazing how people who perpetually have “no money” always seem to manage to produce the needed money when faced with real consequences- so cases of such servitude would probably be pretty rare, because the negligent would either come up with the money…or learn to exercise a lot more caution if their freedom were on the line, instead of just a few-hundred (or thousands) dollar a year insurance premium.
Substituting mandatory insurance for all, for unlimited personal liability for the guilty only, is a perfect example of how “modern” practices truly pervert justice- and why we’d actually have MORE justice and responsibility in a free (Libertarian) society.
You don’t think insurance would exist in a libertarian society? Really? Correct me if I’m wrong, but I believe insurance arose spontaneously on the market long before politicians cooked up schemes to make it mandatory.
I worked for a tax service (whose first two letters begin with Home Room) when the individual mandate came in. We referred to it as a tax and that’s how it was described to those who brought us their meager W-2’s for which they paid substantial amounts to have their returns filled out. If you had low enough income to qualify, you could get a subsidy to pay part or all the mandate’s cost based on your “estimated income” for the coming year. The catch was that if you estimated low, you’d have to repay a portion of the subsidy added on to your Obamacare tax.
Eric, you’re probably getting good advice but, so far as I’m aware, your assets can be levied on and, as you noted, the interest quickly adds up. Try to avoid being awarded the Joe Lewis badge of distinction. The Detroit Redwings may have named a stadium for him but it didn’t keep him out of the poor house by the time the IRS got done with him.
If I’m correctly reading between the lines, Eric, you will end up paying. You’ve presented a very reasonable analysis of the circumstances, including the stress, worry, and anxiety not only from receiving a nasty gram from the IRS but also from the liability of the compounding detriment on your savings in the future. Not to pile on your concerns, but the IRS now has private debt collectors it has contracted with to collect unpaid tax bills against people who don’t pay taxes, otherwise known as the poor. Or, in your case, the self employed who obviously doesn’t pay more income tax than what is required throughout the calendar year.
Is holding on to $695 dollars based on principal worth it in exchange for years of worry and anxiety, anger and hostility towards the IRS that may very well cost you even more than that to defend? Even if you are successful. I suspect your accountant does not work for free. How many times in the future will this issue come up and you be billed for the time?
Being indebted to the IRS is unlike any other debt obligation as you know. You will never be truly free until this issue is resolved.
Hi Jack,
I am still waiting to hear from my accountant. Everything I have read to date indicates that the government cannot – for now – collect. They can only withhold (from any refund due). My concern, though, is that the law will change – and the bastards will then demand the “accrued” penalty plus interest “owed.”
It is sickening what this country’s become.
eric, I am sorry also for what has happened to you….and all of us. I won’t be leaving shit to anyone as I once thought. I’ll be lucky to not be evicted and be destitute because of an IRS ruling. To be honest, not a day goes by I’ll get that “pay it or leave it” letter. I’ve already been offered…..and signed a pledge to not do something(I still don’t know what it is)by that same agency. I no longer own anything. I hate to think of when they’ll take my coconut oil that keeps me from having some private parts rot off when I am trucking and operating equipment(just this morning I tried not to think about my coconut oil on a sensitive part I didn’t apply this morning). You know that dirt equipment has lots of back and forth and up and down and all kinds of movement. I don’t recognize this country. I grew up in Texas. It’s not some braggadocio thing. We(everybody)didn’t know where DC was and didn’t give a shit(all, except the WW11 people and their parents””who didn’t buy into it at all””). Even during prohibition no federal agents would come to Texas unless they came to be part of the anti-federal program and get rich. There were quite a few who did and quite a few who didn’t and were never seen again.
A federal agent, down in the scrub of central Tx. near Shiner…..never heard from again. Nobody from the North wanted to go to Texas….and now we’re replete with not only Northerners but goddamn Yankees. Soon we’ll have more yankees than any state.
“Gay pride” parades in Texas…that says it all. Didja ever think ya’d see the day, 8?
Even with coconut erl, their parts are going to rot off, and their chutes too- and we get to pay for their treatment” until they croak.
Nun, I used to have gay friends but like the rest, they checked out earlier than my other friends. And the thing about my “gay” friends is you didn’t know it just by looking or even speaking with them.
The only one who tried to show it died at 40 of an unspecified disease but his best friend growing up who wasn’t gay said it was obviously some HIV thing.
I realize you don’t have to be gay to get it but it seems to up the ante so to speak.
In my old age with no young snatch at the ready and no future I care to envision, I just don’t really give a shit anymore.
I’ve done 2 things in my life to make a living that didn’t involved being soaked in sweat and dirty as hell and hurting all over. The first was going to auctions and buying stuff with cash and selling it for cash and that was great until the IRS stepped in. The next thing was day trading stocks. I’d always had a photographic memory so when I read something it stuck. I found out quickly being able to recall shitloads of information and research a stock was right up my alley but they took that away too.
So when I say I don’t really give a shit, you can believe it or test the waters to find out if you want to be one of those triple S kinda things. I do still care about “some” people but it’s not the followers or the suckups and that includes my own family.
I lost a 46 year old nephew this year to pure and simple incompetent doctors, the only one of that family who had a nut at all and he was so strapped with pussy-whipped I had lost hope in his ever not being that way.
It’s so bad(pussy-whipped)these days that some of my old buddies can’t even come see me. Now that’s pitiful. I recommended a movie to one a few years ago via email. He said he couldn’t watch it cause his wifey didn’t like movies live that and it was Zombieland, a fairly funny flick with lots of irony. Well, while it may have had Zombies it was a comedy. He sat at the house when not on the road doing audits and did auditing and editing work all day while his wife was teaching school. Why can’t you watch it when she’s not there? No response. Now that’s bad. I’ve lived all over Texas by myself although the wife thinks I drug a harem around with me and damned if wouldn’t have it I could have but just ain’t so.
Too many times friends have come to me to get a little air and then said “I can’t let the old lady get wind of this” as if I would even see her or speak to her and tell her if I did see her we’d been dallying around with Evan Williams and old Buddy Weiser.
They all had kids so I know from living with them when none of us weren’t married they had nuts at one time. They live their lives tip-toeing around trying to keep a modicum of that self-indulgent part everybody needs in some way.
The wife finally learned, and it really pissed her off, the fastest way to get ME to do something was to tell me I couldn’t. I’ll do shit I don’t want to do if somebody tells me I can’t.
I hate that word…..can’t. People who use it won’t admit to themselves can’t and won’t aren’t interchangeable.
You can’t do something. How the hell do they know? I recall someone telling me I can’t do some such in a car which ended with me doing donuts under a traffic light in downtown. Now tell me I can’t. You can’t shoot out street lights and soon the whole end of the town was dark. I’d have never done it but somebody flatly stated I couldn’t.
Ya can’t roller skate in a buffalo herd
Ya can’t roller skate in a buffalo herd
Ya can’t roller skate in a buffalo herd
But you can be happy if you’ve a mind to
Ya can’t take a shower in a parakeet cage
Ya can’t take a shower in a parakeet cage
Ya can’t take a shower in a parakeet cage
But you can be happy if you’ve a mind to
All ya gotta do is put your mind to it
Knuckle down, buckle down, do it, do it, do it
Well, ya can’t go a-swimmin’ in a baseball pool
Ya can’t go swimmin’ in a baseball pool
Ya can’t go swimmin’ in a baseball pool
But you can be happy if you’ve a mind to
Ya can’t change film with a kid on your back
Ya can’t change film with a kid on your back
Ya can’t change film with a kid on your back
But you can be happy if you’ve a mind to
Ya can’t drive around with a tiger in your car
Ya can’t drive around with a tiger in your car
Ya can’t drive around with a tiger in your car
But you can be happy if you’ve a mind to
All ya gotta do is put your mind to it
Knuckle down, buckle down do it, do it, do it
Well, ya can’t roller skate in a buffalo herd
Ya can’t roller skate in a buffalo herd
Ya can’t roller skate in a buffalo herd
But you can be happy if you’ve a mind to
Ya can’t go fishin’ in a watermelon patch
Ya can’t go fishin’ in a watermelon patch
Ya can’t go fishin’ in a watermelon patch
But you can be happy if you’ve a mind to
Ya can’t roller skate in a buffalo herd
SPOKEN: “Ya can’t roller skate in a buffalo herd”
You can’t, a self-fulfilling prophecy.
Hi Eight,
The only person whose sexual activities directly concern me are those of the person I am with. If she likes whips and chains, I want to know – because I don’t! Otherwise, what people do is none of my business and so long as they don’t shove it in my face and demand approval or demand I subsidize it, I don’t give a tinker’s damn. If the guys down the road are banging each other in the privacy of their home, good for them. So long as I don’t have to pay for it or tell them I think it’s swell.
One of the worst defects in the American character is a tendency toward busybodyness… now in full bloom.
Of course, part of the reason for that is the way that what other people do is somehow now everyone’s corporate/collectivist obligation/responsibility… like the “shared responsibility” payment thing…
But they DO shove it in your face and demand approval, or demand you subsidize it!
Very well said, Eric. The only person I can control is me. Sometimes.
True, Eric- what other people do is not my bidness, and I don’t want to control them, whether I agree with them or not…but it doesn’t mean that I have to like or approve of what they do (‘Specially when they put their doings on display!).
The pendulum has now swung the other way- and those of us who are repulsed by; criticize; or consider certain sexual practices to be immoral, are now censored and ostracized.
The message now is: You MUST accept everyone, or at least keep quiet about it if you don’t. And in-fact, the state will even promote *their* agendas, and dictate a morality to your kids now, in which it is taught that it is “wrong” to think poorly of those who can not accept the gender with which they were born, and those who initiate deadly diseases because they must poke orifices which were not made for that purpose.
It’s much like drugs: While I believe ALL drugs should be legal- it certainly doesn’t mean that advocate their use, or want to be around those who use them, or that I won’t criticize those who use them.
They can have a “gay pride” parade. You KNOW what would happen if we were to have a hetero pride parade! -The same thing that would happen if we were to have White History Month or a White Mayor’s Conference or or a United Caucasian College Fund….
People have been made very stupid. They cannot understand things like wanting all drugs being legal but not advocating use. And because so many can’t those who can will make the leap for their own advantage.
I’m just so tired of the human race at this point. I don’t know if I had past lives or not but it feels like I’ve been watching this nonsense for thousands of years.
Seems like people have been conditioned to view EVERYTHING collectively instead of individually, Brent.
You must either be for forcing property/business owners to let trannies pick what bathroom they want to use; or for mandating that they use a specific one. The idea of letting the property owner choose what he will allow or whom he will cater to, is totally foreign to the collectivist mentality.
If you criticize Trump, “you must be a libtard Hillary supporter!”.
Human nature never changes. This crap has been going on since ancient Babylon and the Greek city-states. In fact, it is the very reasons cities were formed.
Those who actually think, and try to overcome the baser instincts of human nature are rare in the general population.
You only find them in Libertarian and Christian-Libertarian circles (Because truly logical thought and morality naturally lead to Libertarianism/anarchism- where people are more concerned about the principles of liberty- which are the true meaning of love-thy-neighbor and do-unto-others; and the purest expression of human rights and equity, as opposed to the “I just want to force others to do what I think is right and or what will give me the greatest advantage- i.e selfishness).
It’s funny- as you say- people are so dumb today, you can’t even have a rational discussion when you mention something which they have been trained to be reactionary about- such as the legalization of drugs.
Invariably, the first thing out of their mouth is always “Oh, you must be a drug addict” and or “What about the children!!!!” [Yes, the War On Drugs has been so successful at keeping their little bastards off of drugs!]- and mentioning the parallels between the WOD and Prohibition, or the right of people to make their own choices over their own lives and bodies [The same arguement THEY will use when it comes to abortion[ falls on deaf ears…because the TV says so….and Occifer Friendly gave a demonstration at government indoctrination camp….and…and…like some dude took druga and died, and didn’t even have a prescription [It would have been O-K if he had had one! 😀 ]
People!
Another reason why I never married! Hard to a hermit when you’re married, because women tend to like to have people around.
8, you CAN’T send me $10,000! 😀
In this culture, and with the government having stepped in and perverted everything, I’ve concluded that it is impossible to have such a thing as a real marriage. Women aren’t women anymore- they’re just female people and “partners”- and men aren’t allowed to be men anymore- the ones who haven’t had their masculinity bred out of them by now, are held hostage by the women and their real husband, the government- so that the man is just held hostage, and at any time if he should fall from the good graces of the women, he risks losing everything- home, kids, assets…. Thus the woman is now in charge.
A total perversion of the marital relationship- foisted upon, by Uncle.
And yes, the typical age of death for long-time fudgepackers is early 40’s. Going the wrong way up narrow one-way alleys ain’t what that equipment was designed for- and despite all of the talk of same-sex marriage, fact is, most of ’em will have 100’s of sex partners in their short lives….which also ain’t good. Homo’s now account for over 80% of the gonorrhea cases in the US; their incidence of AIDS and HIV are something like 40 TIMES higher than the general population….etc. etc.
I don’t know the stats, but I’d imagine they get a lot of botulism too- after all, what causes botulism?: Bad meat in the can. 😀
8, my daughter got really into Roger Miller’s songs when she was about 7 or so, from watching “Robin Hood”. When I heard her singing the tune about Robin Hood and Little John, I sang “Do-Wacka-Do” for her and she was hooked You just reminded me of that.
Eric, I sent you a book last year that could have saved you from all of this (Income Tax; Shattering the Myths by Dave Champion). The ACA fee applies to taxpayers only and there are very few entities in America that actually are taxpayers. Read the book and if you still have questions contact Mr. Champion. Here’s his TV show from last year where he discusses the income tax, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SD9D9rMaKss
Hi Peter,
Yes, and I read it. And encourage anyone reading this to keep in mind that nothing in that book will prevent the IRS from collecting whatever taxes it claims you “owe.” The law is precisely what they say it is. Whether the Income Tax Amendment was duly passed 100-some years ago is as functionally irrelevant as whether the 5th Amendment clearly states that no one shall be compelled to incriminate themselves and the 4th’s prohibition of unreasonable searches, defined as those absent probable cause and a warrant.
We live in Deliverance America. If they want your money, they’ll take your money.
Yet there are thousands and thousands of us who have left the income tax system with zero issues. The author of the book is very vocal about the income tax and hasn’t file or paid in 25 years (I haven’t for 20). Don’t confuse the court’s weakening the amendments to the income tax, two different things. If you file a tax return then don’t bitch about being accountable to the laws that govern taxpayers. You’ve read the book so you know that you are not a taxpayer yet you still file and claim to be one. There are those who complain about the way things are and those who do something about it. Luckily, when it comes to the income tax, it is a fairly simple matter to do something about it.
Hi Peter,
I am not buying this. And I urge anyone reading this not to, either.
The people you reference no doubt haven’t got assets – homes, bank accounts – that can be seized. In which case, sure – they are “free” from having to pay taxes. But this is the freedom to be homeless, unless you know some way to live on a cash-only basis, without having bank accounts and not owning anything that has your name on it. That’s fine, if you are willing to live the transient lifestyle. It may come to that for me, as well. If you haven’t got anything, they can’t take anything.
Ask Larken Rose what he thinks about this book.
Again, to everyone out there reading this: Do not believe any book/”expert” who tells you the IRS/government has no lawful power to force you to pay taxes; that all you have to do is not file, or claim “sovereign” status or cite some arcane statute or argue that the 13th Amendment was not properly amended, etc.
It is dangerous bullshit.
Agreed. To wit:
Irwin Allen Schiff (February 23, 1928 – October 16, 2015) was an American tax protester[1] known for writing and promoting literature in which he argued that the income tax in the United States is illegal and unconstitutional. Judges in several civil and criminal cases ruled in favor of the federal government and against Schiff. As a result of these judicial rulings, Schiff was in prison serving a sentence of at least 13 years for tax crimes at the time of his death, aged 87. The Federal Bureau of Prisons reported that Schiff died on October 16, 2015.[2] Schiff was the father of businessman and former United States Senate candidate Peter Schiff.
Thanks for the back-up on this, Steve… the nonsense peddled by the “sovereign citizen/admiralty flag/income tax not amended properly” crowd is just that… nonsense.
Mind, I agree 100 percent with the view that all coercive taxation is theft by definition and thus immoral. But that is neither here as regards the question at hand.
Eric and Steve –
Irwin Schiff was a genuine American hero.
If anybody walked the walk, it was Irwin.
I had the pleasure of meeting him a handful of times, including spending an afternoon with him in Las Vegas in the fall of 1998.
He was a showman. He was a carnival barker-not unlike the President. He would often describe his latest book, seminar, or theory as “the greatest” or “unbelievable, like you have never heard of before.”
He also attended the 2000 Libertarian National Convention in Anaheim. Sure, it was to sell his wares and preach the income tax resistance gospel according to Irwin. You should have seen him debating other tax freedom advocates (“tax protesters” in clover parlance).
Eric, you are absolutely right about the efficacy of Irwin’s position and that of the sovereign citizens and the 13th amendment not validly enacted crowd regarding the income tax.
Nevertheless, the Irwin Schiff story needs to be told.
Thanks so much for the good words Liberty Mike. I won’t even go on about this. I understand, as does eric, what this law and what will happen via federal “fatwa” as eric would say. And it is “fatwa” and it is bullshit(Texas term for bullshit).
I have met Irwin Schiff as well. He did have as you say a bit of the carnival barker in him, but he was a good man.
His mistake was to believe, as many of us naively thought 35-40 years ago, that the law actually meant something and that the courts would do the right thing when presented with the correct evidence and legal arguments. (Amazing how stupid that sounds now, knowing what we know today about the sheer level of corruption and tyranny we’re up against.)
However when dealing with the “Federal Mafia” (also the title of one of Schiff’s excellent books) it doesn’t matter what the law says. Yes, the law as written is being misapplied, but the root problem is the abuse of power. In the case of income tax, the dirtbags are protecting the fundamental basis of their parasitical existence. Thus they are going to do whatever the hell they want to protect that regardless of what the law says. They don’t give a flying fuck about your so-called rights.
Tax trials are carefully orchestrated political events. The juries are packed with government employees and entitlement recipients. I have seen trials where seasoned IRS agents could not show in the law where individuals are made liable to file or pay. (One, when pressed for how he knew that it was “required” said “My mother told me!”)
Judges are afraid of the IRS and play ball. About 30 years ago there was a judge named Claiborne as I recall who didn’t toe the line, he treated tax trials like any other trial and would not bend over for the IRS. They went after him for “tax crimes” and destroyed him. This lesson has not been forgotten by the others.
So in a sense it does not matter whether you have arguments that are legally correct, or whether you’re spouting nonsense and baying at the moon. The end result is going to be the same 99.9% of the time.
Of course if you happen to become a juror in a tax case and understand the issues there is nothing they can do to you if you kick back and stick with a NOT GUILTY verdict. Even if you can’t convince the other jurors at least it will be a mistrial that will leave the Just-Us Dept. persecutors scratching their pointy little heads.
Yep, it’s the difference between having the right and having the power. Who cares if the government doesn’t have the right when you’re sitting in prison for the rest of your life?
It’s like these clowns who tell law enforcement that they are not consenting to a search or seizure, as if that is somehow enough to remove this power from the leo. They aren’t magic words. They just simply convey certain rights to a citizen that he may or may not be able to use in court.
Once again we have someone who thinks the written laws and rules matter. They don’t until there is a critical mass who perceive them the same way. Otherwise a jury of your peers will put you in prison. The government knows this and does this people over and over again.
Government does not respect its own written rules, so showing that the written rules mean we don’t ‘owe’ income tax doesn’t amount to anything. The way out sadly is a very hard one of breaking people’s illusions.
Just what my federal lawyer told me. Well, to be honest, he wasn’t honest. He fucked me(Hangover 3), not literally , but much less than if it were true. The Just Us system is perverted beyond belief.
Eric, I really hope you can dodge this bullet (and last year’s).
I can’t believe how much the Mafia has wrung out of me this year… and it’s only half over.
I have 5 kids, and every year, one of them always ends up in the ER for some stupid thing. My employer offers health coverage that this year cost me $15K in premiums. But I buy it (because I have 5 kids, and one of ’em always winds up in the ER). This year’s event brought two (!!) ER visits. All told, we’re on target to toss $24K down the “healthcare” sewer.
Sorry, kids, no vacation this year either, and Dad can’t get his truck fixed. Oh well. At least the CEO of UnitedHealthCare got his new vacation house in Belize, and his K Street lobbyist got a condo in Cannes…
Thanks, Mr. Bill!
Your situation makes me feel slightly better about mine (and worse about yours). That would literally wipe me out. But that is the dilemma, exactly. I literally cannot afford “health care” – that is, insurance – as a self-employed, middle-aged male who doesn’t make a lot of money. The least expensive “plan” I could find was about $400/month – and that is simply too much for me – assuming I want to keep the electricity on and eat.
So, instead, I skip it in order to keep the lights on and be able to eat.
And now, I am to be punished for my trying to survive the best I can without becoming a maggot parasite (i.e., applying for “benefits” from the government).
The most galling part is that I hadn’t had to pay 15 percent of my earning in “self employment” tax (FICA) I could easily afford the got-damned health insurance.
President Trump has dropped the ball on that one, eh?
He didn’t get rid of the Individual Mandate?
When your country is collapsing, a patriotic American cannot help but becoming obsessed with trying to save it.
http://www.badharvest.net/forum/viewforum.php?id=2
Here is the thing, when my business is doing well and I can pay it I do. I can’t afford $24k a year to insure my family and self against low probability events. I can afford the $2k extra tacked on top of the $30k in taxes I pay on April 15. I have a family, like so many things I took on an sacred obligation when I had a family, so I can’t risk fighting the communists directly and overtly myself. That is a job for someone like Eric, and a lot of other single guys, with no dependents to suffer the privations some surely will.
What is needed is a resistance, a union, a committee of correspondence where we can turn to for support and assistance. If you need money or a weapon, the group can provide. If you need a safe place, or to get a message to someone, the group can help. It is harder today than ever before because of pervasive surveillance, but it is also more necessary.
I believe we’re long past the point where resistance cells should be formed. Seat belt enforcers and checkpoint goons should start having real reason to be nervous, more so their enabling judges and lawyers. But don’t assume they’re all bad, the good ones might be our most effective allies. The more local, the more likely to be OK. Feds are pretty much all bad.
Leaving isn’t really an option, any more than it was for the French during the occupation, the Russians under Soviet rule, etc.
I guess it’s a job for everybody. My wife and I scrape by. I work hard for little pay but I still give em hell and will till the not too distant day I become room temperature. I sometimes look forward to it.
Seat belt enforcers and checkpoint goons should start having real reason to be nervous, more so their enabling judges and lawyers. But don’t assume they’re all bad,…
If they’re acting as enforcers of illegitimate laws, they’re bad. Good people don’t do that kind of thing unless there’s an actual gun being held to their head. As far as I know, none of these enforcers have that excuse.
Exactly, JDL. The only way tyrannies can exist- be it this American one- or Nazi Germany, or some banana republic, is because people are willing to participate in the machinery of them; to take up arms against their countrymen; to man the courts and jails and agencies, etc.
All who do such are as guilty as the tyrants whom they serve. Does the guard carting the Jew off to Auschwitz get a moral pass because he is “just doing his job”? If so, then we must say the same about the hit-man….
Stories like this one from Eric, are why I have left the US and am doing the expat thing. I fortunately, do have healthcare paid for by my last employer as part of the retirement package. But I know many people who do not and whom have the choice to pay this extortion and not eat or not pay and be able to barely feed themselves. I was also reminded when I would fly in and out thru airports in the US why I decided to make an exit. I decided to say F the system and walked away from “Everything” debts…taxes etc and left with only what I could carry in my luggage. I am no longer going to be a participant or customer of a “Service”….at least when one uses the “Services” of commercial company, one knows they are going to be “Serviced” when the Internal Revenue _______ “Services” you, you don’t get lubrication or a kiss when its over. NOT PLAYING the game anymore.
Hi Jack,
I think of this, often. But it would mean never seeing my friends again, losing pretty much everything – and having to start over, in a new place, in middle age.
That defeats me. I admit it.
If I had a wife, a family – I’d be more open to it. If I were a younger man, I would almost certainly do it. At 25, it is easy to start a new life.
So, like so many others, I await the tsunami. I have a bottle of good whiskey and my Sig.
Hi Eric, I’m not sure if almost all your income is from online sources, if so you could live anywhere with internet. You can also move all or most of your stuff. You would though not see your current friend s much. I moved to new Zealand in 2010 and love it. I was well into middle age at the time. So far I still file u.s. taxes. Exempt from the health insurance and taxes paid here offset what would otherwise be owed to uncle. What I am saying is that it would be possible for you to find a place that would work for you outside the u.s. best.
Didius, if you didn’t narc on yourself by filing a return, would the IRS scum even have a clue that you were earning money there?
I’m not sure if anyone if anyone mentioned this yet but there are medical expense sharing organiztions out there. My daughter did one of these and she paid $150 a month.
Here’s a typical one
Christian Medical Cost Sharing
Hope that helps
Mary
Hi Mary,
I appreciate this, but here’s the issue for me: I am extremely healthy; I have no medical problems at all. I have not been to a doctor in ten years, for anything. I therefore do not wish to spend any of my limited means on a regular monthly payment for “insurance” of any kind. It is “coverage” that is empooring (my term) us all, as much as taxes.
I have written about this before.
Even in your scenario, $150/month is $1,800 annually. Over ten years that amounts to almost $20,000! Factor that over 20 years and it is almost $40,000! Gone. And you have nothing to show for it, if you didn’t need it. My idea is to keep the $40,000 – and then if I need it, I have it. Whether for “health care” or some other thing.
Now add to the cost of health insurance the cost of car insurance. Another $10,000 over 20 years for the average person ($500 annually times 20).
This is just rough math – but it’s accurate enough. We are looking at $50,000 on “coverage.”
Imagine what one could do with that, in terms o paying off one’s home or investing or saving for one’s own retirement.
I despise the insurance “business” even more than the government which is now its enforcement division.
But it’s not insurance, Eric, and you do have something to show for it. You’ve helped someone else with their medical bills. I belong to Christian Healthcare Ministries, and each month they send me news of my fellow members and how the money I contribute each month has helped them. Then, a few years ago, they helped me with $20,000+ of medical bills after I was hospitalized with blood clots in my lungs. (Before then, I had always been healthy.) And of course all of us at CHM are exempt from the ridiculous Obamacare fine.
Just want to make it clear that CHM is not part of the insurance “business”; it’s simply Christians following the Biblical admonition to care for one another.
I sure hope you find a way to get out of the clutches of the IRS, Eric.
Hi Claire!
My objection to all of this is the coercive aspect. That’s all. And right now, I can only afford to take care of myself and pay my basic bills; insurance is out of the question. I need that $150 (or whatever it is) for my expenses. My selfishness extends to desiring to be responsible for myself. To not imposing my problems on other people.
If it weren’t for all these obnoxious taxes and mandatory “fees,” I could easily afford the occasional quack check, cavity, etc.
But we’re all of us going broke in order to be “covered”!
Eric, I’m in complete agreement with you on the debacle that is Obamacare. I just wanted to point out the benefits of CHM. And yes, Tallpine, I did sign a statement of faith and verified that I don’t live an unbiblical lifestyle when I signed up. As a Christian, I have no problem with that.
My understanding is that you have to sign a confession of faith and/or attend church regularly to qualify for those medical plans.
No, thanks.
Yeah, that’s courtesy of Uncle, Tallpine. To qualify as an “alternative” to exempt one from the Obozocare mandate, one has to be a “member of a religious community which provides necessary care to it’s members”, like the Amish. They can’t just sell you a policy…they have to “count you as a member”.
I thought those type of things had all gone away, because they’re basically scams. (Or at the very least, technical work-arounds of Uncle’s idiotic and unjust laws).
The real ironic thing, is that most professing Christians don’t even “live by the Bible”. If they did, and truly adhered to Biblical law, including diet and such, they wouldn’t have much need for modern medicine. Works for me!
Y,know Nunzio, I think you spotlight a glaring problem in that people who work hard and take care of themselves are paying double what those who don’t pay in that junk food is cheap , and it doesn’t cost anything to sit on your butt all day long doing nothing. Right before I cancelled my health insurance, I received a kit to collect a stool sample which I promptly tossed into the garbage.
I’ve got a few buddies I meet with regularly and they’re a little bit older than me so lately they’ve been strongly suggesting that I get my prostate checked as well as my colon because their insurance has mandated that they get checked out. They eat a lot of junk so they probably should get checked out. I pointed out that my diet is drastically different than theirs. This fell on deaf ears so I pointed out that 80% of those conducting these tests use a system to clean the scope which can leave fecal matter on the scope that is visible to the naked eye. I asked if any of them inquired what method their doctor used to clean their scope. They all suddenly went mute. The 10% who do use the expensive scope which can handle the extreme temperatures required to actually get the scope clean are too few and far in between.
Modern medicine is the third leading cause of death in first world countries. That’s medical procedures and taking medications as prescribed.
You’re talking to the right person, Shnark- ’cause other than the eye doc (for problems caused by their treatment of a congenital problem) I haven’t been to a docotr in 40 years. Eat real food, live right, don’t spend your life in a cubicle or like a robot.
Hahaha! Yeah, I’ve had people tell me “You’re getting to that age now where you should have your prostate checked.
Funny thing: People who don’t get checked, don’t seem to have a problem- be it there, or other places. Their whole methodology of testing (unless you have actual symptoms) is faulty, and will cause a perfectly-functioning body to test “positive” for cancer, because almost everyone at various times has cancer cells in their bodies. The way they test for cancer, is to see if your body is manufacturing the antibodies that fight cancer. If it is, they say you have cancer….and then they proceed to destroy your healthy immune system and organs with their chemo-the-RAPE-y and radiation and drugs….and by the time they’re done with you, you’re lucky if you survive the treatment- gtreatment for something which you body was successfully battling, and which it needed no helpt to do.
A recent long-term British study admits that chemo is ineefective and or harmful 97% of the time!
Our own white-coated butchers have also been getting the word for some time now, that mammographies are a complete waste, and often harmful…
I think I’m about the only person of my generation who is stillc healthy. I don’t go to doctors; never been to an ER. My 93 year-old mother keeps bugging me to “go for a check-up”-LOL. I told her what for? So if they say I have something, I can then start exhibiting the symptoms of whatever it is that I’m supposed to have?
As if they’re going to tell me that one of their tests indicates that I have this or that, and I’m going to believe it, when I have no symptoms- and start taking their drugs or having their surgeries….yeah, I’ll be broke and sick within a year!
Guy I used to know: His father had died of a heart attack at 49. So the guy’s wife begs him to go to the doctor, since he was now 49…”just to make sure you don’t end up like your father”. He goes to the docotor…gets the tests…gets a clean bill of health. 2 weeks later, he’s sitting in his car, and drops dead…from a heart attack!
So much for doctors.
And like I tell the people who pester me: I’d literally rather die than go and sit in their waiting rooms, and divulge all of my info on their forms, and mindlessly obey their often already-obsolete useless gibberish.
I’ve never seen more people as sick as people are today…and especially children (Likely from all the vaccines, lack of exercise, and diet).
The worst of it is that even if you get the mandated insurance, it’s worthless. Year before last, my old Marine Corps buddy paid about 6k in premiums for individual coverage. His out of pocket medical expenses for the year were in excess of 20k, with zero reimbursement from the insurance. They simply disallowed most of the expenses, so he couldn’t meet the deductible. And this was for knee surgery without which he could not continue working in his tree business. He is one of the lucky few who can absorb a 26k hit like that. How the hell can normal families handle it?
Makes you proud to be an American…NOT.
honestly, the only fitting end for these Armani-suited pricks is to impale them each on every lamp post from Pennsylvania Avenue to Martha’s Vineyard. You know, like Marcus Crassius did with every one of Spartacus’ Gladiator soldiers. After the battle the surviving 6,000 slaves were crucified along the 120 mile Via Appia from Rome to Capua. Ya think we have enough maggots in suits here to line I-70 clear to LA?
gtc, I said the same 18 years ago after seeing what the shrub was doing. I volunteered to get the rope. Lots of lamp posts and trees in NYC and DC. That would just about take care of the majority of thieves.
New sign on the Statue of No Liberty, Give me your poor and we’ll get richer off them and they’ll be ready to go back to a war zone.
And speaking of war zones, Prison Planet gets worse by the nano-second and Prison US of A(holes) is leading the pack. baaaa, baaaa, baaaa
When I left the job in December, I got the usual COBRA notice. $1200 a month to retain the same high-deductible policy that I hadn’t used any of in the previous 5 years. You’d think I’d get a “Healthy Customer” discount, but nooo.
I did go look at the marketplace (what a perversion of that word) and because the ACA got passed, there aren’t any catastrophic coverage plans anymore. Like I used to buy to tide me over until the next job started. $150 would get me 3 months protection against a car wreck injuries and similar “black swan” events. Now it’s unavailable at a reasonable price.
So I decided to skip coverage, relying on my HSA balance in case anything were to happen. Or retroactively buy COBRA if I were still in it’s coverage period. I’m sure I’ll get a notice like yours in the next few months, and even though it’s a horrible thing to saddle someone with, it is still cheaper than buying a policy.
Catastrophic plans were made illegal by the ACA.
This is why I say it was designed to force people into corporate employment.
I’m self employed and before ObamaRobertsCare I had a catastrophic HSA plan through Blue Cross for the wife and myself that was under $4000 per year. We are healthy and rarely go to see a Dr. so the catastrophic plan was great for us.
Now my plan is “Grandmothered” but is bloated with mandated coverages like maternity and substance abuse treatments. I am a male in my 50s and have enjoyed alcohol for 40 years without any addiction problems. Why the hell do I need maternity and substance abuse coverage? My wife has since joined another plan through her employer, but I am paying over $5000 per year for myself. If the wife was still on the catastrophic (not really catastrophic anymore) plan the cost would be close to $15,000 per year, and I would be looking for another corporate job with benefits.
Not paying, can’t pay it. Stand strong, you not the only one that isn’t going to pay this.
I was lead to believe that Trump signed a executive order putting an end to this for the time being. I guess I was wrong.
individual mandate ends after 2018
Apparently the IRS still thinks it is working for Obama.
The Pres. is just a public-image pawn of our ruling Politburo, period.
Yup. How much more obvious does this have to be before the brainless turd majority gets a clue?
Hi Tall,
I am waiting to hear from my accountant what to do. From what I have been able to gather, the IRS cannot collect this tax/fee/”shared responsibility payment,” or whatever it is. They can only assess and threaten. They can’t seize bank accounts or garnish income or put a lien on one’s house.
My worry, though, is that the schmucks will bide their time, maintain the “shared responsibility” tax – and interest/penalties – on their books, waiting for the schmucks in DC to give them the power to collect. In a freer America, this would not be possible under the law (ex post facto) but today, anything is possible. Thus, a couple of years of “shared responsibility” taxes plus interest could accumulate to be many thousands of dollars in “owed” fees.
That is what worries me.
Like anything else in modern society any IRS ‘debt’ can be negotiated. There are even companies that do this for people. How well it works and how much it costs I have no clue. But get this, the Canadian system works much the same. When I listened to a Canadian radio station one of their big advertisers was a firm that negotiated down tax ‘debt’.
“They can’t seize bank accounts or garnish income or put a lien on one’s house.”
Not yet, but give them time and they will amend the law and send the bald headed Oakley wearing goons to your abode to kick in your door and shoot your dog. Then they will put the video on the news to the thunderous applause of the brain dead sheep.
Hi Guerrero,
Yes, that is exactly my worry. Even if the “individual mandate” expires after this year, for 2017 and 2018 it is in force. That means about $1,400 in “shared responsibility” fines/taxes. If the bastards start adding interest to that at the usual usurious rate, it could compound to tens of thousands of dollars over time.
But I will burn my house down and salt the earth if that happens. I’m old enough to no longer care. No kids. Which leave me that option.
I just want to be left alone. I suppose it is too much to ask.
This is why I said the hell with it and started collecting my Ponzi scheme proceeds at 62. I’m keeping my total income under the filing limit. There IS an ACA exemption for that, even if you have to file to get a refund for withholdings.
The whole deep state thinks they’re working for Obongo. They’re still covering for crooked Obongo and Shrillary.
I don’t understand why most people can’t see this is designed to keep people bound to corporate employment. You have to purchase this unaffordable thing that is affordable if you have corporate employment. But the supposedly anti-corporate ‘left’ demands this set up. Thank’s leftists, now you make nearly everyone who doesn’t have a government job a corporate slave with no escape.
Hi Brent,
Agreed on your basic point, but it was Republicans who started all this. Nixon.. then Romney. Obama was the black face they put on it to deflect blame from themselves and get their imbecile followers to rail against “Obamacare.” Note that once it became law, the filthy Republicans embraced it heartily. No repeal – just replace. With something more to their liking but still as coercive. Like their coercive, “market based” retirement “plans.”
Always, a got-damned “plan.”
This plan I think goes back to 1906, certainly no later than 1910.
The whole idea is to enslave through regulation and finance. No chains. Chains are expensive and people try to escape.
The modern slavemaster is much more cunning than his earlier forebears who had only crude physical whips and chains to work with. Today few people even recognize their enslavement. Heck, they’ve been connived into wanting even more enslavement! In the past there was no doubt of a slave’s status. Most today have the illusion of freedom as they toil away on the plantation.
Or to say it another way, Jason: “None are more hopelessly enslaved than those who falsely believe they are free”.
“Heck, they’ve been connived into wanting even more enslavement!” As Voltaire put it, “It is difficult to free fools from the chains they revere”.
I read yesterday where the NJ gub and new “gun czar” are doubling down to “protect” the people of NJ with a bill outlawing 80% kit guns.
Everybody better get on the ball and go pay cash for it. It’s time for every patriot to have an AFR(America’s Favorite Rifle) with plenty ammo. We’re all going to need it, probably sooner than later. It just builds and builds and has already reached deep into Texas with both senators, the gun and AG signing on to Pelosi’s “take em all away” bill.
And like Mr. Freedom Trump said “I believe we should go after the guns and worry about due process later.
What an ass!
Finally unearthed: The stunning, toxic origins of Obamacare
Legislation traced to Soros group, marketed by radicals
Published: 10/26/2011 at 9:26 PM
NEW YORK – A book released this week documents for the first time the radical origins of President Obama’s health-care law, revealing the principal author of the foundation for the legislation while tracing the law itself to a group funded by George Soros.
“Red Army: The Radical Network that must be defeated to save America” also finds the founders of the controversial Apollo Alliance, run by a slew of radicals, helped craft the marketing campaign behind the health-care initiative.
The new book, by authors Aaron Klein and Brenda J. Elliott, exposes what is characterized as “the radical socialist network that seized political power in Washington over decades, shaped Obama’s presidential agenda and threatens the very future of the U.S.”
On Obamacare, “Red Army” documents how the legislation, deliberately masked by moderate, populist rhetoric, was carefully crafted and perfected over the course of decades and is a direct product of laborious work by a coalition of radical groups and activists, many with socialist designs.
Those activists seek to “reform” the U.S. health-care industry, which accounts for a significant portion of the U.S. capitalist enterprise.
“Red Army” reveals the principal author of the foundation for Obamacare is third generation progressive academic Jacob S. Hacker, a Yale professor who is an expert on the politics of U.S. health and social policy.
Hacker is author of Health Care for America, the centerpiece of the George Soros–funded Economic Policy Institute’s Agenda for Shared Prosperity. “Red Army” finds Hacker’s proposal for so-called guaranteed, affordable health care for all Americans is the foundation for Obama’s healthcare plan.
Hacker’s plan had its origins in the professor’s multiple other major policy papers on health care, including a 2001 plan for the Covering America project.
In 2003, Hacker first devised a public health insurance program called “Medicare Plus,” which would offer coverage to all legal residents not otherwise covered by Medicare or employer-sponsored insurance. Employers would be required to either provide a minimum level of coverage to their workers or pay a payroll tax.
That plan was the basis for the U.S. National Healthcare Insurance Act, which was first introduced Feb. 2, 2005, in the House by Rep. John Conyers, D-Mich. The act was sponsored by several other congressmen, all members of the Congressional Progressive Caucus.
Actually, Eric, the Repugnantcans, even in the Reagan days, formally opposed socialized medicine- just as they opposed mandatory car insurance as recently as the late 50’s/early 60’s. Repugnantcans- at least in word, used to oppose a lot of this crap, and even refer to it rightly as communistic. Hard to believe- even in my day- that the Repugnantcan Party used to [at least in word] actually still support some tenets of liberty- but of course, once they were elected to high office, like Trump, they did whatever the “real plan” was- be they Dumbocrap or Repugnantcan.
LBJ [He may have a BJ in his name, but he really boinked us all up the wazoo!] was the one who really started this crap in earnest, with Medicare. That essentially took control of the whole medical system, effectively “nationalizing” it- and then everything after, from the Nixon admin’s establishment of HIPs, to Obozo’s Unaffordable Care were just further steps along the road to serfdom.
Only now, instead of Repugnantcans opposing socialist medicine, they just propose different versions of it- and Trump, true to form and liar that he is, while saying that he was going to at least end the penalty…of course didn’t; as witnessed by your letter.
It’s no different than the way the Dumbocraps used to rail against the wars, but continue them, and even start new ones when in office- because the only difference between the parties is the words that they use to appeal to a different segment of the population, so that people think they actually have a choice, and will participate in the votive illusion, and support “their candidate” because he opposes the other candidate.
Hi Nunzio – you are so right. What really differentiates the western world from the developing world is this “illusion of choice”, though in reality there is none. Same goes for the media, where they use a couple media outlets with a slightly different twist on essentially the same propaganda….. and people seem to think they have a “free and fair” media. When you compare the MSM to the online / alternative media, your really notice how restrictive the MSM is. They may have 2 guys arguing out something but they are essentially sticking to the same official script. When you say watch online interviewers, its a world apart. So now ofcourse they are all fake news.
Likewise in this whole political exercise, you get this image of a choice. But when people actually go against all odds and make a choice against the political establishment watch them run around to try to get things back the way they were, like the Brexit vote here in the UK……
Having experienced life in the “third world”, fine you dont have that illusion of choice but nobody generally cares because it is mostly possible to live without the state mandating every aspect of your life. Even when there are “official” rules for everything, there are unofficial ways around everything. The media is controlled but again most people dont trust or care what the media says, and generally tend to draw their own conclusions based on what they see and hear around them….
Ah! So true, Nasir!
Even the alternative media is deteriorating. Many alternative sources are either becoming watered-down entertainment (Like LRC lately- as much as I hate to say it.), or fear-mongering propaganda (Alex Jones type stuff), or are just losing the emphasis on the stuff that really affects us, and are turning into mini versions of the MSM, with a constant emphasis on international politics.
It’s really only the peer-to-peer stuff- like this comment section; or individual Youtube vloggers, that interest me anymore. It seems like most other stuff is heading toward just becoming another MSM.
Elsewhere on here, Ed (I believe that’s who it was) made good point about someone named Ron Unz, who seems to be getting a lot of press lately in Libertarian circles…but who tightly controls and censors comments on his articles….
Methinks there are a lot of wolves in sheep’s clothing out there.
And thanks for confirming what I have long been led to believe about the third world! I think it is because people don’t have that illusion of choice or false notions of freedom, that keeps them more so as adversaries of the state who rightly view the state as their oppressors, rather than extensions of the state, as most First-world Westerners now are.
The first-worlder Westerner says: “You aren’t doing what the state prescribes, you must be a criminal[infidel]!”.
A third-worlder would likely say “Why are you following that idiotic law? Do you work for the government?”.
I think the thing one has to watch out for in the “developing” world, is [just like here] people are easily conned into giving up any liberty and allowing any intrusion of government when there is a promise of prosperity (almost always socialistic/fascist)- but I’d imagine, that due to the requisite corruption (or the dysfunction of artificially-stimulated “prosperity” even when there is no corruption) that most people are probably smart enough to have figured out by now, that that sort of thing isn’t going to work…unless one is part of the select group who is “in” on the corruption or part of those being paid as useful idiots.
Actually, I didn’t mean to say that Ron censors commenters. He does, however, make blanket statements telling people to STFU or get off his site.
Ron allows a lot of comments to stand by people directly attacking him, but if he does ban commenters I haven’t seen evidence of it. He has banned contributors, though.
The most recent instance of this was his banning of Jonathan Revusky who claimed that Ron bet him $10k that a certain flight attendant on one of the 911 flights would show up in a yearbook of the school she was supposed to have attended.
The woman, Betty Ong was not pictured in the yearbook, but a black student’s picture was included there with the name Betty Ong. Jonathon Revusky seems to have won that bet, and posted that Ron was welshing on the bet.
Ron’s response was to ban him from posting articles and from commenting after that. Ron then posted that anyone who held the same view as Revusky was advised to stay off of his site.
I don’t know what came of all that. My interest in the site was in articles by just a few authors whose work appears on a lot of other sites that don’t invite me to fuck off if I agree with this author or that one.
If a blogger wants to tell people to GTFO, he probably means it, and deserves the loss of views that result from that kind of statement. Anyway, I find Unz’s writings unreadable, and I can read articles by the authors he hosts elsewhere, so his site is one I don’t visit anymore.
Hi Ed,
I know people who like Unz but I find it impenetrable on the one hand and without moral compass on the other. It seems to be all about what “works,” the utilitarian idea… if it can be called that!
Apparently, Paul Craig Roberts is devoted to him, but maybe that’s because Ron allows him to post his articles with comments disabled. PCR has fallen on hard times, emotionally, at least. Anyone who can’t stand for his articles to be commented upon on a site where every other author is subject to commentary is at least a little neurotic, IMO.
I agree with Nunzio about LRC these days. You see very little there that hasn’t been published elsewhere days before and his love of leftists has gotten worse lately.
Hi Ed,
I know PCR a little, from back in the ’90s, when I was on the editorial page staff of The Washington Times. He seemed like a good dude and I respect his work. I hope he is ok…
He’s written at least one important book. I hope he recovers too.
Probably because I’m tired, I’m drawing a blank. Who/what is LRC?
Thanks.
LewRockwell.Com.
Holy crap! What’s with all these Libertarian types who can’t even tolerate free speech in their own realms??!!! (PCR)
I mean, sheesh!, if one can’t even practice the most most basic principles of liberty in their own life, what business do they have of making use of one of those principles to make their voice heard and to criticize others for violating such principles?
Although, does PCR even claim to be a Libertarian, or is he just afforded quasi-Libertarian status because he sometimes may just happen to be on the same side of an issue?
Re: LRC- I used to LOVE that site- but I think today is going to be my first day in many years that I am not even going to bother checking the site.
I mean, WTH?! Articles from Listverse or The Guardian UK? Lihn Dihn (rambling pointless nonsense); Jerry Reynolds (Generic vanilla pablum car stuff- does the guy even know what a Libertarian is?- Eric, if he had had a lobotomy); Daisy Luther (Grab your “bug-out bag” and your tin-foil hat!); Dr. Mercola (Seems like a nice guy- but you’re not going to live forever if you eat what the Dago’s or the Hunzans eat…- and what has that got to do with Libertarianism?!).
At least there haven’t been any more of Gary North’s music articles lately (I liked Gary North…but WTH? I don’t go to LRC to read about Gary’s favorite folk-music group of the 1930’s!)
It’s becoming rare on LRC to see anything by Murray, Hans, Ludwig, etc. -but no lack of “let’s fix the empire” articles.
It depressing. It would appear that LRC is trying to appeal to a broader audience, just to get their numbers up. A common malady; much like “Christian” mega-churches…it becomes about quantity instead of quality….and thus it becomes “mass”- be it mass media or mass religion, etc. Try and please the masses…you become one of them.
Nunz, I have never really regarded PCR as a libertarian. He’s more of a liberal with an awareness of the evils of government. The one that I really can’t stand to read anymore is that judge, Napolitano. Maybe he’s a friend of Lew’s or something, but he’s just another Fauxnews talking head with nothing to say. Oh well, people change and their sites change, too, seldom for the better.
Exactly Ed. I don’t know what happened to Lew’s site. I wouldn’t expect such from him- but I assume that what’s going on has his blessing- but I just don’t “get it”.
Might as well be reading WorldNetDaily or something .
And sadly, so many such sites seem to be going that way. Why???
It seems that since Trump got elected, they’re all harping on fix-the-empire, Dumbocrap vs. Repugnantcan, and or international politics, suddenly.
If I wanted to know what Robert Mueller was up to, or what happened to the missing vets in ‘Nam [fuck them!], I’d be reading the mainstream news…..
I swear, if it weren’t for this site; the ability to look-up parts and find good deals on ’em; learning how to quickly repair things that I might not have had a clue about, and general shopping, I would just give up the interwebz.
The whole world at our fingertips, and increasingly, there is so little out there.
Youtube is killing itself, censoring and deleting everything…
The internet was so great back in the late 90’s…now it seems it’s being homogenized into a mainstream thing…..
Hi Nunz!
A yuge part of the problem is the desperation for money. Trying to make a living. Even Lew. Not get rich. Make a living. Eat. Pay the bills. Googuhl – which controls the money because it controls advertising – does not like what goes on off the reservation, so it screws your ranking, puts you way down on search engines and sends you warnings that you have “violated terms of service” or their “publisher policy” (no specifics) and then turns off the money by making it impossible to make any via advertising – even if you have a site with big traffic (like Lew does and this site does).
I decided to rely on direct reader support and – so far – it has allowed EPautos to remain viable in the sense that I can afford to pay the bills and keep the lights on. If a site relies on ads, that site is doomed unless it toes the PC orthodoxy…
Ah, I know, Eric. Another line in the sand that is being erased.
I didn’t think Lew would cave so quickly.
It’s hard to make a living on the web. It’s even harder to do so when proclaiming a message that the masses don’t to hear. If one changes the message, it may perpetuate their livelihood….but what good is it if the message is no longer proclaimed?
One thing I’ve wondered about your site (and this is just meant to stimulate thought- no answer required or expected): How much of your reader support comes from your Libertarian/political content vs. your car reviews? My guess would be that most supporters support the site for the Libertarian stuff- and if that is indeed true, I know if I were in your shoes, I would then ditch the reviews, to free up that time to engage in other income producing pursuits.
I know I certainly come for the Libertarian content- and don’t give a flying flip about the car reviews, or radar detector stuff, or car-buying advice… That stuff is available everywhere for those who want it. The political content/pig Exposés, etc, THAt is unique and invaluable.
Of course, you’re playing to a small audience with such….but better to proclaim the truth for those who will come and appreciate it, than to turn into just more claptrap like (unfortunately) Lew’s site is becoming.
Of course, with a small audience, time and expense required to maintain the site is less, so your time is freed up to work on other income streams.
Quality vs. quantity. What good are numbers? Lew has effectively been censored…..
Unz has written some interesting exposes regarding the missing Vietnam veterans, deaths from Vioxx, and how the MSM blacklists opinions that conflict with the agenda of the powers that be.
As with most things, one can pick and choose what one likes.
Thanks for the clarification, Ed.
I stay away from people who behave like that- it’s like a big red flag that they are seriously conflicted, and have issues, and care more about maintaining their own image than anything else (Not realizing that their own actions do more to tarnish their image than anything else!).
By contrast, Eric does it the right way- agree or disagree, he’ll have a meaningful discussion with anyone, as long as they are responsive and actually engage in a meaningful exchange of ideas- as opposed to just blaring their own viewpoint and then not answering questions when called out.
LRC has been quite uninteresting lately. It’s been awhile since I’ve read anything from Karen De Coster. Last time I checked, her site was down. I hope she’s doing fine.
Hi Handler,
Some inside baseball: It is becoming even harder to just survive outside of the MSM reservation. If you’re not a mouthpiece for Red or Blue, just crumbs for you. I’ve been a full-time journalist for 30 years-plus now and it has never been this bad… off the reservation. Yet you can make a fortune shilling for the Red or the Blue.
There is no Libertarian analog to – as a for example – Ariana Huffington. The socialite billionaire who backs Huffington Post and its numerous spin-offs, including BuzzFeed and Jalopnik. They can afford staff, top-drawer computer people, marketing support, etc. LRC can’t. Neither can I. Neither can other Libertarian media I know of.
I’ve never heard of a wealthy Libertarian endowing Libertarian media. I don’t think it has ever happened.
Handler, what attracted me to LRC in the beginning was the articles by people like Michael Peirce, Tom Woods, Thomas Dilorenzo, Clyde Wilson and the two Karens. Now it’s mostly articles from the Brit tabloids, Tyler (The Turd) Durden and Lew’s favorite commies like those at Tomdispatch.
I still have an automatic donation to LRC on my paypal, but that’s just out of long habit.
As Nunzio pointed out, the quality of LRC’s content has greatly diminished. It seems to be pandering to the Breitbart/Infowars crowd. I wonder if any bridges were burned, hence the need for filler.
Nunzio,
A funny thing I normally hear in the west is a politician or other government employee himself, or someone as a tribute talking about how they got into government or politics to help people and change things for the better, etc etc…. Now in the west people sit there all inspired and even thankful to him for his service…..
In the east or undeveloped world – if one says something like that about a politician or government employee – the audience wouldn’t stop laughing !!
No surprise there, Nasir. These are the same people who believe that our mercenaries are “Fighting for our freedom” (LOL!!)….and who say, baffled, when something goes wrong “But the salesman told me____” and “They hate our freedom”…..
Eric,
I received that same notice last year, for the same amount. Here’s what’s going to happen. Next month you are going to receive another notice for $697.67. The following month you will get another notice for $700.35. After that I didn’t get anymore letters. I guess this years threat is on the way.
Eric wrote:
“Will the filthy animals bankrupt me (and others) with interest and penalties – and can those interest and penalty assaults be applied to my assets? Can the IRS, for example, put a lien on my home? Levy – seize – my bank account?”
Short answer, coming from somebody who fought a 15 year running battle with these fuckers: yes.
A $12,000 tax bill turned into close to half a million in “fees”, “interest” and “penalties” accompanied by numerous seizures and liens and garnishments.
Best of luck brother, keep us posted in what course you end up taking.
It’s a protection racket. It IS racketeering, and extortion, the very same crimes Capone and all the other Mobsters were committing in the 20’s and 30’s, and paying the judges and cops to let them do it. The Insurance Syndicate is doing the same, and has paid the Feds to be their “Bulls”. Even the Supreme Court Judges are bought off, and will do nothing to stop it. They are all criminals by our very own “legal” system, if it can even be called that anymore. The servants have become thieves and extortionists of their own employers, us. They even force us to pay their own unlimited, free, health services, the likes of which we will never be privy to. The sooner they are all sent to Hell to burn, the better!
I know I’ve said it before, but I’ll repeat it for emphasis: We either get the hell out of here, or they are going to take EVERYTHING we have- from our property to our liberty (or what remains of it)- and once the IRS gets it’s hooks into you, there will be no escaping.
And this, after the guy promised to repeal Obozocare won the election. Imagine how it will be 2 years from now when Hillary or equivalent gets in….. The machinery is already in place, but soon, the dial will be turned from “normal” to “full power”.
Nunzio, I’m not arguing your point but having checked out trying to leave legally, I found you will probably lose half the value or more of anything the fed can remotely tie to you as owning…..and that was a couple decades back. And if it’s real estate that you still retain ownership of, you’ll be taxed on it as a foreigner and by the foreign govt. you claim as a citizen most likely since the USAhole threatens and gets compliance from nearly every other nation.
Probably setting up a Class C corporation, which can be done fairly cheaply, would help a great deal in reducing the amount you’d have to pony up.
8, I’m not doubting nor contradicting what you say either- I just don’t quite see it maybe. I sell my place and vamoose…. Heck, I could leave the money in a bank account (as much as I’d hate to) here, and transfer the funds or just write checks when I get “there”. Or, if there’s something I’m overlooking- just re-fi my place. I won’t get as much money out of it that way, but we’re not talking about much money anyway. Heck, RE values are in the terlit here right now- probably be hard pressed to get $100K for the joint- but when the RE crashes in the cities, it goes up here (‘least it did in ’08- 14 acres across the street sold for $4K an acre- unprecedented for here. I only paid $1100/acre for mine, and it’s nicer!).
Sometimes I think we tend to over-think this stuff. My cousin moved to Singapore- for bidness- was worth at least $7M…he had no problems…..
The non-buy process to get citizenship elsewhere without some heredity set up takes a good number of years. Living abroad (usually a requirement) all you should need to do is FIFO your funds. Live off what you have in the US system, taking it out as spent. By the time it comes to renounce you should be at zero or certainly no more than the current renouncing tax. Actual wealth controls are not yet in place formally. Just the screwy adhoc system of rules and penalties and form filing. Play by those rules and fedgov should get approximately nothing more than the renouncing tax.
If you buy citizenship elsewhere that’s a six figure deal. Most people won’t have anything left after that anyway.
Oh yeaqh Brent, I couldn’t even think of buying citizenship- even Belize (certainly not a place I’d go!) used to charge $40K- and that was a couple of decades ago- I’m sure it’s more now. But that was essentially only necessary for people who needed to hide- i.e. with name change and no previous records attached. A lot of places in the third world, or just small off-the-beaten-path places, it’s quite fast and easy to become a citizen.
And quite frankly, I really don’t care about formalities- if I can own real estate in my new locale without being citizen, then I wouldn’t care either way. (Ironically, some of the places I might go, a foreign-born non-related person can never own real estate…)- as I can live here without generating a tax bill…so it will be even easier, there. I mean, I don’t have enough money HERE for the gov-thugs to be interested in me…trading my place here (figuratively) for a place there, and what it costs to get there, will easily deplete it all- so ‘ll have no financial ties to here, nor own anything here; nor be earning an income that would be enough to generate a tax bill here.
Or even if I were to lease land in the new place. Who cares about formalities? If I really wanted to “hide”, I could just call myself by a different name….it’s not like here, where everything’s connected and there’s a big ID system that ties everything together……
\
Of all the people I know who’ve left- from my cousin with $$$ in Singapore, and another cousin in Germany- to other freedom seekers gone to South and Central America, and Asia…..not one has had any trouble or been dragged back.
But the day when they will actively prevent us from leaving or even drag us back, is likely to come quite soon. Right now though, they’re having no problem getting all the prolific-at-baby-making immigrants to come here that they want, so as not to miss the 250K of us whop are leaving every year.
Of course though, they want the “master’s cut” from those who are “in the system” and have significant assets or earn decent money abroad.
A big thing too, for anyone who may be leaving: DON’T go anywhere where the US has a military presence, interest, or bases. You’ll never truly be able to cut the cord if ya go where our mercenaries go. Everywhere else (the 2 or 3 places that are left :D): Unless you’re a wanted felon; are quite wealthy; or are Julian Assange, they’re not going to dispatch a couple of guys with butterfly nets to come and hunt you down in you adobe shanty in Mudroadistan because they want to tax you on the mangoes sold for $1.25.
Hard to escape the long arm of Uncle Sam. You’ll have to file taxes on your worldwide income wherever you go, unless you renounce your citizenship.
BTW I think it is more like 15-20k people who give up their US citizenship per year, not 250k.
Escher, true=- I said 250K a year were leaving…I have no idea how many renounce their citizenship- Quite frankly, I’d be surprised if the number was as high as 15-20K.
I keep my income below taxable level HERE- and it’ll be even lower elsewhere- so not an issue for me- citizsn or not. I’m not a customer of the IRS. Never filed a tax return in my life- they wont miss me.
Really, it’s only an issue for people who will be leaving and having a formal business or corporate job elsewhere in the first, or parts of the second world: Europe; South America; the Mid East. Most other places, if you’re on your own, Uncle will not have a clue as to what you’re doing, much less if or how much you are earning, unless you foolishly volunteer to tell them. Except for the EU, Canada, and such, even living in a city with a corporate job, most places are not going to rat on you…Uncle relies on you to rat on yourself.
Man! Is this world effed-up or what? You can earn your own living, here or abroad, and you’re a “criminal” if you don’t hand over a major part of it to Uncle, or even try to preserve your privacy which we are supposed to be guaranteed by the Constitution.
Yet, you can sit on a couch all day and make babies and be a leech….and Uncle thinks that is just fine, and will support you and yours with the money he takes from others.
I don’t see how a Hillary equivalent is going to get in, but you never know. Americans are some of the stupidest fucks on the planet. I heard that yet another state legislative seat that was formerly “conservative” switch to a fucking god damned demonrat. As a libertarian economic nationalist who loves the country, it pisses me off to no end to see the tampon crowd take over the got damned country.
I really don’t see any hope for the U.S. at this point.
The collectivists control the media, education, and a huge part of government. They have done a very thorough job of brainwashing the majority of people in this country into not only accepting their chains but clamoring for them and begging to be bound down even tighter. The typical U.S. citizen at this point loves toiling on the plantation and kissing Massa’s boots as long as they are kept entertained (Fuuuutbaaaallll, etc.) and a few crusts of bread are thrown their way. Those who seek to escape the plantation are attacked and vilified.
There have been such Clovers for a long time, but it has gotten worse with each succeeding generation as the hooks go in deeper and people have no memory of how things used to be. It’s popular to bash Millennials, but they have spent their entire lives immersed in this rot. They really have no other frame of reference so most accept the current situation as normal. (Older Clovers on the other hand don’t have that excuse.)
Hi Jason,
Me either. But – if I have to – I will go to the mattresses over this business. I literally cannot afford to pay this – and I also cannot afford to be “covered.” The cost for a single/self-employed man is outrageous. But it’s okay, because I don’t need their got-damned poultices and salves. I am fine without “coverage.”
I can pay my bills.
But if I am forced to pay the mafia/government (same thing, now) then I cannot. And I won’t have it.
It is literally a choice between handing over my last resources – like a got-damned Kulak to the NKVD – or saying Fuck You and let’s dance.
I am ready to dance, if it comes to that.
Eric,
As you get ready to go to the mattresses, allow me to tell you what I live next to so as to put our predicament in further outrageous perspective.
Like you, I live on a fixed income. My investments have been doing extraordinary but it is paper and taxed at a third should I sell. Income wise, I eek out a survival. Each year my property taxes alone go up 10%. I lost my job in the private sector in 2008 and with it my health insurance. At that time COBRA would have cost me $6000 a year. I have not been to a doctor in 11 years now and have no intention of going to one ever. I am on the Jesus Plan – when he wants me I go..
Now, to put it all in perspective. I live in the Peoples Republic, the home I live in, my mother purchased in 1980 for $73,000 – I inherited and it is now worth more than 10x that. Right next door is the same house that I share a driveway with. It is now bank owned. The resident squatters took out a $617,000 mortgage in 2006 – they have not paid anything since at least 2009. No mortgage or rent, no property taxes, no insurance and no water sewer – for 10 years. They received the maximum from FEMA following Hurricane Sandy – $32,000 – to be spent on the refurbishment of the home – they spent nothing on the house (it’s the bank’s after all – which is FRAUD). They all receive EBT, MEDICAID- and, this is the joke – THEY NOW HAVE A CITY SUPPLIED MAID 7 DAYS A WEEK. They receive private car service paid for by the city, kosher meat deliveries.. They filled the garage with stolen bicycles that the drug addicts would sell to the youngest son in exchange for their drugs. The drug supplier drives around in a car covered in “thin blue line” bumper stickers signifying he has a “special relationship” with local police.
All my calls to the building department, police, bank and city; including the foreclosure judge – has resulted in NOTHING. In fact there is no record of any complaints about this – ironically there are numerous complaints listed on my home.
They turned the house into a flophouse and drug den. My life has been threatened and my home broken into three times by them – I called numerous city agencies including the Public Advocate – they told me I should “take whatever I can get for the house and move.” That’s just it – I am being taxed market value for a house that is worth a fraction thanks to this blight of broken windows and drug addicts next door.
While we are threatened by the government and bankrupted, the same government hands everything to vermin and protects them. The latest kicker is that the housing court judge supposedly has ruled that the bank who made the original loan made an invalid loan to people who could not repay it. In NY State the borrower by law must be represented by an attorney so as to explain every paper they sign and the interest payment they will make – but that doesn’t matter – these thieves are the “victims.” In the end they might just get a free $1Million dollar home after stealing by my estimates $1.3 -$1.4 Million if you include the money they originally stole, the interest they have not paid, the property taxes and insurance that for a decade the bank has paid. In the meantime my home value suffers, my quality of life suffers. Due to an elderly parent, I cannot leave as much as I wish to.
Just do as I do every morning when I look out at the blight next door and see the city supplied MAID show up for work – LAUGH. LAUGH at the next tax increase and know that pieces of shit like this are laughing at us as they reap the rewards we are sacrificed for. Just know the pendulum does swing back eventually and the bloodshed will not only be ours.
Hi Thought,
I cannot begin to imagine the anger you must feel; I don’t think I could maintain my equipoise. I am already unable to fly or even go inside airports anymore, for reasons already written about here.The scale is tipping toward Not Being Worth It anymore…
I am reminded of Melville:
He piled upon the whale’s white hump the sum of all the general rage and hate felt by his whole race from Adam down; and then, as if his chest had been a mortar, he burst his hot heart’s shell upon it.
We will all soon know such desperate rage.
Wow, just mind blowing; I’d suggest burning the place to the ground, but it might get your house on fire too, depending on how close it is and wind direction. This country is truly effed up.
It gets even better… i recorded their supplier with POUNDS of drugs and a carrying a four barrel derringer pistol. Having nothing but disdain for the local cops who repeatedly have told me -there is nothing they can do- when I have video recordings of my home being broken into and who actually threatened my 80-year-old father and ridiculed him when he needed a police report for an insurance claim when our commercial property was vandalized – I forwarded everything to the City Council member where a friend works. She sent it over to the police, they stopped him a week later and found no gun – they wanted to talk to me though.
Even the woman working for the city council was dumfounded. She wrote me: It really is disheartening, especially when people are trying to help more than our police.
I now regularly look up the criminal court schedules seeing what this scumbag has been up to – four arrests in the last year – the latest was an armed robbery in February. Roughly eight felony charges for armed robbery in the second degree, use of a weapon, intimidation and harassment – ALL DISMISSED. This insolent piece of shit “reviewed” his holding cell on facebook.
I paid more of a penalty for walking a leashed fucking dog and being called a -white motherfucker- by black parks department workers. Somehow a recidivist felon charged with armed robbery is ROIed and has the case dismissed. meanwhile my half-wit step brother did 10 years in prison for less than what these people are getting away with.
Keep all of this in mind when your are labeled a -criminal- for not paying your health insurance extortion or the myriad reasons heroes can hold you at gunpoint and kidnap you.
They live in a home without water?
I always say that americans like laws selectively enforced. And that’s what we get everywhere.
BTW, that reads like a problem for the A-Team. One of the last TV shows of the old USA.
Suddenly New Russia isn’t looking so bad now?
Hello Gil,
Indeed. In a number of meaningful/everyday ways, the average person is more free in Russia (and China) than in this ruined place. And yet, the imbeciles will still celebrate “their freedoms” in a few weeks – most of them by watching their masters light off fireworks they are not allowed to touch, after having passed through “security,” where they will be allowed to buy overpriced food sold by “authorized” vendors who got the necessary permissions.
True. In China, people even beat up the cops sometimes when they cross the line. Imagine that happening in the US.
eric, a few years ago there was a raid by 3 score or so soldiers on a Chinese farmer for some ridiculous reason. The soldiers went in on foot and the farmers handed them their asses. They didn’t use axes and hoes but something along the lines of some medium sized ordinance like RPG’s and such. The soldiers retreated and at the time there was no word from the govt. Wish I knew how it turned out in the long run. My point being, in the US of A (holes), the response would have been immediate and overwhelming.
Just consider the wife and I are rolling up on the anniversary of the “last” time we were raided(via huge helo with DPS on it, black and white and then ground troops) Aug. 1st, 2016.
It was our 4th. My wife can’t be an almost cripple and I can’t spend 70-80 hrs a week trucking(don’t tell the DOT)without getting the state on our ass just on a whim, the ex-bosses ex-wife up against 5 felony charges of taking children across state lines and kidnapping who feeds them a bullshit story of he and I growing pot on our place. Hell, he wasn’t even around most of the time and I wasn’t either. Damned glad I has just been let go due to bidness going to crap.
They didn’t have a warrant and that’s amazing if you consider they’ve never been here with one that had even a hint of truth to it.
They don’t want to know the truth, just make accusations and try to get a “grand” jury(sic) to “legalize” it, not a big thing considering what the grand jury system consists of there days. There is only one side presented and they want people to believe it’s due process…….and they do…..for the most part, just eat that “law and order” bullshit up.
I had warned my ex-boss a month before this happened about what the rumor was and he said “Well, I’m not doing anything illegal” which I fairly well knew was true and it made no difference I wasn’t either.
This is what passes for Just Us in this country. The thugs with badges stuffing their coffers with money and prisons with people. If they can get the feds to take it and nearly they always do since they don’t have to know anything about a case or ever been near it, they can get a conviction one way or the other…..and everything you have…..just ask Martha Stewart.
When the chief thug was about to leave he said “And now they’re shooting at us” referring to what had happened a couple weeks before in Ft. Worth. I said “You mean shooting back” to which he reacted badly, took his ball and bat and went home.
I don’t like to consider what will happen “the next time”. I mean, after all, when someone keeps getting raided for 14 years and they can’t even find even the most remedial law you might have broken????…………And the bad thing is, we don’t expect it to end.
When I hear people whine about having a wife and kids and can’t try to take on the govt. I think of a guy back in the revolutionary days(can’t recall his name right now, tired as hell from tending to all my pot farms….on a goddamn Vermeer ditch digger burying 4″ polypipe while it was “live” with high pressure oil)who said a man will be remembered by the stand he took, esp. by his children and wife if he doesn’t prevail. Of course this quote would never had been remembered if every able-bodied man, regardless of chilluns and wives, had not answered the call when it was the English who thought they’d get to write their own history.
I can tell you from my own experience, it definitely gets the darkest before dawn. And if you never see the dawn, only those who witnessed will be able to tell.
Just think of the people who supported and died for Cliven Bundy and crew.
Do a search for this and you’ll find all sorts of articles with YT’s of his supporters and the latest govt. attempt to get the trial reviewed and try Bundy again(and he’s had more than one ending up in federal court). As a federal lawyer told me(and didn’t need to), the federal govt. has an unlimited amount of money to pursue anyone they desire. If your supposed crime was defacing a $2 bill and they wanted you there is no amount of money that would not be spent to get you. Jury’s be damned……It’s a wonderful life…..
Eric, I’m assuming you had someone else file your taxes? If so you might have slipped on the banana there. Us smart people who didn’t have coverage just checked “Yes” that we did and mailed in our 1040a. Done that for three years and haven’t heard anything. Hoping you were smart enough to not make that mistake and admit you didn’t have coverage.
And what do you suppose happens if/when they decide to audit the people who falsified theirs….
Moose, since the Obozocare penalty is not an actual IRS tax, but just something collected by them (Hence their inability to formally pursue collection of it, other than by withholding it from any refund owed) I don’t think they could demand proof of coverage in an audit, nor enforce the normal collection practices in regard to it. I could be wrong, of course.
Shit Eric….. read the letter and I thought it was a joke at first “unpaid shared responsibility”….. never thought Id hear statements like that in the US…. would even make the Soviets jealous……
Reminds me of the “TV license” we have to pay here…. which the government insists isn’t a tax…. (speaking of which that fucker should be coming around to my place with his threats any day now, need to think of an excuse)…..
best of luck standing up to the Mafia Eric….
My own inclination would be to tell the IRS to eat shit, particularly on something like this where they have no ability to force collection. (Then again I work a cash business and haven’t paid the dirtbags a dime or filed a tax return in decades.)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZW1Pqey_pe4
Hi Jason,
I am going to see my tax guy after a radio interview at 9:30… expect details shortly. The letter I got and wrote about is very interesting in that it seems pretty damned clear it is a tax and they are collecting it as such.
Or trying to.
I am surprised there isn’t an uprising. How much more will people take? Dunno about you, but $695 is a lot of money to me; it’s enough to cover my living expenses for nearly two months. But I am supposed to just throw it down the maw of the government, because I did not throw away money on “health insurance” I have no need of.
It would certainly be a lot of money for me as well. Being out of “the system” means making a marginal living – but what I make is mine. I’m judgment-proof so they can’t forcibly collect anything. All they can do is put my sorry ass in jail if they want to badly enough. Then the tax slaves can support me for a while – they have to give me 3 hots and a cot. (I’m not saying that you or anyone else should go this far, by the way. Takes a special kind of I’m-totally-fed-up-and-don’t-give-a-damn crazy.)
However in the instant case of this Orwellian notice, they are relying on the fear factor, that just about everyone will crap his or her pants when receiving a notice from the IRS and do whatever it takes to “comply.” However despite their intimidation tactics, in this case of this “tax” they have no power to forcibly collect unless you have a “refund” coming.
People have been so brainwashed and dumbed down at this point that an uprising is not a realistic possibility. Instead they clamor for more theft and more chains.
A friend of mine was unemployed for part of last year. He has a wife and child. He signed up for some kind of coverage for the unemployed and then got a job some time later.
The IRS slapped a $15,000 penalty on him.
He’s one of those Christians that thinks Romans 13 means you’ve got to obey earthly government or you are offending God. He got his wish.
As loathesome as it is, you might be better off to just pay them. Another SRP next year, the year after, the year after that, interest, penalties, interest on the penalties, and so on, in a few years you’ll wind up owing them 80 grand. Maybe they can’t technically do anything to collect it as of today, but I wouldn’t bet on it staying that way. Someday they’ll change that law and then come lookin’ for ya.
Hi VZ,
I literally cannot afford to. If if pay this filthy fine, then I cannot afford to pay for my next dentist visit. So, the choice is – let my teeth rot and throw away $695 or get my bad tooth fixed.
I just sent the bastards $5,000; much of that 15 percent “self-employment” tax. For being self-supporting, I am taxed 15 percent off the top of my income.
it is genug, already. I will not slave away to pay fines – or the got-damned insurance mafia. I hate violence, but if they will not leave me be I will not just present myself to be sheared and baaaaaaaaa!!! while they do it.
Good for you, Eric, I have tremendous respect for your willingness to stand up for what’s right and fight back. Too bad there aren’t more like you in this country. As for me, I’m just too old and tired and sick to give a shit anymore. Not very principled, but I’d probably just give ‘em the money and hope they leave me the fuck alone. Anyway, good luck, hope this doesn’t turn out bad for ya. Keep us posted.
eric, hard to believe you owe this. Trump specifically said he’d do away with Obamacare. For reasons I don’t understand I no longer get charged for it since “I’m 65 and over”…..and that seems to apply in every way you can interpret “65 and over”.
The insurance mafia has, in the last year, made employing someone who’s “65 and over” as a truck driver much harder via increased rates although there’s no empirical evidence to suggest there’s an increased risk with this group.
I believe it’s another way to get older people out of the workforce. I’ve noticed it for years now. It would seem to be another fatwa to open more jobs for the younger but not much younger since the “young” shy away from truck driving.
The weird thing is I have yet to hear anyone admit it except for my last employer who said because of his “new” policy starting the first of this year he could only have drivers of that age Only if he already had them employed.
I get a call yesterday from a friend who was looking for an equipment operator for a friend or bidnez associate and did I want to work. I replied “hall yes” since it normally(not this time)pays better and it’s not nearly as stressful or dangerous as truck driver.
Last night I found out he hired someone else and my friend said he wasn’t near being in my league of competence. But I understand it though since I’m a felon…..who never stole or hurt anyone. Just about the time they might be comfortable with my work ethic an implement hauling rig will disappear from the nearest Love’s or T/A…..and that trackhoe will disappear and I’lll be counting my money and buying drinks for comely senoritas. Say, that’s not a bad idea. I may have stumbled onto a new profession. After all, the wealthiest people I know have been stealing all their life. Of course their official titles are bureaucrat or politician.
Perhaps you can have your accountant file a revised tax return for the last two years saying you did have coverage, aka marking the yes box.
If your accountant balks, you might want to suggest you’ll find a new one if he’s unwilling to fix this screwup.
Hi Jim,
I thought about that – but my worry is that it constitutes “fraud” or worse – as far as the IRS is concerned.
What I am trying to find out is whether we have been lied to as regards the Obamacare fine being unenforceable except insofar as them being able to withhold refund money; i.e., that there is no positive collection enforcement method legally in existence.
No, do not file amended returns that way! You’d be signing those papers under penalty of perjury. Don’t give them that kind of ammunition to use against you.
I do believe that you will find that the IRS does not have any collection authority beyond attaching refunds when it comes to 0bummercare fines, taxes, or whatever they’re claiming they are this week. There’s plenty of information out there on that issue.
If it were me I’d scrawl “EAT SHIT PIG” on the collection notice in red magic marker and send it back to them via certified mail. (I’m not saying that’s what you should do, only that’s what I would do.)
Amen, Jason!
A lot of people who get in trouble with the IRS, do so because they are tricked by threat, into hanging themselves with their own rope- much like talking to the cops- you may be 100% innocent, but if you talk to them, they will manipulate your answers to convince others that you guilty.
But this just further illustrates WHY, if we care one iota about our liberty, we MUST get out of here.
Supposing that the ACA mandate was enforcible, and so naturally, when faced with the requisite prospects of ever-increasing interest and penalties, and liens and prison, we again knuckled-under and erased that line we drew in the sand yet again? Just as we’ve had to do so many times in the past; and just as we will have to do over and over again in the future.
We keep saying “I draw the line here!”- but we know, when faced with the very real prospect of confiscation of wealth/property/liberty, we naturally fold. The tyrants know this. They’ve engineered it this way. Everything in our system is now geared so that vehicles, driver’s lic., real estate, financial transactions, everything, are all under tight control and can be manipulated by *them* far easier and faster than they can by us, their rightful owners.
This is a plan for ultimate control, and it is being implemented piece by piece right before our eyes, and there is nothing we can do about it.
Our only choices are:
Comply- and live as a slave.
Don’t comply, and live as an even poorer slave.
Leave.
At what point do we stop moving that line in the sand? We always say “I’ll do this because ____, but no more!” anhd then when the noose is tightened, we say it again after having retreated from that line. It’s really a terrible way to live- and ya know that no matter how much we may protest, as long as we are here, we end up complying- so, more and more of our freedom is taken every day- and while we may get a respite from the ACA mandate for a year or two, you can bet that it, or something far worse will be implemented in 2020 when the Dems get back in- not to mention all of the other crud that is implemented regardless of who is in, at every level of government, as time marches on.
The noose gets tighter and tighter.
Such is the inherent incompatibility of the 16th Amendment (the one authorizing direct taxation of income) with the 4th and 5th Amendments. For the Feds to tax incomes, they need to know how much you made. There are two ways they can get this info: 1) Have your bank and employer tell them, which violates your 4th Amendment right to privacy; 2) Get you to tell them, which violates the 5th Amendment. Signing the 1040 waives your 5th Amendment right to not incriminate yourself. Ain’t living in the “land of the free” wonderful??
Hi Mr. Bill,
Indeed.
The 1040 now has a line demanding an answer to the question: Do you have “essential” health insurance? You are compelled (under duress) to answer, in flagrant violation of the 5th Amendment.
How is this possible? Because we are not in the streets, with pitchforks.
Mr. Bill,
The IRS knows EXACTLY how much you make due to numerous involuntary reporting requirements. W-2, W-3, W-4 and all other employer withholding mechanism guarantees the IRS has you on their radar. Every legitimate bank and business issues 1099’s for every purpose under the sun. Unless you are in business for yourself on a strictly cash basis living a poor lifestyle and making no large cash purchases, then the IRS knows exactly how much you make. And don’t forget that every bank deposit > $5,000 gets reported automatically to the IRS, which is then electronically compared to your other reported income streams to make sure everything checks out. There is no escaping the Beast. When it’s your turn to be the subject of an IRS audit or investigation, don’t say you weren’t warned. There are very few things I fear in life, death not even being one of them. But I do fear the IRS Beast taking the rest of what I’ve been able to keep from them after so many years of hard labor.
Dealing with banks and being an employee are the provinces of slaves. Heck, they no longer even make any bones about it: They report how much you earn; report how much interest you collect; report your deposits; take taxes out before you even see you stipend; make it a “crime” to take out more than a certain amount at a time of your money from your account, and call it the “crime of structuring” if you take out less than the reportable amount on subsequent occasions…
How can any self-respecting man live like that- much less think they are free?
“unpaid shared responsibility payment” Are they really that stupid to think we’re not reading that as Orwellian newspeak? Or do they know and think they’re being clever? After all, Hillary offered a completely different perspective on 1984:
“Attempting to define reality is a core feature of authoritarianism. This is what the Soviets did when they erased political dissidents from historical photos. This is what happens in George Orwell’s classic novel Nineteen Eighty-Four, when a torturer holds up four fingers and delivers electric shocks until his prisoner sees five fingers as ordered.The goal is to make you question logic and reason and to sow mistrust towards exactly the people we need to rely on: our leaders, the press, experts who seek to guide public policy based on evidence, ourselves.”
https://canadafreepress.com/article/hillary-orwells-message-in-1984-is-we-need-to-trust-government-and-the-medi
If one views Herself as Big Sister, she’s gonna try to use doublespeak to invert the meaning of 1984, written by a lifelong socialist who she no doubt views as a traitor.
Individual mandate ends 2019 year but depending on who is in charge in 2020 it could make a comeback in 2021. I’m trying to talk my wife out of insurance for the 2019 year. I spend $420 a month for insurance and spend only $600 a year for doctor visits for my kids. Next year will be even less since my youngest will only need 1 visit a year. So i expect 2019 to spend only $200 in visits. Make off with the $4840 saved and spend it where it does make sense or save it for an actual emergency.