America has been turned into a kind of inescapable hospital ward by very sick people, using the cudgel of commerce to compel the healthy – the sane – to play along. As for example by requiring healthy people to play-pretend that they are sick – or spreading sickness – and so they must wear a “mask” to enter a store.
Including car stores.
This form of Sickness Kabuki is returning – not because most people want to “practice” it but rather because car dealerships, being the retail outlets of large corporations, are being pressured to impose it by the large corporations to which they are beholden. The same corporations that have reinstated “mask” requirements on the assembly line floor are insisting on the same on the showroom floor.
This includes General Motors, Ford and the Stellantis combine that owns Chrysler-Dodge-Jeep, who earlier this month decreed that everyone who works for them will “practice” Sickness Kabuki by wearing a “mask,” including those who’ve took the experimental “vaccine” so as to avoid having to wear the soul-effacing things.
These poor people face an economic Sophie’s Choice: Assert their sanity and lose their paycheck. Or play along with the sick Kabuki, in order to continue being paid. The pressure coming from these big corporations is responsible for most of the spread of Sickness Kabuki, which would probably never have taken hold to the degree it did if people were not threatened with loss of livelihood, at the cost of their self-respect.
A dangerously large percentage of Americans work for these corporations, which for that reason wield a dangerous degree of control over America. A literal handful of corporate executives can cause tens of millions of people to dance pitifully from the economic strings they hold. And these corporations are “interlocking” – meaning they do business among themselves and share common interests, often at odds with our individual interests, as formerly independent human beings.
One of these interests of theirs is the reinstating of the company town model, this time under the guise of a hospital ward. Sickness – the endless possibility thereof – will serve as the basis for total micromanagement.
“Masks” are just a taste of what’s to come.
A company town – for those unfamiliar – was a place where everything in the town revolved around and was controlled by the company, including the town itself. Which was typically built upon land owned by the company, which then built shacks upon it for the people who worked for it to live in – and pay rent to the company to live in, using company money. The workers bought their necessaries – food and so on – at company stores, also owned by guess-who.
In effect, the company owned the workers themselves – as they owned nothing. Many of them weren’t very happy about it. But unlike the New Normal being elaborated by today’s corporations – who are on the verge of owning everything, almost everywhere – the people who worked in those Mark I company towns could leave and take their labor with them. The were free to try their luck in another town, one not owned by a company.
This ended the power of the Mark I company town model.
The Mark II model being erected all around us, right now, is founded on the concept of making everywhere a company town, disguised as a kind of universal hospital ward – so as to make sure no one can leave – or disobey the company’s orders. The idea is – as they themselves have put it, for us to own nothing – and for them to own everything.
And for us to be happy about it.
Of course, they didn’t say the middle part. But it is implicit in the first part. Once we own nothing, they will in fact own everything – including us. They will then be able to force us to do anything they like, including much more than wear a “mask.” That is merely the first, rough assertion of what they have in mind for us. Proof of Jab being next.
But far from the last.
There is hope, however. Because they cannot force us to buy from them – at least not yet. This reverses the power dynamic on which their evil plans depend, in our favor. It is the means by which we can smash their company town Mark II model to a thousand pieces, if only we exert our power to do so.
We can fire them – by not dealing with them.
We have what they want – our dollars, the same thing that they use as leverage against those who work for them. If workers refuse to play Kabuki, their dollars are withheld – by firing the worker.
And so the worker complies. He self-enserfs, for the sake of a miserable dollar.
But we can refuse to become serfs.
By withholding our dollars. We can refuse to buy a new car from any dealership that insists upon Kabuki performances as a condition of sale. We can walk onto the lot – and into the store – practicing normalcy, ready to spend a substantial sum of money – upon which the store and its employees and the corporation they work for, ultimately, depend for their livelihoods – provided we are treated like customers rather than patients within a sickness ward.
If not, we walk, taking our dollars with us.
A much deeper cut into the ropes that seek to bind us can be made by finding non-corporate jobs at independent small/family-owned businesses – or go into business for ourselves.
If they cannot buy us, they cannot own us.
No job is worth being sold. No purchase is worth the price of your self respect. Do not buy from practitioners of Sickness Kabuki, who are either too cowed by fear of losing their jobs or too cowed by fear, as such.
Unless you want to live in a company town/hospital ward you cannot move away from.
. . .
Got a question about cars, Libertarian politics – or anything else? Click on the “ask Eric” link and send ’em in! Or email me at [email protected] if the @!** “ask Eric” button doesn’t work!
If you like what you’ve found here please consider supporting EPautos.
We depend on you to keep the wheels turning!
Our donate button is here.
If you prefer not to use PayPal, our mailing address is:
EPautos
721 Hummingbird Lane SE
Copper Hill, VA 24079
PS: Get an EPautos magnet or sticker or coaster in return for a $20 or more one-time donation or a $10 or more monthly recurring donation. (Please be sure to tell us you want a magnet or sticker or coaster – and also, provide an address, so we know where to mail the thing!)
My eBook about car buying (new and used) is also available for your favorite price – free! Click here. If that fails, email me at [email protected] and I will send you a copy directly!
The mask is coming back at my place of work on Monday. They gave us our freedom for 2.5 months. How nice of them! One of my coworkers went to HR to complain, when he asked if he refused to wear it they told him he would be fired. He’s been with the company 15 years, we are short staffed on our shift and overloaded with with. These companies don’t care about you your family or any concerns. Like Eric said time to find jobs and businesses that respect us.
I’m experiencing some perhaps unforeseen effects of the Diapering:
People are coming to work sick instead of staying home, and wearing the Diaper, thinking that makes any difference.
This chick comes back to work after two days, in which she suffered from some kind of ear and sinus infection. Her daughter recently had a similar sickness, and tested negative for COVID (standard crap-shoot protocol). She seemed in decent spirits, but was still blowing her nose and complained that her head was packed with congestion.
No, I didn’t recoil in fear. But I was perplexed about why’d you’d come to work to “share the love” even if it isn’t the ‘Rona.
My company gives us colossal shitloads of sick time. I have over two months of sick time, were I to take it all at once. She said that she felt guilty about staying home. I guess not for getting the rest of us sick? OR, she believes that fucking face-diaper is going to protect us. Some bullshit! I reckon that I have a better immune system than she does (she won’t really eat meat or work out or go out into the sunlight), so I’ll be okay… But this is what this cult has done to people.
I don’t know how it is where you work but everywhere I have worked all that happens when I take time off for any reason is that my work piles up. Is it intention to make people suffer for taking time off or just something that happens out of neglect? Depends on the company I suppose. For where I am presently much of my work nobody else at the company can do so that’s what is going to happen regardless.
Hey Brent,
There are some things I do that the other employees can’t, but those things can wait a few days or weeks, depending. Most of the lab staff are pretty much fungible, however. It’s a heavier burden when people are gone, but certainly not unbearable.
Since we are all picking on the mentally deficient elder clown occupying the clover white house, here is a goodie:
https://tshirtatlowprice.com/products/kabul-skydiving-club-shirt/
i would rather not patronize any business that forces their employees to diaper, but there are few options anymore
i will not talk to a salesman that diapers
i have considered frequently as of late about pulling most of my $ out of the bank, but they will not give cash, only a check, so i would have to go to the atm every day for months, just in case
i have started to keep more cash on hand now & make purchases in cash
to the point that they want us to subscribe to everything – i think they could try to pull this off
subscribe to cars has been bandied about.
not a far stretch to cut out the retail level (car dealers, grocery stores) and make us subscribe to food services
as blackrock buys houses, you will be a constant renter
Hi Dan,
I have gone strictly cash for all personal expenses for a little over a month. It takes some getting used to, but I definitely do not over spend anymore since I only carry a certain amount. There is a certain freedom to it. Since I pay cash for everything I don’t have to worry about reconciling the bank account or paying next month’s credit card bill.
That’s pretty bizarre that it would “take some getting used to” to pay regular expenses in cash. I’ve done that my entire life. For me the tough adjustment would be paying any other way.
Hi Jason,
I will get used to it, but I was a chick that used my debit card for everything. I paid my bills with auto pay. I now have to manage the amount I use and get used to driving to the water and electric company each month. It isn’t something that feels comfortable overnight especially when I have to manage that money over four people and a couple dogs.
Hi Jason,
I have also used cash for most expenses; however, it is difficult to pay things like the power bill and the WiFi bill with cash. It means a trip to an office – assuming there is an office – and that they will accept cash (and seeing your face). I’m not saying it’s impossible. Just not easy.
Go to the drug store and get money orders to pay various bills.
That’s what I’ve done for decades
Ditto, Jason!
I didn’t get my first credit card till I was 40 years old, which I only got and use for online purchases. I can’t even imagine not paying cash…. It’s anonymous…untrackable,…never have to worry about spending what you don’t have; it makes you more cautious about your purchases when you have to hand over cold hard cash that you already possess, as opposed to a card which just imposes upon you an obligation to pay *at some point in the future*…….
I like to carry $100 bills, as it makes me even more reluctant to spend ’em: “It’s only $4.99, but I don’t want to break a hundred just for that”. (Not that that’s necessary though, as I’m much more of a saver than a spender).
I haven’t for several years, but now I KNOW I’m not keeping significant money in the bank. They won’t give you a cash withdrawal? I was not aware one HAD to accept a check. The courts won’t. Might try telling them you don’t, and see what they do. Not so in my neighborhood, yet.
Hi John,
Most banks do not have significant money on hand to make a cash withdrawal. My aunt tried withdrawing $12k in cash recently and the bank told her it would 3 days to get the cash. If there is a run on the banks the banking system will crash.
Morning, RG –
I’m facing/dealing with the same dilemma. Having paper dollars – and not even that, really – as the bank holds the dollars and they are probably digital – troubles me. I wish I had begun to accumulate silver and gold years ago. The value may go down (or up) but it is never going to evaporate and it is physically under the control of he who possesses it. That is real money.
I recently had the chance to handle some – the look and feel reminds me of a better, vanished time.
Hi Eric,
I started collecting silver about three years ago….mainly various currencies since they serve a dual purpose of being money and silver. I don’t have a large amount nor what to do with it if the dollar crashes, but it is a fun hobby and offers a little respite of holding everything in a decreasing US dollar.
There is nothing like holding 20 silver dollars or a $20 double eagle gold coin in your hand. That’s money. You can feel the human labor it represents. The gold is only one coin but by feel you know its different from the silver. Every coin’s size, weight, and feel tells you what they are in this old silver and gold money.
I don’t even know how the old gold plated nickel scam even worked other than people simply were going by their eyes. For those that don’t know at one time the US mint produced nickels that simply had the roman numeral V on them for five but nothing else. It didn’t have ‘cents’ on it. Scammers gold plated them and people assumed it was a $5 gold coin. One guy would use the gold plated nickels to buy 5 cent cigars and get $4.95 in change. When he was caught he pointed out he never said a word about getting change etc, it was offered to him. He was acquitted, he was not responsible for the errors of clerks.
Numbers in a bank account or modern paper money even has no feel to it at all. Modern circulating coins have less feel to them than the video game tokens I used as a kid.
Eric,
My only hesitancy with the cash is that, let’s say the vax squad comes, and finds the cash with their vax warrant. Will it be declared as too much money & therefore drug money & subject to civil asset forfeiture?
They always have a way
The bank will screw you out of your money long before a “vax squad” comes to your door.
In fact we are all getting screwed out of our money as the purchasing power of the dollar continues to decline and will eventually be worthless like the phony money of every failed empire throughout history.
The value of silver and gold does not change, but the value of the dollar that we use to measure the value of silver and gold does. The precious metals market is highly manipulated through paper contracts. The true price of silver and gold is held down because if it wasn’t the reality of the value of the fiat dollar would be exposed for the con game that it is.
Amen brother. And ounce of silver to me is an ounce. Not X dollars. If the price drops, I buy more. And be aware (if you aren’t already) that silver comes out of the ground at around 8 to 10 ounces for every ounce of gold. And has just as many, if not more uses than gold. Yet it is priced at around 65-80 to 1.
Both metals are manipulated, but silver is beaten and abused and used up (literally in underwear FFS). So essentially silver is free right now. Buy it up and never stop.
Folks in San Diego seem to be a bit unhappy being treated like they’re all in a hospital ward: https://www.zerohedge.com/markets/we-do-not-consent-san-diego-resident-goes-viral-after-sharp-tongued-speech-board
If large corporations weren’t odious enough (poor “customer service” for example) before covid, they have openly shown their true colors now. It’s truly awful.
The combo of big government and big business has to be broken, they have become one in many ways. They are a threat to freedom.
You’re right, and it’s only going to get worse because mask and quaxxine mandates will drive out the few remaining sane workers. The remaining drones will all be psychopaths and their allies.
I like this Eric. We should all pick the most expensive car on a dealers lot, walk in the front door saying you want to buy it now, but will not deal with anyone wearing.
I luckily work for the mentioned family-owned business, and the owner/CEO is holding strong against mandating masks or vaccines, though he is apparently being pressured by some to do so.
As far as new car lots… I likely will never visit one again. I plan to keep my pre-2,000s trucks running forever. If I need a machine shop and/or some Cuban ingenuity to do so, then so be it!
Academia drops its pretense of free inquiry and unveils the mailed fist:
‘Students at Quinnipiac University were required to submit their vaccination records by Aug. 1. Those not in compliance by Sept. 14 will begin to face $100 weekly fines, with increases of $25 after every two weeks, up to a maximum of $200 per week. They also won’t be able to use the school’s campus network and Wi-Fi.
‘Students could be fined up to $2,275 in total for the fall term, the university warned. The penalties cover those who don’t receive a vaccine, as well as exempted students who miss weekly COVID-19 testing. There will be a $100 fine for each missed test.’
https://tinyurl.com/499b9rxf
Standard academic loan-sharking just don’t cut it no more. Now it’s time to persecute the sniveling little buggers with petty fines. It’s the campus version of Ferguson, Missouri, where residents got hounded with endless summonses and court appearances.
Except ‘campus’ don’t need no courts: it’s a pure scholastic dictatorship, with unappealable fines and punishments.
No wonder the mentally ill Quinnipiac student who set my rented farmhouse on fire a few years ago had crawled out the window of his high-rise dorm and threatened to jump. I’d go nuts there too … but probably in a blaze of glory and gunsmoke. Say hello to my little friend, fvckers!
Just say no, drop out. Go all Timothy Leary.
A campus devoid of students can become a reality. There is a choice. Boycott the bums. It can be done.
Charles Boycott learned the hard way what a boycott really is.
You are not being educated, you are being controlled. Do as we say or it will cost you, do as you are told.
Any thinking person with a lick of sense would tell the administration to take a hike. Not difficult to see where the problem is, solving it is to not attend the university. Hardly a place of enlightenment.
The world will recognize your talents sans a college degree, you can make your way through this world with no education at all. Helps, but you can do without a college degree, just another piece of paper.
Students don’t need no stinkin’ edumacation. They need to learn to think.
Some of us have BTDT a long time ago…and have a collection of T-shirts, and perhaps a few scars, figurative or actual, to prove it.
As Paul Simon put it, long ago:
“When I think of all the crap I “learned” in high school,
It’s a wonder I can think at all.”
That was even before Pink Floyd, kids. 🙂
Nothing is more terrifying to the establishment than a human with a functioning brain.
“You cannot break a free man. At most, you can kill him.”
– Robert A. Heinlein
At the local Ford dealership (Hemborg in Norco, Ca) last week, parts clerks were diapered, but dropped a few not so subtle hints they may not “believe.” Ah, heresy.
Such was the premise for the design of the COVID religion. To extract what wealth remains among the 99.9% and deliver it to the 0.1%, by eliminating competing small businesses. And a bang up job of it they did. Acquiring commercial property in distress for pennies on the dollar. Followed by residential property. Putting those of us who will not comply in the position of starting an economy from scratch to solve the problem, while being constantly opposed by the fiat economy. It won’t be fun, but it can be done. Expect hardship we have not seen in a hundred years or more. The more of us that can escape, the less they can steal.
It is the end of the Democrats and their ridiculous diktats.
40,000 stranded Americans in and around Kabul translates to a crushing defeat of America’s power elite.
Assabiya Wins Every Time
https://www.tabletmag.com/sections/news/articles/assabiya-lee-smith
“We are part of history unfolding before us, as it has throughout time. But to be clear, what we are witnessing is not the end of America. It’s just the end of this particular branch of American leadership.”
‘It is the end of the Democrats and their ridiculous diktats.’ — drumphish
Soon … but ‘Biden’ is now having a go at starting a civil war:
“‘President’ Joe Biden on Wednesday said his administration is prepared to take possible legal action against governors who try to prevent local school officials from imposing universal mask mandates, throwing yet another wrench into Gov. Ron DeSantis’ plans to sanction Florida school districts that require students to wear masks.
“We’re not going to sit by as governors try to block and intimidate educators protecting our children,” ‘Biden’ said at a news conference Wednesday. — McClatchy DC
The former ‘g.d. piece of paper’ constitution grants the US fedgov exactly zero role in education. Like the selection of presidential electors, public education policy belongs to the states; case closed.
*bangs Nancy Pelosi’s gavel for emphasis*
So ‘Biden’ will proceed with the fedgov’s customary mob shakedown tactics against states such as Arizona and Florida which refuse to comply with his lawless diktats, as ‘educator’ ‘Dr Jill’ cheers the old fossil on.
Public schools are melting down as their victims … errr, customers … simply walk away. Hopefully Dementia Joe’s school wars will end just like his excellent adventure in Afghanistan: that is, with his total defeat and humiliation.
In a free country with a free economy, withholding dollars can change the behavior of a business, but the problem with the big companies is they get unlimited fed funny money made up in a bailout, so they don’t care. How does CNN still exist? In a free market, it would be only a minor low budget player on the net…or electric cars few want. Not disagreeing, because I’m sure at a certain point not patronizing would work, but it takes a mass of people acting together, and we don’t have numbers like that yet as the Europeans now have.
Ive been Boycotting amazon and walmart for a few years now myself
Anchar,
That is why honest money (gold/silver) is key.
Can’t just print it.
My parents grew up in coal towns in SE Kentucky & SW Virginia. Every facet of their life was controlled by the company. Then came the mining unions and with it the violence from decades of pent up anger. With that came the state & federal armed forces to put down the violence and reestablish control on behalf of the mining interests.
Given everything in the world –the shitty economy/inflation, yet another failed overseas adventure, maskholes, vaxnazis, perpetual fear, etc –will likely lead to extreme violence and retribution by the government-industrial complex.
My late father used to say “at least the yankees had the decency to wear blue so we knew who to shoot.” This time it’ll be more difficult to tell.
Hold your fire until you can see the blue of their masks….
And all this time we were thinking it would be blue helmets that we had to worry about…
‘These poor people face an economic Sophie’s Choice: Assert their sanity and lose their paycheck. Or play along with the sick Kabuki, in order to continue being paid.’ — EP
This goes double for performing artists such as dancers and musicians. Some who can are resurrecting a practice from the Civil Rights era, informing venue managements that ‘We don’t perform for segregated audiences.‘
Enforce vaccine apartheid, that is, and we down guitars, drop the mic, and yank the plug on the amps.
Welcome to the Silent Summer of Dementia Joe’s VaxWorld.
Well maybe the good news is this fraudulent regime pushing the corona-con is crumbling right in front of our eyes. The John Gill President was asleep at the wheel and just drove the bus over his own dick and all the dicks at the junior woke military academy. Even the Taliban is making fun of him eating ice cream as Rome burns. Their own side is even talking about the 25th amendment not a joking way. Maybe that was their plan all along to put commie kamalla into power.
Yes, of course the 25th amendment was always the plan. Nobody on their side really liked Joe or Kamala either, but they both show the requisite willingness to do whatever those in power want, either bc they don’t know what they’re doing (Joe) or they know what they’re doing (Kamala).
‘Even the Taliban is making fun of him eating ice cream as Rome burns.’ — Hans Gruber
Artfully, sophisticatedly trolled by cave-dwelling medievalists, Dementia Joe has shrunk to about 3-1/2 feet tall.
Wait till the Taliban grow weary of the nest of foreigners lurking at Kabul airport and decide to turn up the heat a bit. This could still turn into Tehran 1979, with western hostages taken.
And that’s gonna take some Danegeld to fix. Let our people go:
https://tinyurl.com/46a9z2a7
That Twitter Taliban ice cream photo was hilarious!
Here’s another one — a new Biden voter in Kabul:
https://i0.wp.com/adventuresincapitalism.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/Jack-Dorsey.png
In fairness, if he doesn’t eat it, and Rome is on fire, it will all melt and go to waste.
What I want to know is why tf does Fauci still have a job?
WE THE PEOPLE need to fire him and all those leeches in gov’t and elsewhere that he represents!
Better yet, why is he walking around a free man. Abundant and well documented evidence he funneled US public funds into prohibited gain of function research. A criminal act that might have killed millions.
Yes. He is a criminal, murderer, demon. Needs to face earthly justice, at minimum.
We should never lose sight of the fact that this evil was caused by the state. Not capitalism, not corporations, not bigness. It was the evil state.
When ronamania started, it was the state’s useless loudmouths, not corporate CEOs, who crawled out of their dens everywhere on earth and started barking orders. It was astounding to witness.
It is the existence of the state and the widespread belief that it must manage every detail of our lives that makes inevitable the symbiosis with large business interests.
If you get sick because somebody put cyanide in your oatmeal, don’t blame the oatmeal.
These crony-capitalist corps. may be worse. They get financed with fake fed dollars and are enabled, protected and fostered by the state in a most-fascist way. With the state alone, we can at least asserts rights protected under the U.S. and state constitutions.
The crony-capitalists corps could not exist without the assistance of the state. Likewise the monopoly they enjoy that makes them cronies. Without whores there are no johns. One begets the other. Also known as Fascism.
“With the state alone, we can at least assert rights protected under the U.S. and state constitutions.”
Really? How is that working out?
With private enterprise alone, there would be no force-monopoly to crony up to, there would be no fake fed dollars, and there would be no corporations as we know them. Call me crazy, but I think I would like that better.
Hi Roland,
While the State is always the senior partner, corporations and their CEO’s have been active and enthusiastic participants in sickness theater, and they have profited enormously by doing so. The corporate media, nominally private, serves as the gatekeeper of allowable information, and they seem to relish that power. “Private” businesses (not all of them) have willingly assumed the role of enforcer for the State. We now live in a fascist, not communist, world. Corporations, with few exceptions, have always been hostile to capitalism and freedom; they collude with the State, for their own benefit, at the expense of the rest of “us”. They engage in rent seeking and regulatory capture, sold as “protecting the consumer”, but actually designed to create barriers to entry and protect themselves from competition. Meanwhile, the regime “libertarians” over at tReason cheer on the outsourcing of tyranny, as long as tyranny is imposed on us by the “private” sector, everything is A-OK. Rand was wrong on this issue, big business is not the “most persecuted minority”, it is an active and enthusiastic partner with the State.
Cheers,
Jeremy
It’s obvious to anyone with more than one brain cell that the smallest and most abused minority is the INDIVIDUAL.
Thinking out loud here (and it may be a stupid thought), but couldn’t a way around these mandates is for private businesses (who don’t wish to follow them) become private clubs instead? I believe there are certain protections that are provided to private clubs, meaning that they do not have to adhere to public authorities.
An example of this is Augusta Golf Course (before they allowed women in over the last few years) or the old gentlemen clubs in England (e.g. White’s…..which still exists today). There could be a cheap $5 membership fee to join and such things as face masks, vaccine passports, and crazy Karens and Kens, etc. would not apply or would be denied membership. Someone could basically fill out the application at the door, get a little paper card showing their a member and ta-da, dissolve any rules that would apply to the public.
Hey RG,
We do play in “private” clubs, and the APA is a “private” organization. As a “private” organization, the APA requires that the “private” clubs adhere to the latest round of insanity as a condition of remaining a member in good standing of the APA. Unfortunately, no respite from the “private” sector here.
Cheers,
Jeremy
How is it possible then for places like White’s or the Free Masons or Augusta National to adhere to a men’s only club? I would think a public official does not have access to what goes on in such an establishment. Does one really care if the APA member is not in good standing? What would happen if they spun off to their own league? It worked for the AFL (at least for a short time).
I am thinking more like private clubs where there is no top tier to pass down rules and mandates to others. Example, if a restaurant says “Members Only”. They are not part of another league just strictly a private club overseen by the owners. They can choose who becomes a member or not.
Hey RG,
A private club could do as you propose, but they won’t. The participating venues profit from the league. They get a cut of the weekly dues, table fees and, pool players generally being a “thirsty” crowd, make good money from liquor sales. The APA is requiring that the participating clubs adhere to the new diktat. Moreover, individual players must pay a fee up front, on top of weekly dues, in order to play. Most players don’t care enough about this to surrender the $35.00 they just paid to the APA.
Luckily, I have three, non crazy, friends who have very nice pool tables. I’ve been playing with them, usually three times a week, throughout all of this. Frankly, I enjoy the intimate setting and camaraderie with close friends much more than the league. I agreed to play league when it reopened because I didn’t want to let down my team. However, I made it clear that I will not play in a mask.
Cheers,
Jeremy
I remember a hookah bar that did that, after a statewide indoor smoking ban went into effect.
It’s a potentially viable solution, at least in some states.
You nailed it, Jeremy.
Thanks.
Hey Jeremy,
Of course I don’t deny any of the bad behavior you’ve attributed to big business. Guilty as charged. All I’m saying is that the root of this evil is the state, which you aptly call the “senior partner.”
There wouldn’t have been any sickness theater for corporations to promote in the first place had it not been for Fauci and thousands of mini-Faucis who jumped at the opportunity to boss people around in the name of “public health.”
Without the lure of government power, journalists wouldn’t be whores to the political elite, because there would be no political elite.
Without the state, there would be no government regulators to capture, and the only way for companies to crush new entrants into their market would be to satisfy consumer preferences better than the new guys.
I know that a world without governments is a dream, but if the majority of people at least treated these buffoons with the derision they deserve, who would want to be their enforcers?
Hi Roland,
There is a circular quality to this argument. The pharmaceutical corporations wield tremendous political power; they leverage their financial power to goad (and even staff) government entities such as the CDC and FDA to do their for-profit bidding. Fauci is a creature of corporations; he is their tool and mole within the government, which is now a wholly owned subsidiary of corporate power. Same as regards the “mainstream” media. It is almost entirely controlled by a handful of interlocking corporations; the same corporations that own the government, that have purchased Congress, which represents them, not us. Working together, they announce a devastating sickness is on the loose; working together, they issue (and follow) “mandates” and “guidelines.” Working together, they make life difficult – perhaps soon impossible – for people who object or won’t play along.
Working together.
My point being: Corporations are by definition government-created monsters that eventually overwhelm their creator – or rather, merge with their creator, the result being an evil chimera that is the mortal enemy of humanity and the human individual. It is a great mistake to regard a corporation as a manifestation of free market capitalism. It is in fact the thing which undoes the free market and turns what was a free market into a rent-seeking/fascistic oligarchical-authoritarian perversion of it.
The first step back toward a free market is to eliminate corporations. No more “personhood” for government-created cartels. No more “limited liability.” Individual human beings have a natural right to own property. Corporations have no rights whatsoever save those created by law, which is a perversion of the concept of rights. Only living human beings have them.
Morning Eric!
Again, you are arguing that big business is in bed with government. I agree. That’s bad.
But it is not circular; it is quite linear. The U.S. government has been around a lot longer than big pharma. There was no significant interplay between medicine and government until the Flexner reforms around 1910. That was action taken by government; the medical schools did not cook it up and then create a government to enforce it.
Once the government interferes, it’s off to the races. Intervention leads to more intervention, and the opportunities for the big players to commandeer the force of government are multiplied.
There would be no FDA to goad if the government hadn’t created it. There would be no CDC either, and Anthony Fauci would have to treat actual patients successfully to make a living as a “doctor.” There would be no government-protected corporate “rights” if the government hadn’t made corporations a thing through legislation (which is not “law”).
Your example of the company town reinforces this. Lacking preexisting government mechanisms, those seemingly powerful companies could not prevent many people from eventually saying “No, thanks” and going to work for somebody else. If governments all over had mandated company towns and company stores, we would still see them everywhere.
Indeed, Roland!
But what makes all this possible? Yes, government – but also, the concept of corporations; i.e., legally chartered “persons” endowed with “rights” and “limited liability.” These are anathema to a free market economy and a free society. Corporations are the undoing of both. They pervert economic and individual rights, as concepts and operational facts. They succeed in this in part by getting well-meant people to defend them as legitimate things. But they are the enemy of well-meant, legitimate things.
People have the right to own property – and people (human individuals) are personally responsible for how that property is used. Corporations have no rights – in part because they have been exempted from responsibility but more fundamentally, because they are not persons but rather legal constructs. They are inherently sociopathic monstrosities that will always operate without conscience – because they have none.
Yep. I’m not well-read on the history of corporationhood, but it’s obvious that it has become a force for evil.
I wonder whether anything similar would ever have emerged in a free society. I doubt it, since many of the advantages of being a corporation have to do with taxes and protection from government court rulings, which would not exist.
there is no separation of govt and corp in modern america
we live in essentially a mussolini fascist state
I keep my dollars as far as possible from any place that would make me practice sickness kabuki. I literally laugh at car dealerships that make their customers put on a mask. The choice is simple for me. Keep my old cars running. Do business at auto parts stores, buy on rock auto, repair myself or take it to a locally owned shop for the big stuff.
The employment thing isn’t quite as simple.