The Freedom Factory

In a sluggish economy, bartering is becoming an increasingly popular alternative to cash for businesses and individuals. Indeed, the practice of our pre-currency forefathers is coming back with such a vengeance that there are several websites dedicated to facilitating the practice. [Just like the kind great-great-great grandma used]. Continue Reading

The shackles of serfdom are being silently fastened to America. Every dollar Congress spends beyond its budget, every Federal Reserve Note printed, every tax, regulation, and government intrusion into our lives renders us less free. Ever wonder why it feels like it’s increasingly difficult to make ends meet? Remember the days when one spouse could work, the other raise the kids, and still save for a comfortable retirement? Those days are gone, but why? What’s next? The 5 Steps to Freedom: How To Cut Your Dependence On Institutions And Escape Financial Slavery, by Jeff Nabers explains what happened to our once prosperous society and how we can all take definite steps to escape what is to come. Continue Reading

This article is dedicated to the growing segment of American society that is awakening to the ideas that we are increasingly overworked and overtaxed. My goal is to determine an effective tax burden on the average middle-class American. I will leave it to the reader to judge relative severity of the burden as measured against associated “benefits” to which he is “entitled” from the system. Continue Reading

Nationwide anti-tax protests staged for April 15th tax day-rumors abound that leftist group ACORN intends to crash events, Obama administration readying to disclose results of bank stress tests, revisions to No Child Left Behind on the Obama agenda-prepare to see pervasive federal mandates in education, FDIC helps banks raise $300 billion through unregulated channels, Congress looks set to let D.C. school voucher program expire next year-Big Brother not prepared to let parents choose how to educate their own children, Spanish study casts skepticism on economic value of government creating green jobs… Continue Reading

Obama continues Bush policy of surveillance secrecy despite campaign promises, tax protests spark conservative insurgency online, submit video footage of your tax woes to CNN and you might be aired nationally, Fed historian and political economist predicts worse inflation than 1970s, consider real estate as an inflation hedge, municipal bond market shows signs of life, older workers 45 years and older face brunt of recession, and flood of government debt crowds out private economy… Continue Reading

There are two colossal events occurring in the world right now: Private credit and wealth is being destroyed, and in its place a good deal of money is being created. Much is taking place behind the scenes, driving this epic showdown between natural forces pushing for a return to sustainable equilibrium pitted against the full arsenal of man’s capability to resist.  Just as the fog of war can obscure a battlefield until the end, the outcome of this struggle is far from clear. Nonetheless, there are some telling events to note, signs for which to watch, and consequences to mull. Continue Reading

Has the federal government risen above its constitutional right to tax and spend billions of dollars on pork? What argument do we have which puts a seemingly all powerful federal government back in its constitutional place and restores the principle of federalism? Continue Reading

New Zealand Prime Minister John Key speaks a strange language. It’s English, all right, even with an accent, but he is one of the only world leaders who is speaking of relaxing regulations, cutting taxes, spending within budget, and focusing on making his country more productive.

Rather than jumping on the tax, borrow, spend, print, populist bandwagon with nearly every other world leader, John Key’s solution to the tough times is to “use this time to transform the economy to make us stronger so that when the world starts growing again we can be running faster than other countries we compete with.”

Key’s idea is to grow the country out of recession by improving productivity, not simply catering to populist calls for wealth redistribution, stifling regulation, and growth-inhibiting class warfare taxes. He calls attempts to use debt and money printing to “prop up growth” risky, saying that saddling future generations with debt could be counterproductive. He is one of the only politicians who states “There is actually a limit to what governments can do.”

At a time when governments are growing by leaps and bounds, and everyone seems convinced that Big Brother holds the keys to economic prosperity, it is refreshing to see a world leader (actually an ex-currency trader) embrace sound economic principals.

Key admits that New Zealand will not pull the world out of recession; it’s too bad other leaders lack such humility!

Here’s a link to the Wall Street Journal interview with Key.

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The Mustache Revolution is brewing. It is not a fashion statement; it does not even involve hair. It is the revolution that is happening in America, Right Under Our Noses. It fits right in between Marx’s model of government overthrow and Bernstein’s democratic socialism. This is elected officials distracting the electorate that begs them to act unconstitutionally. Here is how it was done.

A Little History
Karl Marx advocated a violent revolution to nationalize industry, redistribute wealth, and create a proletarian dictatorship. This would be very difficult for the American left, since they are anti-gun, anti-violence, and tend to dislike noncompliance. Edward Bernstein came around after Marx’s death and advocated democratic socialism. His goal was still to nationalize industry, but to accomplish it democratically. What is happening today is the Mustache Revolution; it meets the standards of both socialist ideologies. The US has elected our President and Congress democratically; most of the legislation has come about democratically; the problem is that the boundaries set by the constitution, make the process too slow. Therefore, in the name of Crises, Necessity, or Protection the limits on government are quickly removed.

Bailout Big Banks
Step one, use tax dollars to keep private businesses afloat. This gives government, not total control, but the ability to regulate finance in order to protect the interest of the people. Step two, make an enormous legislative blunder, and blame it on the banking industry. Let us not forget that the clause about the executive bonuses was removed, not forgotten, not left out, but removed. After there is a huge public outcry over executive bonuses, the next step is to levy a 90% tax. This tax of course is not limited to the bank that gave the bonuses, nor is it limited to the banking industry; the plan is to levy a tax on all executives who have a high salary and receive bonuses.

Stress Test
Of course, the wealth redistribution is not enough. The remaining step is to take major services, such as banking, health care, or auto manufacturers, and make them national industries. The first and most important of these is to take over the financial industry. The Financial industry is essential, because all businesses run off of the availability of credit (hence capitalism). Once all industries are getting their loans from the government, their nationalization will happen quickly and with little protest. So, after bailing out the banking industry, the next step is to create a stress test; this serves two purposes; 1) it asserts government power over the industry (no other industry needs to be deemed “strong enough to survive” in order to exist in the US economy), and 2) it makes people think that the government should step in when the test is not passed. Third, after the failure of the stress tests, the government will claim that the banks need to come under temporary government control. Since government has never improved a business after taking it over, temporary can be a very long time.

Not Under My Nose!
Things that stink are not meant to pass under your nose without notice! This revolution cannot continue to be ignored simply because we are in an economic downturn. Recession is not an excuse to jump from crises to crises without thinking out the political consequences of our actions. The hardest thing to regain, once it is lost, is freedom. And freedom is blindfolded on its knees in front of a gun named socialism.