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

Politicians love to preach about the virtues of an industrial base. They do it for three reasons: Industrial firms are great sources of subsidies and political patronage, such patronage buys support from organized labor union voting blocks, and it actually does make sense for countries to produce real things of value. Since WWII America’s industry has steadily declined as a percentage of GDP, but the winds of change are blowing. 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

U.S. Treasury Dept. considers converting loans to equity ownership in major U.S. banks…is this a backdoor to nationalization? Congressional push-back to Obama’s revenue raising plans is leaving $1 trillion gap in budget, Obama set to take on credit card companies for charging interest rates that he considers too high, the U.S. Energy Secretary warns that some Caribbean islands will disappear because of Global Warming, and China issues another condemnation of U.S. economic policies…threatens to diversify currency reserves out of USD… Continue Reading

HUD program turns out to benefit contractors and not the poor…go figure! China cranks up its printing presses-expect global inflation, Peter Schiff (“Dr. Doom”) discusses his book “Crash Proof”, Goldman Sachs plans to sell billions in stock to pay off government aid ASAP, gas prices up 5% in 3 weeks…inflation? Top U.S. general says we’ll be out of Iraq by 2011, and 75% of Americans want to lift Cuba embargo… Continue Reading

We are moving closer towards a political economy every day. Every dollar borrowed, taxed, printed, and spent by government really comes from the private sector.  Trillions of dollars of national resources are being allocated by politicians and bureaucrats towards things they claim will benefit our economy. Congress just passed a $3.6 trillion budget ($1.2 trillion in deficit), and combined the Federal Reserve and Treasury have dumped $13 trillion into the economy in the last 16 months. What we must all ask ourselves right now is whether or not we trust government with our money? Continue Reading

China and Argentina strike currency swap deal to reduce reliance on U.S. dollar, the tax man cometh…be prepared, Obama plans to ‘ease’ GM into bankruptcy, California able to raise more money than expected in debt market; $44 billion a year, trillions over decades, and tens of thousands killed to fight drugs…worth it? Mexican police convoy ambushed-4 dead, U.S. home prices crash over 19% in January… Continue Reading

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.