RyanRSheets
03-16-2010, 02:44 PM
Just looking for opinion and critique because I want to spread something like this before tax day:
http://ryansheets.com/blog/?p=267
Dear America,
Less than a month from now, many of us will make a last minute confession to a serious crime. Punishment will be swift and harsh, with fines on the order of thousands of dollars for most of us, expected to be paid immediately following judgement. Those of us who make this confession may have a hard time understanding just what it is we are confessing to, so many of us will probably seek the aid of a professional. At the end of the day, we will–most of us, anyhow– pay our fines with just a little resent, and go on with our lives.
You see, the government has given us a most generous ultimatum. ”Confess, and we’ll let you off easy”, they say, with as much compassion as they can muster. They know we are guilty, because most everyone has committed this crime. Indeed, men with guns will enforce this all-too-common crime just like any other heinous assault on humanity.
The worst criminals will try to lie about their crime, or pretend they never committed a crime in the first place. They’ll tell you they haven’t done anything to deserve such a hefty fine, and they’ll refuse to take responsibility for their actions. These criminals will be apprehended, and examples will be made of them. Few will dare to deny their crime, for fear of becoming another example.
In fact, many of us will have spent the past year confessing to this atrocious crime, sending the government a check every 2 weeks. We’ll probably spend a day or so just going over our final confession, trying to get the words right, hoping we don’t face additional fines for errors. Few of us will enjoy the process, but criminals rarely do enjoy their comeuppance.
You see, on April 15th, whether you like it or not, you will be charged with the reception of income. Your punishment will depend on the quality of your confession, and how much income you received last year. You will be expected to settle the balance of your fines that day, or you will be forced to pay additional fines. If you do not pay your fines, you will face a host of more severe criminal penalties, all the way up to imprisonment.
To anyone arguing that it is not a crime unless you try to evade taxation, consider how judicial proceedings generally work:
1) A crime is committed. The authorities gather evidence and pick a suspect.
2) The suspect is charged with an offense and served with a subpoena or mirandized and arrested.
3) The suspect is given the choice between pleading guilty, often in exchange for a less severe sentence, and pleading innocent.
4) The suspect’s case is heard, and the sentence is given.
Thus, I commit the crime of earning income all year long. The government most likely realizes this, because I come out of an office every day and go home to an apartment. I drive a car that I am forced to tell them about. My employer warns them of my income throughout the year by way of payroll deductions, and they are forced to report my employment. I can make the choice to try and avoid prosecution, but chances are the government will catch on eventually, if not immediately.
And so, I reluctantly agree to be punished for making a living, year after year. I am sure some would argue that I probably receive excessive income. As such, I am stealing that income from another man, so the government is simply doing its duty of making sure everyone is able to live their life. This seems to imply that the economy is like a pie that can be divided perfectly among the population, without changing the size of the pie.
To cater to my side of the political spectrum for a moment, I argue that we determine the size of the pie based on our desire to produce. The pie grows because we want it to grow, and though we may encounter a limit of resources eventually, we do not seem to be anywhere near that point. The more pie we make, the more people we can feed. Taking a piece of my pie and giving it to another man certainly does not make me want to grow the pie. Since the man you are inviting to share my pie has not been asked to produce anything, he represents an inevitable deficit, whereas my unpredictable motive represents only a possible deficit, should I decide to deny him something for nothing.
Of course, entitlements don’t account for all of our government’s spending, so I will try to keep this letter to discussion of what I think we can all agree on. We have a host of other activities to fund, such as war, drug control, prisons, roads, police, meat inspection, environment protection and so on. It’s hard to look out the window without seeing the federal government’s work, whether that be a good thing or a bad thing. In fact, I can’t think of anything the government does not thoroughly have its hand in.
Do we need the government for all of these things? Has all the war kept us safe? Is the drug problem going away? Are all those people in prison in there for a good reason, and do we need to spend that much on them? How often are the police right there when you need them? Would the butcher be any less capable of determining what good quality meat looks like? Would we really let the environment fall apart if the government didn’t force us to behave a certain way? Do government employees deserve twice as much income as us? Is none of this excessive?
Furthermore, if you’ve watched the news at all in the past few years, your know that our government has been spending more than it has been taking in, and it has been this way for quite some time. What we are giving it isn’t even enough, so it is borrowing more and more each day, often directly from the printing press. We are being punished for our income, because it is excessive, yet the government continues to pay itself twice as much as us, still falling short of its goal, all on borrowed or counterfeited money. The word hypocrisy comes to mind.
Finger pointing is pretty inevitable at a a time like this, but is either side in Washington really fighting for the the change we need? Let’s consider 4 examples of anomalous behavior in our economy:
1) 17% of the economy is devoted to health care. While life and health are surely precious, it seems illogical and impossible that we would freely assign their preservation double the value of other countries, without expecting an equally substantial increase in quality. This essentially means that 1 in 6 work solely to enable the production of health care. On top of this, there is a supply deficit, meaning production is poorly allocated, or more than 1 out of every 6 people in this country are too sick to produce.
2) The majority of the wealth in our country is held by a small minority (approximately 20% of the population owns more than 80% of the country). This means that, most of the time, we are either choosing freely to reward 1 man more than 4 other men for less product, or 1 man is outproducing 4 other men. The trend seems to be movement toward complete ownership by the minority, and this seems to be by choice. It’s not that I don’t believe that obscene wealth would exist in a free market, it’s that I don’t believe a majority of capital would be owned by such a small minority.
3) Similarly, a United States Dollar can– for the time being, at least– purchase far more in other countries than it can here, yet other countries outproduce us. This does not make sense, considering America has operated on a trade deficit for ages, and the dollar has lost nearly 100% of its value since the inception of the Federal Reserve in 1913. Logical behavior would be for the comparative price of foreign labor to grow more and more with every year of increased debt and inflation.
4) Unemployment is progressing faster than during the Great Depression, but the resulting slump in demand has not caused price deflation. Instead, slumping demand seems to be chasing newly created money, which has typically used to drive production that otherwise would not be called for (i.e. your local stimulus bridge or propping up housing prices). Eventually, demand will pick back up and dormant money will find its way back into circulation, resulting in price inflation.
Surely, Capitalism does not make us that crazy, and certainly the 4 behaviors I described are also pretty unnatural in a Socialist system. And still, when up is down and down is up, they’re pushing more of the same on us, most recently in the form of the massive health care bill, all on the pretense of a war of ideals. The result is a divided populace, angry against the other side, but the sad truth is, neither side’s views are represented by the health care bill! If we want to label the current health care bill properly, we will call it Corporate Fascism, and that is something far worse than Socialism or Capitalism will ever be.
Instead of listening to either side, they are simply going to demand that we all get “acceptable” health insurance, whether we want to or not. They aren’t offering a “free” plan to everyone, only a public option. Could it possibly be that this is, as Dennis Kucinich has said, a bailout of big health insurance? Imagine the damage large corporate health insurance could do if it gained control of the definition of “acceptable” health coverage. The result, inevitably, will be more deficit, more suffering, and more unnecessary death.
I would like to close with what I feel is probably the most profound, relevant quote by any of the Founding Fathers, with regard to our current situation:
"If the American people ever allow private banks to control the issue of their currency, first by inflation, then by deflation, the banks and corporations that will grow up around them will deprive the people of all property until their children wake up homeless on the continent their Fathers conquered." – Thomas Jefferson
This April 15th, may we all plead the 5th, Conservatives and Progressives alike. It is time we recognize who the true criminal is.
In Liberty,
Ryan Sheets
http://ryansheets.com/blog/?p=267
Dear America,
Less than a month from now, many of us will make a last minute confession to a serious crime. Punishment will be swift and harsh, with fines on the order of thousands of dollars for most of us, expected to be paid immediately following judgement. Those of us who make this confession may have a hard time understanding just what it is we are confessing to, so many of us will probably seek the aid of a professional. At the end of the day, we will–most of us, anyhow– pay our fines with just a little resent, and go on with our lives.
You see, the government has given us a most generous ultimatum. ”Confess, and we’ll let you off easy”, they say, with as much compassion as they can muster. They know we are guilty, because most everyone has committed this crime. Indeed, men with guns will enforce this all-too-common crime just like any other heinous assault on humanity.
The worst criminals will try to lie about their crime, or pretend they never committed a crime in the first place. They’ll tell you they haven’t done anything to deserve such a hefty fine, and they’ll refuse to take responsibility for their actions. These criminals will be apprehended, and examples will be made of them. Few will dare to deny their crime, for fear of becoming another example.
In fact, many of us will have spent the past year confessing to this atrocious crime, sending the government a check every 2 weeks. We’ll probably spend a day or so just going over our final confession, trying to get the words right, hoping we don’t face additional fines for errors. Few of us will enjoy the process, but criminals rarely do enjoy their comeuppance.
You see, on April 15th, whether you like it or not, you will be charged with the reception of income. Your punishment will depend on the quality of your confession, and how much income you received last year. You will be expected to settle the balance of your fines that day, or you will be forced to pay additional fines. If you do not pay your fines, you will face a host of more severe criminal penalties, all the way up to imprisonment.
To anyone arguing that it is not a crime unless you try to evade taxation, consider how judicial proceedings generally work:
1) A crime is committed. The authorities gather evidence and pick a suspect.
2) The suspect is charged with an offense and served with a subpoena or mirandized and arrested.
3) The suspect is given the choice between pleading guilty, often in exchange for a less severe sentence, and pleading innocent.
4) The suspect’s case is heard, and the sentence is given.
Thus, I commit the crime of earning income all year long. The government most likely realizes this, because I come out of an office every day and go home to an apartment. I drive a car that I am forced to tell them about. My employer warns them of my income throughout the year by way of payroll deductions, and they are forced to report my employment. I can make the choice to try and avoid prosecution, but chances are the government will catch on eventually, if not immediately.
And so, I reluctantly agree to be punished for making a living, year after year. I am sure some would argue that I probably receive excessive income. As such, I am stealing that income from another man, so the government is simply doing its duty of making sure everyone is able to live their life. This seems to imply that the economy is like a pie that can be divided perfectly among the population, without changing the size of the pie.
To cater to my side of the political spectrum for a moment, I argue that we determine the size of the pie based on our desire to produce. The pie grows because we want it to grow, and though we may encounter a limit of resources eventually, we do not seem to be anywhere near that point. The more pie we make, the more people we can feed. Taking a piece of my pie and giving it to another man certainly does not make me want to grow the pie. Since the man you are inviting to share my pie has not been asked to produce anything, he represents an inevitable deficit, whereas my unpredictable motive represents only a possible deficit, should I decide to deny him something for nothing.
Of course, entitlements don’t account for all of our government’s spending, so I will try to keep this letter to discussion of what I think we can all agree on. We have a host of other activities to fund, such as war, drug control, prisons, roads, police, meat inspection, environment protection and so on. It’s hard to look out the window without seeing the federal government’s work, whether that be a good thing or a bad thing. In fact, I can’t think of anything the government does not thoroughly have its hand in.
Do we need the government for all of these things? Has all the war kept us safe? Is the drug problem going away? Are all those people in prison in there for a good reason, and do we need to spend that much on them? How often are the police right there when you need them? Would the butcher be any less capable of determining what good quality meat looks like? Would we really let the environment fall apart if the government didn’t force us to behave a certain way? Do government employees deserve twice as much income as us? Is none of this excessive?
Furthermore, if you’ve watched the news at all in the past few years, your know that our government has been spending more than it has been taking in, and it has been this way for quite some time. What we are giving it isn’t even enough, so it is borrowing more and more each day, often directly from the printing press. We are being punished for our income, because it is excessive, yet the government continues to pay itself twice as much as us, still falling short of its goal, all on borrowed or counterfeited money. The word hypocrisy comes to mind.
Finger pointing is pretty inevitable at a a time like this, but is either side in Washington really fighting for the the change we need? Let’s consider 4 examples of anomalous behavior in our economy:
1) 17% of the economy is devoted to health care. While life and health are surely precious, it seems illogical and impossible that we would freely assign their preservation double the value of other countries, without expecting an equally substantial increase in quality. This essentially means that 1 in 6 work solely to enable the production of health care. On top of this, there is a supply deficit, meaning production is poorly allocated, or more than 1 out of every 6 people in this country are too sick to produce.
2) The majority of the wealth in our country is held by a small minority (approximately 20% of the population owns more than 80% of the country). This means that, most of the time, we are either choosing freely to reward 1 man more than 4 other men for less product, or 1 man is outproducing 4 other men. The trend seems to be movement toward complete ownership by the minority, and this seems to be by choice. It’s not that I don’t believe that obscene wealth would exist in a free market, it’s that I don’t believe a majority of capital would be owned by such a small minority.
3) Similarly, a United States Dollar can– for the time being, at least– purchase far more in other countries than it can here, yet other countries outproduce us. This does not make sense, considering America has operated on a trade deficit for ages, and the dollar has lost nearly 100% of its value since the inception of the Federal Reserve in 1913. Logical behavior would be for the comparative price of foreign labor to grow more and more with every year of increased debt and inflation.
4) Unemployment is progressing faster than during the Great Depression, but the resulting slump in demand has not caused price deflation. Instead, slumping demand seems to be chasing newly created money, which has typically used to drive production that otherwise would not be called for (i.e. your local stimulus bridge or propping up housing prices). Eventually, demand will pick back up and dormant money will find its way back into circulation, resulting in price inflation.
Surely, Capitalism does not make us that crazy, and certainly the 4 behaviors I described are also pretty unnatural in a Socialist system. And still, when up is down and down is up, they’re pushing more of the same on us, most recently in the form of the massive health care bill, all on the pretense of a war of ideals. The result is a divided populace, angry against the other side, but the sad truth is, neither side’s views are represented by the health care bill! If we want to label the current health care bill properly, we will call it Corporate Fascism, and that is something far worse than Socialism or Capitalism will ever be.
Instead of listening to either side, they are simply going to demand that we all get “acceptable” health insurance, whether we want to or not. They aren’t offering a “free” plan to everyone, only a public option. Could it possibly be that this is, as Dennis Kucinich has said, a bailout of big health insurance? Imagine the damage large corporate health insurance could do if it gained control of the definition of “acceptable” health coverage. The result, inevitably, will be more deficit, more suffering, and more unnecessary death.
I would like to close with what I feel is probably the most profound, relevant quote by any of the Founding Fathers, with regard to our current situation:
"If the American people ever allow private banks to control the issue of their currency, first by inflation, then by deflation, the banks and corporations that will grow up around them will deprive the people of all property until their children wake up homeless on the continent their Fathers conquered." – Thomas Jefferson
This April 15th, may we all plead the 5th, Conservatives and Progressives alike. It is time we recognize who the true criminal is.
In Liberty,
Ryan Sheets