Sunday, February 20, 2011

When Tax-Feeders Revolt




What would happen if tax victims, rather than tax-feeders, were to go on strike?
If Madison -- or the capital city of any of Leviathan's other 49 regional administrative units -- were over-run by thousands of productive people who decided that they would no longer consent to be plundered on behalf of unionized government employees, would their revolt be promoted by sympathetic media outlets, and supported by the president and his political machine?

Would self-described populist cable pundit Ed Schultz  be there in person to confer an on-camera benediction to the rebels, describing them as people standing in "solidarity to fight for the middle class"? Would the state governor display restraint and forebearance in dealing with a malodorous mob that laid siege to the capitol for a week, if the throng were composed of people who withheld their taxes, rather government employees withholding their tax-subsidized services (such as they are)?

If this were to happen anywhere in the soyuz, every element of the Regime's punitive apparatus would be mobilized to put down the rebellion, hard and fast. Riot police and National Guard units would be deployed to beat and round up the rebels. I suspect that serious consideration would be made to the use of Predator drones to target those identified as "ringleaders" of the uprising.

If that scenario seems unlikely, consider the action taken by President Washington, at the behest of his despicable Treasury Secretary, to suppress the original taxpayer strike, the Whiskey Rebellion.
 
As James Madison sardonically pointed out, Alexander Hamilton's vision for America was that of a mercantilist state "woven together by tax collectors." His program envisioned creating an alliance between the central government and the bond-holding class, which would create a permanent constituency for ever-higher taxes and ever-increasing government. (In recent decades, unionized government employees have become a huge and powerful element of that constituency as well.)
Hamilton's scheme required the imposition of various excise taxes on the productive population. This in turn led to the rebellion of farmers in western Pennsylvania, who used whiskey as a form of currency. They quite sensibly refused to pay the tax. When Washington dispatched tax collectors to the region, the rebels helpfully outfitted them in the appropriate hot tar and goose feather ensemble. 
 A little more than a decade after Yorktown, George Washington assembled an army to set down the rebellion. 
As Thomas DiLorenzo observes in his valuable book Hamilton's Curse: "The rank-and-file soldiers may have been mostly conscripts, but many of the officers who accompanied Hamilton and Washington to Pennsylvania were from the ranks of the creditor aristocracy in the seaboard cities.... These officers were eager to enforce collection of the whiskey tax so that the value of their government bond holdings could be enhanced and secured."  



The revolt was put down without a shot being fired, and Washington -- who wasn't terribly enthusiastic about the campaign -- left Hamilton in charge, unsupervised. As DiLorenzo observes, this permitted Hamilton to play "the role of Grand Inquisitor" with those who had been taken prisoner. 

The captives, who included elderly veterans of the War for Independence, were dragged through the snow in chains to Philadelphia, where they were confined in jails, stables, and cattle pens to be interrogated by Hamilton and his underlings. The plan was to use what are now called "enhanced interrogation" techniques to compel accusations from some of the Rebels, and confessions from others, thereby building a large show trial that would end in the edifying spectacle of mass executions. 


One of the Treasury Secretary's assistants, a wretch known to history only as General White,  gave standing orders that any prisoner who attempted to escape was subject to summary execution by beheading. 

That order, DiLorenzo points out, "was not overruled by the treasury secretary, who was apparently willing to play judge, jury, and executioner. Indeed, Hamilton ordered local judges to render guilty verdicts against the twenty men who were eventually imprisoned, and he wanted all guilty parties to be hanged." This prompted Washington's intervention. Twelve Whiskey Rebels were prosecuted; two were convicted, and then pardoned. 


All of this happened long before the advent of the Federal Reserve and its terrorist arm, the IRS. Just as significantly, it happened long before the "Bonus Army" was cleared from Washington, D.C. by the U.S. military -- an incident from the last Great Depression that may provide a useful template for dealing with citizen uprisings that will come as the current Greater Depression deepens. 

The peaceful "Bonus Army" protesters were desperate, hungry veterans who had been promised compensation for wages they had lost while serving as conscripts in Wilson's evil and idiotic war. They had suffered the most onerous tax imaginable in the form of state-inflicted servitude. In 1924, Congress had approved a "Bonus" measure to compensate the former draft slaves, but the promised pittance was to be deferred until 1945, by which time it would  have been rendered worthless through inflation. 

As a protest handbill pointed out, "The Republican, Democratic, and Socialist Parties are all united in the fight against payment of the balance due to the veterans of the Bonus." This was hardly the first, or last, time that "Takers" would set aside their party differences to form a united front in a war against the "makers."



Commanding the cavalry that day was Major George S. Patton, who had no compunctions against using the military against civilians involved in "domestic disturbances." In a guide to "Riot Duty" he published a few months later, Patton offered some practical advice to future field commanders called on to put down citizen uprisings. 


 Patton was enthusiastic about the domestic applications of chemical warfare: "The use of gas is paramount…. While tear gas is effective, it should be backed up with vomiting gas.... Although white phosphorous is incendiary, it is useful in forming a screen for the attack of barricades and defended houses."

“Warn newspapers, theaters, and churches that if they encourage the mob, they are guilty of aiding them and that their leaders will be held personally accountable," Patton continued. "Freedom of the press cannot be construed as `license to encourage’ the armed enemies of the United States of America. An armed mob resisting federal troops is an armed enemy. To aid an enemy is TREASON. This may not be the `law,’ but it is fact. When blood starts running, the law stops.”

Perhaps thinking of Andrew Jackson's behavior as self-appointed military dictator of New Orleans during (and, for a while, after) the War of 1812, and anticipating the Cheney-era invention of the concept of "unlawful enemy combatant," Patton urged future military governors to dispose of the nuisance called habeas corpus -- and likewise to dispose of any particularly troublesome "agitator" with extreme prejudice:

“If you have captured a dangerous agitator and some `misguided’ federal judge issues a writ of Habeas Corpus for him, try to see the judge to find out what he is liable to do…. There’s always the danger that the man might attempt to escape. If he does, see that he at least falls out of ranks before you shoot him. To be soft hearted might mean death to your men. After all, WAR IS WAR.”


Patton's instructions are being carried out -- with murderous impact -- by the U.S.-supported and Pentagon-equipped security forces in Bahrain, which hosts the imperial Fifth Fleet. 

 "We are getting shot by American weapons fired by American-trained Bahraini soldiers with American-made tanks,"a medical orderly in Bahrain told Robert Fisk of The Independent of London. The same was true in Egypt prior to Mubarak's belated abdication. Both of those countries have been convulsed by uprisings against deeply corrupt, well-entrenched elites. People throughout that region have endured decades of government-abetted plunder, and endless abuse at the hands of the police states that protect the plunderers. 

The needs of the Empire's global plunderbund prompted the Federal Reserve to engage in a hugely destructive round of "Quantitative Easing" -- that is, officially sanctioned counterfeiting. This has preserved the comforts of corporatist elite, while triggering a food price shock that literally threatened the lives of millions at the periphery of the Empire.

Americans are just now starting to feel price inflation nibbling at their household finances; in places like Egypt, the same inflationary wave is devouring people alive. As I've said before, this is the kind of thing that turns "Mr. Hand" into "Mr. Fist" -- and sends people into the streets. 

When -- not "if," mind you -- similar uprisings occur here in the United States, we will find the "takers" united in solidarity against the "makers." This is not what is happening in Wisconsin, where the tax parasite cartel is tearing the state apart in an effort to preserve its privileged status, at whatever expense to the productive element of the state's population. 

The tax-devouring thugs who have converged on the state capitol in Madison are trying to wrap themselves in the mantle of the hungry, desperate people who defied Mubarak's torturers, and the imponderably courageous people in Bahrain who walked, unarmed and unflinching, into gunfire. Ditching work and pitching a tantrum to demand the preservation of "collective bargaining rights" for over-paid, tax-subsidized functionaries simply isn't the same thing as facing down the pitiless cadres of a quasi-totalitarian police state.

Freedom activists in Cairo demanded an end to martial law, torture, and a one-party dictatorship. Government employees in Wisconsin insist that it's a species of human rights abuse to withhold tax subsidies for Viagra prescriptions -- an actual demand from the teachers' union, which obviously includes more than a few members who have a hard time keeping the lead in the ol' pencil. 

Here are two critical and little-appreciated facts about the tax-feeder revolt in Wisconsin. First: In framing the proposed legislation to eliminate collective bargaining for government employee unions (which shouldn't exist to begin with), Republican Governor Scott Walker carefully exempted unions representing firefighters, police, and the state troopers. Second: Those unions have united in "solidarity" with their comrades in the tax-consuming class. This illustrates that in Wisconsin, as elsewhere, the police consider themselves part of the "who" rather than the "whom" in the "who does what to whom" formula that defines statist politics.
  
This will likely set the pattern for future episodes of this kind: "Conservative" executives will preserve the perquisites of the government functionaries directly involved in official coercion. In Wisconsin, as is the case everywhere else, the miracle of "collective bargaining" has conferred extravagant perks  on the uniformed bullies on which the State's wealth extraction mechanism depends. 

They supplied Mubarak's police; they still supply our own. 
 While police in Madison storm the barricades alongside their fellow revenue hogs, one of their number -- drug enforcement Officer Denise Markham -- is in the fourteenth month of what will eventually be a nearly two-and-a-half-year-long paid vacation. 

 Markham was suspended in June 2009 while the department conducted a leisurely and stressless "internal investigation" which eventually ruled that she had engaged in "overbearing, oppressive or tyrannical conduct," "improper searches," improper handling of "controlled substances," and unlawful seizure of private property (that is, theft).

Instead of facing criminal charges, Markham was allowed to resign on December 31 -- but she will continue to receive "sick leave," vacation, and comp time that continued to accumulate even while she was on paid suspension. According to Madison Police Chief Noble Wray, "this is really the best deal for all parties concerned," given the union-negotiated contract provisions dealing with circumstances of this kind. 

Indeed, the deal cut with Denise Markham is miserly compared to the treatment lavished on Michael Grogan, another Madison cop who was fired after being convicted of disorderly conduct for a December 2004 DUI-related incident. After wrecking his car, Grogan -- who was pants-pissing drunk -- kicked in the door of the first house he found and collapsed in a reeking puddle on the floor. After being shaken awake by strangers the following morning, Grogan drooled out a few incoherent syllables and then staggered out. 

A few weeks later, Grogan was put on a paid vacation that would last for three years. During that time, he would collect nearly $250,000 while he and his police union-provided attorney used every dilatory tactic in their arsenal to forestall final termination until they had wrung every possible penny from the productive public. 

These are typical examples of the kind of "public service" made possible through "collective bargaining." And they are very suitable illustrations of the mind-set of those who wouldn't hesitate to irrigate the gutters with blood in the event that Mundanes ever decide to stage a tax strike.


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 Dum spiro, pugno!

47 comments:

Anonymous said...

Just a correction, Will, its throng, not throne, up top. :)

Very good. Can't say I disagree with any of it. I never did read the details of the Washington/Hamilton Whiskey and Shays rebellions details.

Back to some more reading.

GunRights4US said...

While I agree that it's despicable for the tax leeches in WI to equate themselves with the middle-east protestors, your article left the definite impression that the middle-east crowd are simply fighting for their freedom from oppressive regimes.

My understanding of the arab protests is more that they are desireous of throwing off secular regimes in exchange for government based on sharia law. That hardly counts as a courageous hankering for Liberty!

mark edward marchiafava said...

The time for tax VICTIMS to revolt is long overdue, what's the holdup?

liberranter said...

The time for tax VICTIMS to revolt is long overdue, what's the holdup?

1. Intestinal fortitude shortages

2. Lack of organization

Both by equal orders of magnitude.

Anonymous said...

Not to mention the widespread sentiment that paying taxes is a religious duty according to a misguided understanding of Romans 13 and other scriptures.

liberranter said...

Not to mention the widespread sentiment that paying taxes is a religious duty according to a misguided understanding of Romans 13 and other scriptures.

Thank you! Major omission on my part.

mark edward marchiafava said...

And what did Jesus tell Peter when the temple tax collectors were at the door? Something about not offending them? Doesn't sound like a duty or requirement of law to me.

Anonymous said...

to gunrights for us,

what you're missing is that the regimes in question are all dictatorships. they are also police states with command economies. people got fed up with it and it all started with a fruit vendor who was told he needed a license to sell his fruit from a cart.

i hope they are wise to throw out the same folks who have been backing these regimes. thanks to wikileaks, these people know at least a few at whom they can point their fingers.

rick

Anonymous said...

While the Whiskey Rebellion may have been the "original taxpayer strike" that occurred post-ratification of the U.S. Constitution, the first recorded taxpayer revolt after independence from England was secured was Shay's Rebellion. After fighting and winning a war that was putatively waged to end abuses such as "taxation without representation", the Boston elitists, led by the Adamses (distant cousins, I'm shamed to confess) proceeded in all possible haste to visit that very same regime on the farmers and other rural folks of Massachusetts, so that the elitists could "share" the consequences of their wartime financial commitments and losses.

"First... Walker carefully exempted unions representing firefighters, police, and the state troopers."
That is not a strength of his proposal, but a condemnable weakness. I don't for a moment think that you intended to imply otherwise, just trying to clarify.

Mr. Burr extracted the ultimate payment from Hamilton, largely as a consequence of Hamilton's arrogant, Statist ways. We need to make it clear to our current parasite class that they had best tread very carefully, lest we hold them to account in the same way.

Anonymous said...

How telling that you toadies on the right refer to teachers, nurses, police, and firemen as "tax feeders", when most of the tax largesse in this country goes to support Big Business.

Shameful. But after a recall in Wisconsin, you guys can go back to wearing out your kneepads before your CEO masters. Enjoy the ride. You won't like the destination.

William N. Grigg said...

With more confidence than wisdom, Anon @ 8:09 wrote:

How telling that you toadies on the right refer to teachers, nurses, police, and firemen as "tax feeders", when most of the tax largesse in this country goes to support Big Business.

This blog execrates tax-feeders of all varieties, both "public" and "public-private." Tens of thousands of words have been published here condemning the corporatist elite, particularly the military-industrial-Homeland Security complex, and the Federal Reserve/Wall Street axis.

Here are just a few suitable examples:

"Amnesty for the Banksters, Debtor's Prison for the Serfs" --

http://www.lewrockwell.com/grigg/grigg-w151.html

"Quantum of Suffering: Economic Hit Men Target Main Street" --

http://www.lewrockwell.com/grigg/grigg-w152.html

"Clemency for Wall Street Criminals, Prison for the Powerless" --

http://www.lewrockwell.com/grigg/grigg-w155.html

"Kleptocrats of the World, Unite!" --

http://www.lewrockwell.com/grigg/grigg-w76.html

"The `Disaster Capitalist' Nomenklatura" --

http://freedominourtime.blogspot.com/2006/09/disaster-capitalist-nomenklatura.html

Mr. Anonymous, you've stepped into the middle of a conversation, so I hope you'll take the time to read at least some of those essays and see if your assumptions are valid.

GunRights4US said...

Rick says:

"what you're missing is that the regimes in question are all dictatorships. they are also police states with command economies. people got fed up with it and it all started with a fruit vendor who was told he needed a license to sell his fruit from a cart."

In response:

Well Rick I believe that it's you who are missing something. Give this a read and then come back and tell me that the people of Egypt are simply yearning to breath the air of freedom...

http://sultanknish.blogspot.com/2011/02/real-egyptian-revolution-will-not-be.html

GunRights4US said...

To anon @ 8:09:

Every penny taken home by a fireman, cop, or teacher comes right out of a taxpayer's pocket! It irks me to no end that these people have forgotten who pays the bills.

I guess it's not really their fault however; after all...they were groomed by a vote-buying political class.

Of the three types of tax feeders I referred to, only the fireman has a product I'm interested in buying. I don't need the cops for ANYTHING (they're much more dangerous than any criminals), and I sure don't want socialist teachers infecting my kids with their Marxist doctrines.

Anonymous said...

GunRights4US said... "My understanding of the arab protests is more that they are desireous of throwing off secular regimes in exchange for..."

Uh, you might want to take a look at this, it didn't all start with a fruit vendor, and it doesn't seem to be what it appears to be:

More and More, Elite Supports Islamic 'Enemy'

http://thedailybell.com/1778/More-and-More-Elite-Supports-Islamic-Enemy.html

William N. Grigg said...

Anent the horrifying rape of Lara Logan --

http://spectator.org/blog/2011/02/16/pro-mubarak-barbarians-not-egy

Contrary to what "Sultan Knish" and people of his ilk insist, Logan was assaulted by secret police thugs employed by Mubarak's regime, and rescued by some of the protesters who had helped bring it down (aided by a handful of soldiers who apparently acted on their own initiative).

The success of a revolution doesn't necessarily mean the triumph of liberty. However, my perspective on this matter is closer to that of Edmund Burke, who disdained collective indictments of entire nations, than that of Mr. "Knish," who apparently sees Arabs as an undifferentiated mass of malice suitable only to be kept under the heel of a pliant dictator, or vaporized by the forces of tolerance and progress.

liberranter said...

Of the three types of tax feeders I referred to, only the fireman has a product I'm interested in buying.

Indeed, and these braves souls would be much better employed, and the public much better served, if they worked for private concerns that ensured that they were adequately paid and equipped. (But that's fodder for a whole 'nother thread.)

MagyarBowman said...

Here is some interesting insight to some devious dealings going in the background with this bill:

http://www.economicpolicyjournal.com/2011/02/krugman-explains-wisconsin-power-game.html

Check out the update at the bottom. It appears that "public-private" tax-feeders are also involved.

Anonymous said...

The Wisconsin fiasco is telling. Here you have those who are literally bleeding the productive class to death with their "demands". I say fire the lot of them and start anew. They've obviously violated even their own corrupt contracts.

As far as people in foreign lands shaking off their individual despots I say, "Good for ya!" and to the Americans who are pooh poohing and fretting over this or that... "Get over it!... You don't own the world and it isn't your concern numb-skulls!" Haven't we robbed our own citizenry for so many decades to prop up and enrich the most corrupt swine on the planet within and without this nation?

Cederq said...

As for the People of the Middle-East who walked into killing zones, when the tax victums stand toe to toe with the "enforcers", we will be armed, big difference, I wonder how many of those same "enforcers" what to go home that night to their families?

Lemuel Gulliver said...

Liberranter,

Oh, dear. I have to disagree. If firefighting was privatized, I can just hear the conversation:

Brrrp.....Brrrrp....Brrrp....

"Hello, Bountiful Fire Services."

"I got a fire."

"Sir, do you have insurance?"

"Yeah, please hurry, the baby is still in there."

"Sir, can I have your policy number?"

"7-5-7-3-2-1-9-9-8."

"One moment please, while I check whether your policy is paid up to date."

"For God's sake, hurry. It's coming out through the roof now."

"Sir, your last premium was due yesterday, and has not been received. Did you put a check in the mail already, or not?"

"Oh my God."

"I'm sorry sir, unless you can give me a check number we cannot proceed."

"Will you take a credit card?"

"Of course, sir, one moment while I get to that screen.... Okay, Mastercard or Visa?"

"American Express."

"Sorry sir, we don't take American Express. Their charges are 5%, while Visa and Mastercard only charge us 3%. Have you any other cards?"

"No. Look, forget it, I'm going back in there myself to look for the baby."

"Wait, sir, before you go, if you give me the American Express number we might make an exception and send a crew to help you."

"Sir?"

"Sir??... Sir??"

"Oh shit, Maud, I think we just lost a customer."

- Lemuel Gulliver.

Anonymous said...

LG... Private Firefighting would work out just peachy. Instead of paying municipal taxes you's shop for insurance that provided you the best "coverage", be it security, firefighting, plumbing... you name it. Thus your policy would provide for this and once the call was placed for help ( could be a pooled center where all available services would tie into ) the first on the scene would be the one to get paid or whomever was closest and available. There is no more reason to have them under government control than anything else. If you give any governing body the authority to rob you through taxes it only leads to the mess we have today. Sooner or later.

Lemuel Gulliver said...

MoT,

I was looking on the bright side in my hypothetical conversation. More than likely, your call would be taken by someone in Bangla Desh or Manila or Mumbai, who would probably dispatch a fire truck, in the wrong city, to a location where there was no fire.

Seriously, I am largely in agreement on most of the issues raised here. Mr. Grigg is 100% right. I saw a comparison of the wage, health and retirement benefits of Wisconsin State "employees" compared with those of the average private sector peon in that state, and the trough-feeders are living like princes. (Not like kings - that would be the oligarchs and corporate CEO's who have purchased government at all levels everywhere in Amoricon.)

However, having had sad and bitter experience of the "services" provided from offshore, barely-English-speaking outsourced people, by Corporate Amoricon to its servile captive customerss, and seen how the CEO walks away with his golden parachute when they have a civil judgment against them and go out of business, to the cost of their defrauded customers and SOL shareholders, having seen that happen again and again, I don't think I would want one of these outfits to be responsible for putting out a fire in my house.

It's bad enough the "health care" insurance we get at immense expense: Cuba has a lower child mortality and a higher life expectancy than the USA. But illness is usually something you have time to seek treatment for. Your house on fire cannot wait for second opinions and inquiries as to whether the fire has been caused by a covered event or not, or was due to a pre-existing fault in your home.

("Sir, was this fire due to lightning? Or perhaps an electrical fault? You are covered for the second, but not the first. I see. Of course, sir, this is providing your home's electrical system has been checked annually by a qualified electrician. When was the last date of checkup? Oh, I see, a month ago. That's great, sir, was this electrician one of our certified group of electrical providers? Oh fine, one moment while I see where is the nearest fire truck..... OK, sir, someone will be there on Friday between 9 and 5 to attend to your fire.")

The bottom line is, MoT and Liberranter, we sad sack peasants are being royally screwed by EVERYONE. Government is owned by Big Business. They work hand-in-hand to {%@*#} with us. It makes no difference which one is providing shoddy service, at exorbitant prices, or for exorbitant taxes.

However, of all the services provided by the State, Fire Department employees usually live in the community they serve, and are the most dedicated to true, selfless, and often life-threatening service to those in desperate need. They are angels in human form. There is almost no-one else, except perhaps the Coast Guard, whom I hold in higher esteem. Greater love than this hath no man, than he that lays his life on the line for people he does not even know.

Don't be so naive as to think "private enterprise" in Amoricon is in business to help you - they are in business to screw you out of your money, only just enough so that you will keep coming back for more.

Look what the insurance industry did to victims of Hurricane Katrina. Almost ALL of the homeless never managed to collect on their insurance, because the companies declared their homes were destroyed by flood, not by wind. And you want them to be responsible for putting out your house on fire?

- Lemuel Gulliver.

Lemuel Gulliver said...

Mr. Grigg,

Sorry to have diverted the discussion into privatization of "government" - provided "services." Back to the point....

There is a time of tribulation on the way, the likes of which we have not seen since the 14th Century in Europe. That century saw the start of the Little Ice Age (in 1307,) the Black Death (in 1348,) crop failures, famines, endless wars, and armies of bandits thousands strong plundering cities and towns.

We will soon endure sea level rise, massive refugee migrations, crop failures, world economic collapse, hyperinflation in food and energy, governmental bankruptcy, mass starvation, global disease, and perhaps nuclear war between India, Russia and America on one side, and China, Pakistan and the Islamic world on the other side, while Europe tries to stay neutral:

http://www.thedailybell.com/1761/Afghan-War-Draws-in-China-and-Russia.html

The pundits say the world population will be 9 billion by 2050. Perhaps they are wrong. Perhaps it will be only 4 billion. Or less. Perhaps only 2 or 3.

And here are the tax-leeches of Wisconsin, fighting for their share of our blood, our sweat, and our tears. Alongside the tax-leeches of Washington. And Chicago. And Atlanta. And all the other seats of blood-sucking leeches in this nation. And their blood-sucking vampire neo-employers on Wall Street. And Dizengoff Street. And in boardrooms across America.

What an absurdity.

Fighting over who gets the family silver, as the house burns down around their ears.

Here is an observation: In the coming tribulations, only those with friends, only those who are part of a society of some kind, only those who are selfless, only those who have joined forces with other social people for mutual support and defense, will survive. Those who are lone predators, those who are selfish, those who prey on others, those without allies, will perish. When it is all over, our world will be a very, very different place. A better place - for those alive to see it.

Those who have ears to hear, let them hear.

- Lemuel Gulliver.

PS: Christian Russia is now the de facto ally of a Christian USA. I predicted this on this blog before the 2008 election, and now it is so. We all hate Obama, but his accomplishment in this regard is enormous. The public does not know what astonishing events have happened behind the scenes, but trust me, this is a fact. Both our countries are breadbaskets to the world. Godless and soon-to-be-starving China is the enemy of both. India, militant Islam and Pakistan are in the middle, aligned respectively with the two camps. Wait a few years, and you will see the truth of this. Meanwhile, ever-ambitious and pestiferous Israel sows mischief everywhere, trying to culturally, politically and economically destabilize every other country, especially those nearby to it, in order to strengthen its own relative position.

What a godawful mess.

- LG.

Lemuel Gulliver said...

All,

I spend my days reading. In addition, I have a contact very high up in the CIA, and another with close ties to Mr. Putin's Press Secretary. But even my CIA person cannot see what I see, because he does not have the time to spend as I do, reading and reading and reading. I put what he tells me together with other opinions, and other facts, and from this I form a picture.

Besides my pessimistic prediction above, I made another couple of predictions about the future of Egypt, towards the bottom of Mr. Grigg's last January essay, "Saviors in Uniform," at 3:12 pm and at 7:51 pm.

If you want confirmation of what I said there, go to this article:

http://www.thedailybell.com/1778/More-and-More-Elite-Supports-Islamic-Enemy.html

You also need to carefully read all the comments below the article, and to follow some of the links to other articles given in the body of the text. This will take a couple of hours, but is well worth the time.

If you want to understand what it all means, (and you MUST read all those links and the comments to see the truth of what I now say,) here it is:

The Global Elite spoken of is a small group of some 300 men, mostly Zionist Jews, (allied closely with the Freemasons, who are a Satanic cult seeking worldly power,) who control the creation of money all over the world. They also control all the world's media, and through that, control what the human race thinks about and believes. They also tightly control the lives and fortunes of most of the Jews in the world, through the local Kahal fraternities and the Beth-din tribunals. Ask any practising Jew about these. Their philosophy of eventual domination over all the Goyim of the world is set out in the Shulchan Aruk book in the Talmud.

(Continued.....)

Lemuel Gulliver said...

(Continued....)

I quote Menachem Begin, one of the Inner Elite while he lived:

"Our race is the Master Race. We are divine gods on this planet. We are as different from the inferior races as they are from insects. In fact, compared to our race, other races are beasts and animals, cattle at best. Other races are considered as human excrement. Our destiny is to rule over the inferior races. Our earthly kingdom will be ruled by our leader with a rod of iron. The masses will lick our feet and serve us as our slaves."

WHY are the Global Elite now, in these days, seeming to be setting Islam against Christianity? Because those global elites are not Christian. They are Zionist so-called "Jews" (actually racist Jews, not religious Jews,) and Satanic Freemasons, who have decided this is the time for Islam and Christianity to destroy each other, and hopefully destroy China too in the process. This way a Zionist New World Order, outwardly and ostensibly Jewish, but in reality Godless and Satanic, may be established, with its capital in Jerusalem. The so-called Global Elite plan to rule the world, through their leader, the Third Antichrist spoken of by Nostradamus.

Perhaps, this is the final battle between Christ and Satan, prophesied in Revelations.

Along with St. John, I believe their plan will ultimately fail, due to the fact that God is more powerful than Satan, and Man is made in the image of God. Man is not an insect or a lump of excrement, to be crushed underfoot or flushed down the toilet.

This MUST be understood by all: The Global Elite wants to destroy Christianity and the societies of Europe, America, and the whole world. All except Israel, which is supposed to become the seat of all power, in Jerusalem. We are living now in the end times, when the final stages of this Satanic plan for world conquest, which has been building for 2,000 years, are being set in motion. The methods are control of all global wealth, economic collapse, global war, and moral dissipation of every description. Think for a few minutes about our TV, advertising, and movies, and you will see how this nation, and all the other nations who copy us, have been morally weakened and made degenerate and spiritually bankrupt.

Christians are right to feel their faith is under attack. It is. They just do not know which Hidden Hand is wielding the weapons.

Readers may think me insane and call me names. If you live long enough, one day you will see that everything I say and have said is correct. Take it or leave it.

- Lemuel Gulliver.

Michael Rivero said...

Talk about government kool-aid!

The protesters in Wisconsin are not demanding more money. They, like 300 million other Americans, are simply trying to keep what is already theirs in the face of a government whose sole agenda to to force the people to make do with less so that the private central bankers can have more.

This blatant attempt to demonize Americans who merely want to retain that which they already worked for is shameless, and betrays that the author of this piece is part of that agenda to force the people to make do with less so that the private central bankers can have more.

William N. Grigg said...

This blatant attempt to demonize Americans who merely want to retain that which they already worked for is shameless, and betrays that the author of this piece is part of that agenda to force the people to make do with less so that the private central bankers can have more.

Since I have frequently and unabashedly called for the abolition of the Federal Reserve System, root and branch, in what sense could this possibly be true?

Doesn't the phrase "Americans who merely want to retain that which they already worked for" work better as a description of tax victims, rather than tax feeders?

The rampaging revenue hogs in Madison aren't like Doris Day and her colorful little band of winsome union textile workers from The Pajama Game. They're not trying to wheedle out a pitiful seven-and-a-half-cent raise from the lard-butt proprietor of the Sleep-Tite Pajama company.

liberranter said...

Christians are right to feel their faith is under attack. It is. They just do not know which Hidden Hand is wielding the weapons.

Indeed. As I never tire of repeating, the greatest assault upon true Christianity, the Christianity of the Gospels, especially in Amerika, comes from within the walls of those pseudo-ecclesiastical corporations called "churches." (While I disagree with him on many other issues, Baptist Pastor and editorialist Chuck Baldwin is spot-on about this, a subject he expounds on here, here, here, and here, among other articles on his blog.)

Anonymous said...

Michael Rivero,

You say the protesters are trying to keep "what is theirs." By what right is it theirs? They secured promises from politicians -- promises that the rest of us would be continually robbed to maintain the privileged positions of these spoiled crybabies.

It is my sincere hope that the rotten politicians, acting entirely out of fear for their own positions, throw these union thugs under the [federally-mandated schoo] bus.

Of course, in a perfect world, the politicians themselves, along with their bankster bosses, would be tarred, feathered, expropriated and deported to Afghanistan. But this is at least a step in the right direction.

Paul in Chicago said...

FYI, taxfeeding the Planned Parenthood way. First, an appeal from a blog at Women'sHealth:

Women’s Health at Risk: Support Planned Parenthood


Then, PP's shrill victimology and adolescent demand for parasitism. Note well scurrilous hyperbole such as “assault”, “cruel”, “unconscionable”, and so on.


I STAND WITH PLANNED PARENTHOOD

The U.S. House of Representatives has just voted to bar Planned Parenthood health centers from all federal funding for birth control, cancer screenings, HIV testing, and other lifesaving care.

It is the most dangerous legislative assault in our history,...

Sign our open letter to every single representative in the House who voted for this cruel, unconscionable, unthinkable law, and to every senator who still has a chance to stop it."



AN OPEN LETTER TO CONGRESS

To the members of the House of Representatives who voted for the Pence Amendment to H.R. 1:


How could you?
.
.
.
It was a vote against me.
.
.
.
To every member of Congress, know that we stand together today against this outrageous assault, and together we will not lose.


An Open Letter To Congress

Kevin said...

I know I am digressing from the topic at hand but I wanted to direct you to a police scandal that just hit the news here in Baltimore. Seventeen police officer were just arrested in Baltimore for extortion.
Read about it here: http://www.wbal.com/absolutenm/templates/story.aspx?articleid=68102&zoneid=2

D. L. said...

Will, this just might be the first time I even a little bit disagree with you. Yes, these public school teachers and the rest ARE tax feeders, and, as someone who used to public school teach until I started home schooling (no way was I letting my two kids go to public school!)--in other words, I've been on both sides of the equation--I say that if you are not allowing the teachers and the rest (BTW, my husband is a paramedic, and also has fire fighting certification...wouldn't you agree that medics and ambulance crews are just as worthy as fire fighters?) to have "collective bargaining" just because we pay their salaries, then wouldn't you agree that we should not allow private sector employees to have "collective bargaining" rights either? After all, in buying products they make, we also pay their salaries!!! (Good grief I hope you aren't agreeing with Wisconsin's gov. just because he's a Republican!)

I say what's good or bad for the goose is also good or bad for the gander...to paraphrase my old HS Algebra teacher.

If private sector workers have the right to protest, then so do public sector workers!

However, I DO WHOLEHEARTEDLY AGREE with you in your final statement...that public sector folks WILL most assuredly do whatever they can to keep us "mundanes" (I love that term you use!) from protesting! Because ultimately, you are right about tax feeders no matter what their profession is...

Right now, Providence, RI's school board is firing all teachers at the end of the school year...should be interesting, and I wouldn't mind if the majority of govts. just shut the heck down.

Anonymous said...

"The time for tax VICTIMS to revolt is long overdue, what's the holdup?"

The holdup is due to the fact that in spite of the rampant plundering and immoral actions of our own government, the vast majority of us continue to live very comfortable lives. As long as most Americans still believe they can make good lives for themselves and their families, no one will be willing to take any drastic action. However, when the day comes that the vast majority of Americans see no alternative, the uprising will make Egypt look like nap time at kindergarten. Unlike most nations, America possesses a population that is still heavily armed and very capable in the use of those weapons. When the authorities are ordered to fire upon the citizens, these citizens will fire back.

jk

Anonymous said...

Mr Griggs,

Normally I agree with your columns, and I think that you are one of the best writers on the topic of liberty and freedom nowadays.

However, I do not agree with you on this topic. The situation in Wisconsin is designed to get two different groups of working class people fighting against each other. This serves to distract from the real crimes which are being committed by the ruling elite.

While you have condemned corporate welfare and the MIC, the amount that the current workers are fighting over is a pittance. We are talking about ~$140 million dollars, that's chump change nowadays. You couldn't pay employee bonuses at any respectable investment back with that measly amount.

The government, however, is trying to portray this event as an important key in stemming a budget crisis. The truth is they just want to break the unions. In fact, the union leaders have already agreed to all the governor's demands, they just want to keep the right to represent the union members. (by represent I mean negotiate another pay cut for them next time the contracts are up)

Ralph Nader probably explains things better than I could.

http://www.counterpunch.org/nader02212011.html

PS. I have been trying to find a column you wrote a few years back talking about how people who really support freedom and liberty in this country should be against the troops, because we are only going to get our own freedom if our current foreign policy overseas fails. Any way you could link it for me?

Thanks!

Anonymous said...

Wish I could find an email address for you Mr. Grigg.

William N. Grigg said...

Anonymous @ 9:26 -- You can reach me at WNGrigg[at]msn[dot]com.

dixiedog said...

Great article, Will. I actually agree with EVERYTHING you've written in this piece. You hit it spot on, IMHO.

The lady's face on the left side there, above "PELOSI BACKS PROTESTERS..." link, conjured up all sorts of images in my mind about how raging, selfish, maniacal hollerin' statists can become when their tax-fed gluttony might possibly find a cure.

Gee, are they deaf, dumb, and blind to the fact that the Leviathanettes don't have free reign to simply toss funds about whimsically like big daddy Leviathan does? Nah, they can't be that dim-witted...Me, myself, and I simply trump all other concerns...yeah, that's it.

Amerika is a dead man walking, sucked dry and suffocated by myriad species of humanoid parasites. RIP.

...wouldn't you agree that we should not allow private sector employees to have "collective bargaining" rights either? After all, in buying products they make, we also pay their salaries!!!

Sigh...but (putting gov't interference in the markets aside for the purpose of abstract logical reasoning) we "mere" mundanes ain't forced to buy a private company's products and pay their workers' salaries!!! We can simply go and buy elsewhere. Ergo, by extension, the fear of goin' broke is THE huge incentive for a private concern to provide a product/service efficiently, timely, and as cheaply as possible with quality in mind.

With public sector so-called "services" there's no such choice in the matter!!! Thus, there's no incentive to operate efficiently, timely, and the concept of "quality" is an oxymoron. The term "services" that federal, state, and local gov agencies love to parrot is a real hoot. Their "services" are merely creating/concocting more "convenient" ways/methods for you to pay a required fee, fine, or tax.

Why should a union (of "Takers") be able to harness "collective bargaining" when the boss (productive mundanes - the "Makers") are not part of the process? We can't make demands on gov't employees in terms of working conditions, wage scales, etc. based on our desires even though we pay involuntarily. OTOH, there tends to be genuine bargaining b/w the respective parties in the private sector (although I've never been a fan of unions of any sort, public or private, myself). VA is a "right to work" state (unfettered by coerced union membership), thankfully.

liberranter said...

With public sector so-called "services" there's no such choice in the matter!!! Thus, there's no incentive to operate efficiently, timely, and the concept of "quality" is an oxymoron. The term "services" that federal, state, and local gov agencies love to parrot is a real hoot. Their "services" are merely creating/concocting more "convenient" ways/methods for you to pay a required fee, fine, or tax.

Thanks, DD, for setting D.L. straight with a small lesson in Austrian Economics 001. (I thought about jumping in, but why should I have all the fun?)

In response to your quoted response above, I say, "exactly." To make the situation even more perverse, particularly where public "education" [sic] is concerned, while we may choose not to have our children partake of this "service," we are still forced to pay for it anyway. These state indoctrination and brainwashing centers, along with the droids that staff them, are going to be funded with my stolen tax dollars whether or not every single child in a given state attends them or whether none (or nearly none) attend. As you point out, there is no linkage between performance and reward in such institutions and thus NO incentive whatsoever to change anything. I am forced to fund these abominable institutions and the abominable "humans" that staff them even if I home school my children or send them to private schools. Thus these toxic entities that I would NEVER voluntarily pay for use money stolen from me to compete directly with the establishments by which I have made a market choice to educate my children. The effect is that these institutions siphon off and waste capital that could be put to much more productive use in the VOLUNTARY private sector. It's akin to my being forced to subsidize Olive Garden restaurants by having an extra "Olive Garden gratuity" added to my bill at Romano's Macaroni Grill (just to use two randomly selected restaurants as examples - no endorsement or criticism meant to be implied) even if I hate the food at Olive Garden and choose to eat at Macaroni Grill. All of this has been illustrated ad nauseum elsewhere (and probably in this blog) in the past, but it can never be repeated often enough.

D. L. said...

Well, since you brought me into this, I guess I might as well repsond by saying okay--you don't like th eproduct you go somewhere else and thus we "mundanes" do not actually "pay the salaries" of private employees, so that if we buy from employee from company B instead of company A then we help pay employee B's salary but not employee A...but we are still paying the salaries of A PRIVATE EMPLOYEE, NO?

Honey, I am fairly sure I am as up on Austrian Economics as you, Liberanter, and you, DD!

Like I said I've homeschooled, AND worked as a public school teacher. Unlike you folks, I can see both sides of this issue, and know that whereas either one of you will side with some Republican or other and deny rights to SOME union employees (or all of them), what about the employees of, say, Goldman Sachs, B o A, or the privately owned Federal Reserve? If these folks were in a union, what then?

What I am saying here is instead of trying to divide and conquer workers, middle class, working class, or even the 6 figures-and-up employees who are getting ripped off by the REAL TAX FEEDERS--the bailed out bankers--maybe all us Austrians, Ron Paulites, Lew Rockwell readers and so on, should support folks who are only trying to keep from being busted to benefit Walker and his friends, the Kochs.

Or, I guess it's okay with you to have 99% of Americans working for 10 bucks a day so that your "Austrian theories" can play out. Stop the divide and conquer nonsense...teachers are NOT the enemy!

Arnold said...

Before we moved to Sacramento I had much the same opinion of "public" employees as is depicted in most of the postings on this topic. They were leeches, slimy creatures who lived off the public dole. I guess that living in and among them has taken its toll. Guess what, they're real people, just like you and me. They want the same things for themselves and their kids that you and I want. They do't want exorbitant wages, they want to get paid for what they do. We may not like what they do but that doesn't make their job any less honorable.

Unions have been vilified throughout much of our nation's history but without unions do you really think we would have a 40 hour work week? Yes, many non-union companies give very good benefits but it is often because of the competition in the workplace. I was once anti-union until I worked for a company run by a dictator and I saw the only hope the employees had for fair treatment was a union.

The unions in Wisconsin have already conceded the economic demands of the governor and in normal bargaining they might even have conceded more. But this is union busting in the most blatant form.

Please look past the buzzwords coming from both sides and consider that we might be talking about real humans here.

Lemuel Gulliver said...

Nobody seems to be able to separate the 2 issues here, which are completely different: public employees, and unions. The WI Governor's real aim is union-busting, not budget-balancing or public-employee-benefit reductions. The unions have agreed to ALL the demands for their members to pay more of their health care, and take pay cuts, so long as they can retain their union. The Governor has refused.

Let us face it - the reason we peons are starving, while the rich upgrade their yachts, Learjets and Ferraris, is because Ronald Reagan busted the unions, and it has been downhill for us since then.

The unions are still strong in Germany - by law, union representatives sit on corporate boards - and despite being about the highest-paid workers in the world, and having a population of about 80 million, Germany is the world's second-biggest exporter after China, with a population of 1,300 million. No budget deficit there. Germans are prospering as never before, even more than the Chinese. Five weeks of vacation to start, free health care, free university education, and a month's bonus pay every December.

Thank their unions.

When German companies come to America, they do the same as American companies, and screw with their employees and try to prevent them forming unions.

It's too late now - American companies don't need American workers any more. Try to form a union, and they will just shut down and move to China. The only answer now is for the US to become a failed state like Colombia, where the biggest industry is kidnapping rich people for ransom. No ransom, their family receives first an ear in the mail, then a finger, then another ear, and so on. Whittling away at the priveliges of the rich, as it were. They, and their mothers, and their children, live in constant terror. I like the idea.

- Lemuel Gulliver

Anonymous said...

These are public employees unions. They produce nothing anybody wants. They suck off the public teat!They do produce tyranny and for our kids ignorance. Take a look at the membership lists of the various richman's think tanks like the CFR or the Trilats. You will find most of the big union leaders public and private are members. The game is fixed.

Anonymous said...

"Unions have been vilified throughout much of our nation's history but without unions do you really think we would have a 40 hour work week? Yes, many non-union companies give very good benefits but it is often because of the competition in the workplace. I was once anti-union until I worked for a company run by a dictator and I saw the only hope the employees had for fair treatment was a union."

And without government to fleece you for everything you don't need, and that could better be done by you, and your neighbors and hired help, you wouldn't "need" to work 40 hours at a job you can do in 5 hours and then think of other things you can do. I know this because I've worked many a job I've quit precisely because I was tired of idling time away when there wasn't enough work, just so I could have the requisite "40 hours" bullshit on my timecard. I work better and often faster as well, than almost anyone I know. There is no extra bonus for doing better work in the 40 hour work week crowd. Most are professional bureaucrats, so yes, to me they are subhuman, because instead of striving for excellence, they strive to bring everyone else down to their level.

That, almost borders on indirect initiation of force/aggression. Hmmm, wonder what the public trough feeders say about that. (And yes, coyotes love their young too, and want a good living, care to feed YOUR young to them so they can eat well?)

dixiedog said...

I'm a little late back to the party, I see, as Will has another piece up. Oh well...here goes anyway.

D.L.: ...so that if we buy from employee from company B instead of company A then we help pay employee B's salary but not employee A...but we are still paying the salaries of A PRIVATE EMPLOYEE, NO?

Good grief, D.L., you don't have to buy a product in question in the first place. You could start your own company and produce the product/service in question yourself if you have some kind of irrational disdain paying someone else for a product/service.

You apparently find it excruciatingly difficult to delineate a genuine f-r-e-e-d-o-m from a genuine c-o-e-r-c-i-o-n, unfortunately.

Like I said I've homeschooled, AND worked as a public school teacher. Unlike you folks, I can see both sides of this issue, and know that whereas either one of you will side with some Republican or other and deny rights to SOME union employees (or all of them), what about the employees of, say, Goldman Sachs, B o A, or the privately owned Federal Reserve? If these folks were in a union, what then?

Great, I'm glad you homeschool (or homeschooled as the case may be) your children. More ordinary folk pursuing that path for educating their OWN children instead of sending them to a government collective would do wonders. Besides, these days, the children spend much of their day thoroughly bathed in a socialist and pagan worldview instead of thoroughly being bathed in, and thereby excelling at, reading [comprehension], writing, and mathematics. But then, when taught subject matter in a collective sense, it's very hard for individual students to truly excel. Also, students are often told WHAT TO... and not taught HOW TO...

I may not be a teacher, but I've worked in both the private sector (shipfitter, insulation mechanic, warehouse worker, technical support, field technician, network admin) AND public sector (warehouse worker). The AAFES warehouse I worked in was thoroughly egalitarian and I was amazed at how laid back the workplace was. The work ethic, such as it was, sucked and most folk had no feeling of urgency about getting the work done as efficiently and quickly as possible. VERY different from the equivalent private sector job experience where efficiency and timeliness and keeping costs at a minimum were of utmost importance, naturally.

In my first private sector job in the early 80s, I was approached by the USW and I declined their offer to join and they pulled every fear-mongering pitch they could muster to scare me into joining. "You can be fired at will!..." I simply told the rep that if you're doing your damn job correctly, efficiently and timely your likelihood of being fired is very low. After all, the company managers would be insane to fire bust-ass workers on a whim who get the work done as previously described.

In summary, I view unions primarily as a fabulous way to enforce and ensconce collective mediocrity while destroying individual merit in the workplace. I absolutely loathe being assessed and judged collectively, and most especially in the workplace. I'm not an egalitarian in any sense and unions are the epitome of egalitarianism in the economic arena. I hate equal pay for unequal work! I prefer merit-based pay because it rewards individual effort and/or skill, not the damned mundane collective (no pun intended).

dixiedog said...

D.L.: What I am saying here is instead of trying to divide and conquer....maybe all us Austrians, Ron Paulites, Lew Rockwell readers and so on, should support folks who are only trying to keep from being busted to benefit Walker and his friends, the Kochs.

Sorry, I've heard the tired "divide and conquer" canard so often it's beginning to wilt my ears.

First, I've never considered myself part of this imaginary collective to start with that I'm supposedly "dividing" by expressing my individual views. Second, I don't view economics as a primary source of the problem areas in the country, rather merely one of the myriad symptoms. The primary problem, IMO, is a large number of charismatic individuals, many of whom are highly influential upon the now morally-rudderless majority in the schoolhouse, churchhouse, government, and the business world. Consequently, over time, out of that germination comes the greed, materialism, corruption, etc. that's no longer merely localized or sporadic, but is now endemic to our entire society in every socio-economic stratum. Yes, these ailments have always been present, of course, but today excessive materialism and greed afflict the population at large. Human nature is a biatch, indeed, but it can be corralled to some extent internally (freely by self) or will be corraled externally (oppressively by government).

BTW, in regards to the post above by anonymous@10:12, I concur totally.

Ned Netterville said...

I've been an "illegal-tax protester" since 1971. Haven't paid federal, state or local income taxes since then, and never will. It is about time many others told the thieving OPM (sounds like opium, is equally addicting, stands for other people's money) addicts to beat it.

Anonymous said...

"Germany .... no budget deficit there. Germans are prospering as never before, even more than the Chinese. Five weeks of vacation to start, free health care, free university education, and a month's bonus pay every December."

While Germany is one of the better placed actors in the Eurozone, one should not look at it with rose-tinted glasses.

Regarding the "no budget deficit". Well, no. They are currently owing 100 billion EUR easy, with 35 billion more per annum [only about 150 billion USD though - not a lot eh]

Then we have: pervasive unemployment and people on the dole [http://www.spiegel.de/flash/flash-12125.html], quite a lot of people in low-paying, low-income jobs, people grumbling about stagnant wages [which are actually decreasing due to EUR inflation], the "free" university education being of dubious value with "forever students" clogging up the lecture rooms, high taxes on income and property, uncertainty about the viability of the EURO and Germany's export-driven business, constant ranting of unions that consider any liberalisation of the stuck economy as "antisocial" and "neo-liberalist". The list goes on..