257 thoughts on “How The Welfare State Will Ruin Us All”

1. Social welfare programs came into being when politicians discovered that they could simply pay mooches with our money to go vote for them.

   1. A democracy cannot exist as a permanent form of government. It only exists until the time voters can vote themselves from the public treasury. From that time on, the majority always votes for the candidate offering the most benefits, with the result the democracy collapses over loose fiscal policies, followed by a dictatorship.

      1. True. The USA was never intended to be a democracy of course. The Founding Fathers firmly believed that only property owners were the true stakeholders who should have the privilege of voting.

         1. We are supposed to be a republic, which is where the people own the gov’t. Voting is not as important as being able to legally defend your rights. Of course, in a democracy, voting is all that matters, if you vote in the majority. And the majority of people are of substandard intellect when it comes to politics and economics.

   2. Yes. Once the electorate figures out it can vote itself largess out of the public treasury, it’s over. (paraphrased from Ben Franklin).

2. This is the reason for the welfare mess we are in:
   http://i.imgbox.com/XdGTt7e4.png
   http://i.imgbox.com/6jmeuaVB.jpg
   And it’s not only a financial problem, but a problem that infiltrates everything, from mass media to education. It’s “mental welfare” when we allow inferior minds like women to soil our universities.
   http://i.imgbox.com/FIQ4jiOD.jpg
   Anyone who supports women’s suffrage is part of the welfare state problem.
   http://i.imgbox.com/O5rIKTAo.jpg

   1. I just want to say Anti_Femastasis that I always appreciate your fantastic pics.

      1. Me too. Love it. When I see that green checkmark, I get all Pavlov Dog.

   2. Anti_Femastasis,
      Your posts have got to be some of the most hilarious ever. Well done. How do you manage to create all those pictures? Did you do them yourself, or get them from somewhere. Very impressive and funny too.

      1. All from chans, e.g. 4chan. Viva La Dicksistance!
         http://i.imgbox.com/Ed3uqWx3.jpg
         http://i.imgbox.com/zC2MhwlQ.jpg

3. Democracy dies the day 51% of the population realises they can live off the largesse of the other 49%.

   1. So basically we’ve been dead since the early 1930’s and are now doing death twitches. Which sounds about right.

   2. Right . This is not hard. Can’t remember the pol or founding father who made this same claim. I read that 47% of the US population pays no federal taxes and actually receive money. These people will vote for any pol that gives them this money. Add the demographic takeover by illegal immigrants we , the producers are fucked.

      1. As long as we’re armed we’re not.

4. 18 After these things I saw another angel coming down from heaven, having great authority, and the earth was illuminated with his glory. 2 And he cried mightily[a] with a loud voice, saying, “Babylon the great is fallen, is fallen, and has become a dwelling place of demons, a prison for every foul spirit, and a cage for every unclean and hated bird! 3 For all the nations have drunk of the wine of the wrath of her fornication, the kings of the earth have committed fornication with her, and the merchants of the earth have become rich through the abundance of her luxury.”
   4 And I heard another voice from heaven saying, “Come out of her, my people, lest you share in her sins, and lest you receive of her plagues. 5 For her sins have reached[b] to heaven, and God has remembered her iniquities. 6 Render to her just as she rendered to you,[c] and repay her double according to her works; in the cup which she has mixed, mix double for her. 7 In the measure that she glorified herself and lived luxuriously, in the same measure give her torment and sorrow; for she says in her heart, ‘I sit as queen, and am no widow, and will not see sorrow.’ 8 Therefore her plagues will come in one day—death and mourning and famine. And she will be utterly burned with fire, for strong is the Lord God who judges[d] her.
   9 “The kings of the earth who committed fornication and lived luxuriously with her will weep and lament for her, when they see the smoke of her burning, 10 standing at a distance for fear of her torment, saying, ‘Alas, alas, that great city Babylon, that mighty city! For in one hour your judgment has come.’
   11 “And the merchants of the earth will weep and mourn over her, for no one buys their merchandise anymore: 12 merchandise of gold and silver, precious stones and pearls, fine linen and purple, silk and scarlet, every kind of citron wood, every kind of object of ivory, every kind of object of most precious wood, bronze, iron, and marble; 13 and cinnamon and incense, fragrant oil and frankincense, wine and oil, fine flour and wheat, cattle and sheep, horses and chariots, and bodies and souls of men. 14 The fruit that your soul longed for has gone from you, and all the things which are rich and splendid have gone from you,[e] and you shall find them no more at all. 15 The merchants of these things, who became rich by her, will stand at a distance for fear of her torment, weeping and wailing, 16 and saying, ‘Alas, alas, that great city that was clothed in fine linen, purple, and scarlet, and adorned with gold and precious stones and pearls! 17 For in one hour such great riches came to nothing.’ Every shipmaster, all who travel by ship, sailors, and as many as trade on the sea, stood at a distance 18 and cried out when they saw the smoke of her burning, saying, ‘What is like this great city?’
   19 “They threw dust on their heads and cried out, weeping and wailing, and saying, ‘Alas, alas, that great city, in which all who had ships on the sea became rich by her wealth! For in one hour she is made desolate.’
   20 “Rejoice over her, O heaven, and you holy apostles[f] and prophets, for God has avenged you on her!”
   21 Then a mighty angel took up a stone like a great millstone and threw it into the sea, saying, “Thus with violence the great city Babylon shall be thrown down, and shall not be found anymore. 22 The sound of harpists, musicians, flutists, and trumpeters shall not be heard in you anymore. No craftsman of any craft shall be found in you anymore, and the sound of a millstone shall not be heard in you anymore. 23 The light of a lamp shall not shine in you anymore, and the voice of bridegroom and bride shall not be heard in you anymore. For your merchants were the great men of the earth, for by your sorcery all the nations were deceived. 24 And in her was found the blood of prophets and saints, and of all who were slain on the earth.”

   1. The destruction of America – in the words of John the Revelator. Beautiful, and potent.

      1. And the merchants of the earth will weep and mourn over her, for no one buys their merchandise anymore
         …and bodies and souls of men
         …and bodies and souls of men
         …and bodies and souls of men

         1. And the fruits that thy soul lusted after are departed from thee, and all things which were dainty and goodly are departed from thee, and thou shalt find them no more at all.

      2. America as Mystery Babylon.
         

5. Government Workers will bankrupt us before the Welfare State can. The real class warfare in this country isn’t rich vs. poor, it’s government employees vs. we, the taxpayers, who pay their salaries.
   Working for the government is supposed to be a trade-off: You can’t be fired and don’t have to exert yourself, but you will receive smaller remuneration than in the private sector, where layoffs are common (especially in the Obama economy!). Instead, government jobs are safe, secure, pressure-free — and now, amazingly lucrative!
   Whether it’s in Wisconsin, Illinois, California or the nation’s capital, today’s public sector workers expect to do little or no work (I’m not counting partying in Las Vegas as “work”), and then be lavishly compensated. Often, the only heavy lifting they do all week is picking up their paychecks.
   When government employees mobbed the state capitol in Wisconsin last year, the upside was: They got to bully people. The downside: Voters finally found out what these public servants were being paid.
   Their compensation included not only straight salary, but also lavish overtime benefits, pensions, health care plans, sick days and vacation time (most of which they spent protesting).
   The unions thought they could fight back against Gov. Scott Walker’s tiny rollbacks without anyone finding out the details. Most people saw what public employees were getting and assumed it was a misprint.
   Two years ago, seven bus drivers in Madison, Wis., made more than $100,000 a year.
   A few years before that, we found out that the city manager of little Bell, Calif. — per capita annual income $24,800 — was making $787,637, or including benefits: $1.5 million a year. The chief of police was getting $457,000 a year — $770,046 counting benefits — making him the first chief of police to commit highway robbery on the job. The assistant city manager was taking home $376,288 per year, for a total compensation package of $845,960.
   All were Democrats, the party of Big Government.
   Speaking of which — whatever happened to that investigation Gov. Jerry Brown was launching into these thieving public servants drawing million-dollar pensions from California taxpayers? The Bell scandal broke during the California gubernatorial race between Meg Whitman and Jerry Brown, who was then state attorney general. Brown vowed a no-holds-barred inquiry.
   Anyone seen his report yet?
   Jerry Brown will demand to see Obama’s birth certificate before he will call for a rollback of these undeserved, million-dollar government pensions.
   Less than 20 percent of private sector employees get pensions. Most people save their own money for retirement — for example, through 401(k)s. By contrast, government employees expect to be paid by us for the rest of their lives.
   Former representative and amateur home pornographer Anthony Weiner was a member of Congress until he resigned last June in order to spend more time with his hard drive. He will probably end up collecting about a million dollars from his 80 percent taxpayer-funded government pension.
   These are the “1 percent” deserving of the public’s wrath: We’re paying their salaries. We weren’t taxed to pay Mitt Romney’s salary at Bain Capital. We aren’t taxed to pay the salaries of Jamie Dimon or Alex Rodriguez. Anthony Weiner? Him, we pay for.
   Government employees expect to live like something out of the czar’s court — and then have us admire them as if they’re Rosa Parks.
   At the 2008 Democratic National Convention, Barack and Michelle Obama both paid heartfelt tributes to themselves for passing up money-grubbing private sector jobs to work in “public service.”
   In her speech, Michelle boasted that she had “tried to give back to this country.”
   “… That’s why I left a job at a law firm for a career in public service, working to empower young people to volunteer in their communities.”
   She was hired by the University of Chicago Hospital as soon as her husband became a state senator. When he was elected to the U.S. Senate, her salary nearly tripled, from $121,910 to $316,962 — and the junior senator from Illinois returned the favor by sending taxpayer dollars the hospital’s way.
   By Obama’s second year in the U.S. Senate, in 2006, Michelle Obama’s compensation from “public service” was approximately $375,000 a year — more than triple the average salary for a lawyer in the United States with 20 years’ experience.
   (America to the Obamas: “You two have sacrificed enough. Please retire and kick back a little!”)
   Vice President Joe Biden, long touted as the poorest U.S. senator, took home $248,459 in household income in 2006, including his public school teacher wife’s salary, also paid by taxpayers. In 2007, these working poor made $319,853. This puts the couple nearly into the top 1 percent of all earners in the U.S., where the median household income was $48,201 in 2006 and $50,233 in 2007.
   A career in “public service” pays well.

   1. STILL PAYING RELATIVES OF CIVIL WAR VETS
      If history is any judge, the U.S. government will be paying for the Iraq and Afghanistan wars for the next century.
      At the 10th anniversary of the start of the Iraq war, more than $40 billion a year are going to compensate veterans and survivors from the Spanish-American War from 1898, World War I and II, the Korean War, the Vietnam War, the two Iraq campaigns and the Afghanistan conflict.
      The Associated Press identified the disability and survivor benefits during an analysis of millions of federal payment records obtained under the Freedom of Information Act.
      To gauge the post-war costs of each conflict, AP looked at four compensation programs that identify recipients by war: disabled veterans; survivors of those who died on active duty or from a service-related disability; low-income wartime vets over age 65 or disabled; and low-income survivors of wartime veterans or their disabled children.
      The Iraq wars and Afghanistan
      So far, the wars in Iraq, Afghanistan and the first Persian Gulf conflict in the early 1990s are costing about $12 billion year to compensate those who have left military service or family members of those who have died.
      Those post-service compensation costs have totaled more than $50 billion since 2003, not including expenses of medical care and other benefits provided to veterans, and are poised to grow for many years to come.
      The new veterans are filing for disabilities at historic rates, with about 45 percent of those from Iraq and Afghanistan seeking compensation for injuries. Many are seeking compensation for a variety of ailments at once.
      Experts see a variety of factors driving that surge, including a bad economy that’s led more jobless veterans to seek the financial benefits they’ve earned, troops who survive wounds of war and more awareness about head trauma and mental health.
      Vietnam War
      Now above $22 billion annually, Vietnam War compensation costs are roughly twice the size of the FBI’s annual budget. And while many disabled Vietnam vets have been compensated for post-traumatic stress disorder, hearing loss or general wounds, other ailments are positioning the war to have large costs even after veterans die.
      Based on an uncertain link to the defoliant Agent Orange that was used in Vietnam, federal officials approved diabetes a decade ago as an ailment that qualifies for cash compensation — and it is now the most compensated ailment for Vietnam vets.
      The VA also recently included heart disease among the Vietnam medical issues that qualify, and the agency is seeing thousands of new claims for that issue. Alan Simpson, a former Republican senator and veteran, said he has a lot of concerns about the government agreeing to automatically compensate for those diseases.
      “That has been terribly abused,” Simpson said.
      Since heart disease is common among older Americans and is the nation’s leading cause of death, the future deaths of thousands of Vietnam veterans could be linked to their service and their benefits passed along to survivors.
      A congressional analysis estimated the cost of fighting the war was $738 billion in 2011 dollars, and the post-war benefits for veterans and families have separately cost some $270 billion since 1970, according to AP calculations.
      World War I, World War II and the Korean War
      World War I, which ended 94 years ago, continues to cost taxpayers about $20 million every year.
      World War II? $5 billion. Compensation for WWII veterans and families didn’t peak until 1991 — 46 years after the war ended — and annual costs since then have only declined by about 25 percent.
      Korean War costs appear to be leveling off at about $2.8 billion per year.
      Of the 2,289 survivors drawing cash linked to WWI, about one-third are spouses and dozens of them are over 100 years in age.
      Civil War and Spanish-American War
      There are 10 living recipients of benefits tied to the 1898 Spanish-American War at a total cost of about $50,000 per year.
      The Civil War payments are going to two children of veterans — one in North Carolina and one in Tennessee — each for $876 per year.
      Surviving spouses can qualify for lifetime benefits when troops from current wars have a service-linked death. Children under the age of 18 can also qualify, and those benefits are extended for a lifetime if the person is permanently incapable of self-support due to a disability before the age of 18.
      Citing privacy, officials did not disclose the names of the two children getting the Civil War benefits.

      1. “Defense” plus “veteran benefits” equals at least 30% of your income tax bill going to the military.
         http://www.dailyfinance.com/2013/04/25/biggest-things-your-income-taxes-pay-for/#!fullscreen&slide=976885
         https://www.whitehouse.gov/2014-taxreceipt
         However, the difference is, that unlike all of the wars you posted above, the current war(s) were paid for by the Chinese, and therefore we will pay them back with interest (interest is currently 9% of your tax bill).
         How long will it take to pay back these trillion dollar plus adventures in foreign lands? Who knows. I can only say that the 40% rate that is diverted to the military industrial complex plus interest will have to grow in order to pay this off.
         And what are we left with after these endeavors? A charred wasteland where there once was a functioning 2nd world state under Saddam Hussein, a man who killed far fewer of his people than the USA did. But the survivors in Iraq are expected to “thank us for their freedom”. What a sick, sick bunch of bastards we have in charge.

      2. No? I read about them and they were identified, picture of woman included.

      3. Thanks for the post! It was extremely interesting.

   2. Wasn’t Jerry Brown receicing a pension from the state already from his first tenure as Governor? After this he gets to double dip.

   3. I only take issue with two things:
      First, entitlement spending accounts for two thirds of our yearly spending, so while I agree that government workers are generally overpaid, I disagree that they will bankrupt the system before welfare programs (which is all that any of the entitlement programs are) will.
      Second, the examples you list are certainly egregious, but there is a fine balance that we must strike in compensation for these folks. If we pay them like peasants, we are only going to attract morons to the jobs. If we want quality public servants, we have to pay them what they are worth, just as any private sector employer would. However, to your point, it is ridiculous that a chief of police makes that much, since he largely has no private sector equivalent. But certainly there is a point at which he will be paid so little that it would be more profitable for him to work elsewhere, and if he is a good police chief (not your specific example, but someone hypothetical), then we miss out on his service.
      Having said all of that, there are many solutions, including: downsizing government to perform the necessary tasks instead of the nice to have tasks; revising the employment system to eliminate promotion and pay based on service and instead to focus on merit; outlaw unions for public sector employees; and streamline the hiring and firing process so that we can find and retain good talent while getting rid of shitheads. There are probably others. But your general point is sound, most of these government employees are lazy, whiny, worthless fucks.

      1. Police are morons-that’s why they can’t cut it in the private sector. I agree with Harry’s analysis on the trade-off: less pay for more job security. Plus you know most of these jobs are going to women and minorities in order to continue fucking over white males.
         The only public sector employees that are underpaid for their qualifications are high-level politicians. The most powerful man in the US is making $400k, the speaker of the house and VP are making $225k, senators are around $175k. Most of these guys have multiple impressive degrees and have reached the apex of their profession and still get paid like middle management. I’m not advocating an increase in their salaries by any means but I can acknowledge the fact that they’d be pulling 7 figures if they accomplished half as much in the private sector.

         1. Twenty years ago, as a 24 year old, I walked into the downtown Seattle Public Employment Bldg or whatever it was called. Simply looking for a work. I went in the office and there was a wall full of jobs available. The 55 year old sister working the desk told me there weren’t any jobs. “Sorry. No jobs.” She basically told me to GTFO White Boy. I just wish all the white boys would leave. I know kids screw that up, but it would be great; “You don’t like us. You don’t want us here. Fine. Buh-bye.” The USA without white males would make the Planet of the Apes seem like The Sound of Music in about three days.

   4. The largest gang of government moochers are police officers. It is not uncommon for NYC and California cops to have pension checks of $200,000.00 per year. There are on duty cops in NYC who make $300,000.00 per year from overtime doing virtually no work.

      1. Forget cops. What about the crazy six figure salaries that the college football coaches get?- all at the expense of the American taxpayer.
         Oh, and don’t forget those expensive and oversized sport stadiums and gyms being built for colleges- your tax money at work.

         1. I agree with your sentiment, but most college coaches get paid either from the revenues of the athletic department or from booster clubs. Boosters for Alabama recently paid off Nick Saban’s house in full, something like $1.2M. My alma mater built a rec center a few years ago, complete with a basketball court, and the school didn’t pay a penny. 100% donated. Professor salaries, on the other hand, I have a bone to pick with.

         2. That has got nothing on funding the police state.

         3. Don’t worry about that, it’s just the explosive growth of cable television, talk radio, and pointless lives which has lead America to a pathological obsession with strangers in jerseys.

         4. I don’t mind the active pay as much as the retirement jackpots. I’ve heard that in Wash. State, state employees retirement is often a balloon payment (is that an expression?) meaning a simple lump sum THEN they get 75% of their highest salary per year. Meaning a teacher that got up to 90K a year, will get a retirement pension of about 68k a year, for 20-30 years. It’s extraordinary. Police too. Firefighters pay is the biggest scam of them all.

         5. Military too. In Canada they get paid pretty much to go to school or to chill around near the base.
            Firefighters are even worse though with starting wages here at like 70k that go up to 100k after several years and they literally sit at the fire station for weeks on end in my small town until they get called for a fucking cat stuck in a tree or some other shit.

      2. And yet look how they moan and cry when anyone tries to tell them they should maybe think twice before making a fatal mistake and murdering someone, as the mayor up there did recently, and they basically cried and went on strike for a month, only responding to emergencies. Life went on with no real change in crime.

      3. Yup, you got it. The police department seems to attract an anti-intellectual male breed who can’t cut it in the private sector.
         Guess how else they pay for it? Monthly revenue robbery quotas for victimless crimes like speeding, marijuana, and public urination. I’m surprised the entire country hasn’t figured out that “protect and serve” is just “collect and enforce.”

         1. You are a man after my own heart. Did you read any articles about ticketing that was happening in Ferguson Missouri? http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-watch/wp/2014/09/03/how-st-louis-county-missouri-profits-from-poverty/
            The entire police for was used as a way to steal from the poor of the city. No honest person can become a cop.

         2. “You are a man after my own heart. Did you read any articles about ticketing that was happening in Ferguson Missouri?”
            “The entire police for was used as a way to steal from the poor of the city.”
            Drop Section 8 housing into any city and change the demographics to the same degree (16k of 21k resident with arrest warrants) and a huge percentage of the city’s revenue will come from the court system also (because there’s nothing to tax).

         3. No honest person would have ticketed people just to give money to the government. If you have less revenue, you stop spending money. You don’t just go and send your officers to write $300.00 tickets for manner of walking or disorderly conduct.

         4. “No honest person would have ticketed people just to give money to the government. If you have less revenue, you stop spending money. You don’tjust go and send your officers to write $300.00 tickets for manner of walking or disorderly conduct.”
            Notice the “non-traffic related court cases” as 567 per 1,000
            residents.
            http://www.dailykos.com/story/…
            Now that the full DOJ report on Ferguson has been released…
            With just 21,000 residents, Ferguson issued a staggering 32,975 arrest warrants for at least 16,000 different people. Not just parking tickets, Ferguson averaged 567 non-traffic related court cases per 1,000 residents—far and away the highest of any town in the state and more than twice as much as the town with the second highest average. To put that into perspective, the city of St. Louis had 80 non-traffic court cases per 1,000 residents and that’s actually above the state average for Missouri.

         5. I read the headlines. Thanks for the article, but it’s far too long for me to read when I’ve known since a pre-teen what it says: the police force is there to extract as much money out of the taxpayer as possible.
            A career as a police officer sounds ideal on surface: male dominated, making a positive impact on the community (according to decades of television propaganda), secure, retire at 50. I took the red pill on law enforcement a long time ago. I could never live with myself if I joined a government thug organization which tyrannizes and extorts the general populace.
            “You beg for the police to show up when you’re in trouble.” Yeah, and I damn well should, given I’ve been paying them my whole life. Fortunately, I’ve never had to use them. Unfortunately, I’ve involuntarily paid their salaries, equipment, and bloated retirements. As depicted in the famous scene of my avatar, everyday citizens called the mafia to show up when they were in trouble too.
            “They keep the streets safe.” Again, so did the mafia, a gang of criminal sociopaths who partially funded their operations by extorting money from local business owners. Sound familiar?
            Keep a local volunteer security team for the do-gooders to nip us with BS and a private squad for major violations. I’d rather be stuck with a $5k bill when they actually save me than be on the hook for the rest of my life.

         6. Psychos become cops.

         7. Shouldn’t it be “dominate and control”?

      4. Thanks to 9/11 society has a love fetish for all things cop- this issue is never addressed. what was formerly a blue collar Job is now a get rich scheme for dolts

      5. Why are there so many fat woman cops? Seriously, I just ran into some in NYC and I was shocked. There is no way some of these minor whales could have passed any type of physical exam.

   5. Excellent post, but:
      “We aren’t taxed to pay the salaries of Jamie Dimon”
      Come on.

   6. We allow this to transpire…

   7. But sir, you just don’t understand.
      Some animals are more equal than others.
      Leftists and government dependents are masters at lying to themselves and others. They can institute a policy that does absolutely nothing in the states yet starves millions abroad and justify it with how it made them feel about themselves.
      They think of themselves as more progressive and knowledgeable than the past generations because they are so consumed with hubris they think mistake the power of technology as their own ability. They then proceed to make law against the advice of actual experts based on superficial knowledge they acquired from googling for half a day.
      They can justify paying themselves exorbitantly because they feel they are serving the greater good for everyone and deserve to be rewarded, not unlike a drug addict rewarding himself for staying sober for 1-2 days.
      Many of these “humanitarian saints” have never spent a second helping the people they claim to care about, instead forcing others to pay for their pet projects and then claiming credit for it themselves.
      They are nothing but arrogant narcissists who, in their blind ignorance, bring chaos and death to all around them. And they would be viewed as such, in a healthy society.

      1. Well spake Sir! You nailed it!

   8. A very well-researched commentary! If I may, I would like to point out that so much of mischief are rooted in granting the power to legislate (which was rooted in the old Roman civil law). Give a man the right to legislate and he will use it to create immunity for his confederates in the civil service, big business, war profitters, feminists and other special victims. The two ways to counter this is either use a lottery to select the officials or to replace the legislative power with a simple, evolving customary law like the Germanic customary law that put both the king and the commoners under its rule. Of course the Frankia Kings didn’t like not having the power to control other people’s property and so they took to the re-discovered Roman law like flies to honey and brought the early Middle Ages to end.

6. the system is setup to where people can freeload off the government and not want to or have to get off it. it’s also bizarre that people want minimum wage in certain places to be $15 per hour. no pimple faced fry cook that doesn’t have an education or trait/skill-set should be making $15+ to flip patties at Wendy’s.

   1. Also, raising the minimum wage would make no difference. The prices would rise to compensate for the cost and the middle class would pay for it like always.

      1. Assuming technological innovations did not simply replace said employees, yes indeed. In essence, it would act as yet another tax on everyone since mandating wages is a form of price control.

      2. Increasing minimum wage is a tax in disguise.
         The minimum wage just IS. It should be an absolute, because everything relates to it.

         1. The minimum wage is not absolute because its existence is not even necessary. Several countries don’t have a minimum wage value established. But, yes, everything relates to it when it exists.

      3. Increasing the minimum wage is an inflationary device that helps out those earning minimum wage proportionally. For example if 1/4 of all workers earn the minimum wage, and the wage is raised a dollar then the real purchasing power of those earning minimum wage increases by 25 cents, the rest of the increase being made up for by inflated prices paid by the rest of society. There is a gain at the lower end offset by a shared loss by everyone else. There is no net gain, but those at the lower ends are indeed helped.

         1. Not the ones who lose their job entirely

7. It is pretty obvious, you don’t understand the money system. Governments very rarely print the money themselves today, they have delegated that to private banks. Have a look here: http://www.positivemoney.org/ and here: http://www.webofdebt.com/

   1. Fractional Reserve Banking, the number 1 method of money creation in the United States, with deficit spending by the government being the 2nd.
      Every dollar created out of thin air, with no capital or asset behind it, dilutes the purchasing power of every extant dollar.
      THat’s why even the federal reserve admits that the USD has lost 97% of its value since the birth/creation of the Federal Reserve in 1913 (thanks Woodrow Wilson and CONgress).
      Read it and weep:
      https://www.minneapolisfed.org/
      Check out the inflation calculator. See what $1 from 1985 is worth now.
      And that’s understated IMO.

8. It’s too late; we’ve already lost and have been ruined. Guns, gold, and a good retreat location: get them within the next 20-30 years. A steady supply of food and water as well.

   1. Good post. I would also add: skills.
      Like producing things of value, growing food, trapping/hunting, DIY, and trying to build a network of like minded people (so far my greatest struggle, as I started on the GGG thing 10 years ago).
      Out in the country, you never get bored. There’s always some wood that needs splitting, fence repairs, animal chores, gardening, repairing broken vehicles and small engines, and many many more.
      When I visit family in suburbia, I get bored out of my mind. Seems like all there is to do there is drive around and spend money shopping, eating, or being entertained.
      I grew up partially in suburbia and spent about 10 years there as an adult.
      I can never go back to the traffic, rudeness, HOAs and all the other bullshit that comes with living in close proximity to to many other people which can be summarized as massive restrictions on liberty.
      My back yard is my shooting range, my MX track, my garden, chicken yard etc. And the woods behind my house are my hiking trails, my firewood source, and a food source if needed.
      I take liberty over safety and convenience any day.
      But it does take real work, not playing with abstractions all day.
      2¢

9. All welfare is corporation welfare (http://swiftfoxmark2.blogspot.com/2014/03/all-welfare-is-corporate-welfare.html). You think poor people have a lobby group of any significance?

10. This article is a confused mess.
    The welfare state did not originate in classical economic theory as developed by the British classical political economists. The rational agent, homo economicus, originated earlier in the late 18th Century to the early 19th Century.
    While the welfare state has its origin in late 19th Century Germany, introduced by Chancellor Bismarck as a strategy to quell the dissatisfaction of the working class. Its origin is conservative, and was a countermove aimed at averting the conversion to marxism and other revolutionary leftwing movements.
    British welfare reforms only started to take of at the beginning of the 20th Century supported by social liberals.
    In fact the majority of classical liberals did not support welfare measures, since it would interfere with the workings of the “free” market.
    The behavioral economics approach and its main results, does not empirically undermine welfare policy in general. Rather the rational actor approach has been falsified to a limited extent by various lab results. If anything the reciprocal actor with slight altruistic tendencies is a far more credible model to work from.
    I am not claiming that welfare policies are always wise to pursue, or that they will Work in all settings. Only that behavioral econ. results do not undermine welfare ideas as such.
    I have several other objections to the article, but dont have time or energy to go into detail. There is a discussion ongoing whether full reserve banking is preferable to fractional reserve banking, and there are both pros and cons concerning the matter. This article however does not touch on this issue in any nuanced way.
    in general this article gets many facts wrong, tries to link various economic and social phenomena where there is no obvious or simple connection, and has far to many ideas scattered around to make a coherent case for anything.
    When writing about topics like welfare economics or financial Trading, it is far better to have highly qualified writers do it, compared to hobbyists with a simple agenda.

    1. Yeah, I was wondering who was going to pick up on it first. I don’t know much about the global history of welfare states, so I skipped over that part, but the stuff about macroeconomics is gibberish.

       1. If you want to know about welfare, obtain a copy of Malthus’ Essay on Population. It is famous for his view that population grows until people starve. But in truth most of that book documents the fact that when welfare (known then as poor laws) is implemented, ALWAYS the number of poor increases. ALWAYS!!!
          For some reason the MSM never covers that part of his book.

          1. Thanks for the tip. I hate the whole “Malthusian Limit” idea, but I didn’t know he got into welfare policy as well.

11. It’s actually worse than you think.
    Government doesn’t even bother to print money.
    Money today is created in cyberspace. It only exists in “1’s” and “0’s” on computers. It doesn’t even have paper to back it. There are hundreds of billions of dollars (if not trillions) which only exist in the imagination of the Fed.

    1. By expanding money supply and setting interest rates at 1%, the government creates the illusion of prosperity. Like throwing money out a helicopter.

       1. Every penny spent by the government as deficit spending (borrowed from the Fed Reserve — ie conjured out of nothing) devalues every other penny in existence.
          $1 Trillion (a million million) every year goes a long way to diluting our purchasing power.
          Stop the deficit spending and restore some economic sanity.
          That will never happen because too many people receiving money from the government are allowed to vote.
          That;s like letting your kids who don’t work or contribute vote on the family budget: IPADS and unlmiited data for all, New cars for all!
          It’s easy to vote for someone else to pay for you, especially if there’s a gun to the heads of those who must pay.
          Women voting and now letting people vote who cannot read or don’t even understand the political process is the death of liberty and ultimately the death of the US.

12. “to equalize wealth among everyone”
    This deserves some explanation. The social idea NEVER, ever wanted an equal distribution of wealth – even in “animal farm” this becomes very clear, very soon.
    What a wellfare state does, is in essence a bonding between the lower class and the upper class the grind down the middle class.
    Or to use the old picture of the 2 wolves and 1 sheep deciding democraticly what the diner will be. Make a wild guess.
    In detail: The upper class pays but they pay relativly less because their income comes from investment mainly. Investment income can move from country to country and is therefore less taxed than income from work.
    The lower class does not pay anything at all and just has hands out for the money.
    Money received equals many spent. The lower class will thus stay the lower class.
    The middle class pay the most. Both in absolut numbers and in percent. The middle class is dangerous for the upper class because they earn more than they spend and are building wealth. They could become upper class themselfs within a generation or two. This must not happen. The upper class is not a productive class and every economy can only have so much unproductive people living the good life.
    So you see the middle class must be controled by taxing them.
    Whenever you read “We gonna tax the rich” – this is you. It is always the middle class because only lawyers, doctors, professors etc. can be taxed to kingdom come because they can not leave. They will suck it up and keep working.
    Thats the basic idea of socialism.
    Have you been thought this simple principle in public shool?
    Why not? Make a wild guess….

    1. I remember the fat ass, red-headed, union steward I have mentioned elsewhere, not sure if on this blog.
       He was a gung-ho Democrat. He and his wife both had good factory jobs though not on the order of auto worker union pay. They both worked lots of overtime and 25 years ago were making well over $75,000 a year.
       He would rage that taxes should be raised on the high income folks and not taxing us po’ folks. It never occurred to him that he was high income. So, when his taxes went up he blamed the Republicans.

    2. The attempt is to equalize wealth amongst the 99%. This is called socialism. Haves and have-nots. Everyone forgets that in every political system, someone must run the show, and he probably won’t run it for free.

13. Most western nations are already societies where 51% majority is living off the taxes of the 49% minority who work for a living. When you consider all the jobless, retired, disabled, children, politically protected groups, welfare recipients, etc, there probably is no conceivable way for those who work for a living to ever regain control of the ballot box. Its the unity of the oppressed, voting themselves a free lunch.

14. “Enjoy the Decline”!
    I was at a Commissary (Army Grocery Store)a few years back where I saw a teenage negress paying for baby formula with a WIC. I thought to myself “What a stupid piece of shit….I AM”. I was the only one who was too stupid to stick my hand in the free money pot. This was around the same time that GM execs were flying private jets to congress for tax payer money. Here I was paying for my groceries, those of the negress and private jets. That week I walked in to the doctor and made up a bullshit story about erectile dysfunction because I [falsely] believed that ED was worth 10% VA disability.
    Yup!. That’s what I’m doing. 50% VA disability. With a pending PTSD claim and a challenge to raise the percentages of those that I already have.
    I’m thinking I can squeeze 80-90% out of them by the time I’m done.
    Next on the agenda: a job as a librarian- 60,000 per year for 30 hours of “work.” I, of course don’t plan on doing jack-shit worth of work. I’m a Disabled Vet after all.
    I’ve also had a vasectomy without ever having kids. I’m going to cheer as the world burns.

    1. I hope you’re kidding and your post is a spoof because fraud is fraud. Don’t get me started on the PTSD racket.

       1. Fraud?
          Both the Army’s doctors and a Civilian doctors evaluated me. Do you know more than an MD?
          “Oh Doc, the nightmares. I don’t like large crowds…um.. I don’t take pleasure in doing things that I used to enjoy”

          1. lol… you hurt your back shoveling snow. So now you’re on disability and have a medical cannabis card.

          2. I do in fact have a Medical Cannabis Card! I got it to treat my G.E.R.D.
             Although weed is legal for everyone in my state, Medical weed costs about 1/3.

          3. So you arbitrage your discounted medical weed to teenagers and keep the mark up, to supplement your disability payments. Any other sources of “residual” income?

          4. No, I don’t sell weed. There’s really no point in WA. Everyone who smokes it regularly has a Medical Permit. The Recreational stuff is for tourists.

          5. Good for you man. Fuck the system!

          6. Hey man, if anyone is to fuck the system I’d rather have it be a red pill man then some hoodrat waste of skin who is going to keep producing more worthless hoodrats.

15. The whole system is going to collapse. There is no doubt about this. The only question is when?
    For too long the whole welfare system has been abused to the point that the entire system has created a lifestyle choice of where people are having the privilage of staying at home, popping out as many babies and essentially, leeching of the system.
    The best example of this socialist “utopia” is Great Britain. The country has provided so many of these services, at the expense of the British taxpayer.
    From government housing, government healthcare, government child support, government loans for students etc. Not to mention, the outrageous salaries of genuine worthless professions such as politicians, GPs, academians and other blood sucking “professions” where the taxpayer is forced to pay for.
    Factor in all the other insane taxes and regulations that ordinary citizens are forced to pay for such as property tax, capital gains tax, inheritance tax, income tax and you can see that hard work no longer pays, because under the current system, success is punished and failure is rewarded.
    Many have described the government like the mafia. And rightfully so. Which is why you are seeing more people leave the Western hemisphere and choosing to opt out of countries such as the US, the UK and Canada, which are all proving to be hellholes where more and more economic incentives and real advantages are disappearing.
    I plan my great escape soon and will no longer have to witness the cultural, social, political and economic decline of civilization.

    1. There is no pointing debating with the socialist idiots. Move to the UAE, Qatar, Oman, Hong Kong, etc.. Some countries have no income tax at all.

       1. I agree. It just blows my mind that people can continue to tolerate such bullshit. I mean take some of the public sector professions- they earn over six figures to do a job that is NOT worth six figures, while the private sector employee, has to worry about his job security.
          The West has literally gone insane in every sense of the word. The system is clearly tanking from observing some of the insane new government fees that are being charged such as paying for grocery bags fees, and even possibly in the future, having to pay for admission fees to see public parks which are generally free to enter and see.
          Like I said, I am planning my great escape and when I do eventually go through with it, I plan not to look back.

          1. “even possibly in the future, having to pay for admission fees to see public parks which are generally free to enter and see.”
             You’d be surprised at how useful some minor fees are for keeping trouble away.

          2. I’ll take trouble over extortion. Parks are already paid for through taxes.

          3. I too can’t understand for the life of me how people don’t want to talk about these issues.
             I can’t thank this community enough for giving me the support and ideas to work through hard times and take my shit seriously.
             So many people I know are living in squalor and debt but think it makes sense to still cover their Facebook pages with pictures that make it look like everything is fucking fabulous. Like everything is fine when really they are fucked beyond belief. The secret? Everyone is just distracting themselves kuz reality is just too damn harsh.
             I doubt everyone could even handle swallowing the red-pill. It sounds so cliché but I mean that. To really try and wrap your head around economic and political realities of the modern world, the catch-22 of male/female relations, the inevitability of constant failure before success… I think most people would rather just watch another episode of Oprah or play another round of Call of Duty.
             I have utmost respect for the ROK community.

          4. I mean take some of the public sector professions- they earn over six figures to do a job that is NOT worth six figures
             My mailman is looking to lease a high end Cadillac. Back in the day, mailmen coudlnt afford caddies, they were reserved for lawyers and doctors…

          5. Do mailmen actually make six figures? lol

          6. “Sergeant O’Leary is walkin’ the beat
             At night he becomes a bartender
             He works at Mister Cacciatore’s down on Sullivan Street
             Across from the medical center
             He’s tradin’ in his Chevy for a Cadillac …
             You oughta know by now
             And if he can’t drive with a broken back
             At least he can polish the fenders …”
             Yeah, mama if that’s movin’ up then I’m …
             Movin’ Out.
             

    2. How soon do you plan on going, and where to? I’d also like to escape, I haven’t figured out yet where to. Maybe somewhere in South America. How does one go about getting residency in a new country?

       1. Where are you at now?

          1. I live in Saint Louis right now. I moved here last year from Southern California to help my dad out. I fucking hate this city so much. I actually hate all of America. There’s nothing in it that appeals to me at all. I loved the culture and life in Spain when I visited. I’d love to live there.

          2. spain = 25% unemployment

          3. I always wonder about what American culture was actually like during different time periods. The glorified 80’s, the “turbulent” 60’s, the roaring 20’s. I can recall my grandmother, a depression child, telling us that “life was much easier.” This was 15 years ago.
             St Louis is definitely Middle America, but congrats on making a brave move to help pops.

          4. America may have been a great place to live at one time, but not now. There is no culture in America. It’s just all about materialistic bullshit. Working your ass off to buy things to show off to people that don’t give a shit about you. Buying a big house in a neighborhood where you’ll live for 10 years and not know any of your neighbors. Dealing with a government that scrapes out every penny it can out of its tax paying citizens to give to people that don’t want to work.
             All that on top of hearing so many stupid illogical stories involving feminism and SJWs. I need to go somewhere where feminists and twitter do not exist

          5. America = 24% unemployment
             http://www.shadowstats.com/alternate_data/unemployment-charts

          6. Apparently, there are over 100 million Americans out of work. If this is indeed the truth, then it really goes to show you how dumbed down Americans have become, since no one in America, raises the issue.

          7. Come on man. The City Museum.. You must like that..

          8. Yes, 100 million Americans are out of work.
             Yes, the official U3 unemployment rate is 5%.
             These are both true statements. The media chooses to discuss one of them….
             (The U3 unemployment rate is as good a judge of unemployment as glancing at the valet lot at a fine upscale Hollywood restaurant is a good estimate of the average price of automobiles in America–it is a narrowly defined measurement that has little correlation with “employment”)

          9. I was there a few years ago when I worked for an airline and took some buddies up there for a free trip. Bar Saint Louis next to the river looked like a great place to pick up sluts. It was filled with “Coyote Ugly” types and cheap drink specials.

          10. America really isn’t the country I remember growing up in. I can relate to your sentiment. I fortunately live in the very rural Northeast which helps make it somewhat tolerable. Cities in this country are the epitome of everything wrong. They are hell holes.

          11. that’s why I don’t use social media- I fuckn hate it!

          12. Ever noticed how the world was a better place before social media came into the scene?

          13. yes but in a rural area that’s less of a factor because the environment is more agrarian. It brings to mind a quote made in the 1960s by a native rural Mainer. When asked if it was tough living through the depression he responded ” didnt notice anything different – we lived off the land like we always had”

          14. definitely

          15. My dad said the difference was in the Depression no one had money. Today if you are out of work you are toasted and those around you have plenty.

          16. I just don’t get how this appeals to people. I went to high school with 3 brothers from Vietnam. And yeah, their parents left because of the war, and I guess any place is better than a warzone, but Vietnam is now a relatively safe and prosperous nation.
              They work 6 days a week until 7 or 8 PM painting white cunts fingernails. Their one day off is Sunday, and they spend it in their large new cookie cutter homes in planned subdivisions with neighbors they never interact with, or even see, because they come home after dark every day.
              They throw parties every Sunday, but seriously, even if you gave me a nice house and car, but made me be a slave 6 days a week, how could that be in any way enjoyable. I can’t imagine that life would be worse if they moved back to Vietnam. Plus they prefer Vietnamese culture–they all speak VN, date VN girls, and socialize with almost all Asians plus me and another white guy. They would be way happier, richer, and with more free time back in VN. Not to mention 2 of them have already been divorced, one from a white girl, one from an Asian.

          17. Like the social media we are all using right now?

          18. Yeah, but I’m skeptical that there was a time in America that wasn’t about materialistic bullshit. That’s just a byproduct of capitalism and the unprecedented wealth that the US has been able to achieve.
              When I was growing up, and also in my post-adolescent romance I always felt the “materialistic bullshit” went hand-in-hand with having a family. I wanted the 5000 sq foot house with the large backyard in a top school district so my kids could have their own room, a pool, and basement where they could hang with friends.
              Now that marriage & family is looking like less of an option for me, the only materialistic things I care about is a 1 bedroom where I can pull hoes and a weekly supply of booze and drugs.
              The breakdown of family values will bite America in the ass.

          19. Your own Private Idaho!
              Upvote. No twitter, no facefail, and linkedout.
              I agree that the US culture has deteriorated to the point where I at 47, almost can’t recognize it, and certainly don’t want to claim it as my own.
              Staying sane is easier if you unplug from the propaganda/distraction machine IMO.
              And by not talking much to other Americans outside of doing business. Any discussion that moves toward serious topics will quickly end and sometimes even end a friendship.
              BTDT.

          20. It already has and the missing chunk is obvious to those who pay attention (estimate less than 10%).

          21. U6, which is about 11-12% is a more accurate measure of unemployment to at least compare to Spain’s 25%. Shadow Stat’s is about as bogus as the government’s U3 (Except the other direction). Gallup does its own polling for employment and its unemployment rate is similar to the govs U3 but its U6 # is about in the middle of U6 and the shadowstats.

          22. That’s because a huge # of those 100 million don’t want to work (think welfare, SSDI, LTD insurance, living with family, in college for their 4th degree, etc).
              See Gallup for its unemployment
              http://www.gallup.com/poll/125639/gallup-daily-workforce.aspx
              It’s unemployment rate is pretty close to the .govs but its U6 rate is about 3% higher.

       2. Hopefully in a couple of years. I plan to save more money and will need to sell my properties.
          In the meantime, I am just designing a blueprint in my mind. After living in so much pain and suffering, where one of my family members passed away, I no longer can tolerate to live like this.
          Like the saying goes, it will have to be in the right place and at the right time.

          1. Where do you want to go? Do you plan on working in your new country, or would you have enough money to just live comfortably off of?

          2. I hope it will be somewhere in Asia, as far away from Western civilisation. I will hopefully have enough money to live off for a while. As much as I wish I could tell you how my life will be in 10 years time, the reality is I can’t.
             I may not even be alive to see the next 5 years, nevermind 10. Rather than planning life as a trajectory, I see it as a book- where one chapter closes and another one opens. Who really knows where live will take you.
             But whatever duration I have left in this miserable world, I no longer plan to live my life tolerating all the bullshit we are witnessing right now.

          3. Problem with that is, even asia is getting westernized. There is nowhere to run in the long term. And if we end up with another big war on our hands, all bets are off.

       3. I have an acquaintance who is now running a bar on the coast in Mexico. He did not obtain legal citizenship, so every 6 months he has to leave the country, and then re-enter (I’m not sure if he has to spend the night, but all you do is force your self to have a brief vacation every 6 months). If he wants to jump through all the legal hoops and become a citizen, which would probably let him vote for the next Mexican president (whoop dee doo) and not have to leave every 6 months, he has that option available.
          I love the Columbia / Ecuador / Costa Rica / Nicaragua area. Not quite ready to escape yet, need to pay down some more debt here.

          1. Why not just say fuck it and leave the debt behind?

          2. I met a guy playing pool at a bar in dallas who was mexican national. He bought 14 bedroom house for $500k in mexico, living an impressive lifestyle. He used half the bedrooms as office space for his software localization company. It can’t be hard to pull women with that kind of set up. He was flashing pics of his house on his smart phone to women at the bar, you wouldn’t believe how their faces changed. He was getting rock star treatment.

          3. It’s tied to a real estate investment I put my life savings into. Nevertheless, that is still a strong consideration.

          4. A minor point but one that can cause problems. It is not 6 months but 180 days. Those three days could hypothetically get you fined or your car, if you have it with you, confiscated.
             Legally, you are supposed to wait three days before returning but usually depending upon where you go, you may be able to go across, wait until a shift change, and cross back for the new FMM.
             This is called “a border run.” I did it for some years.
             Now I have temporary residence Family Unity under new immigration laws since my wife is Mexican. I am in my second year as Family Unity. Next April I am supposed to go Permanent residence then I can apply for citizenship. But, I have to either import my car or buy a Mexican car.
             I have theorized that if you go to the border and enter the immigration office, turn in your old FMM, walk out and go back south to stay in a Mexican hotel at Mexican rates that will be cheaper than going across. A lot depends upon how brave you are and if you are traveling by bus or have your car with you.

          5. I’m not advocating anything illegal here, but I know from personal experience that as of 11 months ago when one crosses the Texas border on foot, the Mexican authorities do not stop you, do not check your passport, do not interrogate you. You are welcome to come and do what you wish, just as when you cross the Oklahoma / Texas border. So I think it would be easy to leave Mexico with an exit stamp or whatever you need, cross back over, go home, and then 3 days later repeat, and it would look like you were out of country 3 days. Of course you wouldn’t want to risk your entire lifestyle on the fact that this always works.

          6. When I am in the States I now live not far from the border. I have crossed many times, both in short trips at the border and going to the center of the nation. So I do have some considerable experience at the border. Both in a car and by bus and on foot.
             Originally, treaties were supposed to allow people on both sides to move around on the other side within 62 miles. The US no longer allows that.
             But, from the US side you can cross to Mexico as long as you stay within a short distance of the border, and allegedly up to 72 hours without an FMM.
             And you are correct. At this time no one checks you as you cross the border on foot. But if you travel inland, at times they stop the bus and examine the documents. Under new Mexican law there is only a fine, but you would be detained from the bus while they process you. That means your bus ticket becomes worthless because the bus has had to leave you behind.
             As I told you, first ask if you can get a new FMM on the spot. If they tell you, no, you must wait three days, cross to the US side or move back into Mexico, wait in a safe place until a new shift comes on, and try again. If they spot in the computer (they do now have effective computerization at most crossings) and send you back, wait the three days.
             .
             Some folks who live further south go to Guatemala. The border crew there is allegedly more corrupt and it may be possible to slip them a couple hundred pesos to get it right away.
             The real problem is in Mexico the rules are whatever the person on the other side of the desk says they are, with little chance of appeal. Except the bribe. Even the bribe is not without risk. They are illegal and if you do it wrong and piss someone off it may get really bad.
             I forgot to tell you. Quite a few years ago, the US legislature passed a law that US immigration was supposed to check everyone going south. Apparently the idea was to nab illegals on the way out and punish them. Immigration essentially refused to comply with the law stating they were not given enough money to run double the staff. Also, local businesses raised Cain stating it was going to harm business. In the McAllen area Mexican shoppers are a major part of local economics. They come across in Mercedes Benz cars and fill them with expensive clothes and electronics.
             The law is still on the books.
             And, if a Mexican commits a crime in the US side, cops will sit at the border and watch every person crossing.
             It did not make the news. But after Nine-one-one border officials told my SIL they were nabbing Al Qaida chaps trying to cross. That was on foot with fake documents.
             It is believed that large numbers of the terrorist groups have crossed at other locations and walk north to Falfurrias for a coyote pickup.

          7. *Colombia

          8. I met a Dutch guy in here in China and he does the rotating visa thing where he spends a few months here and then a few months back in the Low Lands. He was setting up production of high end exercise equipment.
             .
             I am teaching ESL just to keep my Expert Certificate and Residence Permit but I am trying to keep my hours low so that I can do other things. A Chinese friend and I are planning to set up a restaurant. Get your foot in the door and then put irons in the fire.

       4. Me, I am already gone. I don’t intend on returning until I have enough cash to buy some real estate and then have enough free time to really mess with the system.
          .
          Here is a re-post on how to escape:
          .
          66Scorpio > Clark Kent • 2 days ago
          .
          I suppose the most difficult thing is getting your employment situation sorted out, as well as dealing with the language issues.
          .
          Most people aren’t lucky enough to have dual citizenship. A good friend of mine is Hungarian so when he finally decided to say “fuck this” he moved to Budapest where he still had family.
          .
          If you really want to shoot for the moon, go for the foreign service. I aced the standard public service exams but the foreign service has the additional Situational Judgment Test. I got over the initial cutoff but when they calculated the final cutoff to get an interview I was something like 4 points shy out of 100. The other thing is that you have to speak French. If not you have to take a 15% pay cut or something similar in your first year and if you can’t pass the fluency test at the end of the year you get fired.
          .
          The simplest idea is to get your TESL certificate and then do teaching. You don’t have to teach ESL which, frankly, is not particularly challenging. There are plenty of positions teaching substantive subjects in English but you generally need your B.Ed. or at least a masters degree. The catch-22 is that usually they will want several years of teaching experience.
          .
          A temporary measure to jump ship and be employable is a working holiday visa. For Canadians there are several European and South American countries, plus Australia, Hong Kong and a few others, where you can get one or two years. Depending on your skill set you might hook up with an employer willing to go to bat for you so you can get a proper work visa.
          .
          A last possibility is to become a writer. Not everyone can do it but if you can your royalties will follow you regardless of which country you are living in. Roosh is the most obvious example. For me, I had a board game I designed back in the 90s and it will be released on the iPad in a few weeks. The royalties from that could be substantial.

       5. expat wisdom .com

       6. Escapeartist.com

    3. Single mothers are huge in Britain too

       1. I agree. I sometimes read some of the articles from the UK’s tabloids such as the Daily Mail, and every often is a scandalous article about some working class family receiving between £50,000 to even in some cases, £80,000 in benefits, all at the expense of the taxpayer.
          Even with the benefits cap in the UK, welfare recipients still earn more than some private sector workers.

          1. Parts of London and Liverpool where there are few jobs and single mothers galore are probably the worst money suckers.

       2. Unmarried women getting paid to get knocked up. If women slip up with their government paid for birth control or abortion pills, then there’s the welfare mother route. Makes them eligible for below market rate housing and other government goodies.

          1. Fact is they end up breeding the next generation of welfare recipients and/or inmates.

       3. Excellent pun, Daniel.

       4. Huge mothers are single in Canada.

          1. Especially in Ontario. Home of the Lieberal Parasite Party of Ontario.
             If Ayn Rand were alive today, she would walk into Queen Park with a suicide vest.

          2. That was fucking hilarious. Nicely done.

       5. Yeah the disgusting way those bitches eat. This is where our money goes.

       6. Yes. A firm, enforced law limiting these women (and men) from breeding is needed NOW. Squirting out a welfare baby or irresponsibly dumping a load must stop. Try bringing up the word “responsibility” to bleeding heart Social Workers and SJW’s.

    4. Going by calculations extrapolated from the results of the Calhoun Mouse Universe Experiment, we can expect to see a very obvious (and rapid) collapse between 2020 and 2040 (margin of error of 1 generation, or +/- 10 years), if we take the end of the cold war as the point of origin for demoralized decline. I’ve been bored enough to use the algorithm on a few other major global (human) events to enough accuracy to satisfy me. But perhaps I’ve traded the crystal ball for numbers.
       Either way, it will be soon gentlemen, and we won’t know it has happened until it is too late.

    5. Whereas GPs in Malaysia are underpaid and overworked, whether they be in the Malaysian NHS or private sectors. I have to disagree with you on GPs being worthless- I was saved by one when I was a newborn.
       Politicians on the other hand …. I always said there’s a reason why the word politician starts with ‘p’, just like another job that claims to be the oldest profession….:)

       1. When it comes to NHS I’m all in favour of funding it! These ‘murican “conservatives” are fooled by insurance companies and law businesses who follow only their business interests to oppose such systems of welfare.

       2. No one in this world is going to convince me that a GP is worth six figures. REAL doctors such as surgeons are worth being paid six figures because they are the real live savers who have so much at risk.
          But GPs- fucking parasites. Sitting all day in their cosy offices, answering pages all day and giving out prescriptions is NOT worth being paid six figures and at the expense of the tax payer. And no, you are not going to convince me that they do more than that.
          Anyway, GPs will find their jobs automated in the future by AI and technology.

          1. They need to be payed six figures because if they aren’t no one will do it. My fathers a GP and he went to school for 10+ years then did residency for 3 1/2 years getting paid like 30k per year before he got licensed.
             His Undergrad + Med School debts were over $650K with interest included. He goes to work at 6 am every day and does the standards check ups till around 4 pm then till 8 pm after finishing paper work, visiting patients in the retirement homes, etc. he is done.
             You think people will sign up for that job if they got paid shitty wages?

          2. No they don’t need to be paid six figures.
             Answering pages all day, handing out prescriptions, home visits and checking someone’s pulse, is NOT worth six figures. I don’t care how you or anyone else tries to justify it, it is NOT worth six figures from taxpayers.
             Plenty of doctors from medical school are a bunch of lazy good for nothing parasitical bastards. Sorry to hurt your feelings, but that is the truth. All the doctors want the GP positions so badly because of the cushy office enviroment and tax payers forking out six figures. Even my friend in medical school, confirmed this to me.
             I have no problem with surgeons or other specialists in complexed fields being paid high amounts since they provide a real productive function to our society, but GPs on the otherhand, need to get their salaries stripped because they are indeed, overpaid to do a job that is not worth six figures. The cat is out the bag, and the public are rightfully pissed off at GPs.

          3. Figherfighters make six figuires after several years on the job, as do police officers. Do you think figherfighters deserve their high five and low six figuire incomes for sitting in the firestation all day playing card?
             Also the doctors in medical school being “lazy parasitical bastards” isn’t true at all, they have to study nearly every waking moment of the day to even pass classes in medical school, my cousins life is like ‘living hell’ as he describes his life in medical school. And GP’s aren’t competitive at all, dermatology and radiology (which is by far the easiest), etc. are among the most competitive b/c they get paid 2-2.5 times what a GP makes and those jobs are similar difficulty to GP’s just a few more years of training is required.

          4. I don’t know where you get your information from, but most police officers and firefighters DO NOT make high five or six figure salaries unless they are some sort of chief commissioner or a similar role. And yes, it is outragous if there are indeed, firefighters or police officers getting paid six figures. Tough job, yes, but definately not worth six figures.
             Medical students (not all) are a bunch of lazy parasitical bastards. All that studying equates to rote learning, not actual productivity for society. This results in the self entitled attitiude and bad manners that you see a lot of doctors have, because somehow they think they are special and they are entitled to any position they want, just because they studied long hours to learn a ton of information, that they won’t even apply in whatever position they work in.
             GPs are not competitive at all? What planet are you from? GPs are the one of the most difficult positions to acquire in the medical field since all the doctors are gunning for these positions because of the high pay and less stress compared to other specialist fields.
             I don’t have any disrespect for the medical profession except for the GP field. Like I said, they are overpaid to do something, that is not worth six figures.

          5. Are you serious? The lowest Step 1 exam scorers in medical schools become GP’s in this country. Where are you from that becoming a GP is competitive?
             Radiology, dermatology, oncology, plastics, are by far the most competitive residency spots you need to be the best of the best and get the 80th percentile of step scores at LEAST to be able to have even a chance of getting these positions.

          6. sadly, most doctors don’t do much production, regardless of years of specialization or not. excluding outliers, there’s not much money left, far too much paperwork required, and meaningful use/quality outcomes are just more of the same.
             and sadder still, the situation of debt for new doctors has become an entrapment of sorts that does require more than six-figures to incentivize: the vast majority of usa-graduates simply cannot practice as GP if they didn’t have monied parents to pay for it; the debt-to-earnings ratio is negative if they try. since 1995, high school teachers have greater life-earnings than most GPs. those lazy GPs you reference are old; just wait until your friend sees his GP-electing classmates a few years out from the match. hell, even your friend will be hurting.
             not changing what you said, just trying to shed more light on it for you. the whole situation is kinda fucked. most people don’t really pay anyway. don’t get sick.

          7. radiology is falling fast. plastics only boom during booms, which hasn’t been of late. bimbo-fems are killing derm. hell, fems are killing all of medicine too; the laziness of doctors is reaching a whole new level of unreal.
             interventionals and oncology is where pay is, for now. and pharm. any new procedure or drug, paired with a new procedure, is where you need to go.

          8. Family Medicine is still low though is it now? The lowest scorers go into family med or psychiatry.
             Also how are the fems killing derm?

          9. Is it not?*

          10. i’m not sure what you’re asking. you seem to be on the outside looking in…
              yes, FamilyMeds score lower. but production isn’t about scores. we’re talking two different things here that are only loosely related. medicine boomed because of (1) great society programs in the 1960s, and (2) doctors out-working everyone else like crazy. but that was then. now is a very different story, and while the money certainly is less, the work ethic is much less. pay is largely by field, so total work done still determines your field’s dollars as well as your dollars, so those who work less in a field cost shift; working more, gets you less, etc. the think of it this way: if your subfield gets flooded with people not working, the entire thing turns into a welfare for the lazy at the expense of the hardest workers, the profession itself, and the past global dollar prestige commanded. such costing on other’s and global past production only works so long. eventually, enough lazy’s “working” catch up with the field, and people like truth above correctly conclude none should be paid as much, the whole field goes lower, feedback cost shifting gets worse, etc. this is what females do to any field, but medicine, where 110+hr/wk is expected by historical norm, is much more harshly hit. bimbo-fems have been targeting derm, as they do all high-paying institutional specialties, which gets them crazy pay without putting in nearly the same amount of work, and, in time, the field slowly gets killed, regardless (in spite of?) of artificial provider scarcity.
              all this is probably too much depth. but continuing on: GP is a category that includes FamilyMed, ObGyn, EmergencyMedicine, etc. All require residencies since 1970, which leads to increasing lengths of education = years not earning = more debt. if you take on too much debt for med school (as the vast majority do), taking these positions does not allow you to get out of debt any more. hence care here is only now done by fems, malpractice NPs/CSA/RNs, foreigners, and old guys (long since grand-fathered into the new rules, nowhere near the same debt level when they started, still coasting from the boom-medicine decades, etc). Emergency Medicine hasn’t suffered as much; it has been where money was shunted temporarily in some of the transition phases of reimbursement cutting in the last decade; still a hospital service though (like radiology, anesthesia, etc), still trapped.
              so while females are killing the top, the bottom has long since been kicked out and alot of new females end up there too, and even outside of this, all are truthfully working much less. the only professions able to still command pay are the ones that are (1) newer programs, (2) with newer procedure codes and drugs, and (3) need significantly more work to master and credential, leading to (4) almost exclusively white male practitioners. essentially, what medicine used to be. hence, interventionals and RadOnc.

          11. Low six figures for that kind of job is actually correct given the amount of education you need and hours worked. Hell, even RNs and NPs make 6 digits in a lot of places.

          12. No it’s not.
              Even cccountants, lawyers and software programmers also had a lot of education and work long hours. Yet the vast majority do not make six figures.

    6. The whole system is going to collapse. There is no doubt about this. The only question is when?

       We are reaching a point where the only thing that can save the US is Yellowstone.
       http://i.imgbox.com/aG3PI12I.jpg
       http://i.imgbox.com/ECBA9K3U.png
       http://i.imgbox.com/iPenbBd0.jpg
       http://i.imgbox.com/DrZj1Jq0.jpg
       Some of you here might even agree with this pic:
       http://i.imgbox.com/34VK39DL.jpg

       1. Enough with millennial bashing ffs! In this day and age loyalty to the employer will have you worked hard for shit pay and you might get fired because “financial issue”. Takes the piss when old ball bags with know;edge but no desire to work hard stay in the same place forever and never retire.

          1. Jesus. You ain’t kidding. I’m at wits end with the chronic shitting on millennials and that fucking term “entitlement generation.”
             Every generation has had a segment which is lazy. Yet never has a generation prior to this been socked in massive debt at the onset while facing so much competition for even $10-12/hour jobs. Jobs which don’t cover the absurd student loans and raising rental/ all around cost of living.
             Those who routinely use the phrase “entitlement generation” not only walked out of college during a period of time where entry level jobs were abundant, average student debt was under $2,000. At that time they could and DID declare BANKRUPTCY to get out of it!
             Entitlement Generation?

          2. Yup, loyalty is a good way to stay underpaid. On the flip side, job hopping doesn’t look good either. Best to work 3-5 years in one spot, then move on to the next for 10-30% more.
             PS ALWAYS slightly exaggerate your current base pay by 5-10k if you are at or below the middle 50% of your current position.

          3. “old ball bags” !? how about “old udder bags” !?

       2. What about the 2.9 trillion wasted on defense spending ( 20% of the Federal Budget ) Not to mention pensions for federal, state, and township workers.
          However excessive regulations is what drives up the cost of everything often creating a need for these programs.

    7. I would say that the Scandinavian countries are better examples of Socialist Utopia as GB doesn’t even figure on the world Top 10 list but essentially I agree with your points.

    8. it’s unstoppable too because they reproduce like rabbits and guess what happens when they’re adults? those adults reproduce like rabbits and guess who they vote for? the same people that enable the welfare state.
       it’s pretty much unstoppable politically in the long run. successful people are literally being bred out of having a say in government because they reproduce so much less than pieces of shit.
       it all comes back to central point of, if you incentivize failure, you will get failure. when you incentivize success, you will get success.

       1. You’re correct. Those who’ve received an education are not marrying/ having kids as they’re socked in huge student debt and recognize how rigged divorce/ custody courts are.
          Yet the dregs of society are producing like there’s no tomorrow …
          You go out and see a 1998 Pontiac driving down the street with a guy who is a chain smoker behind wheel and a woman about 219 lbs over weight in passenger seat with 3 kids in the back.

          1. switch the driver; the 200lbs whales drive while those pseudo-alphas-by-poverty do the childcare. it’s a sight to see.

       2. And they all vote for more free stuff

       3. That is why originally only male property owners were allowed to vote in the USA.

    9. “Factor in all the other insane taxes and regulations that ordinary citizens are forced to pay for such as property tax, capital gains tax, inheritance tax, income tax and you can see that hard work no longer pays, because under the current system, success is punished and failure is rewarded.”
       This is a huge problem for aspiring men with damn good work ethics, it can really break a person down. My only solution, as I’ve said before, is figure out a way to make under the table cash. Have your 9-5 so you’re legit on paper, then use your free time to try to match or double whatever your salary/wage is, all for cash. Make a nice grip that nobody needs to know about.
       And the government is most certainly like the mafia. “Eh, you want somethin nice like a car? Where’s my cut? Nice house you got there, where’s my cut? Here is some half assed protection from the police, pay up.”

    10. Escape to where? Another planet? There is nothing on this world outside the scrutiny and reach of “civilization” (excepting possibly the remains of Malaysian Air flight 370)

    11. Success is punished? The most successful companies are usually able to get away with dodging taxes, and redefining the rules for their own advantage.

        1. that is only when the corporations lobbying with the Mafia – I mean state for regulations, and loopholes, it’s not a true free market

    12. Sooner than later everything collapses.

16. Prior to the inception of the welfare state, 85% of black children were raised in two parent households, white men were twice as likely as black men to be unemployed and you had much, much lower crime in black communities. Since the inception, these things have reversed rapidly. There has been nothing as derisive to black people in America as welfare. Families ripped apart by the savagery of slavery salved and reconstituted themselves rapidly. The black family, which survived bondage, and Jim Crow was bested rapidly by the welfare states incentives to procreate recklessly. What do we have as a result? Flash mobs. Black violent crime rates that are way above the average. Blacks descending into an anti-intellectualism and mocking blacks who want to study and do well as acting white. If anyone here disagrees with me read Walter Williams’s “The state against blacks”.
    The most obvious effect of welfare is that it disincentives paid work. Go to any urban area or rural, poor area; you will meet hundreds of people who use disability insurance as a way to survive. Their complaints are generally things like back pain or anxiety. The alternative thing for them to do is to work.

    1. The fat ho’s in the projects both white and black need their asses kicked in gear. I know it would literally kill a good 95% of them to force them onto plantation style job rehab with water and healthy diet. They’re all terminally ill as shiteating junk food shiteater bitches with no respect for the man. Welfare has turned them all into dumb animals without souls who would rat out and snitch their own family members out for two bucks. They would turn their own brother in for a buck and set up their neighbor’s kids to get snatched by bitch services and sold at the child trafficking market which is an insideous web of insider bureaucrats and enforcement and regulatory agency useless eaters. Kiddie snatching government pigs. Black,white and hispanic paid kidnappers behind a white knight mask and usually in heirarchy working under a comissioned boss with a jewish sounding name. Who’s your supervisor ask them and then repel them or fight them as you will. I’ve encountered it too many times over to be coincidental, the ethnic names involved, the characters and their mannerisms and scripted behavior like out of a playbook. Fed kangaroo shops show a similar ‘village people’ profile as well.

       1. If you want to see how one of these animals behave, take a look at this whore’s feed.. We discussed her a couple of posts back.. And she has 800 some followers. It is unbelievable the scum we’re literally feeding for them to shit. That’s all they produce actually.. Shit.
          Tweets by DeFemmeFatale

          1. sweet Jesus. Did she get out of 5th grade?

    2. How dare you know history and facts! Don’t you know those are racist! (sarcasm).

    3. Now almost 80% of black children are raised by single mothers who are thriving on the welfare state. Their thug children then roam the streets playing “knockout game” on old people and shooting up rival gangs and fucking more black chicks who then go on to raise more thugs who sell drugs, gangbanging, and fucking more black chicks and the cycle continues forever.

17. I can’t even read the article on my phone without stupid pop-ups opening up…anyone else experiencing this?

    1. Yep same here.

18. I would support a welfare system if we had airtight borders and population control. The combination of the two is a fiscal disaster. If one generation can’t work for any reason, fine, we’d probably have to pay for their life in the criminal justice system anyway. X amount of government dollars equals sterilization. The problem is not necessarily a safety net, but the massive growth of it that comes from immigration and idiot breeding.

    1. There is no need for any taxpayer-financed welfare in the USA. No one ever starved in this country en masse. Private charity and religious organizations, even in the worst of times, were supported by generous Americans and were always able to help those in need.
       Welfare exists only to buy votes. And if it was abolished, the illegal problem would significantly disappear on its own too, as there’d be one less major incentive to come here.

       1. If that’s true, then fair enough. I have read about famines in the Great Depression. Of course, even in the face of all the anti-theists, who comes in to save the day: religion (Christianity to be precise.)
          http://www.infowars.com/researcher-famine-killed-7-million-in-us-during-great-depression/
          The illegal problem wouldn’t disappear. Most of them come to work and achieve the American dream, which is a mythical delusion for unskilled no-habla-inglese laborers.

          1. True the illegal problem would not disappear, but it would be significantly reduced because there’d be no incentive to come here. Of course the border and other immigration laws should still be enforced.
             I edited my above comment to reflect that.

          2. And any deaths during the Great Depression were caused by US government policy more than anything else.

19. So the answer is bitcoins?

20. It’s quite bad.
    To demonstrate this I will point out Norway did a study where they found welfare DOES increase dependency.
    By only 12% but remember that is among high trust hardworking Norwegians who don’t abuse welfare.
    Moreover, the welfare state encourages r type behavior. In tribal societies, women often raised kids on their own, having sex with many men (or being bound to one alpha in a harem), and the food was provided communally.
    That’s the welfare lifestyle in a nutshell.

    1. I was reading somewhere… The reasons welfare works in Norway are:
       1. Most of the money comes from the North Sea oil exploitation (and not via taxes).
       2. The public sector employee are not corrupt.

       1. Small population. Rich in natural resources.

       2. And a very high trust population. But yea basically.

    2. Norway or Iceland will remain a hedge of genestock of pure nordic specimin, like a safety depository. Most likely Iceland. Any Somalis being shot intraveinously into Reykjavik? Nope. Whenever you rape a forest, even meta physical law dictates that you must leave a hedge or a remnant of what you destroy. A sizeable sampling or smorgasboard variety must remain preserved of the foliage types cleared so the forest can regenerate. Even strip miners leave sizeable patches undisturbed in the middle of their clearing. You can rape and plunder mother earth 99.99% but not totally. You must leave a hedge. Iceland is a hedge unless you break from the matrix and live without currency in the wild.

21. Men perpetuate this state of affairs.
    The trick they fall for is very simple actually.. The Government/FED (yeah, I know they’re not part of the gov..) creates the money out of thin air, true. These “money” then goes onto the banks coffers (well, not really as they are all electronic). The banks then use these fake money to “give” you a loan for you to buy crap (I include real estate in here as well, but that’s for a different discussion).
    See how this works? The government actually created debt for you, and men willingly and begging are sticking their neck in. Now men have to work their ass off to pay that fake debt, get taxed in the process and so feeding the welfare state.. And from there, we know what follows.
    So, if you want this to go to shit asap, stop participating in the consumerism. Our consumerism feeds the beast, and turned our women into the whores they are today.

22. ‘The climate is changing, the climate is changing!!!’ I have a disability. I’m poor. I made a mistake.. In need…… ….
    ‘So?? ‘
    ‘So Hands UP!!! Gimme all your money. ‘ Gimme Gimme Gimme. NO say for you.
    Tax. tax. tax, You work. Government takes with a gun at your back. NO MORE.
    Refugees, ‘single mothers’, the disabled, the drug addicted all collecting welfare, ESL, ODSP subsidized housing and whatever other free socialist services they can avail (often while working on the side) –its a growth industry! Disability has become profitable–because dependence gives control, and those who pay are never the ones who decide or benefit. The State steals from the productive to redistribute and dictate for everyone else. Taxation of 30-40-50% plus is slavery. Period
    Victimhood tournaments, anti-bullying as the new bullying, LBGT: taking offense to give offence, hate crime as thought crime, SJW’s: a cacophony of envy and rancour, anti-racism as a codeword for anti-white, microaggressions:– anything to make the STATE bully someone else to pay and obey without consent. Stop working, start complaining and look to the state. Fleecing the productive is a sure way to make the productive disappear or at least foster the parasitic mindset to steal, lie, coerce and destroy. Taxed on the money you earn, then taxed on savings, taxed on investments, taxed on tax. The only tax-free investments left: hookers and homemade beer. There’s never a problem that someone else shouldn’t be compelled to fix (taxpayers) and never a failure that more government won’t solve. . If you’re retired – more government is ever better, after all you won’t pay. Again a sure way to make MORE people ‘retire’ (ie STOP working) — and fast because only workers PAY, and the more educated, the more productive, the more sacrifices, stress, and responsibility you take on, the more you PAY.) That’s white privilege. See, I’m learning well!!!
    Government regulation and coercion in Canada is just insane. Why work??? WE have communism. The government control wages and incomes AFTER the fact with taxation. The government takes 50% of everything. If you work hard then it is simply given to someone else by force. Bureaucrats love regulation as it justifies and entrenches their power and income. If you have a business well by God do your best to hire NOBODY or you will find yourself working for your employees instead of the other way.

    1. “The government takes 50% of everything.”
       At least in Canada, you get something for it. Over here, they take almost the same and we get jack shit. I have to pay for: health care, day care, education, pension.. and pretty much everything else. If you add it all up it gets up to 70% of what you make. So I think Canada is a better deal so far. Yeah, a shitty choice but still..

       1. I have always felt this way. In the socialist paradises of the Nordic countries, I have heard they pay around a 60% tax, but they have no worries, as you will be taken care of by doctors when you need it, child care, education, old age pensions, whatever. Compared to the USA where we pay a whopping 50% and get basically nothing (speaking from a single white middle class male perspective) I would gladly pay 10% more for all the benefits they are getting. I’m an idealist libertarian but a rational pragmatist at the end of the day.

          1. Well, the Vikings had wealth and status but raiding benefitted everyone based on their ability. It was a community effort and survival. Sure they traded and bartered but they didn’t have fiat currency either. Most indigenous people practice a form of redistribution of wealth. They took care of the young and old but they did recognize the achievements of others. I can’t find fault in that. Seems to have worked.
             Seems the ideal is Kurt Vonnegut’s “Harrison Bergeron” (aka 2081) Dystopian future for the SJW’s where everyone is handicapped so strict equality is enforced. Note the “Handicapper General” is a woman.
             Can see it here:
             https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fsMPzhto5rE&spfreload=10

23. I’m a huge fan of behavioural economics and behavioural psychology but human behaviour can generally still be governed by treating them as perfectly rational actors so long as you define what their ‘need’ in the reference frame is.
    That is to say, Nash equilibrium can still best account for people’s decisions in any given situation so long as you know what they value most. In some situations that may be money, in others it’s status, and so on.
    Nash equilibrium in the right frame of reference is a much better predictor of human behaviour than the irrational economic actor approach. And it pains me to say that, but it’s true.

24. My dad keeps a cup from Panera Bread, and always just walks in, fills his cup, and walks out with his free (stolen) cup of coffee.
    He says you need to get a piece of the american pie, that he paid enough in taxes over his life and deserves free coffee lol

    1. He sounds like a great kind of dad, the kind who wouldn’t hold it against you if you went down for robbing a bank. I’m certainly not advising robbing any bank just for the record, but if my son ever did that, I wouldn’t disown him but I would be mad at him for being a knucklehead. Only a knucklehead walks into a bank and says ”give me the money”. You never say that to a teller because that’s robbing. No, you say ”ma’am, I politely request the interest returned to me that you money changing schuysters STOLE FROM ME.”

    2. I’ll get a “Large Tea”. I then fill my “Large Tea” cup up with $20 worth of tea bags for home use.

       1. Yeah he takes handfuls of tea bags also.
          He gets his truvia from the coffee shops at Nordstrom

    3. Haha.. nice. he can always play the confused old man if they question him…

25. saw two males (and i use the word males on purpose) walking IN HIGH HEELS!! with sings that said “I’m man enough to walk a mile in her shoes” on campus today.
    and with them they had a smug looking chick too.
    and then i realized, this is why i dont care anymore. how can a country this insane possibly even survive? at some point u just have to laugh at the insanity of it all

    1. Just laugh your head off knowing they’re not going to get laid while humiliating themselves hoping.

    2. It’s this phaggot-time campaign where white knight manginas feel they can help out the women that won’t have sex with them
       http://www.walkamileinhershoes.org/

       1. Interesting that “high heels” were used by male warrior and horsemen. Then European men started wearing them to be “masculine” and fashionable.
          “During the 16th century, European royalty started wearing high-heeled shoes to make them look taller or larger than life, such as Catherine de Medici or Mary I of England. By 1580, men also wore them, and a person with authority or wealth was often referred to as “well-heeled”.”
          So the actual purpose was valid but posers and the original maginas used them for fashion not utility. I’m sure the originals looked pretty spartan.
          If you are a slave to fashion and other people’s perception you are a huge fucking loser. If you take pride in that, how retarded is that. They should just cut their dicks off and hand it to them. It won’t be needed.

       2. Fucking ISIS and Russia are probably laughing at us right now.
          Jesus, the end is near for the west feminism has killed us.

    3. Problem is… Roosh posted this today.
       http://voxday.blogspot.com/2015/04/the-red-heeled-guards.html

       1. Fucking ISIS and Russia is laughing right now. We have made our military look weak and pussified.
          A Russian or Islamic state soldier would rather die than do this emasculating bullshit.

    4. it would be hilarious if some homo raped those guys

    5. Corporal Klinger, of MASH, approves.

26. I think if we as a society can find other motivating factors besides money, we’d be taking a major step in the right direction. For now, money remains the leading motivating factor for just about everything.

27. None of you people really understand how the government works if you think members of Congress, Republican or Democratic will reign in the welfare state.
    Not as long as the baby boomers vote and we import an immigrant underclass.

    1. That and the Electoral College are why I refuse to vote for anything other than referendums.

28. Thatcher said something like : the problem with socialism is that you run out of other people’s money.

29. It all boils down to this. Women having the right to vote has ruined everything. They will always vote for big, expensive and inefficient Government, because it supports things like divorce rape.That is why society has become so gynocentric- it makes me sick. I honestly don’t know how more men don’t snap – imagine you are busting your balls working long hours in a job you hate to provide for your wife, and she shows her gratitude by getting fat and fucking her personal trainer. Then, she takes your house, car and you are paying alimony forever. How can guys take that and not fight back? I don’t just blame women, but all the white knights with no balls and pride. Personally I want the government to do the basics, tax me less and stay out of my life. Feminists want to replace the family with the State. They are communist by nature. Read 1984, by Orwell – it is all about making people’s first loyalty not to their own flesh and blood, but to the State.

    1. >>How can guys take that and not fight back? I don’t just blame women, but all the white knights with no balls and pride. Personally I want the government to do the basics, tax me less and stay out of my life. Feminists want to replace the family with the State. They are communist by nature. Read 1984, by Orwell – it is all about making people’s first loyalty not to their own flesh and blood, but to the State.
       Women will ALWAYS support and promote whoever or whatever has more power. It’s simple ethology. The more powerful the Govt the more “Alpha” it appears to be and the more women will love and support it. The more women love it and support it the more Alpha it becomes. And on and on so.
       This is a beast that feeds on citizens; the more it feeds, the larger it becomes and the hungrier it gets. Of all the solutions out there, including armed conflict, civil disobedience, self-immolation, active democracy, etc., the only one that truly destroys the beast is starving it– take away the feast of productive citizens and accelerate its collapse.
       >>I honestly don’t know how more men don’t snap – imagine you are busting your balls working long hours in a job you hate to provide for your wife, and she shows her gratitude by getting fat and fucking her personal trainer. Then, she takes your house, car and you are paying alimony forever. How can guys take that and not fight back?
       Some guys DO snap, like Thomas Ball here who committed suicide by lighting himself on fire on the courthouse steps:
       http://www.businessinsider.com/new-hampshire-man-lights-himself-on-fire-to-protest-americas-decline-2011-6
       Thomas James Ball was a father, a soldier, a hero. He fought for his country for 21 years. He faithfully kept up with an inexcusably high child support order for 10 years after his wife left him, with their children. In 2009, he lost his job at a Ford dealership and began to fall behind on his support order. The country he served for so long did not care: pay or go to prison. Not a misdemeanor jail sentence: a lengthy sentence for hard time in prison, along with murderers, rapists and terrorists. You see, femi-fascist man haters around this nation have been campaigning to change the law so that men who fall behind on child support payments are imprisoned on felony charges, and sentenced to multi-year prison confinement. Punishment for losing a job — and for the unforgivable sin of being born male. Here is a link to the femi-fascist National Organization for Women’s 2011 campaign to change Rhode Island law so that owing $5000 in back child support will become a felony there:
       http://rinow.org/legislative-agenda/2011-legislative-agenda-draft-as-of-21411/
       The femi-fascist war on men and boys reaches its final “extermination” phase, and nobody even notices.

30. Here in China, the government has their fingers in all the major industries and they basically skim their profits to support the system. However, what that means for the average Joe (or Chinese equivalent) is a tax rate of about 10%. Meanwhile in Canada, 10% barely covers your social security (CPP) while income taxes might run about 20% and – in Ontario for instance – HST is 13% of whatever is left over.

    1. I hear it’s considerably higher in Montreal.

       1. I don’t know; never lived there. I have been there maybe half a dozen times to party because it is closer and less expensive than NYC but really blows Toronto away.

31. As with most issues, the conversation is always focused on the wrong part. Of course all the following are forms of welfare, but typically when someone refers to traditional “welfare” it is aid to temporary assistance to needy families (21 billion).
    But that leaves behind food stamps ($45 billion and rising), the Earned Income Tax Credit, which basically just subsidizes people for shitting out kids ($55 billion), SSI (“disability” although it is given to a lot of people who are not truly disabled) $44 billion, and housing vouchers ($18 billion).
    I don’t have a problem with “temporarily assisting needy families”. But I do have a problem with a tax credit that lasts the child’s entire life that rewards people for having more children when I don’t even have any of my own(EITC), paying people indefinitely for not working (SSI), and giving them a free place to stay with no expiration date (housing vouchers). Food stamps, I understand we are in a recession but giving 1 in 5 families free food and pretending we are in a “recovery” is bullshit. So we have: $162 billion of permanent “help” versus $21 billion of temporary help. If the numbers were reversed, that would be one thing, but our priorities are all phucked.
    Notice how the media, and even the government itself (Bill Clinton’s welfare to work program) focused on the $21 billion part and no one ever talks about the remaining behemoth.
    {EDIT} And yes, corporate welfare dwarfs these handouts.

32. “However, when the government, which doesn’t produce anything substantial, gives itself the exclusive right to print the currency, the result is always inflation and the destruction of purchasing power.”
    The nature of fiat money and the government’s role in it can be simply understood by asking yourself one question: what is the reason we make counterfeiting a criminal offence?
    The answer is a combination of moral and principle: “Because you are making yourself money that you did not earn, which is criminally unfair, and because from a more principled point of view you are undermining people’s *trust* in the currency — trust being the essential thing that holds society together.”
    Having answered that question, ask yourself another: if you don’t tolerate people printing money in their back yards that they did not earn, why do you tolerate the government printing a single dollar note in excess of those notes destroyed by natual attrition?
    The only difference between counterfeiting and quantitative easing is that the latter is done by the government and is therefore legal, just as Nixon proclaimed arrogantly that when the President does something, it’s legal. But the same thing is happening: a slow undermining of people’s trust in the currency and the counterfeiter giving himself money he does not have.

    1. Back in the day, one of the services provided by the Federal government, at public expense, was the minting of coins from privately owned silver.
       The government did not create money, it simply assayed it and stamped it with their guarantee of value.

33. “There are more and more bills to go around, but they are worth less and less.”
    Which would seem NOT to work in the banker favor, but there’s a catch… when they “print” this “new money”, THEY get to spend it while it’s value is still the same as when they printed it, by the time WE get it inflation has already had it’s effect.

34. Haaaah bitcoin. More like bitchcoin.

35. I think American welfare IS enough to thrive on, considering how the recipients constantly waste their money on luxuries like tobacco, alcohol, candy, soda, flat-screen TVs, etc.
    I even once had an 17-20 year old customer drive into my station with a sports car, and ask if I accepted food stamps!
    Better yet, I even had a whole family (on vacation) drive in with a 45-ft motorhome and ask the same question the moment they stepped inside.
    .
    Dear People, Welfare was created to TEMPORARILY help you, so that you could eventually get back on your feet and off the taxpayer’s dime.
    It is NOT there so that you could spend any actual cash you manage to acquire cigarettes or beer, nor is it there to buy expensive meats and hordes of candy and soda.
    .
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_wElqMl5TJM

36. “In an ideal world, the producers of goods and services would print their own currencies, in a 1:1 ratio”
    Seductive and should be definitely be used as a guideline, but there is a chicken-egg and back again aspect to economics that does provide some room for targeted monetary expansion on infrastructure and the like

37. The most sinister of all welfare programs is collegiate financial aid. Funding advanced education for women literally takes the dollars directly out of our wallets and reinserts them in the form of a cock carousel up sluts’ cunts. Billions of dollars thrown away every year to make women mouthy, obnoxious, disobedient and no longer financially dependent on men. College for women single-handedly breaks the system.

38. A lot of people on this site have a very fucked up mindset. Without welfare there would be much more poverty and misery in a society. I agree that some people misuse welfare, but welfare should be a certain amount of money that guarantees a basic level of living.
    You should see it this way: without that basic level of living it would be very hard to build up a normal life. People need a house, food and clothes. If you have these basics, you can move on with your life.

    1. Many people also misunderstand the main function of the welfare state. The prime function is to redistribute within an individuals lifetime, such that the state takes on the role of public Insurance. In this manner people are insured against poverty in youth, and in old age, in addition to the risks posed by unemployment and bad Health. This instead of letting private markets, or to a limited extent, civil society fill this gap.
       Redistribution among individuals, from rich to poor, is only of secondary concern. In my home country in Scandinavia, the welfare state primarily serves the middle class, the average Citizen. This is the main reason why it enjoys fairly wide support.
       Americans have a very hard time understanding this for some reason.

       1. We have a hard time understanding it because welfare doesn’t benefit the middle class.

          1. Yeah, you are probably right. Another important point is that the European welfare states have to large extent been formed in ethnically homogenous states. Especially in Scandinavia.
             This was never the case in the US, where welfare is seen as more or less equivalent to “more tax money for poor minorities”. So its not surprising that welfare has a bad rep in large portions of the population.

    2. Downvote because:
       If you want to pay for other people, you go ahead.
       But it becomes onerous when you vote for it, then men with guns enforce my payment in the form of taxes.
       FUCK. THAT. SHIT.
       You want my money to pay for your pet project? MOLON LABE MOTHER FUCKER.

    3. As I noted in my earlier comment, welfare wouldn’t be a large issue if the amount of people utilizing it did not continually increase. We are an nation of open borders with a welfare state which incentivizes reproduction.
       If we were to utilize welfare effectively, we would need to tightly control the population. X amount of welfare should lead to sterilization. If people abused the welfare system, they would eventually die without spawning a new population who is destined for the same lifestyle. This would greatly reduce the “Idiocracy” effect of society and leave the breeding to productive folk.

    4. The government’s way of buying votes.

    5. It is a lot of people on welfare that have the screwed up mindset – perform as best you can and do not expect others to bail you out – do not get pregnant expecting someone to pay the bills – do not waste your life on addictions expecting others to save you. welfare was meant for those who were not mentally/physically able to do anything else.

39. I only have three words;
    Ni Hau Ma

40. Constitutionally, the government is supposed to be the only entity that produces currency. However, it doesn’t work that way in America.
    In America, currency is produced primarily by banks through fractional reserve lending in order to fuel their speculative gambling, but also by the Federal Reserve, a public entity that acts above the scrutiny of the government and public. A decent government might have their citizens in mind when producing and managing the national currency, but even if the American government was like that (they’re not) they have no control over currency production whatsoever. Blaming the government in this case is incorrect.

    1. Blaming the government is absolutely correct. The Federal Reserve was created by an act of Congress in 1913.
       Even if that were not the case, the government should give itself full oversight of the Federal Reserve.

41. Even if you hate Adam Carolla, he makes a damn good point on welfare.

42. the welfare system was designed to destroy all things good and virtuous. we had a great system before, nuclear family, maybe a man would directly support 1 or 2 women. now you have hard workers being ripped off to support the trash (who choose to be trash); I’m telling you all, the ONLY solution is to eject. We all need to be preparing to get out. start by moving to a man friendly state, like Texas. And then figure out where to go in the world, I think it will likely be east!

    1. The main culprit is not the welfare state, but unbridled capitalism and consumerism.
       American are working and eating themselves to death.

       1. That’s a load of crap man.
          Its Government that prints and borrows money like crazy. That would never happen in a true Capitalist society. Capitalism is the way to go if you want to put a cap on runaway consumerism. People are simply forced to live within their means. Americans are borrowing and eating themselves to death. Get your facts straight.

          1. Consumerism is intricately linked to free market capitalism, where the economic agent decides autonomously what to buy and consume.
             Credit markets will persist in one way form or the other, whether you have full or fractional reserve banking. Its not evident that the reduction of credit in the formal banking system will result in lower levels of available credit in the overall economy. As long as there is supply and demand of credit, loaning, borrowing and consumption will take place. And the informal sector will take over instead.
             That is unless you start making restrictive laws prohibiting lending, but then the economy becomes less market driven as a result.
             its mainly a cultural shift in values that has taken place. 50 years ago people borrowed and consumed far less, and were accustomed to a far lower standard of living. The economic system hasnt changed radically since then, except that it has become more deregulated.
             “That’s a load of crap man.”
             I could characterize your post in the exact same way, making the exchange far less productive.

          2. There’s nothing wrong with borrowing if you can leverage the money into a proper investment.
             When past generations purchased homes, it was wise to borrow as much as your income allowed because homes have appreciated in value and mortgages are tax deductible.

          3. Yes this is sound borrowing. The problem is when consumers keep on demanding credit. If the banks wont lend due to scarcity induced by the central banks, the informal sector will to a large degree take over.
             Something has definetely changed in the mindset. Expectations regarding future income also matters. If people believe that they are living in an age of unlimited Growth, they will tend to borrow more or Invest in risky assets, like human Capital in the form of education.
             Perhaps people in general will start to revert to a more conservative lifestyle once they start to realize that they might not have any prospect of becoming more wealthy compared to their parents generation. Its hard to say.
             Btw, nice talking to you Graft, its been a while.

          4. The US is the biggest debtor nation/empire in the history of the world.
             The US is by far the biggest consumer (per capita) in the world.
             What you are trying to tell me is that there is no connection between the two. Strange indeed.
             The credit market is not a free market. That’s exactly the problem. The lenders wanted higher interest in the decade leading up to 2008 for example, but where overrun by Government interventions. (Crony Capitalism) Higher interest rates would have put a cap on the runaway housing prices and spending, which in turn would have kept the economy stable.
             Finally, its absurd to claim that the economy is less regulated now than before. The exact opposite is true, and that’s the problem. To much State and to many regulations. It was infinitely easier to say start a business, hire people, set wages etc. 1960`s as apposed to today.

          5. No that is not what I am trying to tell you, I dont know where you have read this, but its not something I have written. Debt and consumption are normally highly correlated.
             If the fed raised the interest rates it naturally would have restricted available credit, and thereby reduced consumption. Raising or lowering the interest rate, does however not make the economy more or less free. The Central bank still has a monopoly of Money printing. Although one might argue that private banks actually create money when extending a loan, thereby multiplying the money base.
             I am not denying that the Fed, under pressure from both the corporate sector and the state, have enhanced the financial crisis, when they lowered interest rates. The point is that in the post World war 2 period there has been an increasing tendency for people to demand greater and greater loans in proportion to income. Partly because of an expectation of increased future income due to continuous economic growth in the economy, and a wish to consume more here and now(change in time preference).
             Even if you instituted full fractional reserve banking, other informal sectors would probably to some degree take over and supply the excess demand for credit. for this reason I am some what sceptical of the proposed solution that full fractional reserve banking would solve the problem, or even an outright banning of commercial banks for that matter.
             I am not sure what you are referring to, when you speak of “true” capitalism, as opposed to all the other false models of capitalism, including “crony” capitalism?
             The truth is that there are different versions of capitalism, that function in various ways.
             Financial and credit markets have become more deregulated, blurring the line between commercial and Investment banking.
             I did not state this explicitly, but this was what I was referring to.
             Other areas have perhaps become more regulated, but this is a seperate issue. Whether the economy is more or less free as a result is debateable.

          6. People demand more debt because they can get it. Human nature basically. Why do the banks grant them these loans, well because the banks rely on the Government to back them up should people fail to meet their obligations. This leads me to your comment about crony capitalism versus “true” Capitalism. Granted no system is a 100 percent this or that, in a predominately Capitalist society, banks could not run to Government and the Taxpayers to help them out in this scenario. Hence they would be more careful, hence people would act in a more frugal manner, consume less.
             My main point is that the State gets in the way of the sensible dealings and interactions of citizens. More responsibility leads to more sensible choices, wheter it be how much you eat or how much debt you take on, or how much you as a bank are willing to lend someone, knowing its your ass if they can`t pay it back.

          7. Its both supply and demand. If supply is lowered by the formal banking sector, its likely that the shadow banking sector will step in to fill at least part of the void.
             Sure banks will lend more cautiously if the government didnt step in to cover their losses, thereby solving the “moral hazard” problem. And this will also curb the supply for credit. Likewise setting higher interest rate targets by CB will also limit credit. I wont deny this.
             But ultimately the problem wont go away fully unless consumer preferences are changed, and lending becomes more tightly regulated.
             “My main point is that the State gets in the way of the sensible dealings and interactions of citizens.”
             Its not always the state thats the problem. Private companies are to a large extent willing to grant consumption loans to Citizens, if they buy their products. This is happening outside the banking sector, and the state has Little to do with it. Its an example of relatively pure market transaction. Consumers are willing to go very far into debt, just in order to keep up with the Joneses. Whether this is sensible is debateable, but its happening on a large scale.
             And its not surprising that it happens, since the companies are interested in making a profit, and know that the consumers have a preference for consuming here and now, and not in 2 months.
             Hell even online restaurant orders offer people payment of their pizza with a month delay.
             Most companies dont mind taking the risk of extending a small amount of credit to consumers, as the default wont exactly make them Loose that much money. They even make deals with very low interest, as long as buyers commit strongly to consuming their products. Some people have 10 or more consumer accounts and have fucked their lives up with debt.
             This problem wont go away by itself since its a cultural change in consumer preferences: consumerism. This level of consumer debt was quite rare 20 or 30 years ago. Its a fairly new phenomena.
             One way to solve this problem politically, and thereby restrict lending, would be for the government to step in and regulate it further. But that would amount to government intervention, and you are naturally against that I presume?
             Or a cultural shift needs to take place, but this takes us away from the realm of political economy.

          8. Government should restrict lending more?
             As I explained it was Government that overruled and thereby punished sensible lenders, at the same time giving carte blanche to the gamblers that led to the crash of 2008.
             It is Government that has racked up debt, that including unfunded liabilities number in the region 100 trillion plus.
             You cant for all your mental gymnastics escape the fact that it is the State and not the private market that has facilitated this.
             Capitalism is not an ideology, it is simply people trading with each other on a voluntary basis. Private companies and individuals don’t make the mistake of lending out money without any form of security. And if they do, they will soon be out of business.

          9. The root of the problem is people like you Mr. Jannik Thorsen.
             “where the economic agent decides autonomously what to buy and consume.”
             Lets do clear speak, will you. The economic agent is a human. You want to rob them of their free will because you know better.
             You do not. You just assume you do but you are wrong.
             Socialist act like they know better. They can “control” the economy for the greater good. The greater good for themselfs maybe but certainly not the people.
             Only the people know best what is best for them. Not you.

          10. lots of words. short answewr.
              It has been given a long time ago in a book you may want to read some day. It is called “about the wealth of nations”
              The free economy you seem unable to name is explained in detaild. It is called “the invisible hand”. It works.
              Goverment and regulations never do.

          11. “As I explained it was Government that overruled and thereby punished sensible lenders, at the same time giving carte blanche to the gamblers that led to the crash of 2008”
              I never denied that this was part of the problem, but this is a far cry from the full story.
              “You cant for all your mental gymnastics escape the fact that it is the State and not the private market that has facilitated this.”
              The (private) financial sector bears an equal responsibility for the crisis in 2008. For 30 years or so the financial sector had pushed for deregulation of financial practices, and the government went along with this. The Glass-Steagal act was removed in 1999 as I recall, giving more leeway to the shadow banking system. And in the long run creating predatory lending practices and extreme degrees of risk taking.
              The Financial crisis inquiry comission even concluded that the crisis main cause was to little regulation of the financial sector.
              Go argue with them if you insist on disagreeing.
              Capitalism is an economic system, but it is no way evident what degree of regulation is necessary to maintain or sustain this system. For this reason there are different variants of capitalism in function around the World. Making it out to be simple trade amongst individuals is a gross simplification. This description is especially ill suited to describe the financial sector, which by far is more complicated than any other market.
              Removing bailouts will not solve the problem fully. Since a massive global interconnectiveness of the Commercial banks and the shadow banking system caused the Financial system to become overly fragile and lack transparency, distorting market signals in the process. Letting the Whole banking system burn and crash would most likely have caused a depression of unprecedented scale, much worse than what we experienced in the last 6-7 years. So even if bailouts are a bad idea due to moral hazard, letting banks go bankrupt en masse after the crisis had set in would probably have been worse.
              Financial regulation, which implies a massive overhaul of the Whole banking system, would be the best long term solution. But this is by definition more government regulation.

          12. I have no idea what you are trying to convey, but you are way over your head.
              I am not a socialist in any traditional sense of the Word.
              I believe markets should be firmly regulated, just like any other part of society. If that makes me someone who wants to “control people” then so be it. In that case any person who is against anarchy must be a “controller”.
              Remember these are your Words, not mine.
              “Only the people know best what is best for them. Not you”
              Ok. Just remember these Words next time you try to moralize towards any person. This includes various criminals, liars and cheaters.
              People are free to make all the mistakes they wish to. They are however not exempt from shame and condemnation. Or the consequences of the law.

          13. You clearly no very little economics. If you had studied the subject, you would know that market breakdowns are fairly common. And that market intervention at times is essential for making a particular market run more smoothly. You see not all markets are created the same.
              I would advise you to read some introductory book on economic principles, this way you would gain some basic insight on what is going on in the field.
              Thx for the tip, I am already familiar with this particular Work of Adam Smith. In addition to his “Theory of moral sentiments”. You see I am at a stage where I understand that his collective body of works compliment each other, and that it is necessary to be acquanted with all of his main Works in order to gain a full understanding of the nuances in his social theory.
              I hope that you reach this stage at some point of your life.

          14. Understanding is impossible as long as we want to change the markets and the humans in something they are not but you would like them to be.
              The business cycle does exist, can not be eliminated by goverment nor regulations and has a function.
              The less goverment we have (certainly at or below the level of 10% of GDP) the higher the long time prosperity of the people.
              Small goverment equals more individual freedom and wealth.
              Big goverment equals a declining empire, overspending, overweight people, war on weaker victims, lots of laws and last but not least lots of politicians who live very well from the fear of their subjects.

          15. Nice talking to you as always.

       2. Consumerism is a culture. Capitalism is an economic system. Unfortunately, leftists often denounce the economic system when they are unhappy with the culture.

          1. Sure there is not a logical connection between capitalism and consumerism, in the sense that free market capitalism necessarily will lead to consumerism. It has just historically been the case that the most free market orientated countries were the first ones to turn to consumerism. And this is probably no accident.
             When that is said, its probably an overstament to claim that capitalism is the root cause of the present maladies of society. Although deregulation has certainly enhanced the problems. Neither is the welfare state to blame.
             The problems are rooted in the degradation of culture and a lack of spirituality. When consumption and hedonism becomes the new god, other values have a tendency to deteriorate.
             Its not that I have something fundamentally against free market capitalism. I just sense a tendency on ROK forums to make it an end in itself, instead of a hand maiden to improve society. If you neglect culture, relegating it to a phenomena served by free markets, problems will arise.
             Perhaps traditional religion had a tendency to mitigate the excesses of capitalism. But this is now long gone in the present postmodern liberal society, and we are therefore experiencing the effects of this development.

          2. Couldn’t have said it better myself. That’s why I would prefer living in somewhat of a theocracy.

       3. crony capitalism is at the root of all evil today, the bankers make money off of poverty. John Oliver recently did a great piece on how the working poor are getting screwed over in fines, tickets and fees.

43. Yep , the producer: moocher ratio. Too few producers, too many takers. What sucks is we ( the country) have no money left over for stuff like space travel and “big picture” projects

44. Spot on article Mr Baroni. I tap my shield for you, good sir.
    I especially liked the way you didn’t resort to a cliched remark like “the rich pay no taxes” when you used the words “only those who belong to the elite layer of the society can actually avoid having their wealth redistributed”
    In the US especially it takes more than wealthy to get around paying taxes…it takes vast influence, of they type most commonly seen on capitol hill.
    If anyone was to bother to check, those who legitimately earned their wealth end up paying nearly half or more of all income taxes in the US
    http://www.cnbc.com/id/102581780
    The government does not create wealth, it merely creates the means to control it (the Mint) police it (the IRS) track it (taxes) distribute it (programs) and so forth.
    Whenever a government job is created, the benefit of having one less person unemployed in its staffing is offset by all the costs involved in creating it, since the government takes the money made by its citizens in order to create all the employment prerequisites that come with it.
    From the construction of the building (for ex: the relatively new dept of Homeland Security) down to the office furniture it will contain, virtually EVERY PENNY of it is subsidized by you, my fellow taxpayers, long before the first person to staff it is decided upon.
    With regard to the dept of HS, take comfort in the fact that it is one of the cheaper departments, setting us back only about 60 billion or so…!

45. Welfare state should be there to support those not able to contribute to the economy through no fault of their own, disabled, feeble minded, etc. Others out of work should be put to work cleaning streets, general maintenance, educational courses, whatever work scheme dreamt up to get them off their junk food asses from in front of their flat screen. But then I’ll be compared to a Nazi for making such a suggestion…….
    Oh and moochin’ single mothers? Either put your bastard up for adoption to a family that can afford to bring up the kid properly or go out get a job and pay for it yourself, no rent allowance, no payments or get the father to contribute to its upbringing.

46. today in italian class, the professor started handing us an article (in italian) about being open minded and such. So later on, i tell her in front of the class that we are seeing a cultural decline. When i said that, the girls and one girl was like: What?, we are in a what??” and i didn’t know how to explain to them on how we are going into a cultural decline……any ideas??

47. “You are entitled to nothing”
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QgTIhT5aLCg&feature=youtu.be

48. Just for curiosity, when is it going to be the new pres’ election at USA?

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50. Honestly, I think that this article rests upon a shaky foundation of questionable logic.
    Baroni writes, “In an ideal world, the producers of goods and services would print their own currencies, in a 1:1 ratio. This means that for each bill printed, there would be a backing of a single unit of goods or services by that producer.” How is this ideal? How would one gauge the value? By fiat of the producer? Given that not all goods and services are of equal quality, how would one gauge value? Is there an intrinsic motivation for producers to inflate/deflate value for the consumer? Corporations don’t really compete as it is; they cooperate at least complicitly in that they offer virtually the same things at a mutually inflated price. Further, they act in unison in offering the lowest quality possible for what they charge, yet we’re supposed to expect fair treatment from them if they are printing their own money? Ah, perhaps he’s remembering the “good, old days” of the 19th century when employers would pay their employees only in script, which had to be spent at the company store in order to purchase staples, etc. Yeah, those companies sure behaved honorably then.
    Baroni also writes, “. . . but the problem is that this should be a personal choice of the individual, rather than a mandate.” Paying taxes should be a personal choice? It seems that’s what he’s saying. Taxes are the price we pay for civilization. How would roads, bridges, etc. be maintained? During the early years of the railroad, trains were unregulated, which resulted in tracks of varying gauges/widths, etc. If those roads aren’t built by a government, who would uphold the standards? If the roads are privately owned, what’s to keep the owners from cutting corners, shutting it off without notice, or jacking up prices to use it? “Oh, just don’t use that road then.” Seriously? I guess I’d have to live in a mobile home so I can choose not to use that road by moving my home. Would each road be sold? How? By secret bid? On a road-by-road basis, or would it be a franchise like cable companies? How would the average consumer leverage market pressure then?
    I almost spit my coffee when I read this one: “It’s in the nature of men to be rebellious, challenge the authorities, break the rules, and play the game of life whichever way they please.” Really? Did I miss something? When did chicks start running the show? I’m pretty sure the very men whom you valorize were in charge when all the shit started hitting the fan like Taco Bell night in a wind tunnel.
    My point is that Baroni purports to have a solution to the “welfare
    state,” but it seems to me that this article devolves into an anti-tax screed
    very quickly. However, anti-tax advocates seem to be very forgetful of the benefits that a reasonable level of taxation can bring: police, stop lights, national defense, storm drains, etc. The reason that these things are handled by the government is because the private sector did them so poorly and inconsistently. There are some things that should logically be handled by a central authority, even if it means that both rich and poor share the benefits equally, like public sanitation; whatever insular attitudes toward being middle class or wealthy, communicable diseases don’t discriminate.
    I agree that single mothers, loafers, etc. are a problem in society, but using a sledgehammer (and a shitty one at that) won’t solve that
    problem. The relative tax burden, btw, has fallen in the last six years for lower- and middle-income Americans, lower than it was under the Bush administration and it’s “responsible” tax policies that “liberated the job creators.” You know—that sound fiscal policy that resulted in the collapse in 2007. Where were the jobs then? I know that many here like to decry the “tax and spend liberals” with some merit, but the “tax cut and spend” conservatives aren’t any better.

51. Actually, the greatest American welfare programme was a project that’s still delivering benefits to those who live near it …
    That welfare programme was the Tennessee Valley Authority, and their hydroelectric dams have guaranteed that the south-eastern United States can remain competitive when it comes to the cost of electric power for manufacturing.
    Relatively cheap and clean hydroelectric power means it’s possible to feed the likes of Nissan, Toyota, and BMW in the south-eastern United States without having to feed additional coal plants.
    So there are some welfare programmes that aren’t simply giro handouts …

52. Whether society thinks they’re entitled to them or think these free “services” are provided out of the goodness of the government’s heart, nobody seems to think the government might want anything back in return..

53. Globalization is your best friend when it comes to killing off the welfare state. What benefits a welfare state almost certainly does not benefit a tax haven and as such the two will never see eye to eye on international tax reform. This is key, because as global trade increases and capital / labor flows more freely across borders, nations will be forced to compete with each other for that flow of capital / labor.. The only way a nation can compete is by reducing it’s taxes towards zero, they will be forced to remove their welfare.

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