Libertarian lies. My RW brother in law want's my thoughts .... [View All]

[MedicalAdmin]

I am already formulating a response to the many unbelievable factual errors but I thought some feedback and input from DU would be invaluable. I did a quick search and the guy who wrote this is was convicted for securities fraud - no surprise there.

Tell me what you think and please give me some ammo. My brother in law is not stupid (exactly) but he is unemployed and watches too much fox. I think there is hope but I need to send back a few salient refutations along with my holiday salutations.

Cheers everyone and thanks in advance for any input or comments I get. Here's the "thing" he sent me via email.





"The root of the problem the world is facing right now isn't really governments… or banks. The real problem is simply a very bad idea – the idea that the State ought to sit in the center of society. Let me explain…


The last 100 years (since 1914) saw not only the end of the classic gold standard, but also the fantastic ascendancy of the nation-state.

These two trends are inherently and dangerously related.

Until World War I, the central government of the United States, for example, played a small role in the lives of its citizens. Its powers were strictly limited, as were its revenues. It was specifically barred from taxing citizens directly. It was a humble government that interacted with the individual states in the union, but didn't interact much with individual citizens.

The first signs of change came after the Civil War. "Progressive" ideas began to emerge. Most of these ideas came from Germany, from philosophers like Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels. The core of these ideas was that the State itself was superior to its citizens. Therefore, the argument went, society ought to be organized to better accomplish the goals of the State.

Today, most Americans have no idea that the foundations of our modern State are based – nearly verbatim – on the demands of Karl Marx's Communist Manifesto.

In 1848, Marx threatened to organize a worker's revolution unless European governments:

1. Abolished property rights and applied all rents towards public purposes.



2. Levied a heavy, progressive income tax to equalize wages.



3. Abolished all rights of inheritance.



4. Confiscated the property of all emigrants.



5. Centralized access to credit in the hands of the State by means of a national bank and an exclusive monopoly.



6. Centralized the means of communication and transport in the hands of the State.



7. Provided free education for all children in public schools.



8. Produced a common agricultural policy to maximize the productivity of the land.



Most people in democracies like these ideas for one simple reason: They hold the allure of getting something for nothing. They are the siren song of living at the expense of your neighbor.

These ideas became extremely popular over the last 100 years, all around the world. As a result, as democracy spread, so did these ideas. Politicians of each party and persuasion throughout the Western world quickly adopted them as their own (and never mentioned Marx).

As these ideas took hold, one big problem developed… How do you pay for them?

Progressive politicians believed they had the answer. They just took Marx's big innovation: A progressive income tax. Let the rich pay!

It's a popular idea – but it never works because decisions to add more benefits don't take into account the expense of paying for them. It doesn't take long for the budget to get out of control. Or said another way, everyone can't live at the expensive of his neighbor. His neighbor can't afford it… and he moves.

More serious, the flaw in communism is obvious. Communism doesn't account for the fact that people expect to control the fruits of their labor. People don't like their assets being stolen and their wages being heavily taxed by a government that regulates their businesses and sends their children off to war. Incrementally, people stop working. Wealthy people flee… or hide their incomes.

Tax revenues fail to meet projections. Deficits grow. Deficit spending soars. And debts mount.

That's where paper money comes in. Paper money isn't only good for financing a war. It's also perfect for closing the gap between what an economy ought to produce and its paltry real production when it has been beaten into submission by communist ideas. I like to explain it this way…

The central truth of economics is scarcity. There can never be enough of anything to satisfy everyone. The central truth of politics is patronage: promising to give everything to everyone. Paper money is the bridge between economics and politic s.

The unpaid debts of an entire generation of people in Western countries are coming due. The so-called "baby boomers" grew up in a world dominated by Marxism and Keynesian economics. These are bad ideas. They are destined to collapse.

And the collapse is here.

Regards,

Porter Stansberry"