Geez Michael, you are gonna end up a Republican if you are not careful!! Good article, thanks for sharing! (Maybe Zeb will break down and read it! LOL!!)
On Sat, Feb 27, 2010 at 10:46 AM, M. Johnson <[email protected]> wrote: > * > "First, government – unlike private entities that offer goods or services > in exchange for revenue – engages in pure consumption. As a result, all > sources of government revenue involve destruction of wealth, rather than > mutually beneficial commerce that enhances both parties." > > **Sheep-Shearing Season on the Revenue Ranch > *by William Norman Grigg > > During the most recent Federal Reserve–engineered economic bubble, state > and local governments made extravagant promises to their tax-feeder > constituencies regarding pensions and other benefits. Now that the bubble > has burst, sales and property taxes – once a mighty, roaring river of > revenue – have been reduced to a thin, pathetic trickle. > > This comes at a time when, as the > <http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/18/business/economy/18pew.html>*New York > Times* reports<http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/18/business/economy/18pew.html>, > there is "a $1 trillion gap <http://lonestartimes.com/?p=1582> between > what all 50 states have promised their workers [sic – a more accurate > description is "employees"] and what they have set aside." > > As the economic crisis deepens, how will state and municipal governments > continue to provide for their most cherished constituency – those who live > by plundering the productive? > > Wendy McElroy highlights<http://www.wendymcelroy.com/news.php?extend.3089>one > approach being pioneered by the town of Tracey, California: The > city will now impose a surcharge on emergency > services<http://www.tracypress.com/view/full_story/6376328/article-Council-chooses-paramedic-fee-collector?instance=home_news_bullets>that > have already been paid for through taxes. Residents of that city will > be charged $300 for the fire department to respond to a medical emergency; > non-residents will be billed $400 for the same service. There is the option > of paying an annual $48 fee for "premium" 911 service. > > Note carefully that this is *not* privatization. Taxes will still be > extracted, but tax victims will now have the privilege of paying twice for > the same services. > <http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20100219/1238398241.shtml>If you're a > Tracey resident and see someone having a heart attack, McElroy wryly > comments, "you should quickly set a trash bin on fire. Otherwise, by calling > for help, your monthly budget may not stretch to include mortgage or food." > Tracey's political class simpers that the city government is running a $9 > million budget deficit. Interestingly, that is > <http://www.tracypress.com/pages/full_story/push?article-Cities-+county+aim+to+reform+public+employees-+pensions%20&id=5027998-Cities-+county+aim+to+reform+public+employees-+pensions&instance=home_news_lead_story> > *exactly* the amount spent each year on employee > pensions<http://www.tracypress.com/pages/full_story/push?article-Cities-+county+aim+to+reform+public+employees-+pensions%20&id=5027998-Cities-+county+aim+to+reform+public+employees-+pensions&instance=home_news_lead_story> > . > > Rather than renegotiating those benefits, the city government is putting > the screws to economically burdened tax victims, and doing so in a way that > is going to cost the lives of some of them. "Forget that phone bills > already include a charge to cover > 911<http://www.tracypress.com/pages/full_story/push?article-Cities-+county+aim+to+reform+public+employees-+pensions%20&id=5027998-Cities-+county+aim+to+reform+public+employees-+pensions&instance=home_news_lead_story>," > continues McElroy. "Forget that property taxes already assist with those > costs. The politicos don't care. They want your money. And they will let > people die – many of them elderly poor – rather than deliver services for > which they have already been paid." > > In other jurisdictions, the wealth-devouring class is resorting to other > potentially lethal revenue enhancement strategies. Before examining the > specifics, two principles should be kept in mind. > > First, government – unlike private entities that offer goods or services in > exchange for revenue – engages in pure consumption. As a result, all sources > of government revenue involve destruction of wealth, rather than mutually > beneficial commerce that enhances both parties. > > Second, everything government does to obtain revenue contains an implicit > death threat. Anyone who resists or refuses the demand for revenue with > sufficient tenacity will find himself on the receiving end of an explicit > threat made by an armed stranger in a government-issued costume. > > Those principles provide the proper context to examine the tactics employed > by various municipal and state governments to conduct what former > Sheriff<http://sheriffmack.com/>Richard Mack perceptively > describes as "taxation through > citation."<http://www.gulfcoastnews.com/GCNnewsTeaPartySheriffMackEvent120809.htm> > > To put the matter bluntly, police – the self-described > "Sheepdogs"<http://www.aracnet.com/~lwc123/articles/onsheepdogs.html>– aren't > here to protect the flock, but rather to make sure that we're securely > penned in <http://www.lewrockwell.com/grigg/grigg-w97.1.html> when it's > sheep-shearing season. > > During the penultimate weekend of February, police in Minneapolis-St. Paul > Minnesota conducted an elaborate and lucrative sting to enforce the state's > primary seat belt > law.<http://www.twincities.com/rosario/ci_14466682?nclick_check=1> > > Officers disguised as homeless people were dispatched to harass drivers at > a busy intersection: The "homeless" people – most likely in violation of > traffic ordinances, certainly in violation of the 4th Amendment and > Minnesota's state equivalent – would peer into cars and then radio ahead to > their cohorts in officially sanctioned crime, who would hand each "offender" > an extortion note (more commonly called a "traffic ticket"). > > Dave Kvam, the deputy police chief of Maplewood (a suburb of St. Paul), > insists that the multi-departmental racket was a justifiable exercise. After > all, he told local reporter Ruben Rosario, "police have received numerous > complaints of panhandling, and he believes the seat-belt law is a good one > and should be enforced" – by, among other things, having police violate > ordinances against panhandling. That parallel is a bit unfair: Although > panhandlers may be obnoxious, even the most tenacious of them couldn't get > away with demanding money at gunpoint, as Kvam's fellow street criminals did > during the seat-belt ambush. > > Each victim would typically be mulcted $25 for declining to wear seat > belts, coupled with a $75 "petty misdemeanor surcharge fee" – which is > essentially a tax inflicted on people for refusing to obey a spurious > enactment the tax-absorbing class calls a "law" – plus an additional $8 > kickback to the state crime bosses in St. > Paul<http://www.discoveramerica.com/ca/minnesota/minnesota-state-capitol.html>(who > had already been given a $3.5 million federal bribe to enact the > primary seat-belt "law" in the first place). At least 122 citations were > handed out in a space of three and a half hours. > > As Rosario points out, the homeless ruse has been used not only in > Minnesota but also "in Houston and a few other jurisdictions." (As we will > discuss anon, Houston is also the scene of another creative effort to > harvest revenue from the plebes.) As the economy sickens and street people > become a more visible presence, it's quite likely their numbers will > frequently include predatory, revenue-hungry police. > > The tax-extracting class afflicting Texas will celebrate the beginning of > March with the fourth annual "Warrant Roundup," a yearly event in which > police fan out to shakedown or imprison anyone with unpaid citations of any > kind. This includes not only traffic tickets, but also fines for violating > any of the myriad morally unsupportable but lucrative provisions in state > and municipal building, planning, zoning, and safety codes. > > http://www.clipsyndicate.com/video/playlist/8178 > > > The armed revenue farmers presented in this film > clip<http://www.clipsyndicate.com/video/play/862109/texas_warrant_round_up_kicks_off>were > on their best behavior, of course. They weren't shown banging on the > door of some underpaid, overburdened private citizen at or before daybreak, > demanding money and dragging away in handcuffs those who couldn't pay. They > weren't shown barging into classrooms or workplaces to present the same > demands and inflict public humiliation on those not capable of complying > with them. > > All of this* does* occur during warrant roundups, however – a fact > prominently mentioned in official pronouncements, if played down, for > propaganda purposes, by government-aligned stenographers in the local media. > > > At the risk of culpable redundancy, I make the point once again: *All of > this is done for the purpose of collecting revenue on behalf of the > political class, not to serve or protect the productive public*. This is > made quite clear by the opening lines of a > <http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/hotstories/6565885.html>*Houston > Chronicle* account of a "warrant roundup" conducted last > Augus<http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/hotstories/6565885.html>t: > "Nearly 2 million warrants worth more than $340 million are outstanding in > the Houston area, and in most cases they're not for hard-core criminals. > They're for average citizens who haven't settled minor traffic and ordinance > citations." > > Of the eight people listed as "Houston's Most > Wanted"<http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/metropolitan/6565859.html>during > the round-up – people who had at least 100 outstanding warrants – > four were cited for the apparently grievous offense of "failure to securely > attach a tax permit to a coin-operated machine." Other grievous offenses > committed by that band of shameless rogues include failure "to conspicuously > post at every entrance a sign stating smoking is prohibited," and "having no > hand-washing sign in a bathroom used by employees." > > How can Houstonians sleep peacefully in their beds knowing that such > marauders are on the loose? As Barney > Fife<http://www.wavsource.com/snds_2010-02-21_2254978087455074/tv/andy/my_fast_draw.wav>might > exclaim: "It's a regular reign > of > terror<http://www.wavsource.com/snds_2010-02-21_2254978087455074/tv/andy/zoomin_around.wav> > !" > > According to the *Chronicle*, in 2008 the Houston Police Department – in > tacit recognition of the fact that its primary function is to plunder the > populace rather than to protect it – "purchased automated license plate > readers that read up to 60 vehicle license plates per minute." This allows > the police to identify those with outstanding warrants, including the > growing number of people who "have to choose between paying their grocery > bill or their tickets." > > What a shameful lack of civic consciousness! How *dare* such people put > food on their tables when there are tax-feeders pining for revenue? And > coughing up the money is so much more convenient now that police "have the > ability to run credit card payments so people can settle their outstanding > warrants on the spot." > > For those who cannot pay off the parasite class and its armed enforcers, > debtors’ prison awaits: As the Texas Court of Appeals recently observed, > Class C misdemeanors "are still crimes, and … the person charged can be > arrested on warrant like any ordinary criminal, forced to travel a long > distance to attend the court, [and be] remanded in custody and imprisoned in > default of payment of the fine." > > The only things that government makes – as I've said before – is criminals > out of innocent people, and corpses out of living human beings. A > Government's lethality increases the more energetically it criminalizes > innocuous behavior. > > In light of that relationship, it's reasonable to suspect that the ruling > class in the Lone Star State appears determined to precipitate a bloodbath: > The > Texas Public Policy Foundation points > out<http://www.texaspolicy.com/pdf/2005-04-pp-overcrim.pdf>that 779 Texas > statutes identify "misdemeanors," but "only 64 of those > instances are in the Penal Code or Code of Criminal Procedure." > > In the once-free Lone Star State, concludes the Texas Public Policy > Foundation, "the criminal law is not just for criminals anymore. The same is > true of imprisonment:* Half* of all Texans behind bars were incarcerated > for nonviolent offenses." > > This trend is not confined to Texas. The state and municipal governments > that disfigure our country like pustules on the face of a smallpox victim > are relentless in devising new measures intended to justify the extraction > of wealth at gunpoint. This aggression will only increase as the depression > deepens. > > At some point, those presuming to rule us won't be satisfied merely to > fleece their increasingly bedraggled flock. That's when the options for the > sheep will be clarified into a stark and unmistakable choice between revolt > and slaughter. > > http://www.lewrockwell.com/grigg/grigg-w133.html > > -- > Thanks for being part of "PoliticalForum" at Google Groups. > For options & help see http://groups.google.com/group/PoliticalForum > > * Visit our other community at > http://www.PoliticalForum.com/<http://www.politicalforum.com/> > * It's active and moderated. Register and vote in our polls. > * Read the latest breaking news, and more. -- Thanks for being part of "PoliticalForum" at Google Groups. For options & help see http://groups.google.com/group/PoliticalForum * Visit our other community at http://www.PoliticalForum.com/ * It's active and moderated. Register and vote in our polls. * Read the latest breaking news, and more.
