State Blood Milk Addiction – True News from Freedomain Radio
http://www.libertopia.org/
The reason that political action will not work is that it is simply a numbers game — here is the proof.
Slightly over half of all Americans 52.6 percent now receive significant income from government programs, according to an analysis by Gary Shilling, an economist in Springfield, N.J.
That’s up from 49.4 percent in 2000
and far above the 28.3 percent of Americans in 1950.
1 in 5 Americans hold a government job or a job reliant on federal spending.
A similar number receive Social Security or a government pension.
About 19 million others get food stamps
2 million get subsidized housing
5 million get education grants. For all these categories, Mr. Shilling counted dependents as well as the direct recipients of government income.
(also, free daycare from state schools)
Approximately 85% of the state’s 235,000 employees (not including higher education employees) are unionized. As the governor noted during his $83 billion budget roll-out, over the past decade pension costs for public employees increased 2,000%. State revenues increased only 24% over the same period. A Schwarzenegger adviser wrote in the San Jose Mercury News in the past few days that, “This year alone, $3 billion was diverted to pension costs from other programs.”
There are now more than 15,000 government retirees statewide who receive pensions that exceed $100,000 a year, according to the California Foundation for Fiscal Responsibility.
Many of these retirees are former police officers, firefighters, and prison guards who can retire at age 50 with a pension that equals 90% of their final year’s pay. The pensions for these (and all other retirees) increase each year with inflation and are guaranteed by taxpayers forever—regardless of what happens in the economy or whether the state’s pensions funds have been fully funded (which they haven’t been).
A 2008 state commission pegged California’s unfunded pension liability at $63.5 billion, which will be amortized over several decades. That liability, released before the precipitous drop in stock-market and real-estate values, certainly will soar.
http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2007/05/the_public_trough_is_bigger_th.html
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703699204575017182296077118.html
Duration : 0:16:14
[youtube 2cMIFZ2lUwk]
@melissacarl2002 …
@melissacarl2002 seriously.
Let’s say I am …
Let’s say I am addicted to the government’s drug. What do I do now that I realize the folly of my ways?
@ORIGINALUSRNM …
@ORIGINALUSRNM Actually that IS a great metaphor.
@nomoreyou1212 Yeah …
@nomoreyou1212 Yeah…simple. And how about preventing others from creating a new state? Still simple? And it’s not like others who like the simple life won’t let them do it. Won’t even have to wait till the roads are in disrepair. It’ll be handed to the first person who can provide certainty of internet access. People don’t value their freedom enough to embrace anarchy.
simple, dont create …
simple, dont create a new state.
“the sacchrine teat …
“the sacchrine teat of the state..” lol. love stefbot’s metaphors!
Very deep, I agree …
Very deep, I agree with a lot of that. In fact, the only parts I disagree with are parts that I lack education on.
I don’t think …
I don’t think radical change is a good thing. Is coming to a complete stop within .2 seconds a good thing if you’re going 70mph? Stopping anything cold turkey is usually going to be a bad move. I never claimed anything about anarchy or how it could/should work. I just think the gov is way WAY out of control. I don’t have the answers. If everyone was civil and similar, with their basic needs met, it might work fine with basically little gov and local gov.
And ever will be. …
And ever will be. That’s what no-one here will try to answer. Once you have anarchy, how do you keep it?
I beg to differ. I …
I beg to differ. I think there are countries where the government has little or no control where conditions are far worse than anything we are dealing with as a result of pervasive govt. Always someone waiting to fill the power void.
So you think if the …
So you think if the govt was gone we’d have 100% control over our property? For how long? Freedom, inasmuch as it brings prosperity, can only do so if it continues. How will that happen?
How do we prevent powerful people from filling the void left by the state? Because they will.
It irks me that you’re giving me that patronising ‘oh so sad, you think you’re free’ pat on the head, while continuing to spout this utopian fantasy. It’s a lovely THEORY of social justice. HOW is it obtainable?
All that economists …
All that economists and authors mentioned in this video were not geniuses only genius mentioned in this video was Karl Marx. State is only there to imply the rules of capitalists on the people. The capitalists finance the state and people working for the state to help them exploit the people. Only if people get democratic control over the capital there will be best possible freedom achieved.
Anarchy simply …
Anarchy simply means “without a ruler”.
An anarchist prefers the freedom to rule himself.
Societal freedom is defined as having 100% control of your own property.
“If I didn’t take …
“If I didn’t take the job, someone else would” is not a good argument.
It’s like saying “If I didn’t drop the atomic bomb on Heroshima, killing tens of thousands of innocent women and children, someone else would have.
If you are in fact a “principled voluntaryist libertarian” you will make haste for NH and strive to make a moral and honest living. However, don’t fret, at least you are sensitive to the error of your ways. We all make errors. Correcting them will help set you free.
You obviously don’t …
You obviously don’t realize it but you are completely state indoctrinated.
Legal or illegal is nothing more than someones opinion backed up by a gun.
Freedom, defined as having 100% control of your own property, will make the world prosperous.
Govt., or the state, uses force to make a slave out of you.
The really sad part is when slaves think they are free.
Don’t give up. Freedom is obtainable!
At first if you …
At first if you don’t succed try and try again as was once said to have been said.
Someone once told me that capitism is successful because other systems failed, would have told them that failure is easy and often due to many factors but they were the type to listen, I would have pointed out that all systems out of ballance with the greater system will fail but that would be beyond their grasp.
the productive class and parasitical class is an interesting way of putting it.
Good observation.
…
Good observation.
By working for a government contractor, I am, by proxy, receiving money from an organization that steals. Of course, I would rather there not be any theft in the first place.
If I didn’t take the job, someone else would. Rhetorical question: Would you rather that money go to a government-loving, jingoist sheep or a principled voluntaryist libertarian? I am serious about reducing the state, and am saving money for when I move for the Free State Project.
Yes, I think about …
Yes, I think about it every day.
I’m doing what I can to oppose the state right now, and I intend to intensify my efforts later when I get a “real” job.
Yes, I understand …
Yes, I understand that you define it that way, but because I don’t reject the authority of the law, I define it as _unlawfully_ taking someone’s property without their permission. Tax is lawful. Now I get you want to change that, but right now it is also reality.
I’m starting to realise that I am never going to be able to have a real discussion here, because no-one will consider or discuss any aspect of govt and the govtless world they want is (IMO) largely unobtainable.
You are also …
You are also receiving a portion of everyone else’s stolen money.
It makes you a receiver of stolen property.
Well, I don’t know …
Well, I don’t know how you define stealing, but I define it as taking someones property without their permission. That is REALITY, not opinion.
Only from a …
Only from a Libertarian perspective. And you’re entitled to your opinion. But it IS an opinion.
Stef it seems that …
Stef it seems that the reason that nobody has been able to make even a dent in the growth of the state is simply due to the sheer size of the propaganda arm of the state. Even the US has spends massive amounts of money on propagandizing it’s own citizens. There’s even voluntary propaganda in this country. These mentailities are what prevents criticism from even being heard. In the world of video games we call people with this kind of closed mind a “fanboy”.
If you work for the …
If you work for the gov’t you are a receiver of stolen money. If you get a check from the gov’t (other than a refund) you are a receiver of stolen property. It doesn’t matter what you do for it. You still take your share of the stolen loot.
Best video in a …
Best video in a while Stef! (Not personally a fan of the interviews) I have been working in the political arena for the last couple of years and I have to say you are totally right. Even the most libertarian, anti-government types I have met are still card carrying socialist/parasites who demand hands off their social security or medicare. Self-deluding hypocrites. The only route I can see for myself starting a family is to go off grid and start from the ground up.