submitted by jwithrow.
Journal of a Wayward Philosopher
Disintermediate the State
July 15, 2015
Hot Springs, VA
The S&P closed out Tuesday at $2,109. Gold closed at $1,155 per ounce. Oil checked out above $53 per barrel, and the 10-year Treasury rate closed at 2.399%. Bitcoin is trading around $293 per BTC.
Dear Journal,
The Greek banks are still closed as I write to you today. Let’s revisit the timeline real quick:
Saturday, June 27: The head of the government’s coalition ally in Greece advised “Citizens should not be scared, there is no blackmail. The banks won’t shut, the ATMs will (have cash). All this is exaggeration.”
Sunday, June 28: Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras announced that Greek banks would be closed until Monday, July 6. “The bank deposits of the Greek people are fully secure”, he added.
Sunday, July 5: The national referendum on the EU’s proposed bail-out is held. Greek citizens vote “no” emphatically.
Monday, July 15: Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras conceded to a bail-out agreement with the EU consisting of terms very similar to the bail-out Greek citizens voted against ten days prior.
Wednesday, July 15: Greek banks are still closed and there has been talk of a 30% haircut on all deposit accounts in excess of €8,000.
As we can clearly see, the Greek people have been mislead and lied to throughout this entire process. The Greek political class threw the people a bone with the referendum on July 5 to ease some of the discontent and then they proceeded to ignore the results of the referendum entirely. Those of us familiar with laissez-faire philosophy are not surprised by this in the least. Such is the nature of the relationship that exists between governments and citizens everywhere.
While the Greek people would be well served to exit the European Union from a Liberty perspective, the motivations of Greek citizens in their opposition to the EU aren’t exactly pure. The Greek pension system has enabled many Greeks to live comfortably from the public trough for several generations. In many cases people have been able to retire at age 53 with full benefits. They don’t want to give any of this up! Greek opposition to the bail-out terms proposed by the EU and the ECB is mostly because they want to keep their social welfare programs.
But it is this very dependence upon the State for income and retirement benefits that fully exposed many Greeks to the downside of this financial crisis. It is dependence that sent Greeks scrambling to the ATM, pension, gas, and grocery store lines. We have seen it time and time again – societies built upon wealth redistribution are not sustainable over the long term.
Proponents for real change in government have known this fact for quite some time but they have been pursuing the same failed strategy over and over again. This is the “vote the bums out” strategy. Most of the time the bums aren’t kicked out. When they are, they are replaced with even more bums and the System continues to grow unabated.
It is unreasonable to expect to use government as a tool to dismantle government largesse. It won’t happen. There are just too many vested interests determined to keep the fraud going.
What was demonstrably true of the Greek referendum is just as true of standard elections. They are not a means of making your voice heard nor are they binding in any capacity. They are there to make you think that you are a valued part of the democratic system so you remain engaged in the political process. Why? Because the political class knows that if you spend your energy and resources engaged in the political process then you will have less energy and resources available to pursue individual solutions.
Individual solutions do not require permission. You don’t need to change policy or convince anyone else of anything. You don’t need elections or referendums. All you need to do is disintermediate the State (or similar 3rd party) from your life. Cut them out of the picture in those areas where you can legally do so in a quiet fashion.
The most obvious place to disintermediate the State is with your personal finances. This is not very difficult to do in the Internet Age and it will certainly keep you out of bank lobbies and ATM lines. The easiest thing to do is convert a portion of your fiat currency into gold, silver, and bitcoins. These are superior forms of money that exist outside of the banking system.
We have discussed asset allocation at length here as it is critical to financial independence. A significant portion of your money should be insulated from counterparty risk at all times. Even better, assets like precious metals and bitcoins tend to significantly spike in value relative to fiat currency during times of financial dislocation.
Another way to disintermediate the State is to implement the Infinite Banking Concept. This strategy directly enables you to warehouse capital outside of the banking system without sacrificing liquidity, but it has the potential to be so much more. When structured properly according to IBC principles, life insurance contracts have the ability to render the entire welfare system obsolete. Let me use an example to demonstrate:
I set up an IBC policy for my daughter when she was a few months old with an annual premium of $3,000. The cash value will be at least $80,000 (and likely higher) upon her 18th birthday at which point I will turn the policy over to her and she will have access to those funds tax-free.
Here’s the beauty of this strategy: my daughter will probably not need to dip into her cash value very much because the policy should be throwing off dividends to the tune of $25,000 per year (and growing) based on the current dividend schedule. $3,000 of that can pay the policy up for another year so it continues to grow and the rest will likely fund her young adult adventures, whatever they may be. Her policy will pay for itself for the rest of her life and her cash value will be at least $650,000 by the time she turns 65.
Do you see how this strategy makes the Social Security System obsolete? Now add in a disability rider to your IBC policy and you have rendered nearly the entire welfare model obsolete. The disability rider basically pays your policy every year in the event that you become disabled so your policy continues to grow and you continue to have access to a growing pool of capital even if you are no longer able to work.
The beauty of private contracts is that they are flexible. Can’t afford $3,000 per year? No problem: set up a policy for $1,500 per year… or whatever you are comfortable with. That’s less than one income tax return for the average person so you can set up the policy in April and pay it every year when you get your refund.
Another area in which it is possible to disintermediate the State is with healthcare. There are numerous options available here if you are willing to take care of your own health. Universal healthcare chock full of mandates, regulations, restrictions, and decision committees is being forced upon everyone which is driving the quality of care down and the cost of care up. Qualified health insurance premiums are skyrocketing but so are medical costs so most people are afraid to walk away from their insurance plan.
While qualified insurance premiums are becoming outrageous, short-term health insurance policies with very similar coverage options are very affordable. You can browse some short term insurance options at ehealthinsurance.com. These plans are in violation of the ACA’s individual mandate so you will be penalized, but the cost savings will probably far outweigh the penalty.
Another powerful way to disintermediate the State (and the corrupted health insurance companies) is to learn and incorporate holistic wellness principles.
Modern allopathic medicine operates under the assumption that you will get sick; you will need its doctors; you will need its pharmaceuticals; you will need its vaccinations; and you will need its hospitals. Allopathic medicine is focused almost exclusively on treating symptoms and it does not put much thought into why the symptoms appeared in the first place. “It’s those bad germs making you sick”, says allopathic medicine.
Holistic wellness takes a much deeper approach. Rather than viewing the human body as a compartmentalized machine that sometimes malfunctions, holistic wellness sees the body as a complex interconnected system that must remain in balance for full functionality. If you maintain this balance then you will rarely get sick thus you won’t need the doctors, the drugs, the vaccinations, or the hospitals; all of which are regulated and controlled by corrupt institutions. Here’s a real-world example of how holistic medicine can disintermediate the State:
When wife Rachel discovered she was pregnant we found a terrific midwife in our area who was experienced and well-versed in natural health practice. We entered into a private cash-for-services contract with her without ever contacting an insurance company or visiting an OB’s office. We visited our midwife’s office once per week where we learned everything there is to know about the biology, physiology, psychology, and mechanics of natural childbirth. She also introduced us to a terrific wellness chiropractor who specializes in pediatric chiropractic. We entered into a cash-for-services contract with him as well and we were amazed at the value delivered by our wellness team.
Sweet Madison was born right in our home and it was the most majestic experience that Rachel and I will ever have in this life. To this day Madison has never set foot into a doctor’s office nor has any insurance company been called upon to pay for her care. She visits her pediatric chiropractor once per month and we focus on building her immune system naturally. She has been ill twice in her life and her immune system naturally fought off the illness in just a few days in both instances. No doctors, insurance, or drugs required. In fact, she is far healthier without the doctors and drugs because her immune system is allowed to strengthen naturally without any synthetic suppressants.
At the risk of becoming too verbose, education is another area in which it is possible to disintermediate the State. Homeschooling or alternative schooling is easier than ever using the vast resources available to us in the Internet Age. The public school system is completely obsolete, most people just haven’t realized it yet.
There are plenty of other ways in which you can disintermediate the domineering 3rd parties from your life depending upon your circumstances and your values. There is no centralized plan for disintermediation so it is up to each individual to pick and choose their own steps.
The existing hierarchy – governments/central banks/Wall Street/multi-nationals/Big-Agra/Big-Pharma/Big-Insurance/Big-Science/mega non-profits – are only relevant when we allow them to be. Rather than seeking to forcefully change the hierarchy, why not simply disintermediate it via private contracts?
The establishment has sold us this notion that we need 3rd parties to protect us from each other. It is the fatal conceit of the 20th century to think that you can submit to regulatory state-corporate processes yet remain independent of them.
In truth, there is nothing more powerful than localized networks of like-minded individuals acting and transacting to better themselves and their world as they see fit. To take this a step farther, the open-source movement is building decentralized trustless systems capable of facilitating honest peer-to-peer exchange online between people all over the world.
The infrastructure for taking total control of your own life is already in place, all that is left is to disintermediate the State.
More to come,
Joe Withrow
Wayward Philosopher
For more of Joe’s thoughts on the “Great Reset” and ways to disintermediate the State please read “The Individual is Rising: 2nd edition” which will be available later this year. Please sign up for the notifications mailing list at http://www.theindividualisrising.com/.