individualist Archives

Disintermediate the State

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. Continue reading “Disintermediate the State”

Individual Solutions: Building Home Resiliency

submitted by jwithrow.

Journal of a Wayward Philosopher
Individual Solutions: Building Home Resiliency

February 13, 2015
Hot Springs, VA

The S&P opened at $2,089 today. Gold is checking in at $1,229 per ounce. Oil is floating around $53 per barrel. Bitcoin is priced at $237 per BTC, and the 10-year Treasury rate opened at 2.01% today.

Yesterday we examined the massive credit expansion that has been ongoing for four decades now and we noted that Austrian Economics tells us this won’t end well. We discussed building financial resiliency via a logical asset allocation model as an individual solution to the economic problems we face. But there is more to life than just personal finance.

Home resiliency is about building a self-reliant homestead, no matter the size. This entails having secure shelter with back-up energy sources and access to a reasonable supply of food, water, and basic necessities. The greater your home resiliency, the less you have to worry about external factors; be they natural disasters, financial disruptions, or simple power outages.

We are not talking about doomsday bunkers or expensive power generators; we are talking about simple and reasonable emergency back-up preparations. This is considered weird and looked down upon in modern society today but that is a recent phenomenon. The spirit of self-reliance and rugged individualism permeated American culture from the colonial days on up to the turn of the 20th century.

We see home resiliency simply as a matter of getting back to our individualist roots but it is especially important given current macroeconomic trends as we discussed yesterday. The eventual mass liquidation of debt and malinvestment resulting from four decades of fiat-fueled credit expansion will inevitably lead to disruptions within the financial system. Who knows what other dislocations this will cause in daily life? It would be far better to weather such a storm from within the comforts of your own home with adequate food, water, and energy than to risk being dependent upon external factors for these necessities.

Here are a few ideas to get you started:

Water Resiliency

Store as much bottled water as you can. The rule of thumb is that households require one gallon of water per day for each member of the family.

Exposure to sunlight will cause problems for water over time so either store water in opaque containers or away from sunlight if possible.

It is advisable to employ a ‘rotating’ system whereby you drink your stored water and replace it constantly as you go while maintaining adequate storage.

Consider a gravity water filter. These systems fit on your kitchen counter and are capable of filtering water from any source into clean drinking water. We recommend Doulton’s Big Berkey system with ceramic filters, but there are other quality systems available also.

Consider setting up a system to catch rain water. Rain water can be used to bathe, water plants, or to filter through your gravity water filter system for drinking.

Food Resiliency

Maintain a deep pantry. Analyze what you are currently eating and keep two or three times as much in the pantry and freezer. Replace meals consistently so your pantry does not diminish.

Supplement your pantry with items possessing a long shelf life like canned goods, beans and rice.

Consider investing in pre-packaged food specifically designed for storage. Many of these foods have a shelf life of up to 25 years and are surprisingly appetizing. Some long-term storage items are even certified organic and certified GMO free.

Consider planting a small vegetable garden, fruit trees, and/or nut trees depending on your location. Supplementing meals with home grown food is a great way to cut expenses and maintain health.

If you do plant vegetables or fruit trees it may be worthwhile to take up canning to store your own food for future consumption.

Consider investing in alternative cooking/water boiling sources. Propane grills are a popular option – just be sure to keep an extra propane tank or two on hand.

Consider investing in a solar compatible power source. These systems consist of batteries and solar panels. The batteries can be charged via a standard wall outlet or by the solar panels. Any household item can be powered for a period of time by simply plugging it into an inverter which is powered by the batteries. This is a great way to run your refrigerator during a power outage. A portable generator large enough to run the refrigerator/freezer, a few lights and a power strip to charge phones and laptop computers might also be a good option to consider.

Seek out local food vendors in your area – butchers, meat markets, farmer’s markets, etc. These are places where you can buy local food that is not as dependent upon the corporate ‘just in time’ process. Not only will this food not be as affected by macro disruptions, but it is also more nutritious as it has not gone through intensive corporate processing.

Basic Necessities

Make sure you have several alternate heating sources – wood-burning fireplace/stove, propane heater, kerosene heater, etc.

Stock up on candles for lighting the home during power outages and consider purchasing a few LED lanterns or oil lamps for lighting as well.

Keep a generous supply of lighters and matches on hand.

Keep several flashlights handy and maintain a supply of batteries.

Store several first aid kits and any medicines your family relies on.

Store extra paper towels, toilet paper, soap, toothpaste, dental floss, hand sanitizer, saline, contacts, and any other household item you use frequently.

Taking these simple actions will increase your home resiliency immensely. Once these action items are implemented you will:

Have drinking water stored for a reasonable period of time.

Have the ability to purify water from external sources.

Have a deep pantry and the ability to run your fridge/freezer for periods of time during power outages.

Have long term food stored away for use if your deep pantry were to be exhausted.

Have access to home grown vegetables, fruits, and/or nuts to supplement food storage.

Have access to several modern cooking sources in the event of a power outage.

Have alternate heating and lighting sources for use in the event of a power outage.

Have sufficient household items and cosmetics stored for use if needed.

Taking simple steps to build home resiliency does not require a change in lifestyle, and it does not require a tremendous financial commitment. Recent history shows that the majority of people in a given population are nearly 0% self-sufficient and thus experience unfortunate anxiety and discomfort when a major disaster occurs. History also shows that major disasters do occur periodically no matter where you live. It is far better to prepare ahead of time than to be one of the unsuspecting victims who find themselves completely incapable of coping with a disaster in a self-sufficient manner.

Home resiliency is another individual solution that can help mitigate collective problems. Pair home resiliency with a resilient financial portfolio as we discussed yesterday and you will be more self-reliant than 99% of the population. Then you will be free from worry to focus on those things in life that truly matter.

More to come,

Joe Withrow
Wayward Philosopher

For more of Joe’s thoughts on the “Great Reset” and the paradigm shift underway please read “The Individual is Rising” which is available at http://www.theindividualisrising.com/. The book is also available on Amazon in both paperback and Kindle editions.

A Report from Middle America

by Paul Rosenberg, Freemansperspective.com

I was recently involved in a day of meetings with small business owners in the American Midwest. It was both encouraging and sad at the same time.

What I Found First

Overall, I found a large room full of productive human beings. It was uplifting. Most of these people were between thirty and seventy years old, more men than women, and they were all productive people, the kind who get up early every day, make sure that complex systems are producing properly, fix anything that is broken or near breaking, plan for the future, cooperate with large numbers of other people, and then go home at the end of the day and love their families.

If all the world lived like these people, we’d be halfway to a paradise by now. And that was a thought that made me sad.

Why? Because these people – by any standard of decency – should be left alone to create their better world. But instead, they are forcibly tied to wasteful, parasitic, and destructive systems. Half or more of their earnings are taken from them every year. Their actions are restricted by their moral inferiors. They live less than half the rewarding lives they should be enjoying, and for no defensible reason.

The Other Things

Beyond my overall happy/sad impressions, I found quite a few particular things:

These people would have preferred to discuss the practical particulars of their businesses – tools, materials, technical obstacles and solutions, and so on. But instead, they were forced to discuss government compliance. Almost every subject discussed from the front of the room dealt with government regulations. Most of the subjects discussed on the sides involved tools, equipment, business strategies and so on.
Dealing with employees is a major issue, especially involving the immigration police. These people are justifiably concerned with fines and indictments, just from hiring employees who are clearly long-time Americans. (That is, not Hispanics or other recent immigrants.) A few of the comments I heard:

“Good luck trying to explain that to an ICE agent.”

“Do NOT waive the 72 hour waiting period.”

“Do NOT allow them to enter your facility or inspect anything without authorization from counsel.”

Nearly all of these people agreed that government in America is out of control, abusive, and oppositional to their happiness. I think that’s a positive opinion, since it reflects reality, meaning that they have stopped looking at the world through myth-colored glasses. The sad part of that is…
These (good) people don’t know what to do about it. The system they grew up believing was their friend has turned against them. They’ve gathered the considerable courage required to face that, but they don’t know what to do next. They are working within the system as they can, trying to avoid its hazards, but don’t see any clear alternative – and no path of escape. They’d like to do other things, but they also need to feed their kids, and don’t know what to do about it all.
Bitcoin is spreading everywhere. One of these business owners, in a very rural area, has built a Bitcoin mining operation. And not only Bitcoin, he is also mining for the other crypto-currencies. And, he’s telling everyone else about it. I was surprised (and pleased) by this, since this meeting had absolutely nothing to do with computers, economics, or anything else that usually connects to crypto-currencies. This man simply saw a great opportunity and jumped on it.

All In All

All in all, I came away from the day more confident in the future than I had been the day before.

We are exposed to so many horror stories every day. The images thrust upon us show a world filled with danger and discouragement. The reality, however – once you remove yourself from the newsfeed – is that there are a lot of very decent people who are generally doing the right things.

Our job now is to define newer and better ways to live and to spread that information to as many good people as we can. And to remind them they DO have the right to live good, happy, prosperous lives.

Please do everything you can along these lines. Thanks.

Paul Rosenberg

[Editor’s Note: Paul Rosenberg is the outside-the-Matrix author of FreemansPerspective.com, a site dedicated to economic freedom, personal independence and privacy. He is also the author of The Great Calendar, a report that breaks down our complex world into an easy-to-understand model. Click here to get your free copy.]

Opportunity

submitted by jwithrow.

Too often we associate the word opportunity with the availability of jobs. We tell our young folks to go where the opportunity is so they march off to the nearest metropolitan city to join the rat race.

How come we never tell our young people that they have the ability to create the opportunity themselves?

We think that the answer to this question is largely because we have been shaped by centralized government education. We refer to it as government education because the Department of Education has gradually imposed itself upon our school systems over time. Whereas we once had school systems that were beholden to parents and local communities, we now have federally mandated curriculum, Department of Education approved textbooks, and compulsory education laws bullying parents into compliance.

Our government subsidized educational system is focused on itself, not those it purports to serve.

The primary educational system (K-12) is focused on molding kids into obedient students that can one day be productive cogs in the wheel. Creativity and critical thinking are subverted by the centralized curriculum and the centralized structure. Students are taught to be dependent on the ‘expert’.

The higher educational system focuses on selling degrees at an enormous price made possible by the abundance of government student loans. The system touts the ability of college graduates to obtain high paying corporate jobs after graduation as justification for the high costs.

The result is that we are conditioned to be obedient worker bees that do not question authority and we base success solely upon income level.

And the rat-race perpetuates.

Even if the college graduate is able to obtain a high paying corporate job, the cost of servicing student loan debt offsets some of this income. And speaking from experience we can say that most of these corporate jobs do not offer a very rewarding experience.

Most of these jobs represent nothing more than a cog in a giant bureaucratic wheel in which employees are required to perform the same menial tasks repetitively day in and day out. Their input is not welcomed and their output is not appreciated. These jobs require employees to sit in a small cubicle under a fluorescent light for at least forty hours every week. And it is not uncommon for commute times to be greater than an hour for many employees also.

The quality of pay is high with these corporate jobs but the quality of life tends to be fairly low.

This doesn’t sound much like opportunity to us.

It’s time to re-examine the way we think about what opportunity is. Technology is rapidly changing the marketplace and the jobs that traditional education prepares us for are diminishing.

But this is a good thing! The diminishing jobs are centralized and boring. The new opportunities are decentralized and exciting! One but has to recognize opportunity knocking.

A Frank Letter to the Homeless Man Under the Bridge

By: Paul Rosenberg, Freemansperspective.com

I see you standing here, asking for help, about once a week. You are always polite, and I respect that. I’d like to do something for you… something that would matter long-term. Giving you a few notes or coins now and then may be fine, but I’d really like to improve your situation more permanently.

In other words, I’d like to give you a job.

I used to hire people, and I especially liked hiring people who had been denied breaks. I did that whenever I could. If you and I could be transported back in time, I’d hire you. And I’d feel good about it, because I think having a job would do you a lot of good.

That fact is, however, that I can’t hire you, and I’d like you to know why.

I used to run my own contracting firm. I enjoyed the work and I liked being able to drive past a building and say, “I made that.” Having employees, however, was torture. I liked having them in some ways, of course – I liked the guys and it made me happy to see them take care of their families with paychecks that I signed. That was very gratifying. But it wasn’t enough, and there are three reasons why:

#1: Making Payroll

My first problem was simply cash flow. I was solely responsible for having enough money in the bank every week, and that could be nerve-wracking, especially when customers weren’t paying their bills on time. It’s not fun to think that a family won’t be able to buy groceries if you can’t collect your invoices.

Still, that part didn’t cause me to give up on employees. It was hard, but so long as my employees were working, we were making money, so there was always something coming in at some point. Somehow, I was able to pull it off.

#2: Being Hated

Over time, some of my employees became jerks. This seemed to grow from envy and from stupid ideas about labor versus management. These guys decided that I was getting rich off of them, and demanded I pay them more – more than they deserved and more than the company could afford.

And the really nasty part was this: It was always the guys I had done the most for who hated me most. And as soon as I sat down with them and explained why I couldn’t pay them more, they started stealing from me.

I fired the thieves, of course, but these experiences really soured me on employees. I had not only given these guys a job, but I had legitimately felt good about helping to feed their families. In return, they hated me, called me names, and stole from me.

By itself, that was almost enough to make me swear off employing people, but not quite.

#3: The IRS

What really drove me over the edge was dealing with the government and the IRS in particular. They were abominable.

I had to file forms with every payroll, and if anything on them was wrong, they penalized me – heavily. And if I paid them a single day late, they penalized me – heavily. And if they said I did something wrong – even if I didn’t – there was no way to change their verdict. Reason and evidence simply didn’t matter.

I eventually talked to a tax lawyer who explained the situation to me. He said:

Forget about fighting, Paul. There is no ‘innocent until proven guilty’ in tax court. You’re automatically guilty, and you have to try to prove yourself innocent… which is very hard and very expensive. Just pay them. I know you hate that, but you have no other choice. Fighting them would ruin you.

It wasn’t just the money that got me about this – it was that they were nasty, arrogant, heartless tyrants. Having the facts on my side didn’t matter. Intelligent arguments didn’t matter. Either I paid what they demanded or they would hurt me worse.

In many ways, it wasn’t much different than the local gang of street thugs demanding protection money.

So, that’s why I can’t hire you: Having employees locked me into a single role in life, that of a despised slave. When I finally realized that, I walked away.

I was lucky that I had the ability to move into specialties and to thrive in difficult niches; other guys probably couldn’t have.

So…

What I really want you to know is this:

I’d like to help you. You deserve a chance at a decent job. I’d like to be the guy who gave it to you, but the system demands that I must live as a slave in order to do so. And I won’t do that.

I very much wish that things were different, and I feel sorry every time I drive by that I can’t hire you. But I would never ask anyone to live as a slave, and I won’t live that way myself.

I wish you well, and if life in these parts should ever pull back from the present reign of oppression, I hope to run into you. And on that day, I hope to either hire you or do business with you.

We would both have much to gain from it.

Paul Rosenberg

The Only Label That Matters

submitted by jwithrow.

Labels are divisive.

We have been conditioned by government education and mass-media to put labels on others and then treat them according to what that label means to us. This is group-think and it is antithetical to the philosophy of individual liberty.

Here is how group-think works:

We place someone in a particular category, label them, and then we attribute specific qualities to that person based on that label. This person may or may not actually share all of these qualities.

So we label that person based on their ethnic background or their political philosophy or their profession or their collegiate affiliation or whatever else. And we then assume that they hold all of the values that we associate with that particular group.

Here’s the problem: group-think fosters judgment and division and it reinforces the collectivist mentality that individuals are subservient to groups (governments, corporations, institutions, etc.).

We think that this judgment and division is misplaced.

We are not groups; we are people. Individuals. We may differ in certain philosophies or preferences but we are all far more similar than we are different.

Personhood is the only label that matters.

The fact is that we will never agree on everything. Try getting five friends to agree on where to go for dinner and see if this is not true. But we are all people and as individuals we inherently hold tremendous value that does not dissipate simply because we may hold different beliefs. And because we hold this inherent value as individuals, we should not allow groups to tell us what to think or how to feel. It’s up to us to decide for ourselves.

We would also suggest that our differences in opinion should not deter us from honest friendship. It is foolish to squabble with family members and friends over particulars and allow these particulars to destroy relationships. And we would suggest that it is destructive to see ourselves as a member of a certain group and then think that we are therefore diametrically opposed to another group. We do not want others to impose their labels upon us so we should not impose our labels on others. It can be appropriate to offer advice or present alternative ideas to someone with differing values but this is much different than trying to impose our values upon someone else. Remember, true change can only come from within, never from without.

A wise man once said “Do unto others and you would have them do unto you.”

Sounder advice has never been given.

Cultivate Your Garden

submitted by jwithrow.

This essay is written for those who feel that our society has lost its way.

We see a world in which the collectivist rat race has suppressed minds and spirits. Selfishness and corruption have replaced kindness and honesty. Humility and grit have been replaced by a culture of irresponsibility and instant gratification.

Turn on your preferred news channel and they will be quick to point their collective finger at some group or another and tell you all about how everything is their fault. Now turn off your television and ask your inner self who is really at fault.

Guess what, dear friend? It’s your fault.

Before we can ever expect to see an honest and just society, we must first foster honour and justice within ourselves. We must stop pointing our fingers at others and begin to cultivate our own garden.

Most people are terrified of being different so they attempt to “fit in” at all times. Most people go along to get along so they conform to the status-quo in society. But if you set a shining example of humility, kindness, honesty, and responsibility then others will be encouraged by your example. There is universal truth in the old adage that says “actions speak louder than words”.

I will leave you with the following quote, written by an unknown monk around 1100 A.D.:

“When I was a young man, I wanted to change the world.
I found it was difficult to change the world, so I tried to change my nation.
When I found I couldn’t change the nation, I began to focus on my town. I couldn’t change the town and as an older man, I tried to change my family.
Now, as an old man, I realize the only thing I can change is myself, and suddenly I realize that if long ago I had changed myself, I could have made an impact on my family.
My family and I could have made an impact on our town.
Their impact could have changed the nation and I could indeed have changed the world.”

MyRA-QE Taper Connection

submitted by jwithrow.

We have a question for you:

Is it a coincidence that the government has introduced the “myRA” plans just as the Federal Reserve has begun to taper its quantitative easing programs?

Let’s think this thing through for a minute.

We know:

China is now a net-seller of U.S. Treasuries so the Federal Reserve has had to step in and purchase U.S. Treasury Bonds in increasing quantities to support government spending.
The average American saves for retirement in a qualified retirement plan focusing primarily on mutual funds, exchange traded funds, and stocks with bonds comprising a small portion of the allocation.
The proposed myRA plans are designed to focus on U.S. Treasury Bonds.
The Federal Reserve’s quantitative easing programs have pumped massive amounts of liquidity into the system which has resulted in a broad increase of stock prices across the board.
Tapering QE will withdraw liquidity from the system which will almost certainly result in a broad decrease of stock prices across the board and quite possibly a severe stock market crash.
A falling stock market would likely cause many Americans to seek investment options that they deem “safer”.
The government is already hard-selling their myRA plans stating that there is “no risk to lose what you put in”.

Hmm.

Maybe our benevolent bureaucrats really do think that myRA plans will help the common man.

But we hold dearly to a personal mantra:

Maximize Capital,
Minimize Crap,
Never Trust the Government.

With that mantra echoing in our mind, we can’t help but be a little suspicious – something funny seems to be afoot.

What do you think?

The Beauty of Language

submitted by jwithrow.

Language is the means of communicating thoughts and ideas.

Thoughts and ideas have the power to shape the world.

Therefore, language has the power to shape the world.

Language is both powerful and beautiful; it is the means to meaning and truth. It is language that has changed the world over and over again. Without language, the Bible is meaningless. The Torah is meaningless. The Qur’an is meaningless. The Mahayana Sutras are meaningless. The Upanishads are meaningless. The Magna Carta is meaningless. The Declaration of Independence is meaningless.

Language is constructed of words and words are the expression of thoughts.

Thoughts are powerful entities; they are not abstractions. There is a very specific electrical reaction that takes place when you create a thought within your mind and this electrical reaction creates energy in some capacity. We cannot explain this electrical reaction as we do not know how it works. But we do know that it takes place. So it follows then that thoughts are energy in some capacity. And the laws of physics state that energy cannot be created nor destroyed rather it can only change forms. So it follows further then that the process of thinking is the process of transforming existing energy into your own unique thoughts. Your own unique thoughts become energy in a new form and the thought energy exists until it is transformed once again. And a powerful way to harness that thought energy is to convert it into language – either verbal or written.

We say all of that to say this: our observations suggest that language is used very carelessly in our culture today. If you understand the power of language then you understand the responsibility that you have to use words in a meaningful way. You understand that language should not be used to harm or mislead another. And you understand that language can be used to change your stars.

The most important language comes from that tiny voice in your head. Make sure that little voice in your head is constantly using language that uplifts and inspires you. Your world will also be uplifting and inspiring if it does.

It’s a funny thing; the events in your life mirror your thoughts. Master your thoughts and you will master your world. And in order to master your thoughts you have to master your control of language.