social security Archives

Transcending Politics

submitted by jwithrow.
Click here to get the Journal of a Wayward Philosopher by Email

Journal of a Wayward Philosopher
Transcending Politics

October 20, 2016
Hot Springs, VA

“Just as the technology of printing altered and reduced the power of medieval guilds and the social power structure, so too will cryptologic methods fundamentally alter the nature of corporations and of government interference in economic transactions… And just as a seemingly minor invention like barbed wire made possible the fencing-off of vast ranches and farms, thus altering forever the concepts of land and property rights in the frontier West, so too will the seemingly minor discovery out of an arcane branch of mathematics come to be the wire clippers which dismantle the barbed wire around intellectual property. Arise, you have nothing to lose but your barbed wire fences!” – Timothy C. May

The S&P closed out Wednesday at $2,144. Gold closed at $1,270 per ounce. Crude Oil closed at $51.72 per barrel, and the 10-year Treasury rate closed at 1.75%. Bitcoin is trading around $630 per BTC today.

Dear Journal,

Today is little Maddie’s birthday! I still remember, two years ago to the day, witnessing her first breath of life. I can see it in my mind’s eye just a clearly as I see the computer screen in front of me. She has become a fantastically sweet and clever young lady in two years time, and her father’s cup runneth over with pride and joy.

Due to scheduling constraints, we actually celebrated her birthday on Tuesday. A few months back I asked Madison what she wanted to do for her birthday. “I want to ride Leo the horse!”, she responded without hesitation. So that’s exactly what we did. Continue reading “Transcending Politics”

The Only Debate Topic That Matters

submitted by jwithrow.
Click here to get the Journal of a Wayward Philosopher by Email

Journal of a Wayward Philosopher
The Only Debate Topic That Matters

September 29, 2016
Hot Springs, VA

“Loading up the nation with debt and leaving it for the following generations to pay is morally irresponsible. Excessive debt is a means by which governments oppress the people and waste their substance. No nation has a right to contract debt for periods longer than the majority contracting it can expect to live. ” – Thomas Jefferson

The S&P closed out Wednesday at $2,171. Gold closed at $1,327 per ounce. Crude Oil closed at $47.12 per barrel, and the 10-year Treasury rate closed at 1.57%. Bitcoin is trading around $605 per BTC today.

Dear Journal,

Nearly one-third of all Americans – almost 100 million people – tuned in to watch the first presidential debate earlier this week. This represents an increase in viewership by nearly 40% from the 2012 presidential debates, and it almost rivaled television’s biggest draw – the Super Bowl – which received 112 million viewers last year. Apparently the debate was aired on television throughout Europe as well.

I see these numbers and the first thing that pops into my head is a question: how in the world do the ratings agencies know how many people are sitting on the couch in front of a given television?

I didn’t spend too much time with this, but all of the numbers I have seen reference “viewers” and “people”, not “households”. They are very specific about this.

I can’t help but think about poor Winston in George Orwell’s 1984 – he sits down in front of his telescreen and while he is watching it, it is also watching him… Continue reading “The Only Debate Topic That Matters”

The First American Socialists

submitted by jwithrow.

Journal of a Wayward Philosopher
The First American Socialists

November 25, 2014
Hot Springs, VA

The S&P is hanging around $2,070 today. Gold is checking in at $1,196. Oil is floating around $76 per barrel in anticipation of OPEC’s big meeting on Thursday. Bitcoin is still at $380 per BTC, and the 10-year Treasury rate is 2.30% today.

All remains quiet in the financial markets as we turn our attention to the wonderful holiday season upcoming. Thanksgiving is a day of family, food, and fellowship in honor of the legendary first American Thanksgiving celebrated back in the 17th century.

Most Americans are familiar with this story of the Pilgrims and the Indians sitting down together for the first Thanksgiving, but did you know the Pilgrims were the first American socialists? The Pilgrims’ original financing contract stated that all colonists would get their food, clothing, and provisions from the colony’s “common stock and goods” and any profits would go into the “common stock” for the first seven years. The agreement required each person to submit his production to the common stock and the governor was to distribute provisions out to each family according to need. There was to be no private property for at least seven years.

The Pilgrims landed in America on December 21, 1620 and the first winter wiped out half of the population. The following harvests of 1621 and 1622 were miniscule. Governor William Bradford documented the problems stating that the hardest working men found it unjust that they received no more food than the weakest workers, the young men resented working without compensation, and the wives resented doing household chores for other men who were not their husband. How dare them!

The Pilgrims wised up in 1623 and abandoned the socialist model. Governor Bradford documented the transition stating that families became very industrious once they were required to grow their own food with women and children taking on significantly more responsibilities for the family unit. Three times the amount of corn was planted once socialism was abandoned and the colonists actually exported a substantial surplus in 1624. The Pilgrims thereafter purchased back all of the colony’s stock and completed the transition to private property and free markets.

How fortunate we are that the Pilgrim’s experiment with socialism was largely forgotten over time!

What if Woodrow Wilson understood the Pilgrim’s story? There would be no Federal Reserve System, no
income tax, and no centrally planned war-time economy!

Imagine if Franklin Delano Roosevelt had been familiar with the story. Why, Americans would have gotten no New Deal! There would be no Public Works Administration, Resettlement Administration, Rural Electrification Administration, National Youth Administration, Forest Service and Civilian Conservation Corps, Tennessee Valley Authority, Agriculture Adjustment Administration, Federal Crop Insurance Corporation, Farm Security Administration, Federal Housing Administration, Homeowners Loan Corporation, Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, or Works Progress Administration. There would be no food stamps, no Social Security, and probably no labor unions. Americans would have to settle for the old deal where they had to work hard, make their own decisions, provide for their own financial security, and save with gold coins instead of paper bills. Who wants to do that?

Of course there is a big difference in scale between the first American socialists and the newer variety. The Pilgrims’ experiment was limited to a small colony so when the model failed the damage was limited to the tiny colonial economy. The ill-effects of the newer forays into socialism modeled after Wilson and FDR’s examples are not contained within a tiny economy – they run rampant through a massive modern economy consisting of hundreds of millions of people.

We never seem to learn the lesson today, either. The Pilgrims abandoned the socialist model when the results clearly indicated failure. Today we implement a new public policy when the results indicate failure. We are always just one public policy fix away.

As we discussed last week in our journal entry examining macroeconomic trends, the sustainability of Pax Americana based on socialist programs is likely coming to an end. Will a transition back to free markets and private property be the solution?

More to come,

Joe Withrow
Wayward Philosopher

For more of Joe’s thoughts on the “Great Reset” and regaining individual sovereignty 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.

Shedding the Institutional Mindset

submitted by jwithrow.

Journal of a Wayward Philosopher
Shedding the Institutional Mindset

November 19, 2014
Hot Springs, VA

The S&P opened the day at $2,047. Gold is up to $1,197. Oil bounced back above $75. Bitcoin is still hanging around $379, and the 10-year Treasury rate is 2.36% today.

Yesterday we examined some of the prominent macroeconomic trends and we reasoned that, from the American perspective, the world will be a much different place eighteen years from now. We pondered: how can we help prepare a child growing up today for adulthood in a world that will not resemble the one that currently exists?

To answer this question we must first examine the script as it exists for the average American child coming up today. For this I will defer to one of my favorite analysts, Paul Rosenberg over at Casey Research, who summed it up rather succinctly:

Do well in school (an institution).

Rebel with music from the entertainment corps (institutions).

Wear the new shoes/jeans/etc. with the best corporate logos (institutions).

Get a university degree (from an institution).

Take student loans to do so (from an institution).

Take a job at a big firm with great benefits (interacting institutions).

Get a home loan (from an institution).

Build a 401(k) (more institutions).

Believe in democracy (a multilayered institution).

Be a good citizen and vote (same as above).

Send your children to daycare, then school (institutions).

Buy brand-named goods (from other mega-corp institutions).

Watch the best in entertainment (corporate institutions).

Conduct your relationships on Facebook (a vampire institution).

Trust in Social Security and Medicare (Ponzi institutions).

I read this list and have to nod my head in agreement – this is pretty much the script that has been sold to every individual in American society for quite some time now. The script has worked out fairly well for people over the past seventy years but I must ask the question: is it still viable? After all, past success is not indicative of future results.

I am skeptical. To be frank, I am not so sure this script will even work out well for the Baby Boomer generation (though it has up to this point). Time will tell.

So, getting back to the original question from yesterday, how best to prepare Madison for a changing world? Logically the first step would be to change the script. Maybe even set fire to it.

But to change the script first requires a change in mindset.

The current script represents the institutional model which operates under the assumption that individuals are inferior, weak, and ignorant; that they are objects to be molded and formed in the institutionalized image. The institutional model suggests that each individual should spend most of their time working as a “productive” member of the institution. While rarely stated explicitly, the institutional model implies that each individual is subordinate to the institution. Those who subscribe to the institutional model tend to develop the mindset that everyone must participate. Everyone must play.

To walk away from this institutional mindset requires courage but a beautiful thing happens when you do – the world opens up and becomes more free. Then you discover your boundless potential and begin to trust yourself implicitly. And then you can start to envision a better way to prepare little Maddie for adulthood.

Instead of treating birth as an emergency and rushing off to the hospital you can do a homebirth. Instead of rushing her off to school to have indoctrination forced on her by the collectivists and bureaucrats you can develop a comprehensive, practical, and liberating homeschool curriculum. Instead of exposing her to mindless entertainment you can find wholesome hobbies that the entire family can do together. Instead of pushing her to mindlessly rush off to college you can capitalize an IBC insurance policy for her and, when the time comes, tell her to follow her passion. Instead of telling her she must get a corporate job with good benefits to be successful you can help her devise a plan to build a career pursuing her own interests. Instead of telling her she must be a good citizen and vote within a corrupt system you can tell her to “be the change you would like to see”. Instead of ignoring financial education and hoping Social Security will be there for her in the year 2079 you can teach her the merits of asset allocation so she will be financially independent forever. Instead of instilling within her the institutional mindset you can help her remember that she is a sacred individual and nothing less than an eternal spirit of humanity.

The possibilities are endless!

Then it doesn’t matter what the world looks like in the future because she will be prepared to thrive physically, financially, emotionally, and spiritually no matter what.

More to come,

Joe Withrow
Wayward Philosopher

On the National Debt

submitted by jwithrow.

Journal of a Wayward Philosopher
On the National Debt

October 7, 2014
Hot Springs, VA

The S&P is down to $1,953, gold is up to $1,212, oil is up to $89, bitcoin is up to $330, and the 10-year is down to 2.38%.

Looks like the 10-year Treasury rate is still well-corralled for the moment. And gold is still on sale.

Yesterday we examined a few of the traps cleverly hidden for infants coming into the world at this time – prompted by wife Rachel and my expectations of a little girl named Madison set to begin her journey here on Earth within the next few days or weeks. Today let’s look at the overt trap that boldly claims the right to little Madison’s future earnings: the national debt.

It is popular today for politicians to speak out against the national debt and boldly claim that ‘we’ (they love this ‘we’ business) need to balance the government’s budget and begin to pay the debt down. This sounds great and people will vote for you for making such a statement, but there are two problems this leaves unaddressed – one based in economics and one based in morality.

First, the economic problem: the national debt is not $17.75 trillion as advertised. The national debt is actually closer to $200 trillion if you calculate it according to generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP) which require you to record all future liabilities on your balance sheet. Most of these future liabilities that are not included in the official debt figure are Social Security and Medicare commitments. These future commitments are completely unfunded which means there exists no underlying revenue support and no asset backing. The only way these future commitments can be met is if enough money comes into the Social Security and Medicare programs versus going out. Demographics tell us that 10,000 Baby Boomers will retire EVERY SINGLE DAY for the next ten years, however, which suggests that a huge number of people are going to move from being contributors to these programs to recipients.

Oh, and both Social Security and Medicare already run annual deficits.

These politicians must be expecting quite a bit from my little Madison if they plan to balance the budget and pay down the debt with her future earnings.

But they don’t actually plan to balance the budget and pay down the debt. The simple fact is it can’t honestly be done without defaulting on the existing commitments in some capacity. There’s just too much debt and not enough production. Which leads us to the moral problem: this system is incredibly, unbelievably immoral.

Why should anyone be taxed and forced to pay for anything against their will? What kind of system assigns debt to infants from the moment they draw their first breath in this world? What kind of system incentivizes debt, dishonesty, consumption, and exploitation while punishing honesty and production?

My answer: a really bad one.

So did the economic problem lead to the moral problem or vice versa? I am not sure but history does suggest that dishonest fiat money seems to always undermine the morality and stability of society.

I will have more thoughts on that in a later entry. In the meantime be sure to order a copy of The Individual is Rising for a more in depth look at these economic problems, some financial strategies to prepare for the Great Reset, and more.

Focusing our attention back on the debt-trap: how best to prepare Maddie for life in a society that plans to confiscate her future earnings to pay for the immorality of earlier generations?

It is a shame that I have to spend any time at all on this question here in what is supposed to be the “Land of the Free”. The more I think about it, the more I become convinced that education is the key to preparing our children for the world that awaits them.

Not education of the public kind, however. It looks to me like the public schools are setting children up to be victims of the immoral System. The public school system fosters a herd mentality and requires students to subordinate themselves to “authority” at all times. Such an environment is not going to stimulate the creativity and self-confidence necessary to thrive in a society that expects the next generation to pay the debts of the previous. Instead, this method of education is going to condition students to happily embrace their servitude to the System as it pillages the fruits of their labor in the name of the “common good”.

Far better to create an individualized educational experience tailored to Madison’s unique skills and interests. Instead of forcing subjects upon her, why not let her guide her own education? Rachel and I will probably need to do most of the guiding in the early years, but I suspect Madison will be plenty capable of determining her own path as she grows and matures. Enabling self-education in this manner will certainly do a better job of preparing her for adult-hood than the government school system that conditions students to always seek guidance and permission from “experts” instead of trusting their own abilities.

Of course this self-education will need to be blended with social activities as well. Fortunately, one can find all manner of groups, clubs, and activities using a simple internet search these days so I don’t see this being much of a problem. What will Madison like to do? Dance? Aikido? Art? Music? Softball? All of the above?

The world will be her oyster…

More to come,

Joe Withrow
Wayward Philosopher

For more of Joe’s thoughts on the Great Reset and regaining individual sovereignty 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.