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"Give with a free hand, but give only your own."
-- J.R.R. Tolkien The
Children of Hurin
- The Forgotten Man
-
Who is the
"Forgotten Man"? He is the man whose muscle and mind make
the whole economy work, and carries the burden of the government.
What? That's crazy talk. The "government" is the
creator, the source of all wealth. Everything that is owes
it's existence to the "government". Hmmm... Then why do
governments depend on private contractors, independent businesses,
and farmers to do the things government need done?
Ultimately, the government can't do a thing without some private,
non-government worker breaking a sweat. What government
didn't depend on private farmers to feed the legions of government
workers?
Let me put it another way. In the 10,000 years of human
civilization, along with writing and mathematics, wouldn't you
think that a system could have been devised where the "government"
could provide the people with food? Yet, no great
civilization did. They all depended on private, independent
farmers. Except for settling disputes among it's citizens
and defending the nation against attacks by other hostile
countries, governments are horribly inept at managing the
allocation of resources that have multiple uses. They try,
but eventually, they all fail.
Why do governments fail at allocating resources? Human
nature. It's that simple. Those who attain a degree of
control over their fellow men feel that they deserve special
privileges and are entitled to greater compensation. Indeed,
those who direct the activities of others always do get paid
better than those they direct, especially if they are good at
it. It is a valuable skill. But those that do it well expect
to be paid well. If they are not, they go do something
else. Human nature. People seek to get the most from
the least amount of work. Human nature. People expect
to be paid. Human nature. The best interests of others
tend to be far less interesting than our own. Human nature.
Resources
are allocated as favors for political paybacks instead of with an
eye to return on investment.
There is a devilishly elegant deception being perpetrated on the
people all over the modern world. It goes something like
this: Make those who have benefited the most pay the most to
fund the "government". With a wink and a nod, those who have
benefited the most, a.k.a. the "rich", go along with this
lie. Why is it a lie, and why are those who are seemingly
the most likely to be the target of this lie so willing to go
along with it? The reason is, it is a lie, and they know it! To understand
the deception you must think about why there are "rich"
people. You know, we've always had them around, and there is
no reason to believe that they will suddenly disappear. So,
they must fill some sort of roll in the economy. In general,
they are skilled at directing the activities of others (that is,
unless they inherited their wealth, and the bulk of taxation is on
income, not on
possession). If a person who does whatever it is that a
"rich" person does to produce their income stream finds that they
can no longer maintain their accustomed standard of living, they
will adjust their activities until they can. Or-- and this
the point so many people miss-- they will go do something
else. This would leave a hole in the economy for whatever
the disenchanted rich person used to do, which would either go
unserviced or, it would be filled by someone else who would also
demand a certain standard of living... or else. So, if
society decides that they will fund the "government" on the the
backs of the "rich", the rich will pressure the economy to
compensate so that their lifestyle is maintained. See?
Tax companies and they raise their prices, cut their payrolls, or
go out of business. Rich people do the same. So who
carries the burden? The people who build the bridges, design
the buildings, stock the shelves, drive the trucks. The
government doesn't need your dollars, folks. They print the
darn things, for heaven's sake. They can print as many of
them as they want. What they need is your labor! They need you to do
things, real physical things. You are the Forgotten Man: The Man
who pays for it all. What rich people do is ephemeral, not at all
easy to nail down, nor even define. Tax it? Naw, you
just can't do it without making your own life hell. What you
need to do is reduce the total resource consumption of the
government.
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Updated: January 30,
2012
Inception:
January 30, 2012