Essays

Naomi Wolf: The coming drone attack on America

"People often ask me, in terms of my argument about 'ten steps' that mark the descent to a police state or closed society, at what stage we are. I am sorry to say that with the importation of what will be tens of thousands of drones, by both US military and by commercial interests, into US airspace, with a specific mandate to engage in surveillance and with the capacity for weaponization – which is due to begin in earnest at the start of the new year – it means that the police state is now officially here." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingNaomi Wolf: The coming drone attack on America

Bill Bonner: Promises Will Be Broken

"Growth rates began to decline at least 40 years ago. Today's rates are not extraordinarily low. And nobody really knows why this is happening. A steadily declining GDP growth rate seems to defy our assumptions about the way the world works. This discussion might be merely inconsequential; instead, the future of the United States of America, Europe, Japan and the entire world economy hangs on it. Growth − more GDP... more jobs... more revenue... more people − is also what every government in the developed world desperately needs. Without it, their deficit spending (all are running in the red) leads to growing debt and eventual disaster." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingBill Bonner: Promises Will Be Broken

Expatriation Can Save You From the Not-So-Free America

"The terrorist attacks of 9/11, 2001 have been used as a twisted justification by the U.S. Congress and by two presidents to enact unconstitutional laws that sacrifice the very principles they claim to be defending, all in the name of an elusive national security. This is a list of illegal and unconstitutional actions on which I recently spoke to a group of 50 Sovereign Society members who visited Uruguay last month. Many in the group seemed genuinely surprised when they saw the list, unable to believe such things were possible in America." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingExpatriation Can Save You From the Not-So-Free America

Everything that’s Wrong with the Tax System, in a Single Picture

"I used to think this image was a damning indictment of the internal revenue code. Or here’s another chart showing how the tax system has become more convoluted over time. But this new image may be the most effective of all of them. We don’t know what’s in the other 72,000 pages of tax code, but we’re all familiar with the basic 1040 tax form. Look at what the politicians have done to it over the past several decades." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingEverything that’s Wrong with the Tax System, in a Single Picture

Why people renounce US citizenship: A most Noble perspective

"Some of the reporting requirements defy any level of reasonable logic. A US citizen, stay-at-home mother for instance, who likely has no income and is signed onto her non-US citizen husband’s accounts, is required to report HIS bank account numbers, balances and so on. I doubt any US Homelander would be willing to do the same if living in the US, married to a foreigner with a government who demanded the same, or else be prepared to lose a considerable portion of savings, retirement plans, etc. Now FATCA promises to be even more punishing." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingWhy people renounce US citizenship: A most Noble perspective

Detlev Schlichter: “Watching your money disappear” – Speech to senior representatives of the UK pension fund industry

"I believe disappearing money will be the major event of the present decade, and it will not just have major implications for your business, it will have grave consequences for society at large. The money itself may not in fact disappear (although some of it probably will) but money’s value will disappear, moneys purchasing power. This will not be the result of an act of magic but will simply be the consequence of our monetary arrangements and the established course of policy. Future historians will be surprised that anybody could have seriously contemplated a different and much happier outcome for today’s system of unconstrained fiat money production." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingDetlev Schlichter: “Watching your money disappear” – Speech to senior representatives of the UK pension fund industry

The Worst Inflation in My Lifetime

"Shortly after we took this family photo in 1951, Dad decided to buy a second home in Brazil, where we experienced the worst inflation of the 20th Century. One day, the president announced an appeal to patriotism — 'gold for Brazil.' All loyal citizens were asked to collect any gold they had in their home and donate it to the government. Later, when inflation surpassed an annual rate of 2,000 percent, the government got so desperate it didn’t bother making public appeals. It summarily announced that everyone’s bank accounts were frozen and everyone’s savings were confiscated." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingThe Worst Inflation in My Lifetime

Extremely Serious Privacy Problem in America

"One effect of undermining privacy is to suppress free speech. It makes the person afraid or reluctant to speak for fear that at some undetermined future time , his actions or statements will be used against him. They can be misconstrued. They can be taken out of context. He can be forced to defend himself, and that's costly. He may be subject to a police inquiry or invasion whereby his belongings are seized and his whole life disrupted. The State's powers turned against a person in this way are enormous. Privacy is one of those socially-useful and socially-necessary things that we take for granted when it's there." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingExtremely Serious Privacy Problem in America

It’s Happening Faster Than Even I Thought

"Since I manage an internet privacy company, people expect me to be pessimistic on the development of the surveillance state. But even I didn't expect the surveillance state to form this quickly. 2012 has been a banner year for amoral marketers and soul-dead overseers, and the situation is probably much worse than you realize. A very deep surveillance state is being completed now. It's your choice whether or not you'll escape it." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingIt’s Happening Faster Than Even I Thought

They Can Do That?! 10 Outrageous Tactics Cops Get Away With

"The cops can do almost anything they want, and often the most maddening tactics are actually completely legal. There are many reasons for this, but three historical developments stand out: the war on drugs provided the template for social control based on race; 9/11 gave federal and local officials the opportunity to ensnare Muslims (and activists) in the ever-increasing surveillance and incarceration state; and a lack of concern from the public at large means these tactics can be applied, often controversy-free, to anyone who resists them." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingThey Can Do That?! 10 Outrageous Tactics Cops Get Away With