Still Recovering

I'm still recovering from my recent involuntary hospitalization. It's like being kidnapped and tortured. Further, I have a new psychiatrist and therapist appointed by the hospital. I don't know yet if they have a clue and will be sympathetic to my drug-free policy.

I'll try to answer my backlog of posts later. For now, I'm focusing on recovering my mental energy.

Corporations as Tax Collectors

Any large corporation is effectively a branch of the State. Corporations have an important role not frequently mentioned. Corporations are tax collectors for the State.

Corporations have an obligation to report all transactions to the State. Whenever a corporation pays out money to a worker, a W-2 or 1099 form is generated. Whenever a corporation pays out money to another corporation, a 1099 form is typically filed. *ALL* economic transactions involving a corporation are reported to the State.

Corporations also have an obligation to withhold taxes from employee salaries. Even if you're someone who wants to practice tax resistance, you're SOL if you're employed by a corporation. The corporation has an obligation to report your labor and income to the IRS. The corporation has an obligation to withhold taxes. If you refuse to sign the W-4 form allowing tax withholding, then the corporation will refuse to hire you.

Corporations have an obligation to collect taxes and report transactions to the State. However, they are not reimbursed for this burden. A corporation with $10B in revenue may pay $10M on accountants. This is 0.1% of total revenue. Suppose you are a small business owner with $50k-$100k in revenue. You still have to hire an account or do it yourself. This costs $5k or more per year. This is a much greater percentage of your revenue than the large corporation.

In this manner, tax regulation (in addition to other regulations) is a higher burden for small business owners. The small business owner has an obligation to follow the regulation, but is not reimbursed for the expense. Anybody operating an on-the-books business has an obligation to work as an unpaid tax collector for the State.

Executives at large corporations don't mind the tax requirement. They receive more in State perks than the taxes they pay. The taxes a small business owner pays are partially used to subsidize profits of large corporations. If you run a small on-the-books business, you're subsidizing your larger corporate competitors.

Currently, in the USA, small businesses are being squeezed out of the market in favor of large corporations. Large corporations are dependent on leeching the productivity of small business owners via taxation and inflation. The decline of small businesses accelerates complete economic collapse.

A pro-State troll might say "Some small business owners are successful. That proves that the economic system is fair." That is false reasoning. Some small business owners are so talented or hardworking that they succeed *IN SPITE* of the huge handicap placed on them by the State. If there were not such severe State restriction of the market, you would see a lot more small businesses.

Most small businesses are under continuous pressure to grow, so that they can benefit from corrupt State regulations. During a recession/depression, many small business owners risk being ruined. If they borrow to expand their business, then they are ruined during the recession/depression. Their customers might be unable to pay their bills; the small business owner may be ruined if he doesn't cut back his business in time. If a small business owner doesn't borrow to expand during a boom, then he risks falling behind competitors who use leverage. Large corporations can profitably borrow and use the proceeds to buy out smaller competitors; State restriction of the market then prevents new competitors from emerging.

The practice of income tax withholding was introduced as a "temporary emergency measure" during World War II. It is now standard practice. Most/all businesses comply with the regulation. Any small business owner that refuses to play along with the scam risks being the victim of a violent State raid.

Some conspiracy theorists say that when you incorporate a business, you're voluntarily entering it into the State taxation and regulation system. For this reason, I advise agorists to *NOT* incorporate their businesses. When you incorporate, you're claiming a limited liability perk along with other perks. There perks are worth very little for a small business owner. These perks are worth nothing for an agorist. The first advice a pro-State troll gives when starting a business is "Incorporate your business!" If you plan to practice tax resistance/evasion, such advice is bad.

IRS tax forms allow you to operate unincorporated businesses. For example, I may deduct hosting expense from AdBrite revenue. My transactions with Google AdBrite are taxable, because Google is a corporation. When I start an agorist business also, then I will report my AdBrite revenue to the State and pay tax on it, while also operating my agorist business.

Large corporations are effectively a branch of the State. One of their most evil functions is their role as tax collector and economic spy for the State.

Financial Planners Can't Sell Gold

On the subway, I overheard two men talking about investments. They were discussing stocks and mutual funds. I decided to be helpful, so I interjected "Buy gold and silver!"

The man said "I asked my financial planner about buying gold. He told me that gold was a stupid investment for fools only." He wasn't willing to question the wisdom of his financial planner, so I couldn't help him. I didn't press the issue.

There is a lot of mainstream media bias against gold. For example, "Stocks are preferable to gold. Stocks pay a dividend and gold does not." However, with stock, you can't prevent insiders from giving themselves huge salaries and option/equity grants. You can't prevent insiders from wasting the corporation's assets, either hiring their buddies or wasting money. With bonds, you're likely to keep the nominal value of your investment, but you're guaranteed to lose out to true inflation. With gold, your inflation-adjusted return should be 0%, but the depressing news is that's the best investment out there!

Also, people are brainwashed "I need a financial planner to manage my investments." On purpose, the financial industry promotes a huge array of investment products, all of which underperform true inflation. As usual, the simplest option "Buy gold and silver!" is also the best.

Most financial planners work for a larger corporation. If the financial planners' boss says "Sell subprime bonds!", then his customers will be advised to invest in mutual funds that hold subprime bonds. The actual merit of the investment is irrelevant. If there's a loss, then the customer bears the loss. If there's a gain, then the financial planner can brag about how clever he was. The usual Agent-Principal problem that applies whenever someone controls money they don't own. In this example, the financial planner controls his customer's investments, but he doesn't own them.

Most financial planners are paid based on commissions. You can't earn huge commissions if you advise people to invest in physical gold and silver!

Suppose a mutual fund has an "expense ratio" of 1%. In that case, 1% of the fund's assets each year are collected as expenses. For such a fund, there is a sales commission of approximately 0.50% per year. If you have $10,000 invested in such a fund, then the salesman makes a commission of $50 for each year you hold the investment! The financial planner has an incentive to pick investments that pay the best commission, rather than the best investment. If commissions of 0.5% are "industry standard", then the financial planner is not committing a crime. He is protected by sovereign immunity. Even if there is a problem, the corporate employer will be sued and not the individual financial planner.

There is massive State brainwashing of "You need a financial planner to manage your investments!" and "Only fools buy physical gold and silver!" Most people must be kept ignorant about money and economics, lest they become aware of the nature of the scam.

Financial planners don't advise people to buy physical silver and gold because they can't earn commissions advising people to invest wisely.

FSK Was Re-Hospitalized

For those of you who were wondering where I was, I was involuntarily hospitalized again.

Now, I have a new addiction to Klonopin and Abilify, and I have a new therapist.

I am *SO MAD*. I thought I was finally free of their clutches.

More Sketch Comedy

I'm thinking of writing some more comedy sketches. Some of the funniest sketches are game show parodies.

Host: Welcome to today's game? Let's get started with our first question!
Question #1: Which do you prefer, good or evil?
Contestant #1 buzzes in: Evil!
Host: Hooray! 100 points for you!
Question #2: Which do you prefer, good or evil?
Contestant #2 buzzes in: Evil!
Host: Hooray! 100 points for you!
Question #3: Which do you prefer, good or evil?
Contestant #3 buzzes in: Evil!
Host: Hooray! 50 points for you!
Contestant #3: How come they got 100 and I only got 50?
Host shoots contestant #3.
Question #4: Which do you prefer, good or evil?
Contestant #4: Uh, sometimes once in awhile I like good.
Host shoots contestant #4.
Person in audience thinks to himself. "I'm vaguely considering the possibility that something unusual just happened."
The person sitting next to him shoots him.
Someone working on the set thinks to himself. "I'm wondering if there's anyplace else I can work?" God kills him and says "That asshole deserved it!"

What are all the Taxes you Pay?

I did this exercise previously, but I'll repeat it. What are *ALL* the taxes that the average person pays? There isn't just explicit direct taxes. There's indirect taxes and the cost of regulation compliance. There's also the cost of State restriction of the market.

1. The marginal Federal income tax is 40% for a typical middle class worker. I'm including the employer-paid portion of Social Security and Medicare taxes.
2. Where I live in NYC, the marginal state income tax is nearly 10% for a typical middle class worker. We're already at 50%.
3. Unemployment insurance is funded via a payroll tax on employers. This does not show up as a deduction on a worker's paycheck.
   
4. Property taxes are another couple percent of your income per year. This tax is partially avoidable, because you don't have to buy the most expensive house/apartment you can afford. This brings the total to 52%. Due to property taxes, nobody has full allodial title to their land.
   
5. State sales taxes are another 5%-10%, whenever you buy something. The average middle class person spends most of his income buying things, so this tax hits them the hardest. This brings the total to 60%. (I'm rounding down, to be charitable.)
6. There's the tax on gasoline. Even if you don't own a car, the cost of this tax is factored into the goods you buy in stores.
7. There's the inflation tax, which steals 10%-20% of your savings each year. Even if you invest in stocks, they don't earn a positive inflation-adjusted return compared to gold. The only way to avoid the inflation tax is to invest in physical gold or silver, and take possession yourself. If you're a net debtor, such as someone who has a mortgage, you may benefit from inflation. However, if you're a debtor, you risk losing everything due to the Compound Interest Paradox during the next deflationary depression/recession.
8. Without State licensing requirements for doctors, medical care would cost $50/month or less. Medical insurance actually costs $400/month or more, due to the State licensing monopoly and regulations. The difference is a tax. This adds another couple percent. Even if your employer pays for your health insurance, this merely comes out of the money available for salaries. Doctors must spend 10+ years and $500k+ to get a State license. The cost of this license is included in the amount you pay for medical care.
   
9. Most industries are organized as a cartel/monopoly/oligopoly. This means you pay higher prices and receive a lower quality product, compared to a free market.
10. Driver's licenses and other State paperwork/fees are a type of tax.
11. You pay an additional tax for the State-licensed electricity/phone/Internet monopoly/oligopoly, in addition to the cost of the monopoly itself.
    
12. It's hard for workers to start new businesses, due to State restriction of the market. This means that workers receive lower wages compared to a true free market.
13. There's the cost of regulation compliance. Whenever a business must spend money to ensure compliance with a State regulation, the cost is passed on to customers as higher prices.
14. Corporations cannot pay taxes, because they are abstract fictional entities. With a State-licensed monopoly/oligopoly, most corporations pass on all the taxes to customers.
    

If you add up everything, including all the hidden and indirect taxes, your total taxation rate is 90%-95% or more. Any regulation or restriction of the market has a cost. Most people only notice the explicit taxes they directly pay. For example, most people aren't fully offended by the magnitude of the income tax and Social Security tax, because it's automatically deducted from your paycheck, and half of the amount is paid by the employer.

Let me know if I missed anything important!

Prisoner's Dilemma Fnord

Pro-State troll economists and politicians frequently like to cite "the prisoner's dilemma" when justifying their decisions.

In the prisoner's dilemma game, you have two prisoners who are accused of a crime. The State police separate them, preventing them from communicating. The State only has enough evidence to convict them of a minor crime leading to 6 months in jail. If they "defect" and rat out their confederate, the State will drop the 6 month sentence and convict the confederate of a 5 year jail term. If you defect and your confederate cooperates, then you will be released and your confederate goes to jail for 5.5 years. If you both defect, then you both go to jail for 5 years. If both cooperate, then both go to jail for 6 months.

This scenario is unrealistic in a real-world situation. If both criminals have friends/partners, then the one who defects while his partner cooperates will have a *REAL HARD TIME* after being released. The scenario must be very artificially constructed, via State violence or a Math simulation.

The analogy works like this. Suppose you have State A and State B. If neither State subsidizes the widget industry, then you have free competition (the "mutual cooperation" scenario). If State A gives subsidies but B does not, then the manufacturers in State B are bankrupted by those in State A (the "A defects, B cooperates" scenario). If both States give subsidies, a lot of resources are squandered via these subsidies (the "both defect" scenario).

State-licensed economists and political scientists love to talk about the "prisoner's dilemma" as an analogy for economics and politics. I've thought about it, and it's all nonsense. In a free market, trust is important. If you make a trust-based economic transaction with someone and they cheat you, then you *REFUSE TO DEAL WITH THEM*. You warn your trading partners, and soon the cheater will be unable to do anything. In a free market, the "prisoner's dilemma" analogy is irrelevant, because people cannot be barred from sharing information.

Only a State can cause the "prisoner's dilemma" to be a valid model, by preventing people from sharing information and by forcing them to obey the decisions of their "leaders". For example, the average person in Israel or Gaza can't say "I don't want to participate in this war anymore." They are forced, via State violence, to obey the decisions of others.

In a true free market, protectionism doesn't work. Suppose region A has a free market, and there is neighboring State B with corporate widget monopoly X. Corporation X lobbies State B to wreck the widget industry in region A. State B subsidizes widget exports to region A. People in region A say "Cheap widgets!" They buy the subsidized imports, and widget factories in region A close. Corporation X says "HAHAHAHA!!! We have a monopoly now!" Corporation X now charges monopolistic prices in region A. Here is the key step. THE WIDGET FACTORIES IN REGION A NOW REOPEN! Corporation X and State B accomplished nothing. Region A has a free market, and there are no artificial barriers preventing people from starting a widget factory.

Only in a non-free market does it pay to use State subsidies to bankrupt your competitors. Once your competition is eliminated, State restriction of the market prevents new competitors from forming. "Abusive" business practices only make sense in the context of a non-free market. In a free market, anyone trying abusive behavior is merely squandering their wealth.

This actually happened, back when the USA had a freer market. There was a European bromide cartel. They tried to export cheap bromide to the USA, to bankrupt the USA bromide manufacturing industry. The bromide factory in the USA stopped operations. They bought the cheap bromide, repacked it and re-labeled it, and then sold bromide in Europe, undercutting the European cartel on price! The US bromide factory made a fortune, and the European monopoly lost a fortune! Of course, State regulations ban such rational economic behavior now.

"'Prisoner's Dilemma' is a valid basis for economic and political decisions" is an evil fnord. It is used to justify the actions of insiders. "Prisoner's Dilemma" is only a valid model for human behavior when artificial State restrictions prevent people from acting rationally outside the constraints of the game. "Prisoner's Dilemma" is an interesting abstract exercise, but it is an invalid model for real-world behavior in a true free market.

Pillars of Freedom

Someone asked me:

What are the pillars of freedom?

As far as I can tell, the pillars of free thinking are:

1. theoretical economic freedom - This involves recognizing the damaging effect of State restriction on the economy.
2. theoretical monetary freedom - This involves realizing the corrupt nature of the US monetary system.
3. theoretical political freedom - This involves realizing "Taxation is theft!" and "The State is completely immoral!"
4. religious freedom - This involves realizing that most mainstream religions are pro-State brainwashing. I'm more agnostic than atheist. I now identify most pro-State gods as a version of the God of Absolute Unopposable Evil. Is there a God of Absolute Unopposable Evil? He seems as real to me as the Evil God of the US Constitution, if not more so.
   
5. emotional freedom - This involves cracking your pro-State emotional brainwashing. It isn't enough to consciously realize "Taxation is theft!" There are many emotional/subconscious aspects of pro-State brainwashing. People are taught to suppress their emotions and desires, as part of their pro-State brainwashing. People are taught to not look out for their self-interest, instead relying on State agents (teachers, financial planners, psychiatrists/murderers, etc.). Unfortunately, cracking this aspect of pro-State brainwashing will cause you to have the symptoms of a panic/manic attack, and will lead to your involuntary hospitalization and murder by the psychiatry/murder industry.
   
6. interpersonal freedom - This involves hanging out with people who share your pro-freedom philosophy. This one is hard, because nearly everyone is thoroughly brainwashed as a pro-State troll. For this one, find the most openminded individuals you can and work on enlightening them.
7. actual freedom - This wraps it all together. Having achieved the first items on your list, you and your friends/trading partners can work towards building a true free market that decreases your dependency on a corrupt economic and political system. You can't make substantial progress on actual freedom until you've achieved all of the above.

I've mostly attained 1-5 on the above list, with emotional freedom being the hardest. There's also a positive feedback cycle. The more you obtain of one, the easier it is to acquire more of the others.

I'm working on interpersonal freedom, but it's very hard to meet other freedom-minded individuals. I need to find reasonably openminded people and educate them, rather than expecting to find someone who already understands the philosophy of genuine freedom (instead of pro-State troll fake freedom).

It's probably going to take at least a few more years for me to find some good friends who aren't pro-State trolls. I'm working on implementing practical agorism, but it will take time.

Sketch Comedy

I'm thinking of writing some "courtroom drama" comedy sketches.

Scene #1:
The plaintiff and judge superficially appear to be human. The corpse of "Mr. Truth" lies in the defendant's box.

Baliff: The plaintiff is charged with murdering Mr. Truth.
Judge: How do you plead?
Plaintiff: Guilty!
Judge: Good for you!
The judge shoots the corpse of "Mr. Truth".
Judge: Next case:
Baliff: The plaintiff is charged with murdering Mr. Truth.
Judge: How do you plead?
Plaintiff: Guilty!
Judge: Good for you!
The judge shoots the corpse of "Mr. Truth".
Judge: Next case:
Baliff: The plaintiff is charged with murdering Mr. Truth.
Judge: How do you plead?
Plaintiff: Guilty!
Judge: Good for you!
The judge shoots the corpse of "Mr. Truth".
Judge: Next case:
...
This scene repeats multiple "strongly inaccessible cardinal" times (one of them).

If I were a member of the US Secret Service in charge of the mental health industry, I'd change all anti-psychotic and anti-depressant drugs to placebo without telling anyone. If I were trying to do a State-licensed experiment, I'd do it in one unit first, make sure that almost all the staff are Good Evil people (high logical intelligence low emotional intelligence). However, I'd just do it if it were solely up to me.

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Scene #2:

Judge, plaintiff, and defendant are alive this time, with judge and plaintiff superficially human. The defendant "Mr. Truth" is played by John Oliver.

Bailiff: The plaintiff has a responsibility to murder the defendant.
Judge: How do you plead?
Plaintiff: Guilty!
Judge: Good for you! (shoots John Oliver who falls down).
John Oliver (dusts himself off and gets up): If I may
Judge (interrupting): Shut up! I'm not talking to you! (shoots John Oliver again).
John Oliver (dusts himself off and gets up): But
Judge (interrupting): Shut up, asshole! (shoots John Oliver again).
John Oliver (gets up, points at judge): Kill him.
(Judge is now played by a different actor)
Judge (interrupting): Shut up, asshole! (shoots John Oliver again).
John Oliver (gets up, points at judge): Kill him.
(Judge is now played by a different actor)
Judge (interrupting): Shut up, asshole! (shoots John Oliver again).
John Oliver (gets up, points at judge): Kill him.
(Judge is now played by a different actor)
(repeat a bunch of time)
Member of audience thinks to himself "Is it possible that something unusual is happening?"
A nuclear bomb destroys the city.
John Oliver walks off unscathed.

Illusions of Freedom

All branches of the State are merely a rubberstamp for the desires of insiders.

• The FDA provides the illusion of sound medicine.
• The SEC provides the illusion of fair stock markets.
• The Federal Reserve provides the illusion of fair money.
• The legal system provides the illusion of justice.
• Politicians provide the illusion that laws are fairly determined.
  
• The public school system provides the illusion of education.
• The mainstream media provides the illusion of honest critical debate.
• The "war on terrorism" provides the illusion of security.
• The "war on poverty" provides the illusion of solving poverty.
• The mental health system provides the illusion of medicine.
  

Let me know if I missed anything!

South Park Fnord

Some people get offended when I write silly posts. Consider this an experiment with standup comedy material.

Wednesday's South Park Documentary was interesting, regarding the recent arrival by the police to investigate the crime that occurred in this universe, but had some important factual errors.

First, the alien police have demi-godlike powers. However, the episode incorrectly portrays the first-tier alien police as smarter than the humans. The responsible individual is currently under investigation/prosecution/arrest/cleanup.

Due to corruption on the part of the alien police force, a higher branch of the alien police organization was called in to investigate the problem. It is unclear how high up the corruption actually goes.

Police are calling this the "Crime of an Eternity (most/all of them)". A film is in the works. The working title so far is "The Murder and/or Kidnapping of the God of Mathematics! Watch what happens when a universe/(everything that exists anywhere) is created without a God of Mathematics!". With most/all current universes currently working on investigating the crime, filming has not yet started. The actor playing the starring role depends on which version of fake or geniune reality you believe in, and which version you actually physically reside it.

BTW, if there's one competent Evil Good scientist working for the US government, and they have spy cameras installed in my house, they are all going batshit insane right now. They have one element working in their favor. Emotions are not accurately broadcast over wiretaps, telephones, television, and film.

The Expert Advice Fnord

That is one common evil fnord in our society. "The advice of an expert is better than that of a non-expert." For objective skills, like fixing plumbing or cooking food or writing software, you should trust the expert, especially since you can evaluate the end result. For "soft" professions, like financial planner, accounting, lawyer, psychiatrist, politician, journalist, professor/teacher, or economist, the advice of experts is usually wrong.

If a career has profits backed directly or indirectly by State violence or pro-State brainwashing, then its practitioners are likely to be incompetent or inefficient. If a career requires actual useful skills, without State violence assisting, then its practitioners are likely to be competent.

Before 1913, with the creation of the Federal Reserve credit monopoly, banking was a career that required high skills. After the creation of the Federal Reserve credit monopoly, banking was primarly based on connections instead of ability. With the final abandonment of the gold standard in 1971, the stage was set for the explosion of the derivatives market. Complicated derivative transactions allow the banksters to exploit negative real interest rates for maximum profit. This created a market for quantitative analysts, but they are fake experts and not true experts.

People are brainwashed to not trust their own judgement when it comes to accounting, so that insiders can leech via hidden fees and kickbacks.

People are brainwashed to not trust their judgement when it comes to the legal system, so that lawyers can profit. Lawyers intentionally set up the legal system to be complicated, so that you need a lawyer to navigate it. A well-educated individual might be better off defending themselves, when frivolously the victim of State violence. For example, a lawyer cannot present a "jury nullification" defense in court, but someone representing themselves can.

People are brainwashed to trust mental health "experts" like psychiatrists and therapists. This way, if people start to question their pro-State brainwashing, their therapist can correct their thinking. If that fails, the victim can be drugged into submission. Most people wouldn't question their psychiatrist/murderer like I did.

People are brainwashed to believe "politicians can write better laws than the average person". Otherwise, people would not obey the politician's arbitrary orders.

People are brainwashed to trust the mainstream media. If there were a massive fraud, then surely the mainstream media would expose it. The mainstream media is a captured regulator, acting for the interests of insiders rather than the average person.

There was one draconian proposed laws that was fortunately shouted down before it got anywhere. There was talk of State licensing requirements for bloggers. That would clamp down on the freedom of expression enabled by the Internet. Fortunately, in the USA there is enough of a sense of "freedom of the press" for that proposal to be quickly quashed. People living in China, or even in Europe, are not as lucky.

People are brainwashed to believe State-licensed economists. A PhD is a State-issued thinking license. People are condition to believe the lies of pro-State troll economists, who really are advocating for insiders to loot and pillage. Most economists/Communists are believable liars, because they sincerely believe their own nonsense!

People are conditioned to respect State-licensed thinkers instead of their own judgement.

People are brainwashed to trust their accountant. The way the tax code works, even if your accountant makes a mistake, you still can be personally liable. People are trained to be afraid of arithmetic, lest they understand finance and be able to think for themselves.

The scam requires massive brainwashing to keep it going. People must be conditioned to not trust their own judgement. This way, people will always be seeking the advice of experts, and the experts can make a profit in the process. There's a big difference between "I need a plumber", who has specific technical knowledge and "I need a psychiatrist", who is actually a fraud. People assume that if psychiatrists were frauds, then the State would stop the abuse. The State acts for the interests of insiders and not the average person.

People with the "abused productive worker" personality type are continually controlled by the parasites around them. They have no confidence in their own judgement. The parasites encourage such an attitude in the productive workers, so they can better exploit them.

Blindly trusting experts, people are conditioned to ignore the obvious abuses around them.

Karl Marx the Free Market Advocate

One of my favorite stories about Karl Marx is that he participated in a tax resistance movement. He was prosecuted for treason. He represented himself sui juris, explained to the jury the immoral nature of taxes, and was acquitted.

I consider Karl Marx to be a great free market thinker. When you consider the Labor Theory of Value as the Free Market Labor Arbitrage Process, it makes sense. Capital is entitled to its fair return, but the biggest component of cost in most products is labor.

The Communist Manifesto describes how to achieve a global free market. There were three stages to achieving a global free market.

1. In the late 19th century, there still was a State. People in the USA had a certain degree of freedom, but the presence of the State meant the market was not really free.
2. Then, the State seizes control of the means of production. This was achieved in the early 20th century.
3. Finally, the State dissolves itself and a free market is achieved. This is the next transition that is about to occur. Instead of gradually shrinking and disappearing (as Marx described), what will actually occur is the State grows larger and larger until it collapses under its own inefficiency and incompetence.
   

Viewed this way, the Communist Manifesto is a document that describes how to achieve a global free market. The Labor Theory of Value and Communist Manifesto are frequently misquoted as advocating for non-free markets.

Karl Marx is dead, so I can't ask him what he really meant. He would probably have found agorism interesting. There was one bit that Karl Marx could not have predicted. The invention of computers and the Internet broke the State mainstream media information monopoly.

The Parasites' Union

This summary is not available. Please click here to view the post.

Income Tax Fnord

With my parents, I was helping my grandmother prepare her income taxes. I don't bother explaining "Taxation is theft!" to them. My parents and grandmother are retired, so they only have on-the-books income.

We spent two hours arguing about the proper way to staple your return. My parents and grandmother were overly paranoid. "OMFG! If we staple it wrong, the State will assault us! (charge a fine or deny a refund)"

Overly complicated taxation rules are part of the State brainwashing ritual.

There's the obvious explanation "Overly complicated tax rules are a job creation program for accountants."

There's also a deeper explanation. Overly complicated tax rules provide an illusion of importance and magnificence to the tax process.

Complicated tax rules are an evil fnord distracting people from "Taxation is theft!" People are concerned with jumping through the hoops, rather than recognizing the corrupt nature of the taxation process.

---

Another fnord regarding income taxes is the phrase "Pay your taxes!" The phrase "your taxes" is an evil fnord. It implies that taxes are something that's a personal obligation I have.

It's more accurate to say "Pay the government's taxes!" or "Pay your tribute!" I get offended whenever I hear the phrase "your taxes", because that implies that they belong to me or I consented to them.

Even though I know "Taxation is theft!", all my current income is State-reported income. I have no choice but to pay tax on it. I'm not going to resist paying taxes on income that's automatically reported to the State, because that's silly and counterproductive. I have enough on-the-books savings that the State/IRS would merely take them.

Planet of the Apes - A Documentary

Sometimes, popular movies are popular because they contain an important fnord. I saw a bit on Robot Chicken parodying "Planet of the Apes", and I realized that movie contains an important fnord.

In "Planet of the Apes", the plot is that due to some type of scientific accident, apes evolved from humans. The presumption is that the apes are a lower form of life than humans. The humans in the movie have lost their ability to speak or think logically.

This is exactly what has happened in the present. Due to massive pro-State brainwashing, humans have actual intelligence far less than their natural intelligence.

In the present, most humans lack the ability to speak. Most humans can't have ideas that contradict their pro-State brainwashing. Most humans can't properly express their emotions. Humans have "negatively evolved" as badly as that movie/documentary indicates.

Humans have "messed up" their civilization as badly as the movie "Planet of the Apes" indicates. Due to massive pro-State brainwashing, most humans' actual intelligence is far lower than their natural intelligence.

Reader Mail #95

This article, via Hacker News, was interesting, offensive, and scary.

The author is a graphic design artist. Someone copied his art, and re-sold it to a clip art website. The clip art website then hired a lawyer to demand tribute from the artist. The artist refused, because the art was originally his.

The lawyer demanded $18k in tribute. The artist refused.

Then, the lawyer went around threatening all of that artist's clients! They told them that the author was guilty of copyright infringement. If they continued to use that graphic artist, then they would also be the victim of a copyright infringement lawsuit.

Fearing the wrath of the State, the clients fired the graphic artist.

Intellectual property is not a valid form of property.

The comments were stupid. Someone said "Hire a lawyer!" The terrorist only demanded $18k in tribute. If he hires his own lawyer, the bill will be $18k or more! Even if he's victorious in his lawsuit, he doesn't recover his legal expenses.

It isn't illegal for a lawyer to go around threatening people.

For example, another site could republish the content from my blog, and then sue me for copyright violation. It'd be my word against theirs.

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This post, via Hacker News, was an example of amazing stupidity. Zecco is an online brokerage. As an April Fool's Day prank, they posted false balances in people's accounts. People made trades based on the phony balance, and Zecco executed the order.

For example, suppose you had $10k in your account. You were given a phony balance of $1M. You then execute a $100k trade. Later, Zecco was forced to sell your shares. If you sold for a loss, you paid for it out of the $10k you already had in your account.

Later, someone said it was a bug and not an April Fool's Day prank.

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This post, via Hacker News, was interesting. A lot of your DNA is junk that actually isn't used. Does it serve a purpose? The answer is "yes". The "junk DNA" allows mutations to occur. If you had zero junk DNA, then every mutation would probably be fatal.

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This post, via Hacker News, was interesting. Copies of the soon-to-be-released "Wolverine" X-Men movie are already circulating on the Internet. A columnist reviewed the movie before release, basing his review on the Internet copy. (I don't use the word "pirated", because that presumes that intellectual property is a valid form of property.)

Allegedly, the News corporation then fired that columnist. They may have since backtracked.

My conclusions are clear. Intellectual property is not a valid form of property. The mainstream media naturally spends a lot of effort/propaganda on that issue. If I had a contract with a mainstream media outlet, I would probably not have freedom to express my viewpoint.

Someone who released a copy of a movie to the Internet before release is doing something wrong. They have a contract with their employer who developed the movie. A business has the right to make its employees agree "I won't disclose the movie's contents before release." Similarly, a movie theater could have precautions so a staff member or audience member doesn't steal a copy of the movie.

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This story, via no third solution (and many other sources) is very disturbing.

A father, mother, and son were killed in a fire. The police arrived before the fire department. Neighbors wanted to go into the building to try to save the dying family. Police prevented them from entering. The police insisted that no action be taken until the State-licensed firemen arrived.

This was in the UK, but it could have happened anywhere.

The police don't have a positive obligation to protect you. The fire department didn't arrive in time to save the dying family. That's just too bad.

It's possible that it really was too risky to enter the burning building to try and save the victims. I cannot judge from the information available. It is offensive the the police just stood there and forcibly prevented neighbors from helping. It's embarrassing that the non-police were braver than the police, when it came to risking your life to save someone.

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This article was disturbing, although I already knew about this issue. Pharmaceutical company sales reps give a lot of perks to doctors. Sales reps spend a lot of time lobbying doctors to prescribe their drugs.

This article was specifically about antipsychotic drugs, but it applies to all prescription drugs. The abuse is particularly flagrant by psychiatrists.

Do you remember how in elementary school, if you sold so many bars of chocolate you got a bicycle? Similarly, doctors who prescribe a certain amount of drugs get kickbacks from sales reps. It can be trips or whatever.

This is obvious flagrant corruption.

Not emphasized in the article, is that sales reps encourage a doctor to prescribe a drug "off-label". Suppose the FDA approves a drug for X. The sales rep encourages the doctor to prescribe it for Y. Once a drug is on the market, the doctor can prescribe it for whatever he chooses.

Drug company executives consider doctors to be their true customers. The interests of the patients/victims who take the drugs are irrelevant.

The comments were interesting. Apparently, a lot of people have had negative experiences with anti-psychotic drugs. There was a surprising lack of pro-State trolling. Almost nobody defended the pharmaceutical industry.

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This article was very disturbing. Allegedly, Congress is about to pass a new law mandating mental health screening for all new mothers. It's a multiple choice test. If the mother fails the test, then she isn't allowed to take her child home from the hospital.

That's disturbing. The State can take your child away from you if you flunk a multiple choice test.

I liked the name of the law, "The Mother's Act". It's clever the way evil laws have innocent sounding names. What Congressman would vote against "The Mother's Act"? Most will be advised by their handlers to sign it without reading it.

The law is State welfare for the psychiatry/pharmaceutical/death industry. The new mothers who flunk the test will be forced to take anti-psychotic or anti-depressant drugs, if they want their child.

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I'm reading more blogs by standup comedians. I'm noticing a "wage slave" mentality. The attitude seems to be "I need to convince some comedy club to book me as a guest. The only way this can happen is if they bump a comic in their current rotation or if someone dies. Therefore, it's very hard to advance your career." Allegedly, some of the top amateur comics are better than the pros. That wouldn't surprise you. Once you have a nightclub booking you regularly as a guest, then they normally won't drop you.

If I attempted standup comedy, it'd be a way to also promote my blog and agorist businesses. I'd consider a performance successful if I gained a new regular reader for my blog. Also, I'd directly self-publish stuff on the Internet, rather than be a loser waiting for some comedy club owner to book me as a guest.

It's a different attitude between "Find some comedy club willing to book me as a guest." vs. "Start my own business." The former is a wage slave attitude. The latter is thinking like a small business owner. I probably could find a bottom-tier comedy club willing to rent me space on an off-night (Tuesday or Wednesday) for cheap/free. Taping the performance and putting it on the Internet seems like a good approach.

I agree with the people who say "For a starting standup comedian, stage time is all that matters." For this reason, renting space from a club and performing, if only for an audience of 5-10, seems desirable. If I'm really successful, buying my own theater or nightclub seems like a good idea. The only problem is the hassle of State licensing requirements. I wonder if "agorist nightclub" is a viable business?

I read that "open mike" nights can be somewhat lame, because all the audience members are also there just for their 5 minute bit. For the ideas I'm presenting, a 5 minute time limit seems like just barely enough time to say "Taxation is theft! The State is evil!"

It also seems that it take 5+ years to get enough reputation before standup comedy is viable as a job. If that's true, there's no harm for me to wait another couple of months before starting.

The key seems to be "Have other sources of income besides standup comedy, until it's doable as a full-time job."

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I'm noticing another weird pattern when attempting to meet women. Some women have an initial subconscious reaction of "OMFG!! FSK is interesting!! He isn't a brainwashed idiot like everyone else!!" Then, they realize "Men I'm attracted to usually hurt me. Therefore, FSK is evil."

This comes from the parasite/productive problem. If you have the productive personality type, then the people you're normally attracted to have the parasitic personality type.

I'm also noticing weird reactions from certain children. They seem to be thinking "OMFG!! That's an adult that isn't a totally brainwashed idiot!"

I noticed that multiracial women tend to have the "abused productive" personality type. That makes sense. Parasites naturally discriminate against them because they look different.

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I realized another key argument against polygmay. If I'm married to someone, we can exchange property without it being a taxable transaction. If a group of 20-50 people had a polygamous marriage, then all economic transactions among them wouldn't be taxable.

Is that the reason the bad guys crack down so hard on people who choose communal living? The bad guys leech less of your labor if you live in a commune, where most of your labor is untaxed?

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This comment thread on Hacker News had an interesting bit I hadn't heard before.

Yes, his entire family was rich and his parents were well connected (when most people tell the story they leave out "Bill Gates got the call from IBM because his mother was on their board")

I hadn't heard that one before. Bill Gates' mother was on IBM's board when he got the lucrative contract with IBM!

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This post, via Hacker News, illustrates why the State is evil. The FBI raided a datacenter. The FBI seized every server at the datacenter, and not merely those related to the crime.

Some honest businesses had their service interrupted.

The FBI has no obligation to reimburse those businesses for the time and money lost. The FBI doesn't have an obligation to give the customers access to their stolen data.

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This article, via Hacker News, was interesting. Recently, there was a mainstream media scare over "OMFG!! Our electricity computers are insecure!! Terrorists could hack in!!"

That article claims that the hype is a PR campaign. Congress is about to pass a law increasing the amount of regulation of the electricity industry.

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I liked this article, via Hacker News. Is Google's CEO Eric Schmidt a brilliant leader? Or, did he merely happen to be in the right place at the right time?

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This article, via Hacker News, was interesting. If you're a "good student", then you're also a "good wage slave". This skill is uncorrelated with that of a business founder.

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Via AdBrite, I noticed this TechCrunch story as a CPC ad. It was surprisingly relevant. AdBrite is non-contextual.

In Apple's iPhone store, there was a recent TOS change. Suppose an app is sold for $10. Apple gets $3 and the app developer gets $7. Suppose the customer asks for a refund. The developer gets dinged for $10. Apple keeps its $3 cut. Really, the developer should be charged only $7 and Apple should give up its $3 commission.

A developer loses money whenever someone buys an application and later returns it. This is exploitable. Someone could buy an app, and then demand a refund, just to **** over the developer.

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This thread on mises.org was interesting. Someone took a long-term employment contract with the State, and then discovered that the State is evil. Someone else realized that the State is evil while signed up as a soldier in Iraq.

Under such circumstances, you should do the best you can, while trying to pursue alternatives.

If you're a soldier serving in Baghdad, here's a good strategy for getting out. Go around to the other soldiers explaining that government is a massive criminal conspiracy. Explain to them that taxation is really the same thing as stealing. Explain to them how war is just a way for insiders to loot and pillage the American people. For example, Blackwater executives are making a fortune off the war, while front-line soldiers are risking their lives for practically nothing.

Your superiors will probably be more eager to discharge you, rather than having you go around spreading the truth. This strategy is risky. If you're clever about it, it should work.

Also, if a military psychiatrist ever prescribes you anti-psychotic or anti-depressant drugs, refuse to take them.

I read that, if you train a dog and then subject it to extreme stress, then it forgets its training. Similarly, soldiers are exposed to extreme stress. This sets them on the path to cracking their pro-State brainwashing. However, they are usually prescribed anti-psychotic or anti-depressant drugs that prevent them from achieving enlightenment.

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By E-Mail, someone said that he was working at a call center. His managers were idiots. There was recently a merger.

There are a couple of points to make.

In a wage slave corporate environment, most middle managers are looking to protect their turf and their job. They really aren't interested in improvements. If a middle manager takes a risk, and is wrong, then he loses his job. If he takes a risk and is right, there's negligible reward. This is the Agent-Principal problem.

A middle manager is not the same as an owner. You're thinking like an owner would, which is wrong, because you're just cattle.

In a call center, your job is to follow the script. If you deviate, you're just not doing your job correctly (according to your bosses). This sucks if the customer's problem isn't handled by the script.

Call centers evaluate their employees based solely on "time per call" or other stupid metrics. Whether you actually solve the customer's problem is irrelevant. These stupid metrics lead to lousy customer service.

If there's a merger, you should be wary, even if your employer is the acquirer. You job may be outsourced to another country. If call center employees are merely slaves, then why not outsource it to the cheapest possible labor?

Most employers don't say "We're looking for a mindless drone who unquestioningly obeys stupid orders." In practice, that's what occurs.

Also be aware that people with the parasitic personality type are more likely to get promoted to middle manager. The presumption is that a productive worker must always be managed by a parasite.

In a true free market, an employer would value an employee who thinks independently. The truth is that you're a wage slave. It's unfortunate.

The correct attitude is "find another job" instead of hoping those losers will improve. Given the current state of the economy, that is difficult.

You should focus on learning other things. I'm finding that hard. So far, I'm only making $0.50 per day from blogging via AdBrite. I'm looking to move on to other things eventually. It takes time.

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Greg has left a new comment on your post "Another Parasite Control Trick":

I've said this before and I'll say it again. I think you are looking at making money from blogging the wrong way.

Why do people keep giving me a hard time about this issue?

My #1 blogging goal is not "profit". My primary goals from blogging are:

1. Writing down my ideas is beneficial, even if I have no readers. I benefit from my blog because it helps me clarify my thoughts.
2. Getting feedback from readers is useful. I get some sincere and helpful comments. Some comments are hostile/stupid/pro-State trolling.
3. Identifying stupid ideas as stupid is a useful skill. This point keeps resurfacing. It isn't immoral for me to say "Your idea is stupid!" if it actually is stupid. I disagree with that "Truth is relative!" nonsense. Pro-State trolls say "All ideas should be respected, including stupid ones." This attitude means that people cannot distinguish between good ideas and stupid ideas.
4. I'm promoting agorism, true free markets, and proper thinking. The quality of writing elsewhere is increasing. It's hard to determine how much of that is due to my efforts.
5. I'm planning to expand from blogging to other things. Just because I haven't done so yet, doesn't mean I never will. It takes time to get things started.
6. If I have a decent pool of regular readers, then that's potential seed customers for my other business ideas.

I noticed that I could make $0.50-$1 per day via ads. My blogging income goal now is "Earn $20/month, so I can get off Blogger and purchase a Linode." I'm not on pace for that so far in April.

For the most part blogs that make the most money do not make money from "regular readers."

I am a statistical outlier, in terms of ability. I should do what I think is best, and not follow "conventional wisdom". According to Google Analytics, "regular returning readers" has grown at approximately the same rate as "total traffic".

Social traffic and regular readers are worthless from a financial standpoint. They make it from natural search traffic- people who are looking for the product or information you offer and are looking to click on an ad or buy an affiliate product from your link,etc. The exception is someone with a following who regularly pimps crap to their readership or "list." Like "make Money Online" bloggers who try to sell "make money tools" to their readers. People who really make money don't make money from talking about making money ( except for the few "guru" scammer types). They make money by marketing actual services or products people look for.

I'm not following your approach, which is "Make a bunch of sites each targeting one search keyword/phrase." I'm interested in building one quality site, rather than a bunch of mediocre ones.

I'm not using violence to prevent you from following your approach. I'm just saying it isn't what I want to do.

Most people who make money online do not do it through blogging. I don't know why people are obsessed with making money from blogs.

I would be blogging anyway for free. If I can get $0.50 per day from it, that's a bonus. I'm unemployed and the wage slave job market is horrible. I have nothing better to do.

I'm planning to also write some code and put it on my site, when I get my own domain. I plan to expand into other stuff. Until I start actual agorism, most of my ventures will be ad-supported.

You are thinking the right way in general- moving from wage slave to self-employment using the internet. But if you really want to make money there are a lot of easier ways to do it. I wouldn't say "easy" but someone with your level of intelligence should be able to figure it out If you can't perhaps you should partner with people who "get it" and need help with programming.

If someone wants to hire me as a software engineer and pay me the same after-tax rate as a wage slave job, I'd do it. It'd be hard for me to accept an agorist job while living with my parents.

In the meantime, I'll stick with my blogging approach. In the short-term, seeking a wage slave job is my best option for recovering my interpersonal freedom. My economic plan is:

1. Get a wage slave job.
2. Get my own apartment. My options are limited while living with my parents, because they are hostile to the idea of agorism. My parents say "FSK should not express his free market ideas in public! If you say these ideas publicly, jerks will conclude you are sick and involuntarily hospitalize you."
3. Start agorist businesses on the side. Work on getting more Blogging/web-based income. Attempt other experiences.
4. Get out of the wage slave track, either via agorism or via an on-the-books business.
   

I'm working on my blog in parallel with the above plan.

I understand you want to make money with agorism, but you can do that by actually DOING agorism, not necessarily " make money from agorism by talking about agorism."

I want to do actual agorism. Raising awareness is a prerequisite to starting an actual agorist business.

You probably want to make a living from doing something in line with that or at least something related that really interests you. I'm not saying you should become a porn affiliate or something ( though I make money with that type of stuff as well as more "mainstream" stuff), but there are many many ways to make money online and few have anything to do with building up a readership of a personal blog.

I'm planning to expand from blogging to other things. These things take time.

Also, I've made a lot more progress on cracking my pro-State brainwashing recently. It's one thing to realize "Taxation is theft!" It's another thing to start noticing how most/all people are really badly intellectually and emotionally crippled. Previously, when I started noticing that, I had another panic/manic attack. Now, my reaction is "Oh, that again! I guess that is real and I wasn't just imagining it!" I'm feeling increased awareness and energy, but no panicking.

When I say "Everyone is really badly crippled, emotionally and intellectually!", I mean it in a severe sense. It's astonishing how bad it is, now that I can see it. Most people learn to filter that out, because otherwise it'd be too disturbing.

I really have no skills. I went to college on and off for like 12 years and never had a job that paid more than single digits per hour with no benefits. I can't work a wage slave job because of my "mental illness". I don't actually have a choice. But I know how to think and how to do simple things that make money. It frustrates me when I see people who have skills ( especially programming since that's what I thought I would do)and seem completely clueless or at least don't listen to reason or have the curiosity to challenge their positions.

Remember that the "chemical imbalance" theory of mental illness is nonsense.

I'm having trouble with wage slave jobs. I don't get along well with the parasitic personality type. In most/all businesses, at least one of the people have the parasitic personality type.

I'm working on challenging myself more. Blogging is pretty good intellectual exercise. I agree that I'm being a bit of a bum regarding writing my own code to put on my future website.

To me it's like you decided one day " I want to make money from an agorist blog" without really considering how you would make money and whether a blog is the way to do it, but you are stuck in your ways. When there are many people who have rejected wage-slavery and manage to make money out of the system and the methods/opportunities are WIDE OPEN.

I never said that I'd ruled out other business opportunities besides blogging. Blogging is my current idea. It isn't my last one. I'm spending disproportionately too much time on blogging right now. That will change eventually.

Most small businesses take time. It's much more realistic to get 5%-10% monthly customer growth, than expect to be an immediate smash success.

It's going to take a couple of years for my other ideas to get into practice. In the meantime, I'm still seeking a regular wage slave job. It only takes one potential employer with a clue for me to find a job. Right now, the economy is so bad that I'm not even getting any interviews. When I was looking in October, I was getting 3+ interviews per week.

My attitude is "I'm blogging anyway, so why not also earn some money?!" rather than "Blog specifically for money!" If I do have ads, I should optimize them. Just like I track my Google Analytics stats, now I track my ad earnings statistics.

Why do people get so hostile when I do something other than they suggest? It's one thing to offer advice. It's another thing to be overly insistent when I make a choice other than your recommendation. I explained my reasons, and I don't see any flaws in my argument.

I'm focusing on making one high-quality site, rather than a bunch of mediocre ones. You're free to do as you please. I'm not using violence to prevent you from doing what you want.

In order to expand outside of blogging to practical agorism, I need some in-person friends who aren't pro-State trolls. I'm working on that.

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J. Nick Puglia has left a new comment on your post "Rioting Fnord":

Well, it's a lot more fun than voting and it has led to positive change in the past.

I agree that it is not the best way, though.

I disagree with "Meaningful change can come from rioting and protesting."

It only matters for superficial issues of no real importance. Rioting and protesting makes people feel better, but accomplishes nothing.

Riots and protests are recognized by the State, because they don't accomplish anything. Agorism is never mentioned in the mainstream media, because it would be effective.

fritz has left a new comment on your post "Rioting Fnord":

Your right, a riot salves nothing and only identifies the people who want to cause trouble.

But imagine this, first the bad guys plant spies to provoke the riot to become hostile. Than the police come to apply violence towards the riot.

But the organizers of the riot know this and have placed counter forces in position to resist police violence. Once the bad guys begin their work of violence they are crushed by the counter forces.

It would be like custard and the little big horn all over again. The protesters could make the police "Eat grass"..

But we all know what happened to the American Indian in the end

Your anecdote is silly. Suppose you had enough trained and armed troops to defeat a para-military riot squad.

First, the bad guys would notice as you collected weapons and trained your troops.

Second, a lot of the nonviolent bystanders would get caught in the crossfire, if there were a conflict between police and armed/prepared protesters.

I don't waste time on riots and protests. It's like a slave petitioning his master to be less cruel.

Vinyl Banners has left a new comment on your post "Rioting Fnord":

I totally agree...there are other ways to voice out opinions which could lessen the possibility of violence.
Nice post!

This comment looked like spam, because "Vinyl Banners" is a spam site. I published it anyway. At least the spammers are getting smarter at targeting their content.

For example, my blog is a form of nonviolent resistance that's more effective than a protest or riot.

When I was in graduate school, I joined the grad students' union and participated in one of their rallies. I asked someone "Does this really accomplish anything?" The response was "No, but it makes us feel better." I prefer to do things that are effective, rather than something that merely "makes me feel better". Doing something obviously pointless actually makes me feel bad.

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Anonymous has left a new comment on your post "Reader Mail #94":

I didn't say you needed a partner, and if you'll look at it again, you quoted me saying not to get one if it would be a disaster. I didn't say anything about the ownership split.

I did say that having a partner is good for bouncing ideas off of, and getting feedback.

I've decided that I'm going to keep 100% ownership of any businesses I start. For an agorist business, nothing stops my employees from leaving and starting their own competing business, which makes ownership not worth as much as a State-licensed monopoly/oligopoly.

My parents can't support me in my agorist businesses, because they're totally brainwashed pro-State trolls. I definitely need some people to assist. The best approach is probably to get a serious girlfriend and help her crack her pro-State brainwashing. I feel that I've recovered enough to do this. Hopefully, it'll be easier to explain it to someone else, rather than figure it out by yourself the hard way. It's like saying "How do you factor a 1M digit number?" vs. "Verify that this is the correct factorization." Sharing my mental state with someone is like sharing the solution to an NP-hard problem, when I've already done the hard work.

Some good partners that might work are people with a different background or skillset who are friends. Call them an advisory board if you need to stroke their egos, but they don't need to be paid. I've had good success with this.

Free advice is useful when getting started, but should always be taken with a grain of salt. I won't have employees until my business is large enough to justify paying them.

I've started several businesses. I'm a software developer. All of my businesses have been %100 owned by me, except for the last one. This last one was much better because I do have a partner. (My partner is an agorist as well.) Its nice to have someone to collaborate with and keep us focused on the right things... but in the past I've used friends who I met with periodically as an advisory board, and the advantage of having a business partner over and advisory board is that that the advisors you can see maybe once a week but a partner is always there.

A bad partner is worse than no partner, though, of course.

That's a big problem. If I have a parasitic partner, I'll be doing 100% of the work and he'll be taking all the credit. Even if I have a productive person as a partner, I could wind up doing 75% of the work for 50% ownership. Once I make the other person legally half-owner, then I have to pay him a cut of the profits for as long as the business lasts.

You're very wrong when you say that expertise in C++/Windows is irrelevant because some employer might want something else.

There's a fnord in software hiring that you have to have experience with some particular technology in order to be able to do a job-- I once was told by a recruiter that because my Java software talked to an Oracle database that was version 8 of oracle that I wasn't qualified for a job writing Java software that talked to version 9 of Oracle. She actually said "They're looking for Oracle 9 experience."

You're missing the point. Maybe I didn't explain it well.

The real value of my experience, in any software environment, is very high. I could become expert-level in any software technology very rapidly. I also have the skill of understanding business requirements and looking through other people's lousy code.

The market value of my experience is practically zero. If a job requirement says "5 years Java", then I won't make it past the keyword filter. It's irrelevant that I could do the job better than most applicants.

What a parasite does is that he makes a separate resume for each job. If a job requirement says "5 years Java", then you make a separate version of your resume where you have 5 years of Java experience. Then, you make it past the keyword filter. I'm not playing that stupid game.

This is the equivilent of telling a truck driver that he can't be hired to drive a delivery pickup-truck because his previous job had him driving a toyota and the new job would have him driving a ford.

These people are clueless, and this is typical of HR.

In most businesses, the parasites are pulling the strings. Good software engineers don't normally make hiring decisions. There was a temporary anomaly in the .com boom.

DON'T let them infect your thinking.

I'm pretty good at defending my thinking from the manipulations of parasites.

My observation was "market value in a slave economy" and "real value" are different things. If I had 10+ years of Java, PHP, .NET, iPhone or whatever, I 'd have a much easier time finding a job. Most of the keywords on my resume are obsolete, and clueless HR/headhunters don't get it.

Programming is programming. I've been doing it for nearly 30 years, and what I learned in Basic and Fortran back in the day is relevant in C++ today.

Language is irrelevant to a programmer. Platform is irrelevant to a programmer. Even industry is irrelevant to a programmer. (I've worked in the financial industry, I've worked in games, they both require different math but its not relevant.)

I agree. That is not the way 99%+ of all job ads are written. Have you ever looked at them?

Web applications are not the only software that has market value. There' are packaged programs (Sucks on windows, though I have a friend who wrote a single piece of window software and makes a decent living on it)... on the Mac there are a lot of solo people who are making a decent living with an application or two. Where the real action is, though, is the iPhone. Apple provides the distribution under reasonable terms and the market is going like crazy. There's a bit of a gold rush mentality right now, but I expect after that shakes out it will be the best place to put software.

Web software is a good thing for me to approach. There's relatively low barriers to entry. For example, $20/month buys a Linode.

There appears to be a bubble in iPhone development. I love the ads on Craigslist that say "We want someone with 1 year iPhone experience. You must already have profitable apps in the Apple store." If that were true, then why would I want to work for you?

This is what me and my partner are doing.

Find the area where you can offer the best value. That is going to be programming. (its not going to be standup comedy-- you can't package and sell a standup routine, really.)

With standup, you're selling the tickets to performances. That's an experiment I'm probably going to perform. I'll invest a couple hours a month in it and see how it goes. The only way to be sure is to conduct an experiment. My performance certainly will be original! People with the productive personality type will probably love my performance. People with the parasitic personality type probably won't be able to stand it.

A software platform for homeschoolers to use is a great idea. Develop some privacy software for libertarian nuts like us, though that one is a difficult one from a business model perspective.

That's two things on my list of agorist projects. Start a homeschooling association; that'll probably wait until I have children. Start AgoristBay; that'll probably wait 1-2+ years.

Whatever, find what's unique about you, find a market that could really use a software solution that you can provide them, and make it.

I wasn't saying you should stop blogging, but that this blog is not likely to be a viable business. I wouldn't recommend duplicating the plentyoffish effort, or otherwise making a web based application, unless you do something like 37signals-- provide something people value and will pay for. Generally its harder to sell access to a web app than it is to sell packaged software.

It's on my list of things to try. I'm feeling more energetic lately, and am going to put more effort into personal projects.

Blogging is worth doing, even if the income is zero. Writing down my ideas and getting feedback is valuable, even if there's no immediate economic benefit.

The software business is the best one ever discovered-- because it costs you nothing for each individual sale... and really there isn't a lot of competition-- most programmers are worker bees who want a stable job and have little initiative.

That's one good thing about starting your own software business, even an on-the-books business. There's so many ways that a skilled worker can run rings around a wage slave.

I'm seriously considering on-the-books software businesses until I get my agorist businesses started.

The more I realize "The Matrix is a corrupt and evil mental State, and not just government!", the less priority I'm putting on actual agorism. Helping other people see the truth is a lot more important right now.

This means that even if there is competition in the area you want to go into, it is probably pretty poor. (and if its good, then look to see if there's a mac equivalent-- if there isn't you can make more money with a Mac app in a given market than with a windows app, for a variety of reasons, its a better platform for an indie developer.... and your users will love you because you're the only game in town.)

On the windows side of the isle, these kinds of one man shops are called "micro-ISVs" there's a lot of resources out there, and a so-so book on the subject.

You really can be a software company by yourself.

I'm going to try that. I'm going to try web-based and ad-supported initially. I'm going to use blogging revenue to reinvest in other things. I'm unemployed right now and have nothing better to do.

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Anonymous has left a new comment on your post "Is Autism an Illness?":

That came out a bit oversimplified, but I can see what you're trying to say and I agree.

Jennifer

I was planning to do a more detailed post on this. I've been falling behind on my blogging, especially "Reader Mail". I have more queued good drafts than posts, lately.

The key point is that an intelligent person notices that the people around him are giving contradictory emotional feedback. With "high functioning autism", you notice that everyone else is giving contradictory emotional feedback, and you learn to ignore emotional feedback. To compensate, you develop the "abused skilled productive worker" personality type.

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Anonymous has left a new comment on your post "Another Parasite Story":

Chain drug stores are pink market with a heavy red tinge and those who 'own' and run them are parasites at a level many orders of magnitude greater than the scamstress in your story. Without the Rockefeller/govt medical cartel/prescription drug scam and debt money (without which few chain stores would even exist -- the rule would be mom and pop), that monstrosity wouldn't be there. Your parasite is a remora on a very large shark. And shame on you for feeding the beast.

I disagree with "It's immoral for FSK to shop at an on-the-books corporate chain." Until the agorist economy is more sophisticated, it's the best option. Even a small drugstore supports its larger corporate competitors, via taxes and corporate welfare.

Sovereign has left a new comment on your post "Another Parasite Story":

I wont goes as far as to "shame on you," but I agree with anonymous.

At some level there is a "you're with us or you're against us" attitude I personally feel when it comes to businesses. If a business chooses the government subsidies, financial and/or land grants, etc from the government, or benefits from the fraudulent money creation process (commercial banks) I feel that people should resist them as much as they resist the state.

My opinion anyway.

It's reasonable to say "Supporting State businesses is evil!". It's irrelevant until there are viable agorist counter-economic alternatives. I'm going to utilize the State slave economy until alternatives are available.

I certainly have an "You're with me or against me!" attitude towards pro-State trolling!

Also, I was going to the store with my parents. I'm not going to be able to explain agorism to them. Once you're older than a certain age, it becomes very hard to unplug from the Matrix. I should focus on people my age or younger. Of course, anyone who finds my blog is free to read it.

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Anonymous has left a new comment on your post "Rioting Fnord":

"For this reason, a large peaceful protest is impossible. Violent spies planted among the protesters then discredit the underlying issue. There also are jerks who look for any excuse to misbehave, in addition to deliberately planted State spies."

Not always It depends on the issue and whether it dovetails with the elite agenda. No provocateurs at the Million Illegal Alien marches in 2006.

A peaceful protest is possible when it's an issue that's important to the State. There are lots of fake issues that distract attention from issues of real importance.

For an issue of real importance, a peaceful protest is pointless.

I'm not using violence to prevent people from attempting peaceful protests. I'm just pointing out that it's a waste of time. There are State police deliberately planted to escalate things. There also are parasites who would use any opportunity to disrupt a peaceful gathering.

There are people who would turn a peaceful protest violent because they're really that evil, even if they aren't explicitly on the government payroll.

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Kevin Carson has left a new comment on your post "Reader Mail #94":

I did check out Adbrite on your recommendation, as a matter of fact. It's not making me much money, though.

My page eCPM rates have dropped off substantially so far in April, compared to March. My site traffic has also dropped.

AdBrite seems like a viable alternative to AdSense. I may spend more time researching competing ad networks later, but I'm not going to invest any more time on it right now. AdBrite is "good enough". I'm better off focusing on writing good posts.

Recall that my goal from AdBrite is "earn enough to get my own domain and buy hosting". I want to switch from Blogger to self-hosted WordPress. I also am considering putting other software on my site besides my blog.

One nice thing about having 100-200 regular blog readers is that'll be a good "seed userbase" for any online forum/wiki/Digg/reddit engine I write.

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Db0 (http://dbzer0.com/) has left a new comment on your post "Reader Mail #94":

I consider it proven that "Private property is legitimate." If you believe "Property is theft!", then you're an idiot.

Whatever you consider proven is irrelevant. Calling others idiots because you can't argue your position sayd more about you than everyone else.

I've already covered "There's Nothing Wrong With Private Property".

Suppose that there's no private property. What incentive is there for me to build a house, if someone else can merely claim it? What incentive is there fore me to plant crops, if someone else can claim them?

Without private property, there's no incentive to work.

I'm not saying "Db0 is an idiot". I'm saying "Property is theft is a stupid idea." Your stubborn insistence is making me seriously consider "Db0 is an idiot."

I have not seen any convincing arguments to support "Property is theft!" In the present, most/all property ownership claims are not legitimate. Almost all property is stolen property. In the present, all land is technically owned by the State. That is not the same as saying that private property is inherently evil.

One of the main reasons that the USA is more successful economically than other countries is that the US government respects private property more than other countries.

"Property is theft" is an intellectual trap that many pro-State anarchists fall into. That argument confuses "In the present, most/all property is stolen!" with "Private property is intrinsically evil!"

As another example, my blog is my personal property. Do you have the right to demand I give you my login and Blogger account?

It is possible to enforce private property claims in a true free market. Defending property from invasion is cheaper than mounting an invasion.

Bollocks! Please explain how it would be less costly to defend your factory from takeover by its workers. How about if you have 10 factories.

Any sensible free market court would rule against workers who tried to violently seize the factory they worked in.

In a real free market, the correct answer for disgruntled workers is to build their own competing factory. In a real free market, there is easy access to capital and you don't have large corporate monopolies/oligopolies.

If someone tried to buy a monopoly of land, all they would really accomplish is driving up the price of land. It wouldn't be profitable.

Of course it would. Furthermore one does not need a monopoly of land in order to try and get it as rent is always profitable. Not to mention that most of the time land is sold because one is in a difficult situation, which makes the price drop.

A truly free market is not compatible with private property for the acculumation of it restricts the markets.

Monopolies don't occur in a free market. In the present, it pays to monopolize land via the Federal Reserve interest rate subsidy. Real interest rates are negative. This provides an incentive to borrow as much as you can and buy as much land as you can. The most favorable interest rates are only available to insiders.

You haven't convinced me "Property is theft!" You also haven't convinced me "Db0 is not an idiot.", although your blog has some interesting bits. If you don't like my assessment, you're free to stop reading or commenting.

It isn't immoral to call out stupid ideas as stupid. If nobody ever calls out stupid ideas, then stupid ideas propagate uninterrupted.

Parasites have conditioned people to believe that it's immoral to call out stupid ideas. That prevents people from saying "Hey! That guy is a parasite!"

Somali Pirates Fnord

I noticed some interesting evil fnords regarding the Somali pirate incident, and accompanying mainstream media hype.

It's wrong to violently seize trading ships. It's morally acceptable to hire police to patrol the waters. However, it's immoral to impose the cost on me via taxes. The cost of police should be paid by the shipping companies, added on to the price, rather than paid by the State.

Also notice that if the State does a bad job preventing piracy, that's just too bad. You have no choice but to purchase police and defense from the State.

It's nice that the US military was able to recover the captain who was held prisoner by the pirates. Free market police might have successfully prevented the incident in the first place. You'll never know, via the "seen vs. unseen" fallacy. The US military did a competent job of recovering the prisoner. They don't get blamed for allowing the incident to occur in the first place. The US military has no positive obligation to protect you, although they do the best they can.

The Somali pirates have been a problem for many years. The mainstream media is introducing and hyping them as a new and powerful enemy.

This way, Obama can end the war in Iraq while simultaneously starting another war! Obama can pull troops out of Iraq, and deploy them to combat the Somalia piracy problem!

There was change! We're at war with Somali pirates now! That's the big issue! This is a new enemy! Who cares about Iraq and Afghanistan?