The CPI is a commonly cited statistic. However, there's no public discourse about how it's actually calculated. I tried to find *THE EXACT CPI FORMULA*, and was unsuccessful.
There's a political incentive for the CPI to understate true inflation. For a better measure of inflation, look at M2, M3 (no longer published), or the price of gold.
If you believe "The CPI is an accurate measure of inflation!", then you're an idiot who believes all the pro-State propaganda you hear.
The CPI is reweighted quarterly or annually. (I'm not sure.) The weights are chosen in a manner to bias inflation downward. Things that rapidly rose in price are given less weight. Things that rise in price slowly are given more weight.
The weights are selected retrospectively. In January 2008, the bureaucrats who calculate CPI don't say "These will be the weights for 2008!" In January 2009, they look back at price data for 2008, and *THEN* choose the weights.
I couldn't find any public disclosure of the weights when I looked.
Also, CPI is calculated via a geometric mean instead of an arithmetic mean. If you know Math, then you'll know that the geometric mean is less than the arithmetic mean.
For example, the arithmetic mean of {1, 3, 9} is (1+3+9) / 3 = 4.33. The geometric mean is (cube root(1*3*9)) = 3. In this example, the arithmetic mean was 44% more than the geometric mean. The more dispersal in the data, the greater the discrepancy between arithmetic mean and geometric mean.
Money supply inflation does not lead to uniform price inflation. These tricks allow the CPI to understate true inflation.
For example, in one year, inflation might be high in California but low in New York. The next year, inflation might be high in New York but low in California. The geometric mean, plus reweighting, makes the CPI less than true inflation.
As another example, suppose chicken rises in price while the price of beef is flat in 2007. In 2008, the price of beef rises rapidly while the price of chicken is flat. In 2007, the weight of beef is increased. In 2008, the weight of chicken is increased. The weights are chosen after the previous year price data is disclosed, making the result biased.
The CPI is pure propaganda and should not be taken seriously. If you want a better measure of inflation, look at M2 or M3 or the price of gold.
These two webpages are a good source for historic gold prices.
Another measure is M2. The Federal Reserve publishes M2 statistics.
This page has "reconstructed M3". The Federal Reserve stopped publishing M3 a few years ago, so they could cover up how bad inflation actually is.
Anybody who says "The CPI is a fair and unbiased measure of inflation!" is pro-State trolling.
Sunday, May 31, 2009
How is the CPI Calculated?
Saturday, May 30, 2009
Attention Deficit Order Explained
My parents said something interesting. They said "FSK, you look like you have attention deficit disorder. You don't pay attention when we talk."
My parents say the same nonsense over and over again. They never say anything interesting. I sometimes say "If you want me to listen, then say something interesting." That just offends them and accomplishes nothing.
That's an interesting observation. State authority figures assume that the audience has an obligation to listen. The authority figure does not have to say anything actually interesting.
There are many examples:
- In school, the student has an obligation to pay attention or pretend to pay attention. The teacher has no obligation to be interesting.
- In a meeting at work, the wage slave must listen to their boss. The boss has no obligation to make the meeting useful. In my experience, most meetings are a waste of time.
- When a politician speaks, the audience is expected to be really interested. If you would heckle a politician when he speaks, you don't get invited to the meeting or police violently escort you out.
Besides, it'd be depressing to notice that your audience isn't listening! State-licensed authority figures learn to ignore their audience when they speak, because they don't want to know that they're wasting people's time!
In school, the smartest students are the ones who most rapidly realize "School is boring! School is a waste of time!" They don't explicitly say it like I do, because none of the adults around them would seriously consider the possibility that school is designed to crush the child's independent spirit.
The smartest students are then diagnosed as having "attention deficit disorder". In reality, these are the most alert students, because they're the ones who recognized that school is pointless. These students are then drugged into submission.
A psychiatrist doesn't have the intellectual capacity to say "Maybe the school system is defective!" Only the most intelligent students become aware of the scam. These students are then labeled as defective. They are given drugs that dull their senses, and prevent them from noticing "School is boring!"
I once read someone who said "C students are smarter than A students. If you get Cs, you figured out how to do just enough work to get by. An A student is spending a lot of wasted effort." I viewed school as an interesting abstract exercise. At the time, I had nothing better to do. Plus, I was brainwashed to believe "If you study and learn, you will get what you want." That turned out to be a lie. Paradoxically, learning as much as I can made me see the evils of the State and government and the Matrix. In that sense, the lie became true. I still haven't turned my greater knowledge and ability into practical benefits for myself, but I feel I'll accomplish that soon.
When I was in school, I viewed subjects like history as a memorization contest. Taking the approach "This is a memorization contest!", it was a somewhat interesting exercise. Subjects like Math were genuinely interesting. In retrospect, it would have been nice to learn Math 3x faster as it actually occurred. I viewed it as a game. I didn't realize it was a massive scam. I didn't have anything else to do! I guess I'm lucky in that sense, that I didn't achieve awareness until much later.
I wonder if it's safe for me to send my children to a slave school? I may not have the resources to afford homeschooling. If I warn my children about the nature of the scam, then they may view it as an interesting exercise. On the other hand, it'd be cruel to make them waste so much time.
Friday, May 29, 2009
Obama Nominated Someone for the Supreme Court
There's been a lot of mainstream media coverage regarding Obama's Supreme Court nomination. As usual, it's pure propaganda.
One interesting fnord is "The nominee said something controversial once." The nominee was videotaped saying "An appeals court makes laws!" and that was cited as evidence she is unqualified. Actually, the Supreme Court and Federal appeals court do make new laws! For example, in Roe vs. Wade, the Supreme Court said "Individual state governments do not have the power to decide if abortion is legal in that state or not. The Federal government's jurisdiction takes priority." In this manner, the Supreme Court makes new laws. As another example, in the late 19th century, the Supreme Court legalized limited liability incorporation.
State police/bureaucrats/enforcers obey the decisions of the Supreme Court without questioning them. In this manner, the Supreme Court has the power to make new laws.
Most of the time, the Supreme Court does not review decisions made by appeals courts. Appeals court decisions then have the full force of law within this district. If inconsistencies between districts become too severe, then the Supreme Court will make a clarification. Otherwise, judges and lawyers in one district will cite decisions made in another district. For example, there are rules and procedures for criminal trials regarding biased jury selection; these laws were made by appeals courts. Most of the rules and procedures for "tax resister/protester" trials were made by appeals courts. Most of the little decisions that erode individual freedom in court were made by appeals courts, and then cited elsewhere. The Supreme Court does not say "Trial by jury is eliminated!", but by restricting jury selection rules and by forbidding defense attorneys from mentioning jury nullification, trial by jury is severely restricted; most of these decisions were made by appeals courts and later approved or refined by the Supreme Court.
Citing 30 seconds of videotape as evidence someone is unqualified is an evil fnord. She probably was videotaped for 1000+ hours over her career. By highlighting the 30 worst seconds, it creates an exaggerated impression that she is unqualified. In this example, the criticism seems weak, making it almost like an endorsement. By having a weak criticism overhyped, that makes the nominee seem qualified.
For example, if you evaluated me based on 2 minutes while I had a panic attack, a State psychiatrist might conclude that I need to be forcibly drugged for the rest of my life. Evaluating me based on the worst I was ever feeling is wrong. I'm fine 99%+ of the time.
Another fnord is "Obama nominated a female and minority to the Supreme Court. Therefore, the legal system is fair." The nominee is still a pro-State troll, just like all the other judges.
The biggest fnord regarding a Supreme Court nomination is "It matters who is on the Supreme Court." You don't get selected as a Supreme Court judge (or any Federal judge) unless you've been thoroughly brainwashed as a pro-State troll. You don't spend 3+ years and $100k+ getting a law degree unless you believe "State violence makes people's lives better." Even if you had doubts, you receive more brainwashing as part of the State licensing process and when you get your first job as a lawyer.
A Federal judge will almost always make decisions that expand the power of the government. You can't really consider a Federal judge to be unbiased, when government is one of the parties in all criminal trials.
The Supreme Court provides the illusion of fairness and justice, without any actual genuine justice. A Supreme Court judge has been already thoroughly brainwashed as a pro-State troll. They will only think and act within the narrow confines of their pro-State thinking.
Thursday, May 28, 2009
Reader Mail #97
I watched "Krod Mandoon". There was an interesting evil fnord. Krod's girlfriend is very promiscuous. The evil fnord is that it's two extremes. Either you have a sexually exclusive partner, or you have 100+ partners. A small number of regular partners is probably healthiest.
This article on dailypaul was interesting. Squatters are moving into foreclosed homes. Sometimes, the family refuses to leave after foreclosure. Other times, homeless people are moving into now-vacant homes.
Interestingly, they are able to buy electricity and telephone service, even though they aren't the legal owner.
A debt contract with a bank is not a valid contract. This is one of the main points of the Compound Interest Paradox. When you borrow from a bank, it merely prints new money and lends it out. In order to earn the interest payments, the borrower must perform actual work. The scam continues only because new loans are continually issued. During a deflationary depression/recession, there's a statistically guaranteed number of defaults.
Even though the financial system is corrupt, I don't advice people to borrow and refuse to pay. The correct solution is to boycott a corrupt system.
This article, via Hacker News, was interesting. There is a recently-released "DiggBar". If you submit an article to Digg via the DiggBar, it wraps a frame around your page with the DiggBar at the top. It also acts as a tinyurl service.
The problem is that the links are to Digg's site and not to your site. Any SEO ranking flows to Digg and not your site.
There are scripts you can put on your site to ensure that the DiggBar doesn't work. Because DiggBar steals your SEO and SERP, it's in your rational self-interest to do this.
I briefly considered experimenting with working as an on-the-books massage therapist. I read the requirements. You need to get 1000 hours of education first, before you get a State license. I guess I'd have to do that as an agorist!
State licensing requirements are an artificial barrier to entering a new career. I can't say "I'll experiment working for a few weeks as a massage therapist!", because I need a State license first.
The reason I seriously considered it is that, if my customers have the productive personality type, they'd really like me. I would refuse customers with the parasitic personality type.
I noticed another interesting bit about productive/parasite relationships. If you're a really strong pack leader, in the "Dog Whisperer" sense, you can get other people to switch from playing the parasite role to the productive role.
eagledove9 has left a new comment on your post "Reader Mail #95":
Reading about 'The Mother's Act' - it's unbelievable. It pushed my 'outrage' button. If any law on earth could be written against me personally, THIS IS IT.
It actually isn't as bad as it superficially seems. If you have half a clue, you can figure out what answers to give.
For example:
Are you hearing voices? No.
Do you feel like hurting yourself? No.
Do you feel like hurting other people? No.
Do you feel you have special powers? No.
Do you feel angry and frustrated sometimes? No.
I noticed that a psychiatrist conducting an interrogation is always reading the same questions from a script. If you deviate, they assume you are sick. A State-licensed psychiatrist has almost no emotional empathy. They have to, because otherwise they'd go insane when they see the suffering of their patients.
As another example, I observed some policemen today, and noticed they have very low emotional awareness. That's probably a prerequisite for the job. Even if you have high emotional awareness to start, it gets driven away as you work. Policemen and psychiatrists are enforcers who police the cracks in The Matrix. If you're meeting a policeman or a psychiatrist as a "customer", you're probably someone who's already seen parts of the Matrix.
As a side benefit, a policeman on the street will not notice me at all. I have incredibly high emotional awareness now, but the police don't notice anything unusual or dangerous about me.
I plan to raise my children and teach them anti-government ideas, and about taboo subjects like mind control, from the very beginning. So apparently, that's going to be viewed as being mentally incompetent to raise a child, and they will take your children away from you merely for teaching them unorthodox belief systems. I see that law as a direct threat. No one can teach their children the truth about what's going on in the world. No one can teach kids about taboo subjects. In other words, you have to hide your kids from the police, and teach them to smile at strangers and act like they believe everything that the mainstream world believes. I'm not sure how I will work around that... but it is an outrage.
It's a stupid law. The correct solution is to give them the answers they want to hear, rather than the truth.
I noticed that you cited my blog. When I was having a panic/manic attack, I also had the strange idea that someone was tampering with my E-Mails.
There's also good voices and bad voices. The good voices might really just be your desires that you can't consciously express. I never really heard bad voices, because I want to try and do good things.
I've become more in touch with my emotional side. It's like recovering from "high functioning autism" (Asperger's syndrome). I now have a much greater emotional awareness. Now, the voices are quiet, because my logical thoughts and emotional thoughts are mostly synchronized.
robert30062 has left a new comment on your post "Discharging a Debt vs. Paying a Debt":
One of your best posts ever FSK. Your knowledge, along with the research I have done on my own, has made me a person who is free from pro-state brainwashing.
How can you be sure you're free of your pro-State brainwashing? There may still be more progress in areas you haven't discovered yet. You should keep thinking and observing. You may have logical freedom, in the sense that you realize "Government is terrorism!" Do you also have emotional freedom, in the sense that your emotions aren't controlled by parasites around you?
The nature of insane productive/parasitic human relationships is more important than the evil of government.
The State isn't just government. It's the State of mind that allows big evils to exist without people going around saying "Hey! That's evil!" There are some people saying "Government is evil!" and "Anti-psychotic drugs are evil!" They are a tiny minority.
I still endure the everyday struggle of endless debt and inflation imposed by the bankers through their government monopoly, endure the economic disadvantages found therein, but I am free from the effects of media control propaganda and the parasitic behavior type that is encouraged in the population as a support mechanism of their system. I've been a fervent supporter of Andrew Jackson's policies as President for a long time and have studied his communications and history for years and I KNOW he would support our agorist movement.
It's hard to say what a dead person would have done. You'd have to ask them and interrogate. I suspect that any great thinkers of the past, if they had the "abused productive" personality type, would agree with agorism if properly explained.
It's so interesting to see how the bankers attack any threat to their power represented by an individual, even posthumously!!
Andrew Jackson's picture on a Federal Reserve Note, along with Lincoln and Benjamin Franklin, is an insult. Each of them were severely critical of the banksters' power.
I agree with you about the US constitution and the prevailing reasons for its creation among the political powers that existed in this country during the times of our nation’s sovereign separation from Great Britain. However, as is found in the case of every generation given due historical exploration, there were individuals, even in high positions of power and prestige, who vehemently opposed the creation of a private central bank and the basis of a fiat, debt-based economy. Thomas Jefferson, along with Mr. Jackson, was such a person. If you or I ever mention these two men in public it is almost certain that the response will be either Jackson’s “erratically emotional behavior”, his principal blame for the forced migration of North American Indians in the “Trail of Tears” episode that is still a part of elementary curriculum, and the absurdly trivial emphasis given to Jefferson’s connection to Sally Hemmings and the scandalous speculations offered with it. I mention this because I think it might be useful for our living citizens to discover those of the past, perhaps even in positions of prominence, who understood and rejected the many forms of evil which exist today. In terms of realistic applicability, our agorist movement should never seek perfection in the existence of humanity outside of the socio-economic principles we hold as sacred or villainy. But truth is omnipresent and just as our enemies can attack our long since dead friends, we can find value and strength in temporal associations.
It's hard to make arguments from history, because the facts may have been retroactively altered. I'm more interested in observing and pointing out evil in the present. The historical arguments are interesting, but not the main point.
The above part of this post was prepared before I was involuntarily hospitalized. Now, I'm answering more recent comments.
David_Z has left a new comment on your post "Agorist Philosophy Overview":
Kevski, next time open a goddman dictionary, I do not think the gaffe is nearly as terrible as you imagine:
tr.v. en·sured, en·sur·ing, en·sures
To make sure or certain; insure: Our precautions ensured our safety.
in⋅sure
/ɪnˈʃʊər, -ˈʃɜr/ [in-shoor, -shur] -sured, -sur⋅ing.
–verb (used with object)
1. to guarantee against loss or harm.
2. to secure indemnity to or on, in case of loss, damage, or death.
Anyone who prefaces his commentary with what draconian criticism of a very minor grammatical slip, ought to be kicked in the scrotum. Repeatedly.
I've already concluded that commenter was an idiot.
Looking at that post and David Z's dictionary citation, it seems that I used "insure" correctly. In many ways, English is a flawed language.
"FSK has a minor grammar error in a post. Therefore, FSK's ideas are wrong." is pro-State trolling.
I'm planning to go back and make updated versions of my older posts. There's no need to rush. I'm still not fully at 100% recovered.
Anonymous has left a new comment on your post "Ruby on Rails Sucks!":
@Sasha
"Though SQL does suck in many ways"
Typical statement usually made by someone with little to no experience with SQL (or generally a developer).
SQL is extremely powerful and in many ways can accomplish tasks faster than any language. The problem is MySQL (which I refuse to use) created a lot of bad conceptions and habits. I've written SQL procedures that processed data in 5 minutes where a purely compiled (using row-by-row analysis) language took hours to do
It depends on what high-level language you're using. If you're using an inefficient interpreted language, or a stupid algorithm, then the SQL might be faster. For a complicated query with multiple joins, I doubt that SQL would outperform well-written C or C++. For simple queries, SQL is probably better.
Plus, certain types of number-crunching analysis can be more easily performed in C++ than in SQL. My background is with number-crunching financial calculations, where C/C++ is a good choice. For other types of queries, such as simple grouping and summing, SQL probably is comparable to well-written C/C++. SQL would outperform poorly-written code.
At one job, I rewrote a very complicated SQL query in C++, cutting down the runtime from 2 hours to a couple of minutes. It was very complicated with multiple joins. A skilled DBA had already spent a lot of time optimizing the query. This was with Microsoft SQL Server.
I agree that mySQL has defects and shortcomings compared to other SQL implementations. However, it seems to be the most commonly used SQL server.
Bas has left a new comment on your post "The Trade Defecit Myth":
But China (the government) uses their US$ denominated trade surplus to buy US Treasuries - reversing some of the negative effects of having the extra dollars... Shifting the cost back to US citizens.
No. You're missing the point. China is holding a huge pool of dollars or dollar-denominated bonds. This allows the US financial industry and US government to inflate with less severe consequences.
Over time, the return on Treasury debt is less than true inflation. China loses the purchasing power of its dollar reserves. The wealth is transferred from China's people and China's State insiders to the people who print and spend the new US dollars. In this manner, China subsidizes the US financial industry and US government.
Don Libes has left a new comment on your post "The Trade Defecit Myth":
I like your "... which China's government then burns" but I cannot accept your conclusion that the US benefits from its trade deficit. At some point, China is going to use that pile of paper (no matter how devalued it becomes) and it will force the hidden US inflation out in to the open. Painfully so.
In the meantime, the US benefits as China loses its purchasing power to inflation. Eventually, China will be losing its dollar reserves due to inflation faster than it acquires new dollar reserves. If you calculate inflation correctly, China may already be at that point.
The people in the USA collectively benefit by importing goods in exchange for a piece of paper. However, there are a handful of people who get most of the benefit, the people who print and spend the brand new money. The average person does not benefit as much. The average person gets cheaper imported goods, but they also lose their jobs or are forced to accept lower wages.
No scam can continue forever. The US monetary system scam still has 15-20 years left until the end.
fritz has left a new comment on your post "Stages of Agorism":
I am in stage 2, partly bleeding into phase 3, lets just stay the course we have already started. I am glad you are feeling better FSK!!
I'm feeling better. I convinced my parents to let me stop taking the harmful drugs. I've mostly finished the withdrawal process.
I feel greater awareness and alertness compared to before I was hospitalized. Maybe I've finally fully healed my brain. I'm noticing things that I didn't notice before. I feel like I'm fully using my brain now, but before I was only using half.
Rob Cox has left a new comment on your post "Who's the Richest Man in the World?":
Hi. You are pretty on target. There is a cabal. It has been confessed by David Rockefeller in his Memoirs. (just google it)
I've read the bits and pieces. However, it's possible that the insiders who think they are pulling the strings are themselves enslaved by another group.
Now that I have greater awareness of the Matrix, I see that it's probably true that humans have wound up collectively enslaving themselves and now nobody is free. Even though there are secret groups trying to control things, those people themselves are enslaved by the Matrix and their false beliefs.
I'm much more inclined to believe "There is no Supreme Leader of Humanity." or "The Supreme Leader of Humanity is an alien. There are super-advanced aliens watching and trying to help clean up the mess."
Actually, in the Christian mythology, if you read it carefully, Satan is the hero. He's the guy who tells the Christian God that he's a fraud.
The ultimate ruler of the world would surprise you though. His name is Lucifer, aka Satan. Oh I know some of you are laughing, but hear me out.
My attitude towards Christianity is simple. It's just a bunch of lies and exaggerations that are used to manipulate and control people. "Be a good Christian." is almost the same as "Be a good slave."
If you read the Christian Bible, and only follow the good advice, it's helpful. However, most/all mainstream religions are a carefully calculated mixture of good advice and bad advice. That makes it easier to manipulate and control people. By carefully mixing lies with truth, it's harder for people to figure out what's going on.
For example, "Don't murder other people! Don't steal!" is good advice. "If other people try to abuse you, let them!" is bad advice ("turn the other cheek").
What is going on in the world today and the coming one world government that will be led by the antichrist (a fake christ) was predicted / prophesied in the bible a couple thousand years ago.I don't take arguments from Christianity or the Bible very seriously. A lot of religious predictions are so vague that almost anything could be interpreted as validating the prediction.
Sure, I know everyone has their intellectual arguments and can prove that christianity can't be true. Nevertheless, things are happening as predicted. If you see a one world government, a one world religion, solomons temple being rebuilt in jerusalem then watch out for the return of Jesus the Christ soon after.
Global economic collapse could bring about a one world government rather quickly so as to solve all of the problems that would be caused.
Research the united nations, research what obama has done and said related to the UN.
Research Lucis Trust which is associated as an NGO with the UN (previously published books under the name Lucifer Publishing) - all kinds of "new age" "ascended masters" teaching and pages on their site explaining how Lucifer is the Good guy.
Research the Sanhedrin in jerusalem. They reformed several tears ago and have already put together plans for the new temple and have also made up all of the various devices and goods to be used by the Levite priests.
As I said, all things are coming to pass NOW or soon. If you are not christian, maybe you should read some of the new testament gospels, and even if you don't believe, just pray to God that you don't, and if he is for real would he please make it very clear to you. Try it out as a test - hey if you get nothing out of it you can yell at me for wasting your time.
God bless you all, remember this - God loves you, and that is why Jesus came. He rose from the dead - average humans don't do that. There were hundreds of witnesses. Many of those eyewitnesses died rather than take back what they were telling people about him coming back to life. He loves you even if you have done VERY bad things, Heck, Paul who wrote half of the new testament books KILLED many early christians.
Adios.
If you want real mental freedom, you have to see that Christianity and most/all mainstream religions are a bunch of lies. Mainstream religion teaches you how to be a good slave.
In that sense, I am arguing the same position as Satan from the Christian Bible. Any God who says "Worship me and obey me, without evidence that my orders are just!" is obviously evil. "Obey God!" and "Obey government!" and "Obey the State!" all seem the same. You should follow, without questioning, the arbitrary rules made up by parasites.
barry b. has left a new comment on your post "What is the Natural Way to Blink?":
What the hell? I'm glad you're blinking one eye at a time but this is not the result of an awakening you are having. One eye at a time is NOT more efficient and has nothing to do with pro-state brainwashing.
Now you can make up any reasoning you want to go with whatever interesting experiences you are having. But how you relate this experience to pro-state brainwashing I have no idea.
I'm just relating my observations. If you don't like it, just mark the post read in your RSS reader and move on to the next one.
I'm not referring to intentionally blinking one eye. I'm saying that my blinking reflex is now "one eye at a time" instead of "both eyes simultaneously" as most people do it. Most/all of the people I've observed blink both eyes simultaneously. Also, most/all people blink with a much greater frequency than me.
It seems that there is a correlation between blinking and pro-State brainwashing. I'm not 100% certain. I'm just putting it out there as an idea. I don't have to be 100% sure about something in order to write about it. I did notice that I'm only blinking one eye at a time now. I'm also noticing a lot of other new things.
Xavin has left a new comment on your post "What is the Natural Way to Blink?":
I have spent a significant amount of time around anarcho-primitivists and rewilders who spend a lot of time studying the way that native peoples act (many without any semblance of pro-state brainwashing). I have spent a lot of time around alternative treatment and health nuts.
I have not seen any mention of this behavior, and these people would probably have mentioned it. They care about little details like that.
That isn't a valid comparison. Most "primitive" groups of humans have already been tainted by exposure to modern humans.
With that said, that's kinda cool. Have you timed your reading, or done any other strongly visual tasks, and timed yourself one eyed and two eyed blinking?
I still sometimes blink both eyes simultaneously like I used to. However, my reflexes gradually seem to be changing to "blink one eye at a time". Also, I blink with a much lower frequency than other people. My mother likes to complain that I don't blink often enough.
It's taking awhile for my reflex to change, because my eye muscles and nerves have to become accustomed to one-eye blinking. Blinking one eye at a time feels more natural.
chronosaidit (http://chronosaidit.
WTF...
Dude, be rational. Explore your emotions, and your ability to experiment and try new things.
But at the end of the day, compare them to some kind of norm...
If my hypothesis is true, which is "Everyone in the world is insane due to their pro-State brainwashing.", then there's no valid "normal" humans for me to compare myself to. I can compare myself to "average" or "typical". I have no idea how a human who hasn't been pro-State brainwashed would behave. I have to figure that out myself.
If you had at least said "I noticed that cats blink with one eye," or "Dogs only blink with one eye at a time" or "I observed that wild animals actually blink one eye at a time," etc...I observed some dogs that blink both eyes simultaneously. That isn't a valid comparison. A dog is the slave of humans and is part of the Matrix. A captive dog is insane just like a captive human.
Wild animals typically run away when you observe them. I believe that wild birds blink one eye at a time, but I haven't observed that carefully recently.
Then you'd have a norm to compare it to...you'd be full of $%^&, but you'd be making a comparison and you would sound like you weren't talking bull%^&*.They're both related. I'm questioning assumptions. The reason I say "The Black-Scholes Formula is wrong!" is that I questioned the assumptions of the model and did my own reasoning.
Most of us would still know y0u
But look, you didn't do that, because you can't. It is not natural to blink one eye at a time. What is this? I know you've been through some rough experiences, but ... WTF? How can you (with the same mind) read the black-scholes theory and call bullshit, then come to this 'insight' and be like "I'm not kidding!"
Similarly, I'm questioning the assumption "It is normal for humans to blink both eyes simultaneously." I've noticed that recently, I've started blinking one eye at a time instead of independently. I should get a vlog so I can demonstrate.
Dude...both answers are had via the same process...Why are people getting so offended by "FSK blinks one eye at a time now, instead of both simultaneously." I can't prove it unless you see me in person or I make a vlog.
Freedomain radio is longwinded, but if you listen to enough of that stuff (or maybe just take a course in logic?) you will learn how to build an argument and or form a conclusion without incorporating bull%^&*.
Come on, FSK...stop the bull%^&*!
My point is "I feel that, after my most recent panic attack, I've achieved a higher level of awareness. Simultaneously, I noticed that I now blink one eye at a time as a reflex, instead of both simultaneously. Therefore, I conclude that 'People blink both eyes simultaneously.' is a symptom of pro-State brainwashing."
I don't understand why people are getting offended by this observation. Pro-State brainwashing is not just about government. It's about people having their emotional thinking and logical thinking not be synchronized. As part of my "panic attacks", I feel that my emotional thinking and logical/conscious thinking are much better synchronized now.
Anonymous has left a new comment on your post "Who's the Richest Man in the World?":
Ever notice how anyone who becomes informed or cares about stuff gets progressively more and more bitter.. Why? Well they generally start to see lots of destruction around them caused by lots of dumb people around them. Its undeniable that we are surrounded by destruction caused by ignorance. Even seemingly clever people like the "holier than thou scientists" (reductionists) seem to destroy more than they create (or what they create causes destruction). One can quickly comes to a conclusion that people suck.
The current state of affairs is pretty bad. Therefore, the more awareness you have, the more disturbed and depressed you get.
In my case, I feel that I've achieved enough awareness that I'm now able to do something about it. Seeking enlightenment and seeking to understand things is always good. The Matrix punishes people who start to achieve awareness of what is happening.
For example, my high level of technical and emotional ability paradoxically makes it hard for me to find another wage slave job. A middle manager does *NOT* want to hire someone more qualified than himself. I don't have the experience or qualifications to get a higher-ranking job. I'm way overqualified for the grunt coder jobs I qualify for based on my resume. I really should start my own business, but that takes time. I'm still working on healing myself.
I imagine "He" has this view in the extreme. With all that power he's had a lot of free time to let this notion of mankind fester in his mind.
If you your self have contempt for the masses whether you are an environmentalist or a wallstreet banker or what ever your angle is – maybe it is worth considering that you probably have more in common with "him" than you think. Not that that’s a good thing.. With such a tremendous unbridled ego he must see him self as god - his ultimate goal might be to get rid of the stupid masses as he sees fit.
I'm trying to do the best I can, given the circumstances. I don't have any secret hidden angle. I'm a wage slave software engineer who's had a bunch of unique experiences.
Here is a question for you:
If you were "him" and you saw that since the advent of oil, man has gone absolutely ape shit out of control (population, soil erosion, pollution, industrialized slums etc...) SO: If you then came across technology to create free energy would you give it to 6 billion people based on their track record? Especially if you had a good knowledge of several thousand years of human history which reads like a greedy narcissistic horror story. (the question is regardless “clean” free energy and focused on energy as tool to expand and do more work for us) ???
Given what I now know, my goal is to help as many other people as I can. The evil State isn't just about government. Monopolistic government is a symptom of a larger problem. The problem is the evil mental State that allows other evils to exist and spread.
Bob Fairlane has left a new comment on your post "The Fluoride Conspiracy Theory":
No one has the right to put this shit in the water. If you want to buy it and put it in your own water, you should be allowed I suppose, but I don't want it.
That's one problem with monopolistic government. If you want to buy fluoride-free tap water, you're SOL.
I consider "Fluoride is beneficial!" and "Fluoride is harmful!" to be not proven either way. There's been no proper scientific research. Any improvement in tooth decay rates could be due to other factors. Any decline in health could be blamed on factors other than fluoride.
My guess is that fluoride is, at worst, slightly harmful at typical dosages found in tap water.
Anonymous has left a new comment on your post "Intellectual Property is not Propety":
Hey FSK,
Where is Mondays post? Where you at?
I'm fine.
I thought I queued something but it turns out I messed up.
I also missed yesterday!
I've mostly recovered my blogging energy now. It takes awhile to recover my mental abilities after being involuntarily hospitalized.
Kyle has left a new comment on your post "Intellectual Property is not Propety":
WRONG, IP, like anything, can be enforced as long as you have gun, with or without government.
Just because you deny IP does not mean it doesn't exist, just like I can deny the law and your property, doesn't mean it doesn't exist.
You're missing the point.
According to natural law, intellectual property is not a valid form of property.
According to insane State law, you can have intellectual property. If a handful of insane people have a monopoly of violence, then they can make up whatever laws they want.
I agree that, in the present, a lot of people act as if intellectual property is a valid form of property. That doesn't make it right.
Intellectual property rights aren't enforceable unless the bad guys spy on what everyone is doing all the time.
For copyright, the bad guys can make stricter laws and more severe spying. That will just force filesharers to use cleverer and cleverer techniques. The mainstream media has a problem, because downloading something via BitTorrent is usually more convenient than buying it.
LibertyTiger has left a new comment on your post "Beginner Resources":
Liberty Radio Underground is a podcast dedicated to introducing the concepts of liberty to the uninitiated:
http://www.libertyradiounderground.com/
I prefer written resources to podcasts or vlogs or audio. I can read much faster than most people can speak.
Some people prefer podcasts, but I find the written format to be more efficient. "Experiment with a vlog" is on my list of things to do.
Anonymous has left a new comment on your post "The Trade Defecit Myth":
"There have been invasions of countries who were threatening to drop the US dollar."You can't make a statement like that without backing it up. Which countries? When?
One example is Iraq in 2003. They were planning to sell oil for Euros instead of US dollars. Some people say that's the real reason for the invasion.
Normally, most oil exporting countries only sell oil for dollars. That forces people in other countries to use dollars, so they can purchase oil.
Iran is planning to sell oil for a currency other than the US dollar. I don't know if that's started yet. Is that the reason that Iran's government is considered to be one of the United States' top enemies?
The US uses its military might to directly or indirectly control almost all oil exporting countries. For example, the US military supports Saudi Arabia's leaders. Some coups could be orchestrated by State insiders in the USA, even though they are not publicly blamed. If you give one side in a civil war a couple hundred million dollars in funding and weapons, then that's a big advantage.
Steven Shaw has left a new comment on your post "Beginner Resources":
I reckon Mises.org LewRockwell.com and FreedomainRadio.com are excellent resources. I'd have to agree that Molyneux is sometimes very windy :). I'm not sure that the forums are really worthwhile at either Mises Institute or Freedomain.
What books would you recommend to newbies?
Freedomain has some books. You can get the pdf for free and print it out, or make a donation.
Kevin Carson has some books. I find him tough to read.
There's stuff by Mises, Rothbard, and Konkin.
Most of the best stuff is available for free on the Internet already.
stocksystm has left a new comment on your post "Are Bernard Madoff's Victims Total Scumbags?":
I don't see any comments. Where are they?
You were the first person to publish a comment for that post. That's the only reason.
"Madoff Victim Bailouts" attracted a lot of hate comments.
My policy is to publish all comments except for obvious spam. I try to respond to all comments, but I'm a bit behind now.
Mike Gogulski has left a new comment on your post "Anarcho-capitalism vs. Agorism":
*sigh*
Anarcho-capitalism is a theory of utopia.
Agorism is a revolutionary theory.
They are complementary.
I've never seen a definitive definition of anarcho-capitalism, which is part of the problem. It's one of those words that seems to have different definitions depending on what the speaker means.
Daniel Patrick has left a new comment on your post "Anarcho-capitalism vs. Agorism":
Interesting. I've never heard someone calling themselves an-cap say that we need the State now. I definitely wouldn't agree with them.
I've heard some people calling themselves anarcho-capitalists who were pro-State trolling. That was on mises.org. I haven't been there in awhile. Allegedly, it's gotten better.
Kelly W. Patterson has left a new comment on your post "Anarcho-capitalism vs. Agorism":
"If lots of pro-State trolls start calling themselves agorists, then do I have to find a new name for my philosophy?"
Therein lies the problem, at least from a standpoint of discussion. People that don't know or don't care to know what something really means glom onto it and eventually give it such an inaccurate and/or negative connotation that those who legitimately believe in it end up having to find some way to distance themselves from them and its new definition.
For this reason, I prefer to say what you actually mean, instead of using words without thinking about it. For example, "anarchism" covers a lot of things. This is the "Taboo Your Words" game. To avoid confusion, replace a word with what you actually mean. For example, instead of "taxes", say "wealth or money taken from people, backed by the threat of State violence".
Fortunately, agorism isn't widely used yet. I haven't seen anyone calling themselves an "agorist" who is badly pro-State trolling. That might change over time.
Kelly W. Patterson has left a new comment on your post "Anarcho-capitalism vs. Agorism":
BTW, the crew of the Motor Home Diaries did a rather good interview with Charles Johnson (Anarchist philosopher/blogger) concerning agorism.
http://motorhomediaries.com/charles-rad-geek-johnson- chats-about-agorism-with-the- motorhome-diaries/
He has some interesting bits on his blog. His "anarchoblogs" site is somewhat lame.
That interview was suitable for a complete beginner. I'm looking for more advanced material on agorism. Also, I prefer written resources to videos, because I can read faster than most people speak.
Anonymous has left a new comment on your post "Ruby on Rails Sucks!":
rails books are outdated by the time they go to press.
That's a sign that Rails is not a stable language, suitable for serious development.
The web-based resources for Rails also sucked.
rotu has left a new comment on your post "Prisoner's Dilemma Fnord":
Prisoner's Dilemma is not at fault for the subsidy situation. The problem is the application of PD. Whoever uses this analogy as you cited it fails to see that this is actually an instance of Iterated Prisoner's Dilemma, where players can base their decisions off the other player's past decision. Under IPD, one has to deal with the ecology of other players: If it is expected that the other player will follow a course of action regardless of its consequences (e.g. always cooperate or always defect no matter what the other player has done), then it is rational to always defect. However if there is a reasonable expectation that the other player will cooperate if they see you are willing to cooperate and the other player will defect if you try to take advantage of them, then in IPD, it is a very good strategy to do the same.
Iterated Prisoner's Dilemma is, in fact, a very good model if and only if the decision is controlled by those people who are economically affected. Unfortunately, this is not usually the case.
You missed the point. Prisoner's Dilemma and most game theory is not a good model for real-world problems in a true free market. "I refuse to play with someone who defects" is barred by the model. Further, "I will warn my friends and they will refuse to play with the defector." is also barred by the model.
The model does not offer "I refuse to play with you!" as an option.
fritz has left a new comment on your post "Anarcho-capitalism vs. Agorism":
Thank you for this post and making things clear. I often have trouble on Mises live chat.And there seems to always be a person arguing Agorism philosophy against Anarcho-capitalism. But when asked the difference they are rude and tell you to look up the meaning. I really think they themselves don't know.
I believe that we have enough people to start a movement.But most people dwell in shades of gray on the fringes of Agorism. If they could mostly embrace one central philosophy.And be connected so they can network. the unfolding would gain momentum.
It's not clear that my definition of anarcho-capitalism is correct. I haven't seen any definitive source.
For this reason, I prefer to discuss ideas instead of labels.
It'll still be another 5-10 years until agorism starts to take off.
Anonymous has left a new comment on your post "StackOverflow Sucks!":
Want to know what a good hard drive to buy? Go to a freakin' hardware site already or read some reviews on CNet. The link to programming is pathetically slim.
I thought there was a link. The site's censors disagreed. I've already discussed this many times. I'm not going to convince StackOverflow's censors that my question was reasonable. That's fine. I choose to leave. StackOverflow's censors aren't going to convince me that I was being unreasonable. That shouldn't bother them, because I'm not using that lousy website anymore.
Of course, that wasn't your point though was it? Clearly you are just trolling for AdSense traffic.
Can't wait to read your next "Site XYZ Sucks!" post. Twitter maybe? That should really bump up those page hits.
I noticed that "X sucks!" posts in general tend to be relatively popular. Actually, I think that Twitter is lame, but I never even bothered using it.
Anonymous has left a new comment on your post "Steroids and Plastic Surgery":
Athletes, celebrities etc. legitimate the State and distract the masses (classic bread and circuses).
Making a few 'stars' and plastering their 'glamorous' lives everywhere, makes the rest 'entertained' and desiring the same 'one day I too can be rich', 'I can emulate xyz and be like them. Meanwhile the State tightens its grip.
That's sort of the point. However, why is it immoral for an athlete to use steriods, but acceptable for a celebrity to have plastic surgery? That's a weird double standard.
I'm still way behind on answering reader comments. I'm going to publish what I have so far.
I'm mostly recovering my blogging energy.
Tuesday, May 26, 2009
My Brain is Sore!
Recently, I feel like I have an extra degree of freedom in my brain. I'm noticing all sorts of things I didn't notice before.
If you don't use your muscles much, and then exercise, you feel sore. Similarly, my brain now feels sore when I do certain things. The effect is gradually wearing off. I feel a headache, but one localized to a very specific part of my brain.
Before my outbreak of "mental illness", I had a high degree of logical intelligence, but almost zero emotional intelligence. I was at the extreme end of the "abused productive" personality type. I've gained a lot of emotional intelligence. I'm now able to fully use both halves of my brain. I've had some very weird experiences recently.
For example, Jon Stewart has the parasitic personality type. You don't notice when he's doing his show, because he's reading from a teleprompter and he has people with the "abused productive" personality type writing for him. Someone with the parasitic personality can handle reading from a teleprompter; there's a criticism that Jon Stewart isn't funny without his writers and his teleprompter. Recently, when I watch The Daily Show, the right side of my brain hurts.
As another example, Stephen Colbert has the "abused productive" personality type. When I watch The Colbert Report, the left side of my brain hurts. I can tell that Stephen Colbert has the "abused productive" personality type, because he does a good job of improvising when interviewing guests.
Depending on what I'm doing, a different part of my brain gets sore. For example, once after playing computer games, the left side of my brain was sore. That effect wore off quickly, probably because a computer game is relatively low-stress and I've already spent a lot of time playing computer games.
I noticed other really weird things recently. I got a sore throat, but on further reflection, it wasn't really a fully sore throat. Only the left side of my throat was sore!
Another day, my tongue felt like it was sore, as if I had drank hot soup. However, I didn't eat or drink anything that could have burned my tongue. While brushing my teeth, I noticed that only the right side of my tongue was sore! It seems that, previously I was only able to strongly taste food with the left side of my mouth. Now, it seems to be more equal on both sides! That explains why I was mostly eating on the left side of my mouth. Now, I'm eating more equally with both sides of my mouth.
I have slightly crooked teeth. Even though I had braces, my teeth reverted to their bad position after they were removed. I noticed that they seem to be straightening out now. I figured out what is happening. Previously, I kept my tongue slightly to the left of my mouth. Now, I'm keeping my tongue in the center of my mouth! That's now evenly distributing the pressure, and my teeth are slowly straightening out.
I haven't been blogging much recently. (I've been using queued drafts. My blogging energy is returning.) While writing this post, it's making the right side of my brain sore. That's odd, because I expected it would be the left side.
I wonder if the right/left logical/emotional brain split is entirely due to pro-State brainwashing? If everybody has this defect in their mental state, then everyone assumes that it is "normal", especially doctors and psychiatrists. In this manner, pro-State brainwashing continues. Children learn to have a split brain because they inherit it from their parents. By the time a newborn baby is 1-2 years old, he's already been pro-State brainwashed by his parents. It happens without anyone's conscious knowledge. The parents don't notice, because they also are insane.
Via my "mental illness", I've rebooted my brain. In some ways, I have the mental state of a newborn baby. I still have the memories and physical body of an adult. I'm able to resist the efforts of people around me to re-pro-State brainwash me. I'm able to pretend to be "normal"/"typical" so I can survive. Actually, by just acting naturally, I now seem to be a person who knows what he's doing. Previously, my primary problem was a lack of emotional intelligence.
I should be able to get and keep a wage slave job. It's still tricky, because a lot of wage slave middle managers are threatened by someone too competent. With higher emotional intelligence, I should be able to overcome the obstacles that kept me back previously. I'm going to get a wage slave job for now, while working towards personal physical freedom and agorism. Getting mental/emotional freedom is a prerequisite for physical freedom. The problem now is "How do I share my better mental state with others?"
Also, I haven't investigated this much yet, but I noticed something else weird. I seemed to have the right side of my brain be logical, and the left side be emotional. In women, based on what I've seen so far, they have the right side of the brain be emotional and the left be logical. In other words, the "typical" man is the mirror image of the "typical" woman. However, I assert that "normal" is to be symmetric, experiencing both logic and emotions with both halves of your brain.
I wonder if that explains homosexuality? If you have the "wrong" polarity then you're attracted to people of the same gender. For example, a man with the right side of his brain emotional and the left side logical is the reverse of a "typical" man. This is just a weird theory. By the Strawman Fallacy, you shouldn't discredit the rest of this post or my ideas of you disagree.
My point is that the State isn't just about government. It's also the corrupt nature of productive/parasitic human relationships. That isn't natural; it's a consequence of pro-State brainwashing. It's also about how most people have their emotional mental state not synchronized with their logical mental state. Most/all people have messed up emotions or messed up logic, depending on if they have the "abused productive" or parasitic personality type.
I consider this to be valid evidence that I hopefully won't relapse again. I feel that I've achieved a higher degree of awareness compared to most people. I'm noticing things that I haven't noticed before, and haven't seen described elsewhere. For example, I don't know of any source that explains the nature of productive/parasitic relationships. I feel that I'm more fully using my brain now. The "soreness" in my brain is evidence that I'm exercising parts of my brain that I haven't used much or at all. It's interesting that "exercising my brain" has the same symptoms as a headache. It's a headache that's very localized to a specific part of my brain. I have a sore brain just like I sometimes have sore muscles.
The value of a network is proportional to the square of the number of connections. Previously, I had trouble making connections between logic and emotions. If I'm able to do that properly now, then that means that my mental abilities should have more than doubled.
My "panic attacks" were frustration due to having insufficient emotional intelligence to understand what's going on. I was failing, but didn't understand why. In the process, I've raised my emotional intelligence.
My refusing anti-psychotic drugs, my body's natural healing process has been allowed to occur. I should be strong enough now to not relapse and achieve physical freedom, but I won't be sure for 1-3+ years. If I last 2+ years without another panic attack, that's good evidence that I'm doing better.
I still have a problem because everyone around me is a brainwashed pro-State troll. Now, I should be able to make better progress on helping other people crack their pro-State brainwashing and unplugging them from the Matrix.
Even if you think that this post is silly, then via the Strawman Fallacy, that doesn't mean my other ideas are wrong. Pro-State brainwashing is a very important subject. It isn't just about brainwashing people to believe "Taxation is not theft!" Government is merely a symptom of a much bigger problem. I feel I've made another order of magnitude progress in cracking my pro-State brainwashing. It's hard to describe, because it seems to be a "You have to experience it yourself!" thing.
Monday, May 25, 2009
Swine Flu Fnord
There's been a lot of mainstream media hype regarding the swine flu. The hype causes people to be filled with fear and uncertainty, when the actual risk of dying from the swine flu is much less than other factors.
For example, Obama says "There's nothing to worry about." At the same time, Biden says "OMFG!! Panic!!" Contradictory messages keep everyone on edge and uncertain.
All of the people who died or got seriously ill from the swine flu already had other serious health problems. If you're otherwise in good health, your risk from the swine flu is negligible. Even if exposed and you get sick, you probably won't get more sick than for a regular flu.
There is a risk that there will be a new virus that wipes out a substantial percentage of the world's population. The swine flu is not that virus. Scientists should study the swine flu and try to develop a vaccine. The actual risk does not justify the hype.
The swine flu hype illustrates the Matrix in action. Most people cannot properly think rationally or emotionally. Most people will react to the emotions of the mainstream media hype, rather than actually analyzing the risk. Most people look at the worst-case outcome, "I could die from the swine flu", rather than the average-case outcome, "If I'm already healthy, my risk from swine flu is negligible. There are other bigger problems for me to worry about."
Sunday, May 24, 2009
Anarcho-capitalism vs. Agorism
A couple of people have asked me:
FSK frequently criticizes anarcho-capitalists as pro-State trolls. Aren't anarcho-capitalism and agorism the same thing?
I consider "agorism" and "free market anarchism" to be equivalent. Agorism and real free markets are the "One True Version of Anarchy".
The fallacy of "anarcho-capitalists" is that they fail to answer "How will the State be eliminated?" They assume that the State will gradually shrink and then voluntarily shut itself down. This will occur by voting, which is the usual (L)libertarian fantasy.
Anarcho-capitalists sometimes defend large corporations as a natural free market occurrence. Large corporations cannot exist without State subsidies.
Anarcho-capitalists defend the current State. They say "We should obey State regulations for now. In the present, the State has legitimacy. The State is evil, but we need it right now." Anarcho-capitalism is a pro-State philosophy of anarchy.
An agorist says "The State has zero legitimacy *STARTING NOW*. We will ignore all the stupid taxes and laws that restrict our productivity. We will boycott the State as much as possible, but a perfect 100% boycott is not feasible in the present." An agorist wants the State to get bigger and more inefficient and then collapse, instead of gradually shrinking and disappearing.
If you call yourself an anarcho-capitalist and aren't a fool, your beliefs will be similar to those of agorists. However, the people who call themselves anarcho-capitalists tend to fall into the usual (L)libertarian intellectual trap.
This is the problem with using labels over descriptions. I prefer to substitute definitions for what they actually mean, especially when there could be confusion.
If you aren't an idiot, when you refer to "anarchy" or "market anarchism", you mean what I call "agorism" or "really free markets". I frequently see people calling themselves anarcho-capitalists with pro-State troll false beliefs. Whenever possible, substitute labels for what you actually mean, to avoid confusing.
If you call yourself an anarcho-capitalist and you aren't an idiot, you're beliefs will be the same as what I call "agorism". However, I see a lot of pro-State trolls calling themselves anarcho-capitalists.
Agorism is the only philosophy that answers "How can the State be eliminated?" and "What will the replacement look like?" If lots of pro-State trolls start calling themselves agorists, then do I have to find a new name for my philosophy?
Saturday, May 23, 2009
Stages of Agorism
The stages of an agorist revolution are:
- Someone discovers the idea of agorism.
- People who think agorism is a good idea spread the idea to others.
- People start practicing agorism in local small groups, perhaps only part-time initially.
- People start working full-time as agorists. Larger trading groups develop.
- All services currently available in the State slave economy may be purchased in the free market.
- Areas, or groups living in certain areas, become free of harassment by the State. The State can no longer use violence to impose its will on agorists.
- The State is eliminated.
Until it's viable for me to work full-time as an agorist, I'm going to do the best I can, given the constraint of working in a State slave economy. I can't achieve freedom by myself, so the best I can do for now is work towards raising awareness in others.
Friday, May 22, 2009
Key Arguments
A lot of people say "FSK, you should have more patience for the people you call out as pro-State trolls." I'm already nearly completely convinced of my core ideas. Since I discovered anarchism/agorism and the philosophy of true free markets, I finally have found a theory that's consistent with my observations. After much searching, I found an economic and political philosophy that is not contradictory.
"The USA does not have a free market, not by any reasonable standard" explains all of my observations working in the corporate world and in other areas. Most of the problems with the current corrupt economic and political system are explained by a lack of freedom, rather than "More government power/regulation is needed!", which is the pro-State troll answer.
Can you find any flaws in my key arguments?
- The Federal Reserve is immoral.
- The Compound Interest Paradox is a subtle defect in the US monetary system. "Inflation is theft!" is sufficient argument against the Federal Reserve, but the Compound Interest Paradox is a flaw in the US monetary system that is more evil than constant uniform inflation.
- The income tax is immoral.
- All forms of taxation are theft.
- Since government is funded by taxation/theft, all forms of monopolistic government are immoral.
- The "chemical imbalance" theory of mental illness is a mistake/fraud. A corrupt mental health system is a key component of the scam, because people who discover the bits of the truth are murdered/silenced.
- A true free market, where nobody had a monopoly of violence or anything, would be superior to the current system.
- It is possible to have a stable society with multiple competing police forces, none of which have an absolute monopoly.
- The State's violence monopoly is immoral.
- A direct violent confrontation with the bad guys is pointless. After all, they specialize in violence! If you attack the State's economic monopoly, then it will lose its violence monopoly when the police's paycheck bounces.
- A resistance movement must be decentralized. Otherwise, it can be halted by infiltrating it or assassinating its leader. A free market is the most efficient way to organize a decentralized group of workers.
- Agorism is the best strategy for achieving a true free market. I'm looking for refinements for agorism, which probably won't be attained until I attempt practical agorism. People should boycott the Federal Reserve and income tax. They should build an alternate economic system that's completely independent of the State slave economy.
I have not found any convincing counter-arguments to any of the above ideas since I discovered them. Most pro-State trolls are disagreeing with one of the above ideas. Their counter-arguments are pathetically weak, and don't present any false ideas that I haven't heard before. For this reason, I dismiss them as stupid/trolling.
A lot of pro-State trolls say "I logically refuted FSK's point!", when they're really spouting incoherent gibberish. If someone is that narrowminded and illogical and pro-State brainwashed, then I can't communicate with them. They are stupid and wasting my time. I deal with enough pro-State trolls when not blogging. I'm not wasting time on them here. If I wasted too much energy on pro-State trolls, it would ruin my blog.
Even though my blog is generating a few dollars a month in ad revenue, it isn't my primary source of income. If I abandoned my key values and started coddling idiots, my blog might lose the attractiveness it has for my core audience. I have no patience for fools anymore. Based on my AdBrite statistics, I only need 10k-20k regular readers for this to be viable as a full time job. I can exclude all the pro-State trolls and still have a viable business.
If you believe "all truth is relative" and "all viewpoints are equally valid", then you're an idiot and a pro-State troll. There is an absolute standard of truth. Stupid ideas should be explicitly called out as stupid, lest stupid ideas dominate the discussion. My perception isn't perfect, but IMHO I'm way ahead of most other people. I've had very unique circumstances and experiences. I'm doing my best to educate other people, so they can learn the easy way instead of the hard way like I did.
The final definitive answer on this subject is "If you think you can present my ideas better than me, go ahead and start your own blog!" If you don't like it, you're free to stop reading. You're also free to lurk and not comment. I won't let a minority who choose to leave a comment speak for everyone. I spend time answering almost every comment, and I want to discourage people from posting stupid things and wasting my time. You're free to post Anonymously if you're concerned that I will ridicule you. If you start your own blog and it's good, I'll read it and maybe improve my own thinking.
Let me know if you find any flaws in my "key arguments" listed above. I haven't noticed any convincing counter-arguments to the above ideas since I discovered them and fully understood them.
Thursday, May 21, 2009
What is the Natural Way to Blink?
When most people blink, they blink both eyes simultaneously.
After my most recent panic attack, I started with a weird new behavior. I'm blinking my eyes one at a time, independently! It feels more natural to blink one eye at a time, rather than both simultaneously.
My eye muscles/nerves weren't accustomed to blinking my eyes separately. Initially, I had a weird twitch when I blinked only one eye. That went away as I exercised my "blink one eye at a time" ability.
It makes sense from an evolutionary perspective. Blinking one eye at a time is more efficient than blinking both simultaneously. This way, there's no loss of vision if something important happens while you blink.
I never would have imagined that. Pro-State brainwashing is so severe that most people blink both eyes simultaneously rather than one at a time! Since my most recent panic/manic attack, it feels like I have another degree of freedom in my brain and in my thinking.
Don't think this post is a joke. I'm not kidding! I'm blinking only one eye at a time now. It feels more natural than blinking both eyes simultaneously!
Wednesday, May 20, 2009
Printing Press Fnord
When discussing the Federal Reserve and monetary policy, the Communism channel frequently shows a picture of a printing press printing new Federal Reserve Notes.
This is an interesting evil fnord. Showing printing presses provides the illusion "New money is printed directly by the Federal government."
That isn't the way the US monetary system works. New money is created only when banks issue a loan.
The Compound Interest Paradox applies whenever the Federal Reserve "monetizes the debt" and creates new money.
The Federal Reserve purchases new Federal Reserve Notes from the Treasury at printing cost, not at face amount.
Normally, when the Federal Reserve "monetizes the debt", it gives the bank an electronic credit of brand new money. Sometimes, the Federal Reserve "monetizes the debt" and makes the purchase with physical Federal Reserve Notes. That is how new Federal Reserve Notes are introduced into circulation.
Tuesday, May 19, 2009
State Employees Don't Pay Taxes
If you're a State employee, it's silly to say "I pay taxes".
Suppose you work for the government. You earn a salary of $60k, and you pay $25k in taxes.
It would be logically equivalent to say "Your salary is $35k, and your taxation rate is zero."
That's like saying "I stole $100k and gave back $40k. Therefore, I'm not a criminal."
All direct and indirect State employees have their salaries backed by State violence. A policeman/teacher/bureaucrat is an obvious direct State employee. A lawyer/banker/trader/CEO is an indirect State employee. They only earn huge salaries due to State restriction of the market.
Suppose a CEO pays himself a bonus of $100M, and then pays $40M in income taxes. (A typical CEO will use tax shelters and trusts to shield most of his income from taxes.) It is inaccurate to say "Look at that patriotic CEO, paying so much in taxes." It is more accurate to say "The CEO has given a partial return of stolen property to the State." Large corporations are so heavily regulated that a CEO is effectively a State employee.
Doctors are partial indirect State employees. They earn huge salaries because State licensing requirements restrict the supply of doctors. Without the State licensing cartel, doctor salaries would be lower and quality of medical care would be higher.
Doctors and lawyers and other State-licensed workers therefore tend to be pro-State trolls. If you earn above-market salaries due to State violence, then it's very hard to criticize the State. In some State-licensed professions, you can have your licensed revoked for criticizing the State!
I was once explaining "Taxation is theft!" with a member of the parasite class. He said "You're thinking about it all wrong. You should be trying to become a multi-millionaire. Then, you don't have to pay any taxes at all! Wealthy people set up trusts and tax loopholes to shelter their income from taxation!"
If you're a direct or indirect State employee, you pay a negative taxation rate. Your salary is directly or indirectly backed by violence. It is inaccurate to say that members of the parasite class pay taxes. They are merely paying part of their stolen property back to the State.
Sunday, May 17, 2009
Intellectual Property is not Propety
There is no such thing as intellectual property in a free market. People have been brainwashed to believe that intellectual property is a valid form of property. There are huge marketing campaigns and evil fnords saying "Intellectual property is a valid form of property!"
I prefer to call it "intellectual theft" than "intellectual property".
Intellectual property cannot be enforced without a government. Therefore, it isn't a valid form of property. Copying an idea does not damage the original.
That is completely different than tangible property. If you steal my car, I can say "WTF? Where is my car?" If you copy an idea, the original holds its value.
There are 3 invalid forms of intellectual property:
- trademarks
- copyrights
- patents
For trademarks, suppose you develop "FSK blog" and trademark it. Does that mean I am barred from starting "FSK blog", even if I never heard of your business? Why does the fact that you used a name before I did, mean that I'm barred from using it? Obviously, I shouldn't pick a name that is confused/duplicated with an existing popular business. It'd be dishonest for me to start the "Jim Cramer blog", because that's confusing. In that case, my customers have a valid fraud claim (if they're fooled), and not the competing business whose name I'm using.
As another example, why am I barred from writing and selling my own "Superman" story, just because someone else owns the trademark to the character?
For copyright, suppose you develop a song or video. I have no contractual relationship with you. What right do you have to prevent me from making a copy of your song? The only way you can prevent me from copying your song is to spy on what everyone is doing all the time, or have excessive punitive fines for people caught copying. Copyright cannot be enforced without a monopolistic government. Therefore, there's no copyrights without a government.
In the present, there's a mainstream media information monopoly. Suppose a signer is promoted on MTV. This creates the illusion that singer is really good. Artificial scarcity prevents competing artists from being promoted. This creates artificial demand for that singer.
The bad guys are arguing "We spent a ton of money promoting this artist, who is under exclusive contract to us. State violence should help us recover that investment, by banning filesharing."
"We have to enforce copyright, else artists won't be able to make a living!" is silly. In a true free market, people will still pay to support artists they like. I've been considering offering a "donate" option on my blog. I'm making some money via AdBrite. Artists can also earn a living by performing live concerts. A more accurate statement is "Copyright must be enforced, so all the music/entertainment industry middlemen may earn their profit!" The mainstream media has a monopoly for promoting artists, which creates an artificial scarcity.
In the present, some spam sites republish my content. There isn't anything I can do about that. My regular readers should be smart enough to recognize me as the original source.
As an unknown independent artist, the risk is not "people will copy my stuff". My biggest risk is that most people have no idea who I am. I'm getting gradual organic growth. If I appeared as a guest on a mainstream media outlet, I'd easily get 1000x more traffic. Due to my free market ideas, I doubt a mainstream media outlet will ever carry my content.
As an unknown independent content creator, you don't benefit from copyright. The true beneficiaries of copyright are the insiders/parasites who control mainstream media corporation. It's possible to make a living without copyright. You can do it via advertising, sales for live performances, or direct donations from fans.
Patents are obviously stupid.
In the present, most patents are owned by large corporations. If I sell a new product, I probably will be infringing the patent of some large corporation. I probably won't find out about the patent until I'm sued.
Most of the time, the victim in a patent lawsuit doesn't find out about the patent until they're sued for violating it. Patents are used to stifle competition. Some patents are owned by "patent troll" corporations. They have no actual product, but merely buy patents and sue people. Such a business is purely parasitic.
In almost no patent lawsuits did the victim know about the patent beforehand.
Getting and enforcing a patent is *EXPENSIVE*. As an individual inventor, patents provide almost no protection. It isn't feasible to fund a patent application or patent lawsuit unless you have funding from VCs/banksters.
I'm planning to write my own RSS reader and forum engine. Suppose you're independently developing a forum engine and patent it. I've never heard about your business. Why does your patent place a restriction on what I can do?
Recently, I read an article about how the steam engine patent actually slowed the growth of steam engine use. The steam engine didn't become widely used until the patent expired.
Fortunately, the technology underlying the Internet is in the public domain. At the time, people thought that software wasn't patentable. Scientists thought that patenting software was silly. You can't patent Mathematics. The Internet technology was developed at universities and released into the public domain.
In most cases, the "inventor" who got public credit for a patent was really the person who most successfully lobbied the State for favors.
Compact fluorescent light bulbs were recently invented and patented. The patent owners then successfully lobbied for a ban on incandescent light bulbs. Most/all of the incandescent light bulb patents have expired. In this manner, patents encourage dishonest behavior. Patent law created an incentive for certain patent holders to lobby the State for favors.
In a true free market, science would progress under open source methods. Just like Linux was developed with no real intellectual property restrictions, in a true free market, science will progress without intellectual property restrictions.
In the present, in most fields, you need a State license to perform science. For example, suppose I wanted to develop and sell a drug-free treatment for mental illness, and perform science justifying my methodology. I don't have a State science license, so it's illegal for me to conduct such an experiment. Even if a State-licensed scientist applied for permission to conduct such an experiment, the State may deny permission or funding for the experiment.
The State artificially raises the cost of science research, via regulations and licensing requirements. The State has a monopoly for funding most research. This artificially increased cost is given as the justification for why patents are needed. Most good scientists will work for very low salaries, because they find science interesting.
In the present, the patent system means that most scientists are underpaid. The profits usually go to their corporate employers. It's practically impossible for an individual to get and enforce a patent. You usually need multiple patents in order to actually manufacture anything.
The bad guys have spent a *TON* of money brainwashing people "Intellectual property is a valid form of property!" Really, I call "intellectual property" as "intellectual theft".
Trademarks, copyrights, and patents cannot be enforced without a monopolistic State. Therefore, they are not a valid form of property.
Saturday, May 16, 2009
There is no Social Security Trust Fund
I already wrote about how Social Security is one big scam. There's one point I forgot to emphasize in my previous post.
Social Security is a massive profit center for the Federal government. In every year of its existence, Social Security taxes collected have exceeded benefits paid. With fiat money, when the State runs a taxation surplus, this is deflationary. The deflationary effect of this tax is offset by deficit spending elsewhere, or inflation by the financial industry.
There are no tangible assets in the Social Security Trust Fund. There merely is a stack of IOUs. When the paper in this pile is spent, that will cause further inflation.
The real crisis for Social Security comes not when the Trust Fund is exhausted, but rather when Social Security taxes collected are less than benefits paid. This date is only a few years away, and is much closer than the projected date for Social Security insolvency. When this date is reached, this spending will be inflationary. As the Social Security Trust Fund is spent, there will be massive inflation.
A default on Social Security is an economic certainty. There will be a tax hike, an inflation hike, an outright default, or some combination of the above.
The US Federal government is very bankrupt. Promises have been made to future retirees that cannot possibly be kept. Politicians cannot default on these promises, because then current workers would no longer be willing to pay the tax. If the State defaults on Social Security for current retirees, then what kind of idiot am I for paying Social Security taxes? The US Federal government isn't going to exist 20 years from now, so why am I paying tax for a benefit I will never receive?
Instead of Social Security, the average American would get a better return investing an equal amount in physical gold or silver. Current retirees are only earning a return of 2%-3% on their "investment" in Social Security, which is far less than true investment or any reasonable investment would have earned.
Social Security and all aspects of government are one big scam.
Friday, May 15, 2009
Beginner Resources
By E-Mail, someone asked:
What are some good resources for someone who's a newcomer to the freedom movement?
- There's my blog (duh).
- You can look at my "Google Reader Shared Items" for other blogs I find interesting.
- You can look at my "Reader Mail" posts and see what other blogs I refer to.
- The various Ron Paul forums have a mixture of interesting content and trolling. I've been looking at dailypaul.com, because a bunch of people were citing my blog and it drove a lot of traffic.
- Mises.org has some good bits, but also a lot of pro-State trolling.
- LewRockwell has some good bits, but he also has a large volume of mediocre material.
- Freedomain has some good bits, but I find him a bit longwinded.
- No Third Solution has some good bits.
Thursday, May 14, 2009
Reader Mail #96
I'm feeling well enough to start answering reader comments again. I've made a lot of progress through the withdrawal from the anti-psychotic drugs.
I did have another panic attack. My parents called 911 on me. I was involuntarily taken to the psych ward/torture center. It was horrible.
It wasn't due to my efforts to communicate with strangers. By biggest risk factor is from my parents. When I'm not in a manic state, there's no risk.
Hopefully, I can avoid going back and this is really the last time. I feel that I've made a lot more progress on cracking my pro-State brainwashing.
robert30062 has left a new comment on your post "Still Recovering":
I hope you feel better soon FSK!! You know I've been a regular reader of yours for almost two years now and "FSK's Guide to Reality" goes right into the Internet Explorer Favorites folder on any new computer I get on.
I'm planning to keep blogging. Right now, I'm using up queued drafts while I'm recovering.
You are an intelligent, worthwhile and well-meaning person and I'm sure I'm not the only one who feels that way. We all need to look toward expanding agorism in the real world but for now, at least in cyber space, you have friends who care about you here.
My primary concern is to avoid being re-hospitalized.
I feel that I've made a bunch of progress towards cracking my pro-State brainwashing. I may be nearly completely "clear" and I won't have any more panic attacks.
barry b has left a new comment on your post "Still Recovering":
Hey FSK,
I'm really sorry to hear about this mess. I hope you'll pull out of it and with your wits still about you.
I managed to convince my parents to let me stop taking the harmful drugs, against the advice of my psychiatrist.
I know in the past you had said something about letting your captors know about your blog. I don't think that would be a good idea. You know, such extreme common sense and rational, objective analysis of the shit we live in everyday.... will sound an awful lot like insanity (for the state-brainwashed)... especially where you live.
I feel that I should mention my blog to my therapist. So far, none has ever taken an interest in reading it.
Sasha Chedygov has left a new comment on your post "Ruby on Rails Sucks!":
I'm discovering that very thing right now. I'm writing forum software, and, having a little Ruby experience, I thought I'd try it in Rails to see what the hype was about. After a month, I got done what I could have gotten done in a week and a half in PHP because I spent most of the time looking up how to do things.
Here's the thing with ActiveRecord: most people that jump into Rails come from a PHP/Python background, and thus most likely already know SQL. Now, I hate SQL, but it took me much longer to figure out how to do complex queries with ActiveRecord than it would to just write the damn SQL statement. Though SQL does suck in many ways, in practice it's so much easier than trying to set up complicated relationships and whatnot. (And don't even get me started on the performance hit of using an ORM.)
Rails tries to make relatively simple things simpler, but the learning curve is so steep it's pointless. And in the end, you'll probably end up using SQL anyway because your queries get to the point where they're too complicated for ActiveRecord to abstract, thus defeating the point.
Rails seems to be mostly hype and little substance. Given the free choice, I'd use PHP.
Unless what you need is nearly exactly what Rails provides, there's little benefit to using Rails.
I get a lot of hatemail for my "Ruby on Rails Sucks!" post. There also was a lot of hatemail for "StackOverflow Sucks!" recently. I don't understand why people keep posting hate comments for something that's already an old post.
Anonymous has left a new comment on your post "Still Recovering":
Get better soon. I can't wait to hear the details.
I managed to convince my parents to let me withdraw from the harmful drugs. I feel that I've made another order of magnitude of progress in cracking my pro-State brainwashing.
Hopefully, I won't relapse again, but that's what I say every time.
Withdrawal from those harmful drugs is *NASTY*, but I've done it before and I was on a lower dose this time.
No Gods Required has left a new comment on your post "Still Recovering":
I got your back FSK. Just say the word.
My parents are allowing me to withdraw from the drugs, so I should be fine. The key is to not relapse.
What I really need is some in-person non-pro-State troll friends. It'd also be useful to have someone to call other than 911 if I relapse. I feel like I won't relapse this time, but that's what I've say every time. There's valid reasons to believe I'm legitimately making progress.
I noticed the following new things:
- I have a much higher level of emotional awareness.
- I had pretty severe male pattern baldness, severely accelerating in the past 2-3 years. All of a sudden, all my hair seems to be growing back! That's weird. It's also a sign of progress. (I'm planning a more detailed post on this subject.)
- Instead of blinking both eyes simultaneously, I now blink each eye separately and independently! That's weird. It feels more natural to blink each eye independently. It's a reflex. (I'm also planning a more detailed post on this subject.)
- My metabolism seems to have increased. I'm losing weight at a rate of 0.5-1 pounds per week, even though I'm eating the same amount. (I'm somewhat overweight.)
People blink both eyes simultaneously due to pro-State brainwashing! It's like I have an extra degree of freedom in my mind now.
eagledove9 has left a new comment on your post "Still Recovering":
:( I didn't even know you were gone - for one thing I am way behind on reading my RSS, and also I think there was a cache of posts that were being automatically sent every day, so it didn't look like anything had happened. I feel terrible that I didn't even know about it and I am still shocked.
It shocked me also. I thought I was mostly better. I have a lot of queued drafts, so I kept posting even though I was hospitalized.
I know it's hard to write while you're on drugs or withdrawing from them. It totally screws up your brain. Right now you just struggle to get through each day, and you are probably numb or sleepy or walking around like a zombie if they have you on anti-anxiety drugs. The drugs do one thing: they shut people up.
I'm mostly recovered. Anti-psychotic and anti-depressant drugs have been used to silence political dissidents.
It was just my parents who called 911. My other efforts to research human behavior were not the problem.
I still feel some stress while writing this, but I'm working through it.
I hope you are allowed to withdraw and are not being forced to keep on using drugs at home. I am worried about you, and other people are too.
I'm being allowed to withdraw. It's a really nasty process, but I'm familiar with it.
Hey, I sent you an email. I just wanted to warn you, in case your spam filter catches it or something. It's from eagledove9 at gmail. I know comments are a more reliable way to get through.
I answered it, but you didn't reply. Did you get my response?
I need to get some in-person friends who aren't pro-State trolls. That should help me not relapse. Actually, I feel that I've made another order of magnitude progress in cracking my pro-State brainwashing. I should be strong enough now to find some friends and help them crack their pro-State brainwashing.
Romare has left a new comment on your post "FSK Was Re-Hospitalized":
I second that anon 6:47 is very correct. There's that saying something along the lines of "you can't feed a gem to swines in the marketplace". I am from nyc as well and they're are plenty of red agents and parasites riding the train daily. Their ranks are comprised of all nationalities and demographics, rich, poor, f*cked, you name it and they're listening, listening intently to see whose stepping out of their programming (or finding sanity as I like to call it). I really hope they didn't drag you to kings county hospital again, that's an AWFUL place.
My problem wasn't my attempts to communicate with strangers on the subway or in public. It was my parents who turned me over to the psychiatry industry.
My efforts to communicate with strangers have actually been very educational for me.
I actually haven't been to Kings County Hospital. I was at Lutheran Medical Center (53rd street and 2nd avenue), which is almost as bad.
Piquant Tactics has left a new comment on your post "Examples for "Limited Liability Incorporation is E...":
There is a direct correlation between the introduction of limited liability organizations; and colonialism and the internationalization of the slave trade.
Wage slavery is a type of slavery. It isn't as obvious as chattel slavery, but it's still a form of slavery.
AzraelsJudgement has left a new comment on your post "Examples for "Limited Liability Incorporation is E...":
How dare you disagree with the prophets!!! That is blasphemy....not much has changed sense the days where invisible people in the sky only talk to certain people who then are the only ones with knowledge on how we should live, act, and think.
When (nearly) everyone is a brainwashed pro-State troll, it's necessary to tell the truth, and mention ideas that contradict mainstream thinking.
Defending limited liability incorporation is a common mistake that pro-State (L)libertarians make.
(I know that AzraelsJudgement was being sarcastic, before anyone complains.)
Steven Shaw has left a new comment on your post "Examples for "Limited Liability Incorporation is E...":
I am unsure of your conclusions because you overstate your intermediate arguments persistently.
Read more carefully. I thought that was a good post.
The key point is "Limited liability incorporation does not naturally occur in a free market. Given free choice, no customer would agree to the limited liability clause."
Suppose bank A has a limited liability clause and bank B does not. If bank A offers a higher interest rate than bank B, that's only because customers are risking the loss of their deposit. A is not a bank, but another type of investment business.
"The fact that people got offended by a statement is actually evidence of its underlying truth!"
That is not a certainty.
No. It's a good indication, especially when I'm sure of my viewpoint.
People don't get offended by random gibberish. They get offended by things that contradict their pro-State brainwashing.
This is a common mistake of pro-State (L)libertarians. They defend corporations as a natural free market occurrence.
You say there's no way to enforce LL in a free market but later go on to explain that a restaurant gets you to sign a LL agreement voluntarily before eating.
You say "In a true free market, no reasonable person would agree to a limited liability clause.". Well you'd be wrong. Someone would. I would hope that in time, with education, most would stop asking.
No. With proper education, people would refuse to sign and form competing businesses. In the present, this does not occur, due to the State.
The subject of LL is certainly interesting. I have a gut feeling that LL is wrong but haven't had time to research it much.
You're sure that I'm wrong, but you haven't researched it much?
If you "allow" a single owner with many LL equity partners; assuming the single owner does not have LL then we could see a wave of what I think of as "scapegoat" owners. These would be guys with little savings and prospects who go around being the "owner" of various companies whose "real" owners are the equity partners. Any problems and the scapegoat goes bankrupt! Perhaps his partner or parents feed him and possess his gold. Of course, in a free market we could avoid such companies. I would hope that the free-flow of information and perhaps investigative journalism would mean that this was so in a free market.
Multiple-owner businesses are problematic. I predict they also don't occur in a free market. A minority owner can too easily have his rights abused by the majority. There's no reason to accept minority ownership in a business. In a true free market, with easy access to capital, people would form competing businesses rather than accepting minority ownership in someone else's business.
In a true free market, someone who cheated a customer/partner would rapidly find themselves blacklisted and unable to do any business at all.
bakar has left a new comment on your post "Examples for "Limited Liability Incorporation is E...":
There are two general types of taxable corporations available to small business owners: C and S corporations (the letters refer to sub-chapters of the Internal Revenue Code) are distinguished by how their income is reported and taxed. Here are the basics you should know.
S corporations pass income through to their shareholders, who pay tax on it according to their individual income tax rates. C corporations are separate tax entities that pay corporate income tax on profits. C corporations are much more regulation and tax reporting intensive than S corporations.
I already knew about S and C corporations, which are the most common type of corporations allowed in the USA. There are other variations, such as a limited liability partnership.
That's separate from the main point of the post, which is that limited liability incorporation is evil and would not occur naturally in a true free market.
Cork has left a new comment on your post "Examples for "Limited Liability Incorporation is E...":
In a real free market, there is no way to enforce limited liability contracturally. Therefore, limited liability incorporation cannot occur in a real free market. Only a State can force a business' customers and creditors to accept limited liability provisions.Do you seriously believe this?! This is downright crazy.
Since we're already name calling, I claim that you are the one with stupid beliefs. This is a common mistake by pro-State (L)libertarians.
Why are idiots so eager to defend corporations?
Anonymous has left a new comment on your post "The Fluoride Conspiracy Theory":
Posting the link was sufficient. You didn't need to post the whole thing.
http://www.fluoridealert.org/50-reasons.htm
[Deleted the text.]
I consider "Fluoride is beneficial" and "Fluoride is harmful" to be not proven either way. I am skeptical of the benefits. It is probable that fluoride is only slightly harmful at typical levels, rather than severely poisonous. Pro-State brainwashing is more harmful that fluoride. Most "negative" things that are blamed on fluoride could also be due to pro-State brainwashing.
A proper scientific study of this issue would be interesting. Those studies conducted in the past were almost definitely biased, for the reasons you gave.
Kevski has left a new comment on your post "Agorist Philosophy Overview":
I know this will never be posted but here is my comment: Anyone who doesn't know the difference between "insure" and "ensure" should not be allowed to write a blog.
My policy is to publish stupid comments and ridicule them, rather than outright censor them.
Just as another point, in a free market your take home income will also be determined by the free market. So if you now make $10 and pay $3.50 in taxes, taking home $6.50, in your "argorist paradise" you will still end up only taking home $6.50, because there will be someone else who will be willing to do the work for that.
You're missing the point.
First, marginal taxation rates are approximately 50%. I'll use that number, but that's not the main point.
In the present, suppose I work for 1 ounce of silver. I pay 0.5 ounces of silver to the State as taxes/tribute.
In a free market, suppose my labor is still worth 1 ounce of silver per hour. I get to keep all of it. I still will pay for police protection, but the free market price will be cheaper than the monopolistic rent charged by the State.
Plus, there are indirect hidden taxes. If you include those, your taxation rate is over 50%.
Fivemileshigh has left a new comment on your post "Agorist Philosophy Overview":
Kevski:
A spelling error, while not something to be proud of, does not invalidate an idea.
The above comment is obviously stupid. That sort of thing no longer bothers me.
I'm planning to go back and update all my "classic" older posts. Due to my recent re-hospitalization, "move to my own domain" has been pushed back a few months. Plus, I'm only making $5/month from AdBrite. I need $20/month to purchase a Linode. When I'm fully recovered, I'll spend a few more building up my traffic and ad revenue before moving to my own domain.
Furthermore, there IS a difference between earning 6.50 on the books vs. under the table. The difference is that in the first case, you are generating 10 of revenue of which the state keeps 3.50 and spends that to restrict your rights. In the second case, you generate 6.50 which you alone keep and decide how to spend. In the first case you are feeding a parasite, in the second you are not.
I understand the point. The above stupid commenter did not.
I met with my new psychiatrist. It was mostly pointless. She said "FSK, you need to take drugs." I pointed out "I don't like the side effects. It's silly for me to take them all the time when they have such a crippling effect on me. I'm only manic for at most a few days per year. By taking the drugs continuously, I'm giving up my life." She said "I don't care about your viewpoint." However, she was unable to force me to take drugs, and relented. When not in the hospital (and no court order), the psychiatrist does not have the ability to force me to take drugs.
I got my new psychiatrist to agree to "FSK should only take the drugs when manic" instead of "FSK should take the drugs all the time."
In the hospital, my "roommate" was a "good patient" who always took his drugs/poison exactly as prescribed. Even then, he had been hospitalized 3 times. He had been in the hospital for 4 weeks. He complained "How come FSK gets released after only 1.5 weeks and I'm still here?"
That's an interesting perspective. Even taking the drugs is not absolute insurance against not being re-hospitalized. If that's true, then why bother?
For me, the decision is clearcut. If I take the drugs, I'm unable to do anything at all. If I don't take the drugs, I gradually recover my abilities, but risk eventually relapsing.
I have legitimate reason to believe that this might really be the last time I get hospitalized for my "mental illness". I feel that I've really achieved a higher level of awareness. I won't be sure until 2+ years from now, if I avoid relapsing.
The most frustrating part is that my parents don't get "Those drugs are bad!" I've gotten them to concede "FSK is not forced to take the drugs. FSK is allowed to withdraw." However, they are annoyed by my periodic re-hospitalizations. They haven't forced me to take the drugs, and respect my desire to not take them. (I might actually run away for real if they tried that, and they might know that.) However, they are persistent when promoting the drugs. They've said that they might not respect my desires if I relapse again.
I have legitimate reason to believe that I've broken the cycle. Already, I feel that I've almost recovered to my pre-hospitalization level of ability. Previously, it took me a couple of months to achieve that. It seems that it takes 3-18+ months to fully recover your abilities, after being forcibly addicted to those harmful drugs. I'm doing very well after only 2 weeks.
From my point of view, I've been involuntarily conducting an experiment "What happens if you're diagnosed with a mental illness and refuse medication, despite multiple relapses?" The answer appears to be "After a few iterations (6 in my case), you actually settle into a higher level of awareness." However, since I'm more intelligent than most people, it may have taken me fewer iterations than others would have needed.
That explains why psychiatrists say "Relapse is inevitable once you show symptoms of a mental illness." No patient/victim has ever been allowed to go through the full cycle of cracking your pro-State brainwashing. The symptoms of mania are really your body's natural healing process, when cracking your pro-State brainwashing. Anti-psychotic drugs interrupt this process. I suspect that also holds for depression and anti-depressant drugs. I never had a depressive episode, despite being labeled as "bipolar".
I suspect that an "abused productive" person who sees the Matrix becomes manic. A parasitic person who sees the Matrix becomes depressed/suicidal. That might explain why I was never really depressed, only manic.
I'm still dependent on my parents. I need to go 1.5-2+ years without relapsing and get/keep a wage slave job, in order to convince them that I've fully recovered. In the meantime, I'll still work on my blog and other plans. It isn't hypocritical for me to continue blogging, while I wait for an opportunity to implement my other ideas. Blogging has been a useful tool for me to write down my ideas, which is valuable by itself. Reader feedback, including stupid comments, is also valuable. Being able to recognize stupid ideas as stupid, and say so, is a valuable skill.
I had some good job interviews recently, so getting another wage slave job soon seems likely. With my higher emotional awareness, I should be better at keeping my wage slave job.
I'm lucky that no court order was ever obtained, requiring me to take the harmful drugs. I'm also lucky that my parents respect my desire to be drug-free. However, it is annoying that I can't make them understand, no matter how hard I try. Ironically, my mother, who has the parasitic personality type, is the one strongly advocating for forcibly drugging me. My father, who has the "abused productive" personality type, has been able to advocate for me being drug-free.
My mother likes me when I'm drugged up, because I'm docile and don't disagree with her and comply with orders. Superficially, I'm fine. The reality is that the drugs cripple me and I'm unable to do anything. I'm reluctant to take any drugs regularly, even at a low dose. If a drug is damaging at 10mg/day, then it still would be damaging at 2mg/day, just less so.
It's very annoying that no State-licensed psychiatrist will respect my desire to be drug-free. If all you have is a hammer, then everything looks like a nail. The only tool a psychiatrist has for helping someone is prescribing drugs. A psychiatrist has been brainwashed to believe that drugs are the only appropriate tool for helping someone that's been labeled with a "mental illness".
Anonymous has left a new comment on your post "What Does "Rule of Law" Mean?":
Hey FSK,
I've also thought about this. If they have the power to pass any law they want, then what good is the concept of the rule of law.
That's the point. For example, what gives the bad guys the right to ban manufacturing incandescent light bulbs? Why can't the free market decide? The incandescent light bulb ban probably is just corporate welfare for the insiders who control the patents for compact fluorescent light bulbs. The same "reduce electricity consumption" goal could have been accomplished via a tax on electricity. Taxation is still theft, but I'd prefer a higher electricity tax to a ban on incandescent light bulbs.
There's "natural law" and "corrupt insane State law". For example, the State's monopoly for prosecuting murder cases is immoral. I don't go around murdering people, because murder is a crime both according to natural law and corrupt insane State law. As another example, the State ban on marijuana is immoral. I don't violate that law, because marijuana really is bad for you.
Thomas Blair has left a new comment on your post "FSK Was Re-Hospitalized":
I'm very interested to read about the circumstances surrounding this latest incarceration. Please post them, if you don't mind.
The problem was that I was noticing a lot more about the productive/parasitic nature of most human relationships. I made another transition to a higher state of awareness. In the process, I had another panic attack.
For example, here's something I noticed after I was hospitalized. I started noticing such things just before my panic attack. One day, when I was going social dancing, there was an attractive and single woman visiting from out of town. She had the "abused productive" personality type. She seemed somewhat interested in me. I know she was single, because I asked who she was with and she said "two (male) friends". She didn't say "boyfriend". During the intermission, I went over to talk/flirt with her. One of her male friends had the parasitic personality type. When I came over, he immediately grabbed her hand and started caressing it.
He was attempting to redirect her emotions! She was somewhat attracted to me. The parasite was attempting to control and redirect the emotion to himself. By caressing her hand when I was talking to her, he was attempting to redirect her emotion of being somewhat attracted to me.
I had never noticed that before! It was amazing how parasites control and manipulate the emotions of their victims. Was the parasitic man consciously aware of what he was doing? It was too skillfully timed to be an accident. As a practical matter, it's irrelevant whether he was doing it on purpose or as an accident. Either way, it's immoral and must stop.
That also explains why that woman was single. She was smart enough to realize "Dating a parasite is stupid." However, whenever anyone with the "abused productive" personality type starts flirting with her, the parasites around her, who claim her as their property, intervene to interfere.
When the guy started caressing her hand, that's a nonverbal signal that says "She's mine! Stay away!" However, the woman was unaware of how the parasitic "friend" was controlling her. If she's always around such a man, then she'll never be able to date someone with the "abused productive" personality type. The nonverbal message was coming from the man. Before I achieved higher awareness, I always assumed that such signals were coming from the woman!
I was trying to figure out why I was so reluctant to approach women. That's the reason. Whenever I approach a woman, the parasitic men around her attempt to control and redirect the emotion to themselves. That was a very traumatic discovery. I couldn't tell the different between emotions coming from an "abused productive" woman and the emotions coming from a parasitic man. The parasitic man would send a "Back off loser!" nonverbal message, and I'd assume it was coming from the woman. All "abused productive" women almost always are with parasites, even if they aren't dating them.
As part of the process of moving to a higher level of emotional awareness, I had another panic attack. I feel that I'm at a higher level of awareness compared to pre-hospitalization, even though I was only released two weeks ago and only stopped taking my drugs two weeks ago.
Anonymous has left a new comment on your post "FSK Was Re-Hospitalized":
Aw, crap.
Listen, you have to be careful.
The difference between being free and being locked up, pumped full of drugs and watched is very subtle.
This is very, very important.
You have to act like they do, no matter what.
You have your blog where you can voice stuff they consider crazy.
You have to fight your tendency to let others know the truth.
Do not mess with people on the subway, even if they say things like 'gold is for fools'. There is nothing to be gained from trying to convert them, and will land you in the hostpital.
Do not attempt to game your enlightened understanding of people. Chances are you will slip and wind up in the hospital.
If a woman shows any discomfort talking to you, let her go. You will wind up in the hospital or in jail, regardless of your take on her body language or whatnot.
Watch your interactions!
I am speaking from experience.
Good luck
It was my parents that turned me in to the State psych/murder squad. It wasn't random strangers. So far, my attempts to communicate with strangers have been enlightening. I give up if the other person seems uncomfortable. I'm getting better at judging. I'm trying to make my policy be "Give up if the other person doesn't give positive feedback in a few seconds." Then, I avoid being too persistent.
I noticed that this is an important aspect of pro-State brainwashing. No matter how friendly I act, most people assume by default that a complete stranger is a pervert who wants to assualt/rape/rob them.
Whenever someone actually does get assaulted/raped/robbed, the mainstream media heavily hypes the incident. This creates a sense of exaggerated fear towards strangers. That's an important aspect of pro-State brainwashing. Government is needed, because all strangers are perverts who would hurt you given the opportunity. Of course, the biggest perverts are those who control the government.
Supernova Girl has left a new comment on your post "FSK Was Re-Hospitalized":
Benzodiazepines; I can rant about the horrors of all anti-psychotic medications, but at least they're a lot more fun compared to regular SSRI/SNRI/MAOI's. [If you have free-time, go to Blockbuster & just rent every Disney movie you find. Trust me, by the time you reach the Lion King, you'll run out of tears]
Klonopin is the same as Clonazepam, right? [I know Diazepam/Valium supposedly has the same half-life as Clonazepam]
I wouldn't complain, though, about the Abilify. My psychiatrist gives it out when you lose too much weight from the medication. It also helps with nausea & headaches. [I'm pretty sure it lessens side effects, to make the meds work better]
Hope you feel better!
You're missing the point. All anti-psychotic and anti-depressant drugs are bad for you. All drugs that affect your brain chemistry are bad for you.
I want to be drug-free. I'm going to try to keep that up as long as possible. Hopefully, I've fully cracked my pro-State brainwashing now.
Klonopin is the brand name and clonazepam is the generic name. That's what Wikipedia said and Wikipedia usually gets facts like that correct.
However, instead of choosing the least-damaging poison, I choose to be poison-free! The withdrawal is *NASTY*! It's worth it if you can manage it. The hard part is avoiding relapse, despite multiple hospitalizations.
I'm seriously considering starting an agorist mental health business. It'd have to be agorist-style. I can't legally sell mental health services without a State license. State agents would never grant me a license to use techniques that actually work.
Thomas Blair has left a new comment on your post "FSK Was Re-Hospitalized":
Anon 6:47 is correct.
We live in a shitty world, but it's the world we have to live in right now. You can either pretend to be a part of it in public or you can be involuntarily hospitalized and pumped full of drugs.
There's another alternative, which is working on making the world better. I can't help everyone all at once. I can search for the most receptive/intelligent people and help them first.
My suggestion: get a slave job and don't worry about the parasite/productive worker interaction right now. You'll have to be a productive worker and let some parasite feed off you until you can save enough money (in gold or slave points, whatever) to break free of your folks and get your own place. When you can do that, you can start to make plans for an agorist business.
I'm still seeking a wage slave job. Working as an agorist probably won't be viable for a few more years.
The parasite/productive relationship pattern is *VERY IMPORTANT*. I need to be aware of it in order to get and keep a wage slave job.
The parasite/productive worker thing won't go away in your lifetime, even if we transition to an agorist economy. Francois Tremblay had an excellent post the other day called the Obedience Circuit. The parasite/productive thing has been running in people's minds so long that it's now an automatic stimulus/response reaction. Breaking that requires time, and will probably require multiple generations of the infected aging and dying off. We can only hope, through education, that their kids will be better off at each successive generation.
It might be possible to cure people. I've become mostly cured. I've figured things out the hard way. It's easier for me to explain things for you, than for you to also figure things out the hard way yourself.
You can choose to get along in this world - however faulty it is - and work to change it through agorism, or you can wind up incarcerated and permanently sedated. It's a shitty choice, but it's the only one any of us has right now. I'm of the opinion that I have nothing to gain by being locked up. Your mileage may vary.
You're missing the point. I was not hospitalized based on my blog. I was not hospitalized based on my writings on agorism or government or the State. Having achieved a huge amount of awareness/enlightenment, I can't stop now. I've seen too much of the real truth to ignore it.
Why would I voluntarily take the blue pill, when I've already been exposed to the red pill and am nearly completely unplugged? I haven't recovered my physical independence yet. I'm pretty confident that I've gained mental and emotional independence, which is a prerequisite for physical independence.
Anti-psychotic and anti-depressant drugs are literal blue pills. Once people get exposed to the truth, those drugs are forced on them to prevent their enlightenment.
The State is a very clever trap! The people who see part of the truth then have symptoms of a "mental illness". They then are forcibly given drugs that prevent their complete enlightenment! Your body has a natural healing process as you crack your pro-State brainwashing. Anti-psychotic or anti-depressant drugs prevent your body's natural healing process from occurring.
I'm going to do the best I can to get by in the present and near future. I'm also going to work towards fixing the evil of the State. I'm not going to succeed overnight. I should also be able to avoid failure.
Just because I had a temporary setback, doesn't mean I failed to defeat the State. I've moved to a higher level of awareness.
My blog has been useful. It's beneficial for me to write down my ideas, even if I have zero readers.
chronosaidit (http://chronosaidit.
You're mad...I'm mad. You need to take care of yourself to the point of exclusion of this blog, if necessary. The things I have learned here are invaluable. In some ways, your blog has taught me how to think. Don't let me read that you have been hospitalized again.
I took a break from blogging for awhile. I used up my queued drafts. I'm well enough to start writing again.
And do start refering to it as imprisoned, rather, because that's what it is.
That's true. I feel that I've learned enough to avoid re-imprisonment this time. However, that's what I say every time.
I have valid reasons to believe I'm improving. I'm noticing things that I haven't noticed before. My awareness and alertness has dramatically increased, without mania.
There's still a lot more to write about. Also, there's the benefit for new regular readers.
And really, stop blogging anyway. Unless you are doing this for money, I doubt there is anything left to discover that hasn't already been communicated here.
My blog is beneficial, even if it never is viable as a full-time job. I'm planning to experiment with other things. Due to my recent re-hospitalization, I had to take a break and use up queued drafts.
I see a high quality post from you about 1/60 of the time...maybe more, but that's a conservative estimate (once every couple of months)...I still need to get back to you on another post.
It's hard to know which posts will be popular ahead of time. My previous expectations are not what actually occurs. Besides, what you think is trash someone else might think is awesome.
Anyway, this hospitalization/living at home/still being years away/needing to write xyz/every one of those is bullshit. You need to be posting (considering that it's been YEARS) that you have achieved something in this regard. These things take time, but not this much time.
Use this to inspire you...you have a long way to go (as do the rest of us, I'm sure).
I'm probably ahead of 99%+ of my regular readers. Therefore, I benefit others by blogging.
I'm hoping to get a wage slave job sometime in the next month or two. I have some interviews lined up already. With my higher level of emotional awareness, it should be easier to get and keep a job now.
I'm not stuck in a loop. I'm making progress. My awareness is increasing, even if there aren't many tangible benefits (yet).
It is probably going to take another 1.5-2 years for me to get full independence from my parents and get my own apartment. I have no choice but to accept this temporary setback. I need to get/keep a wage slave job and go 1.5+ years without relapsing, in order to convince my parents to give me back my freedom. In the meantime, my higher emotional awareness means that my parents are behaving less abusively. I'm better at managing the relationship now. I'm not going to cure them of their pro-State brainwashing, but I can get them to behave less abusively.
I am going to make progress towards practical freedom. Just because I had a temporary setback doesn't mean I lost.
Blogging is beneficial for me, even if the total income I ever earn is $0. I benefit from writing down and clarifying my ideas, even if I have no readers. If you think my blog is stupid, you're free to stop reading.
BTW, I noticed that I can touch-type faster now as well.
I've decided that I'm going to start using "State" differently than other anarchists. I'm going to say "government" when I specifically talk about government. The State is the evil state of mind that allows government to exist in the first place. Government is one way that productive/parasitic relationships are legitimized, but there are many others also. The State is about a lot more than just government.
If I create a parasite-free business, I should be incredibly productive, even if I do it on-the-books. In other words, if I start a business, and have zero employees with the parasitic personality type, it should be incredibly profitable. It would be even better if I could have employees who have cracked their pro-State brainwashing like me. Even though some career types are dominated by parasites, such as lawyer, it's still possible to find lawyers with the "abused productive" personality type. Every career must have some people with the "abused productive" personality type, because ultimately parasites need someone to leech.
Now that I have greater awareness of the Matrix, I see that fighting the State is more important than fighting monopolistic government. I'm still going to write about government, because it's a way to explain the evil of the State in a way that's easy to understand. I'm still going to practice agorism eventually, because it's important to prevent parasites from leeching off me. Agorism is a tool both for fighting the State and for fighting monopolistic government.
I'm still way behind answering reader comments. I have a huge backlog. It'll take a few "Reader Mail" posts for me to catch up.
Having a huge volume of comments is good. I haven't 100% recovered my blogging energy yet, but I'm nearly there.
If I missed something important, send me a reminder.
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