Economic Police State

In a Police State, the police ask every person "Papers please!", and kidnap people who don't have the right papers. Most people know that's evil, because everyone is inconvenienced.

In the USA, any small business owner risks a "Papers please!" demand by State thugs. If the papers are not in order, then the economic secret police will kidnap you. The laws are so complicated that any business owner is practically guaranteed to have violations.

In Nazi Germany, you were encouraged to rat out your neighbors if they were protecting Jews. In the Soviet Union, you were encouraged to rat out your neighbors if they are hiding food or goods. In the USA, you are encouraged to rat out your neighbor is he is operating a business without a permit. You are encouraged to rat out your neighbor if he is engaging in forbidden economic activity or has forbidden plants/guns.

On the NYC subway, I saw a sign "$1000 reward if you report someone with an unlicensed gun!" My reaction to that sign is "Would anyone really sell out their gun-owning friend/relative for only $1000?" $1000 was insultingly low. Do the State police have credibility, regarding paying the reward? Can someone abuse the process by filing a false tip?

Suppose you file an Anonymous complaint "FSK is growing marijuana in his basement." (I'm not.) State thugs conduct a no-knock raid of my home. I ask the State thugs "WTF? Why did you raid my home?" They will reply "We got an Anonymous tip?" I ask "Who?" They will say "Sorry, FSK. Anonymous tips are confidential." This encourages fraud. Someone could file a false complaint. Some undercover cop could file the false complaint, just so they could raid my home. Many things are illegal that aren't real crimes, further encouraging abuse.

Suppose I operate a restaurant out of my home. Someone with a State restaurant license has an economic incentive to file a complaint against me. I don't even get to find out who filed the complaint! The State police are a private army, protecting State-licensed businesses from competition.

There are undercover cops who troll the Internet, looking for people operating a business without a State permit. These undercover cops are really economic secret police. For that reason, agorists should not use Craigslist or eBay. "Write agoristbay" is on my todo list.

The NYPD has a division of troops that focuses solely on kidnapping people who "operate a taxi without a permit". Due to "asset forfeiture" laws, the NYPD can steal your car without even a trial, if they accuse you of illegally operating a taxi. This special NYPD unit is literally a private army, working for the State taxi medallion cartel. The medallion owners have a very lucrative monopoly. They can afford to spend money lobbying the State to crack down on competition. Via taxes, everyone in NYC pays the cost of NYPD medallion cartel enforcement. If the medallion owners had to maintain their own private army, then the extortion racket wouldn't be profitable. Also, if they had their own private army, the slaves wouldn't recognize the violence as legitimate.

Even though the NYPD is working to stifle taxi competition, there still are people who conclude that the risk/reward ratio is worth it. I read that the unlicensed commuter vans have a relatively sophisticated agorist setup. If a licensed commuter van files a complaint with the State, then he finds his van vandalized. (Technically, that's not a violation of the Non-Aggression principle.) If police set up a roadblock, the unlicensed vans find out about it, and they avoid capture. The cost of a State permit is *EXPENSIVE*, so the unlicensed vans have a huge economic incentive to ignore the law. Amusingly, the transit workers' union is also lobbying for a crackdown on "illegal" transportation.

If I attempt practical agorism, I'm competing with State-licensed businesses. Those businesses have an economic incentive to rat me out to the State, to shut down competition. The State thug thinks "I'm enforcing 'Rule of law!'", but he's an economic terrorist.

Most laws are designed to protect insiders from competition, rather than true best practices.

There's another "advantage" of State licensing requirements. Now, State bureaucrats know who's operating a business. They know who to shake down for taxation/extortion money. Most people are complacent wage slaves. This gives State thugs the resources to crack down on people who desire economic freedom.

The most evil example of an economic police State is the IRS and the income tax. IRS thugs extort small business owners. IRS bureaucrats spy on people, to see if anyone is working without their permission.

Another example of an economic police State is the treatment of gold and silver. Due to taxes and regulations, it's impractical/illegal to use gold and silver as money.

Another example of an economic police State is the ironically-named "Bank Secrecy Act". The Bank Secrecy Act requires all State-licensed banks to report "suspicious transactions". That's used to catch drug dealers and prostitutes, things that should not be illegal. It's also used to catch tax evaders. It's used to catch people who want economic privacy. The Bank Secrecy Act makes every State-licensed bank a branch of the IRS and FBI.

Another example of an economic police State is the 1099/W-2 requirement. All economic activity must be reported to the IRS/State. Employers have an obligation to withhold taxes from employees' paychecks. Every small business owner must work for the State as an unpaid tax collector and economic spy.

What criminal organization besides government could demand "Tell me everything you do. Tell me everything you own. Then, I'll figure out how much of your stuff I should steal."? What criminal besides government gets his victims to mail him a check?!

The USA is an economic police State. State thugs don't say "Papers please!" to everyone. State thugs only harass/assault small business owners. This helps preserve the illusion that the USA is a free country. Economic terrorism is more subtly evil than "Kill all the Jews!"

Economic terrorism is more subtly evil than "Round up all the small business owners and send them to death camps!" Via taxes and regulations, executives at large corporations stifle small business competition. It isn't explicitly illegal to operate a small business, but taxes and regulations are a huge handicap. For many industries, competition with the State-backed monopoly/oligopoly/cartel is explicitly illegal. Some examples of explicit State-backed monopolies/cartels are doctors, lawyers, accountants, electricity, landline telephone, cell phones, cable TV, broadcast TV/radio, and taxis.

"Economic Police State" is a good way to describe the corruption of the US economic and political system. Agorism is the best strategy for fighting the economic police State. It's not risk free, but it's the best method I've seen. Working for freedom is risky. It's also risky to be a complacent slave as the system collapses. There's no easy solution.