Dilbert And TSHTF

This Dilbert comic strip was really interesting. (July 31)



That is one point I made about preparing for collapse. If you make preparations, and you're alone, you will be looted by roving bandits.

Inconsistent Tax Treatment

I just realized another unfair bit about the tax system.

If you're a US citizen living outside the USA, the US government claims the power to tax you on income earned in another country.

If a US corporation has income outside the USA, there are plenty of loopholes and tricks. A US corporation typically pays zero US income tax on income earned outside the USA.

The correct answer is "All taxation is theft!" However, individuals and corporations are taxed differently on non-USA income. That's another example of the State biased against individuals in favor of large corporations and insiders.

The net effect of the taxation system is that it transfers wealth from individuals to insiders. Most people believe the opposite, that taxes redistribute wealth from insiders to individuals.

Tea Party Terrorists

This quote was offensive. Vice President Biden said that Tea Party Congressmen who voted against the debt ceiling increase were "terrorists".

That's the new definition of terrorism. If a Congressman says "This law is bad. I'm not voting for it.", then he's a terrorist.

If the Vice President is hostile to inside-the-system protest, like Congressmen voting against a law, then what alternatives are there? Doesn't the Vice President know that the "Tea Party Congressmen" are mostly shills for the State, helping provide the illusion of a serious attempt at reform?

Government spending needs to be slashed. The actual cuts were a farce. "We're increasing spending by less than we previously said. We count that as a budget cut". That's silly.

If insiders are serious about preventing complete collapse, government spending needs to be slashed by 50%, 75%, 90%, or more. Unfortunately, most government spending is "politically untouchable" (i.e., lobbyists will complain). At this point, collapse seems incredibly likely.

Clueless Coworker

There was an amusing incident at work. One of my coworkers is doing a project. I know exactly what the project is, and it'd take me 2-3 days. He's taken more than 2 weeks, and he isn't done yet.

One thing he needed to do, was convert some files from format X to format Y. It was a 1 hour project. He asked me to do it for him.

I was sort of offended, but I did it anyway. I probably saved him 2-3 extra days of work, for doing the conversion.

That was very interesting. One of my coworkers took 2+ weeks, for something that I know I could have done in 2-3 days. That means I'm 5x more efficient than him. Of course, I'm not getting paid 5x as much.

Dofenism

I saw an interesting term, called "Dofenism". It means "Why bother?"

It comes from the Soviet Union. In an absolute communist dictatorship, it makes no difference if you do a brilliant job or a barely competent job. The incentive is to do just enough work to get by.

This attitude is spreading towards to the USA. The USA is acting more like an absolute communist dictatorship, and less like a free market. A lot of people are giving up. They know it doesn't make a difference, so they do the minimum possible work.

For example, in my current wage slave job, it makes no difference if I do a brilliant job or a barely competent job. I do my best, but maybe that's because I'm stupid. Even if I stay with my current employer for 20 years, the odds are practically zero that I would get promoted to Vice President or higher. Why should I work excessively hard?

You might say "Switch jobs if you're underused." However, any wage slave job will have the same problem. If I switch jobs, my next employer won't know what I'm doing now. How can a clueless prospective employer tell the difference whether I'm a good worker or an unqualified loser? I should start my own business, but the State makes that hard.

For most wage slaves, hard work no longer leads to promotion and advancement. Why should anyone work hard? The people who work hard are exploited losers. This attitude is spreading and it's dangerous.

State thugs have mostly disconnected effort from reward. The result is that most people have stopped trying. The USA is in danger of collapse like the Soviet Union collapsed. The USA is getting more like a communist dictatorship, and less like a free market.

Big Brother Lying Analysis

Most State TV shows are propaganda. Most "reality" shows are not a model for normal human interaction. The rules of most "reality competitions" guarantee that you have to lie and backstab in order to win. With normal human interaction, it's about building a long-term relationship. On a reality TV show, you never have to see someone again once you backstab them.

Still, there are interesting bits.

On Sunday's episode of "Big Brother", there was an excellent bit that illustrates lying.

Here is a link to the episode. (It's "episode 11", if you watch after Wednesday, when that link changes.)

Watch the next to last segment, when Danielle, Brendon, and Rachel are talking. (This is around 35:00.) All 3 are completely lying. Brendon and Rachel have already decided that Danielle is their next target. Danielle has already decided that she's nominating Brendon and Rachel. They are pretending to make a deal.

Notice the way that Brendon, Rachel, and Danielle all are blinking during the conversation. This is one thing I've noticed. People tend to blink when they're lying. Notice that the blinking intensity is proportional to the amount of lying. Watch when Rachel says "There's no reason for us to not work together." She's blinking very rapidly.

You can also see this sometimes on the Communism Channel (CNBC). The speaker blinks in proportional to the amount of lies.

You won't notice this with world class liars, like politicians. They're usually just reading from a teleprompter or reciting memorized talking points, without thinking. For the world class liar, the lie is the truth, making it not a lie. Politicians almost *NEVER* deviate from the prepared script, so you won't notice their lying body language.

Even though State TV is almost pure propaganda, there are interesting bits if you know where to look. The rules of reality shows like "Big Brother" explicitly reward dishonesty and backstabbing. However, it's interesting to notice people when they're lying. The segment with Brendon, Rachel, and Danielle is an excellent example of "People blink a lot when they lie!"

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There's another interesting bit, from earlier in the same episode. On Big Brother, the "token black guy" is very often also the "token homosexual". They're knocking off two minority checklist groups with the same person.

Debt Ceiling "Deal"

Last night, there was an announced agreement on the debt ceiling increase.

The deal reached by Democratic and Republican leaders in Congress, Obama said, would first cut nearly $1 trillion in spending over the next 10 years while raising the debt ceiling by the same amount.

Notice the semantics. "We're cutting spending by $1 trillion."

However, that's the cuts *OVER 10 YEARS*. The cut in current spending is around $100B, on tenth.

Notice that $100B is a negligible amount, compared to the total Federal government's budget.

Really, the Federal government's budget needs to be slashed by 50%-75% or more. That "isn't politically feasible", because lobbyists will always object when you cut their pork.

Also, the cuts in years 2-10 mean *NOTHING*. A future Congress can always change their mind.

State budget logic is amusing. If you increase spending by less then expected, that's a budget cut.

As I predicted, the Republicans and Democrats reached a deal. What do you expect them to do? Shut down the Federal government permanently and go get a real job? Of course they reached a deal.

Unless Congress repeals or reforms the Federal Reserve, an exponentially-increasing national debt is needed to keep the monetary system scam running. The rules of the monetary system guarantee that Congress must periodically raise the national debt limit.