{"id":36044,"date":"2013-02-16T08:03:00","date_gmt":"2013-02-16T13:03:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/countingpips.com\/forex-news\/?p=36044"},"modified":"2013-02-15T08:04:05","modified_gmt":"2013-02-15T13:04:05","slug":"the-core-of-american-liberty","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.investmacro.com\/forex-news\/2013\/02\/16\/the-core-of-american-liberty\/","title":{"rendered":"The Core of American Liberty"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Bill Bonner<\/strong><\/p>\n

I’ve been at the beck and call of rich men all my life. But I’ll
\nbe damned if I’ll be at the beck and call of every son-of-a-bitch with a
\n3% stamp.<\/em><\/p>\n

\u2013 William Faulkner on losing his job at the Oxford, Miss., post office<\/p>\n

One of the rarely cited advantages of having money is that you’re
\nless beholden to others who have it too. The more you have, at least in
\ntheory, the more you can ignore the other fellow with it, and go about
\nyour business. Nor need you drink the same cocktail or rush to the same
\nmall so you can outfit yourself in the same duds.<\/p>\n

In short, with a little capital of your own you can do what you want.<\/p>\n

And the fellow who said “money can’t buy happiness” has apparently not read yesterday’s New York Times<\/em>:<\/p>\n

Broadly speaking, the data now indicate
\nthat as people get richer, they report getting happier too. Though it’s
\nnot quite that simple.<\/em><\/p>\n

Justin Wolfers, an economist at the
\nUniversity of Michigan who helps advise the U.S. government on happiness
\nstatistics, told me that poor people in poor countries are not unhappy
\nsimply because they don’t have wads of cash. They are more likely to
\nhave fewer choices, more children who die in childbirth and other grave
\nproblems. And while wealthier nations are generally happier, there is no
\nevidence, Wolfers says, that an artist would be happier if she became a
\nhedge-fund trader.<\/em><\/p>\n

The Importance of Capital<\/h3>\n

But we’re talking capital, not cash flow. The trouble with cash flow is that it doesn’t spring ab ovo<\/em> from nowhere. It comes to your hands from the greasy mitts of someone else.<\/p>\n

If they don’t keep the cash flowing, you may not have any. Unless
\nyou’re a government employee or a tenured professor, a job is just a
\njob. You serve at the pleasure of others. If you give them displeasure,
\nthey can cut off your income.<\/p>\n

Capital<\/strong><\/a>
\nis different. If you have enough of it, you don’t have to work for
\nanyone. You can go fishing, pick your teeth and maintain unpatriotic
\nopinions.<\/p>\n

Capital frees you from politics too. According to the most recent
\nnumbers, nearly half of U.S. households now rely on other people’s money
\nfor some or all of their income. They are beneficiaries of one or more
\nof the feds’ transfer programs. Money is taken from others; it is
\ntransferred to them, as if to a getaway car.<\/p>\n

The feds even have the chutzpah to give the recipients of this stolen
\nloot an electronic card called the “Independence Card.” Independent is
\nexactly what these people aren’t. Instead, says Charles Hugh Smith over
\nat OfTwoMinds.com<\/a>, they are like feudal serfs.<\/p>\n

“The core of American liberty is widespread private ownership of
\nproperty,” he writes. If you want to be free you have to have your hands
\non the “means of production.” Otherwise, you’ve got to learn to bend.<\/p>\n

Imagine that you have zero equity in the house you own, Hugh Smith suggests. How free are you then?<\/p>\n

Or imagine that you need to buy a house and need a mortgage<\/strong><\/a>. The mortgage market is almost 100% controlled by the feds. How free are you?<\/p>\n

The Rise of “Neo-Feudalism”<\/h3>\n

Hugh Smith does not mention it. But imagine that you rely on the feds for unemployment<\/strong><\/a> benefits, food stamps, healthcare or Social Security. Are you a free man? Or a serf?<\/p>\n

Smith says we live in a condition of creeping “neo-feudalism.” A few
\npeople own a lot of property. Most own very little. His attention is
\nfocused on housing, where he believes the feds are quietly taking more
\nand more property out of private hands and putting it in the hands of
\nrich, concentrated elites.<\/p>\n

He’s probably right about that. But it seems to us that even more
\nneo-feudalism is taking place right out in the open \u2013 where large groups
\nnow depend on the feds… and on Fed’s EZ money… to maintain their
\ncurrent standards of living.<\/p>\n

Balance the federal budget? Stop the Fed’s printing presses? Let interest rates rise to a normal level?<\/p>\n

Forget it. The serfs can’t afford it.<\/p>\n

Regards,<\/p>\n

\"Bill<\/p>\n

Bill<\/p>\n

http:\/\/www.billbonnersdiary.com\/<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Bill Bonner I’ve been at the beck and call of rich men all my life. But I’ll be damned if I’ll be at the beck and call of every son-of-a-bitch with a 3% stamp. \u2013 William Faulkner on losing his job at the Oxford, Miss., post office One of the rarely cited advantages of … <\/p>\n

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