FROM Doug Casey's International Man:
Capitalism�A New Idea

By Jeff Thomas

Capitalism, whether praised or derided, is an economic system and ideology based on private ownership of the means of production and operation for profit.

Classical economics recognises capitalism as the most effective means by which an economy can thrive. Certainly, in 1776, Adam Smith made one of the best cases for capitalism in his book, An Inquiry Into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations (known more commonly as The Wealth of Nations). But the term �capitalism� actually was first used to deride the ideology, by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels, in The Communist Manifesto, in 1848.

Of course, whether Mister Marx was correct in his criticisms or not, he lived in an age when capitalism and a free market were essentially one and the same. Today, this is not the case. The capitalist system has been under attack for roughly 100 years, particularly in North America and the EU.

A tenet of capitalism is that, if it�s left alone, it will sort itself out and will serve virtually everyone well. Conversely, every effort to make the free market less free diminishes the very existence of capitalism, making it less able to function.

Today, we�re continually reminded that we live under a capitalist system and that it hasn�t worked. The middle class is disappearing, and the cost of goods has become too high to be affordable. There are far more losers than winners, and the greed of big business is destroying the economy.

This is what we repeatedly hear from left-leaning people and, in fact, they are correct. They then go on to label these troubles as byproducts of capitalism and use this assumption to argue that capitalism should give way to socialism.

In this, however, they are decidedly wrong. These are the byproducts of an increasing level of collectivism and fascism in the economy. In actual fact, few, if any, of these people have ever lived in a capitalist (free-market) society, as it has been legislated out of existence in the former �free� world over the last century.

So, let�s have a look at those primary sore spots that are raised by suggesting that collectivism will correct the �evils� of capitalism.

Prices Are Driven From the Top Down

This is unquestionably the case in the aforementioned countries, however, it is not so under capitalism. Under capitalism, each producer tries to get as much as he can for his product, but, as others are also creating the same product, those with the lowest price are the ones who will succeed. Therefore, the consumers effectively set the prices, based upon what they�re willing to pay.

But in any country where cronyism exists between big business and government, regulations can squeeze out the competition, allowing a monopoly for a given product. The definition of this marriage between business and government is �fascism.� The government makes it increasingly difficult, through regulation, for the small producer to compete with the larger producer (who gives kickbacks to the government).

Capitalism Only Benefits Those at the Top

Capitalism benefits those who produce the most, but it also benefits all others, as they have a free choice to purchase whatever products they wish, at a price they�re prepared to pay. If the producer demands too high a price, consumers instead buy his competitor�s product, putting him out of business. The consumer is therefore in charge of the price of goods. A producer only rises to the top if he produces the most affordable product (as did Henry Ford, 100 years ago, with his Model T. Through the free market, he lowered his price repeatedly and, in so doing, put America on wheels).

Capitalism Impoverishes the Masses

The free market offers more goods to more people at lower prices, which enriches the lives of all consumers, no matter how rich or poor. In so doing, it raises up the masses over time, providing them with more and better goods, education, health care, etc., enabling them to rise out of poverty. By contrast, overregulation and entitlements enslave those same people to poverty.

Capitalism Can Only Work if It�s Heavily Regulated

The whole idea of the free market is that it�s free from interference by others�most importantly, governments. If left alone, the free market will produce the goods the public are most willing to pay for, which results in an ever-self-levelling of products and prices. As soon as regulation enters the picture, the free market is compromised. What exists today is not a free market, as Adam Smith would have recognised it, but a bloated, dysfunctional socialist/fascist/capitalist mongrel of a system. Of course it doesn�t work.

[Editor's Note: this article explains (so eloquently) the REASON the USA fails. Over the previous 122 years through successsive presidents, CONgresses, the size increase of the faceless bureaucracy, and the DEEP STATE, the once free America is almost destroyed. It is not CAPITALISM, a FREE MARKET, that has almost destroyed the USA, it is the evolved government that over-taxes (everything) and over-regulates (everything)—a socialist society created in reverse with permission of the languid, indolent, ignorant citizenry—with successive generations of Progressive Politicians extracting their piece of the pie from a formerly free country. IF IT IS NOT CORRECTED SOON, THE USA WILL GO THE WAY OF EUROPE AND THE SOVIET UNION. Today, China and Vietnam are more capitalist than USA, the world's former best example of a capitalist economy, the greatest creator of wealth for every citizen the world has ever known. The deterioration began with the first Progressive era, 1895-1918. We are in the second. ]

Fascism is capitalism in decay.
�Vladimir Lenin

Quite so. Regulation is a cancer that slowly eats capitalism until it morphs into fascism.

Do not their leaders deprive the rich of their estates and distribute them among the people; at the same time taking care to preserve the larger part for themselves?

�Socrates to Adeimantus

What was true ca. 400 BC in Athens is true today. Fascism (or corporatist cronyism) results in 99% of the population coming under the diktat of the 1%, which is made up of government leaders and corporate leaders, working in concert, to the exclusion of all others. This is, in fact, the opposite of a free market.

The creation of new wealth is the only functional weapon against poverty.

�Doug Casey

New wealth comes from the bottom up�it�s as simple as someone building a better mousetrap, or building the old one more cheaply. In such a market, both the producer and the consumer benefit.

In a fascist system, the wealth gravitates to the top, eventually choking out the middle class and expanding the poorer class, and that�s just what we�re witnessing today. The solution is not to go further in this direction, but rather to try something new� or at least new to anyone living under the fascist system. Although it still retains some capitalist overtones, it is unquestionably not capitalism.

A last word�capitalism does exist today, but it lives in select countries that have not yet given in to overregulation. In those countries, the average person thrives and has opportunities far beyond what�s allowed in the former �free� world. Should the reader conclude that his present country is unlikely to go in the direction of capitalism, he may choose to vote with his feet in order to prosper the way his ancestors did 100 years ago.

Editor�s Note: Today, Washington�s dangerous fascist policies have pushed the US economy to the tipping point.

Years of overregulation, corporate bail outs, manic money printing, and artificially low interest rates, have bloated and warped the economy.

Now it�s about to unravel�

Anyone who believes this country is free is an idiot!

RESTORE AMERICA! CUT GOVERNMENT 50%!

"The politicians only want power so they can 'serve' you."

"Extortion and thuggery are good things when they're called law!"

Larken Rose

Joseph Story, Supreme Court Justice
... when the court wasn't part of the L-E-J Cabal

 

Joseph Story (1779�1845) was born during the American Revolution, and came of age in the early years of the new United States of America. He was a scholar of the U.S. Constitution, and, eventually helped found the Harvard Law School.

In 1811, Story was appointed to the Supreme Court by President James Madison � who knew a few things about the U.S. Constitution, in that he helped write it. Story was a contemporary of another famous member of the Supreme Court, Chief Justice John Marshall (1755�1835).

In 1833, Justice Story published a study titled, Commentaries on the Constitution of the United States. In a discussion of the Second Amendment, Story stated:

"The right of the citizens to keep and bear arms has justly been considered, as the palladium of the liberties of a republic; since it offers a strong moral check against the usurpation and arbitrary power of rulers; and will generally, even if these are successful in the first instance, enable the people to resist and triumph over them."

See the following links for more related articles:

[Editor's Note: what I have dubbed the "Legislative-Executive-Judicial Cabal" which the American People have caused by ignoring the generational transition from our Constitutional Republic to what now is, in effect, an "elected" dictatorship. Never mind who is elected. Never mind which bogus party is in power. The superficial, theatrically staged, choreographed appearance of debate, disagreement, and stalled legislation always resolves into more government and less FREEDOM. We the People still lose more freedom after every "emergency" or unnoticeably when CON-gress passes another general, open-ended law that enables the Executive (dictator) and its unaccountable agencies to formulate more freedom-restricting regulations (200 pages a day get posted to the Federal Register). The "Dictator's" agencies (police force) continue to pile-up more weapons to squelch uprising(s) when the People finally realize and understand their tyrannical government.

A Convention of States is necessary to amend the Constitution for Congressional Term Limits to twelve (12) years and restrict time in DC to only six (6) months per year. Such an Amendment is only a FIRST step in restoring America to its Constitutional roots. Back in the day when the People still feared kings, the president's term was limited by Constitutional Amendment.

Currently, CONgress is just a group of socialists, progressives, and faux-conservatives (career politicians) that, on a daily basis, ignores the Constitution, many of their own past statutes, and cedes their responsibilities to the president ("elected" dictator). A comparison to the history of Rome becomes more and more credible with the Executive and its "featherbedded" lackeys gaining more power while CONgress sits back all fat-dumb-and-happy.

CONgress has made recent efforts to expose State Dept. failures in Benghazi (inept political leader), Fast-and-Furious gun-running (criminal AG), IRS 1st amendment violations, gov't union Veterans Administration fraud, and whining about Obama(Reid)-killer-Care, but these efforts are mostly politics as usual. Most "citizens" will forget about these infringements from our unaccountable, uncontrollable Executive branch with its tyrannical agencies staffed by socialist unions that extort "juicy" contracts from the "elected" dictatorship.

Most positions in the federal government whether elected, appointed, or hired are nominal, make-work jobs (confidentially) designed merely to grow government, bilk money from private businesses and citizens, and eventually fully transform America into a totalitarian state. When this happens, CONgress will have destroyed the economy and the country by their negligence and counter-liberty policies, and it will be almost impossible to Restore America. The 'Restore America' list is only a beginning too.]

"The accumulation of all powers, legislative, executive, and judiciary, in the same hands, whether of one, a few, or many, and whether hereditary, self-appointed or elective, may justly be pronounced the very definition of tyranny."

James Madison, Federalist Paper 47, Friday, February 1, 1788

Anyone who believes this country is free is an idiot!

RESTORE AMERICA! CUT GOVERNMENT 50%!

"Extortion and thuggery are good things when they're called law!"

Larken Rose

[Editor's Note: a Constitutional Convention is required to reverse the damage to freedom and liberty since 1900. This Article V was ratified by the participants at America's founding Constitutional Convention as an alternate path for repairing damage to freedom and liberty, a path for the People to restore damage caused by our failed representatives in the Legislative, Executive, and Judicial branches of a government designed to represent the wishes of We the People.

The States must "demand" a Convention and explicitly specify an agenda of:

  1. laws to be repealed or modified,
  2. Amendments to existing constitutional clauses that define the co-equal branches to further specify and define, and
  3. new Amendments or statutes to be eventually ratified by States.

These Amendments should further specify and clarify the powers of the Legislature and Executive Branches. A good example is the definition of a "Bill". A Bill should contain ONLY verbiage in regards to the topic of the future law. NO earmarks and NO unrelated sections or attacments.

Many past Bills sent to a president for signature contained unrelated but essential funding sections that rendered the Bill veto-proof when it warranted a veto. CON-gress can override a veto if the Bill is deemed absolutely necessary by CON-gress. If the Bill requires SPECIFICALLY related amendments, the CON-gress can "debate" (with its usual theater) and vote any new amendments.

The original text of the Constitution contains some very GENERAL clauses enabling both CON-gress and Executive branches to write laws and regulations with their particular nuances expanding powers beyond intent. "Intent" may be gleaned from a complete understanding of Federalist Papers. An example of further specification and clarity for CON-gress should be a clear, very specific definition of the boundaries for the interstate Commerce Clause.

To restore freedom, liberty, and individuality - minimally these must be repealed:

  1. the 16th Amendment,
  2. the Federal Reserve Act,
  3. the War Powers Act,
  4. all Asset Forfeiture laws,
  5. the Controlled Substances Act (CSA)
  6. the P.A.T.R.I.O.T. Act
  7. NDAA
  8. Homeland Security which includes TSA
  9. the Dodd�Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act
  10. most Eminent Domain laws, and
  11. the Affordable Care Act

Currently, even with computer-searching systems, the list of antiquated and/or obsolete statutes (and related regulations) is unwieldy. These statutes must be invalidated unless there remains an applicable reason for retaining the law(s).

Aside from invalidating statutes, there are many regulations that are biased in favor of large enterprises (who buy support from bureaucrats) at the expense of the competition, effectively repressing the Free Market. Any regulations not related to public safety that gives a financial advantage to some companies over their smaller rivals must be rescinded to enable all companies with good consumer products to excel without burdensome regulations.

Additionally, the Convention should adopt for ratification at least these new Amendments or statute modifications:

  1. clearly define and limit the role of government in regards to the term "general welfare",
  2. Term Limits for CON-gress (12 years) including a 6 month limit on time residing in DC,
  3. strict Prohibition of Lobbying (with a comprehensive definition of "lobbying"), and
  4. a Balanced Budget Amendment to stop wreckless spending. During a CON-gressionally declared "war" (only after USA is attacked or attack is proven "imminent"), deficit spending is permissible.
  5. Restore America to its roots, i.e. Defense, State, Treasury, and Justice. Some Agencies are required like CIA and NSA, both respectively focused on defense against real foreign aggressors and not fictitious paranoid delusions of war mongers. Other agencies help where certain interstate communications are necessary. Most agencies like Agriculture, Education, DEA, IRS (eliminated with 16th Amendment) and many other listed here should be eliminated.
  6. Restore the world Gold Standard with five contentious steps, and
  7. Replace the IMF, World Bank, and Export-Import Bank with facilities that reflect the new Gold Standard, and
  8. After decentralizing and economizing, if tax revenue is needed to fund all or part of the federal government, then implement the Fair Tax.

Regarding a Constitutional Convention itself, some of the available literature warns the reader about a possible "unstructured" and "mismanaged" Convention that might propose and adopt amendments that could damage the Republic. Possible, however, it is difficult to envisage how much more damage could done over what the L-E-J Cabal has already done. If the Convention's agenda and rules of order strictly prohibit violation of the rules and enable a vote on unlisted Amendments AFTER all others are adopted, then the Convention will be properly structured and managed. ]

FROM Project to RESTORE AMERICA

The FairTax is a consumption tax unilaterally applied to all Americans at the same rate. For businesses, payroll taxes would no longer exist. Our exports would include a heavy tax for overseas buyers purchasing our products, while our imports would be cheaper for us to purchase. I'm not sure how this would affect GDP, as more information is necessary.

According to the FairTax website, "Under the FairTax, every person living in the United States pays a sales tax on purchases of new goods and services, excluding necessities due to the prebate." The prebate gives every legal resident household an "advance refund" at the beginning of each month so that purchases made up to the poverty level are tax-free.

So a family of four making something like $50,000/year should not have to pay taxes, thus preventing an unfair burden on low-income families. Since the FairTax eliminates both federal and payroll taxes, you get to keep your gross pay amount of each paycheck earned.

Why Do We Need Term Limits?

John Adams said, �Without [term limits] every man in power becomes a ravenous beast of prey�. That being said, here are some of the reasons we believe our country needs Term Limits.

  1. Term Limits can help break the cycle of corruption in Congress. Case studies show that the longer an individual stays in office, the more likely they are to stop serving the public and begin serving their own interests.
  2. Term Limits will encourage regular citizens to run for office. Presently, there is a 94% re-election rate in the House and 83% in the Senate. Because of name recognition, and usually the advantage of money, it can be easy to stay in office. Without legitimate competition, what is the incentive for a member of Congress to serve the public? Furthermore, it is almost a lost cause for the average citizen to try to campaign against current members of Congress.
  3. Term Limits will break the power special interest groups have in Congress.
  4. Term Limits will force politicians to think about the impact of their legislation because they will be returning to their communities shortly to live under the laws they enacted.
  5. Term Limits will bring diversity of people and fresh ideas to Congress.

Term limits for lawmakers: when is enough, enough?

[Editor's Note: If you want to get rich, i.e. advance from a low paying government bureaucrat job on the local or state level, THEN GET ELECTED TO THE US CONGRESS (House or Senate). Once you're elected, it's easy to steal from your campaign contributions or the Congressional budget allocated to your seat and staff. You can go on a government-funded junket with 'lavishly' paid expenses. The list of ways to steal from the government while in office is inexhaustible. There are only a few Congressmen who left Congress just wealthy instead of a multi-millionaire. Of course, there are several who arrived in Congress as multi-millionaires and don't need to steal from the government.]