Personal Secession

Secession require only two conditions to be met:

1. Tribute is no longer paid upwards in the political hierarchy
2. Money is issued and kept independently

Centrally issued laws and regulations may still be followed, trade may be conducted in currency issued by central banks, and lip-service may still be given to the feudal lords. However, none of this matters as long as the treasury of the independent entity is kept out of reach from third party busybodies.

There's no need for grand declarations of independence or violent rebellion. All that's required is a will to be free. Furthermore, secession is not the same as isolation. The aim of secession is not to be isolated from others, but to be in control of local monetary issues. This means that any political unit can secede, and it doesn't have to be violent or even noted down as a fact. Secession doesn't require any formal petition. No-one sent a formal letter to Rome from North-western Iberia when that part of the Roman empire seceded. None of the mini-states in Germany sent any formal letter to the Kaiser. In fact, lip-service was still given both to Rome and the Kaiser many years after secession was a fact.

The will to secede is all that's required, and the seceding unit can be anything from the state level down to the family. A citizen can secede from the taxman by making an effort to achieve minimal taxation and minimal savings in the state-managed financial system. While it may at first seem close to impossible to achieve independence this way, it's surprising how much can be achieved once we put our mind to it. I've personally severed all ties with the taxman and the banking system, so my personal secession from the state is complete. However, my wife and children are still inside the system out of practical necessity, so I cannot say that our family has achieved complete secession at this point. But things continue to move towards independence.

So far, we've achieved drastic reduction in taxation of our family as a whole. We've reduced our exposure to banks and financial markets, preferring gold and real-estate to fiat money and debt. Our long term aim is to build our wealth around gold, productive land and activities that easily pass under the radar of the taxman. This way, we'll build our independence from the bottom up, with a minimum of confrontation.

Café de Flore

By Arnaud 25 - Own work, Public Domain, Link

A First Step Towards Secession

Things have gotten positively weird since I wrote my post on the totalitarian paradox, and it appears that things are about to come unglued. Just as predicted in my post, bureaucrats and state officials of various stripes are starting to ignore and oppose the edicts of aspiring totalitarian leaders. As a case in point we just got this news story that a sheriff in California has made it clear that he will not enforce the latest laws and regulations coming from the state governor.

This is a significant development because sheriffs in the US are elected figures at the county level. If they stop enforcing rules and regulations issued by the state, they are in effect taking a first step towards secession.

What makes this news report even more significant is that the stakes have immediately been raised by state officials. They are threatening to withhold state and federal funds. But this can in turn be countered by county officials by withholding taxes collected on behalf of the state and federal governments. The county in question is presumably wealthy enough to take care of their own finances based on their own resources. If this happens, it would be secession in all but name.

What history teaches us when it comes to secession is that it's frequently a rather discrete affair. It doesn't require any grand declaration. All that's required is a will to secede, and this comes about the moment regional governments no longer see any benefit in paying tribute to higher government levels. What follows may be a formal declaration of independence, but it may just as well be a quiet affair. North-west Iberia seceded from Rome simply by withholding taxes and minting their own coins. This happened without any violent confrontations of note.

The role of money in secession movements are often trivialized or ignored, but is in fact the main driver of secession. It all boils down to taxes and funding. When taxation becomes burdensome relative to funding, secession becomes increasingly likely. This means that secession is unlikely as long as the centrally issued currency is strong and business regulations are relatively lax. But should the currency deteriorate, and regulations become burdensome, secession starts making a lot of sense.

This means that a deteriorating US dollar will have serious implications. Coupled with out of control totalitarianism at the state and federal level, many county sheriffs will simply stop taking orders from higher up in the federal structure. Books will be cooked so as to make it seem that little to no taxes have been collected, and there may be moves to make gold and silver legal tender within the county borders. Like minded sheriffs can then forge alliances independent of state and federal agents, re-drawing the political map in the process.

This may sound unlikely, but history tells us that this is a rather common outcome, especially when it comes to large federations with aspirations towards empire. 

Sheriff badge

By SGT141 - Own work, Public Domain, Link

A Matter of Style

It amazes me that so many people still believe that Boris Johnson went into intensive during Easter, only to be released from hospital on Easter Sunday. It's one of these weird things that prove to me that most people don't think. They listen to experts, and they believe whatever they are told, even when evidence to the contrary are right in front of us.

Intensive care would normally cause major fatigue to a person. Yet, not a single journalist seemed at all sceptical to the official story. It was all about Boris and his epic journey to the underworld and back. Even more astonishing was the complete lack of scepticism in the general public. Everybody, including most self proclaimed sceptics seemed convinced that the story was genuine, and this appears to be the case to this day. Only the truly paranoid appear to be sceptical to the story.

With any scepticism to this story immediately placing us in the crank category of sceptics, it may at first seem impossible to poke a hole in the official narrative. However, this is not the case. All that's required is to activate the network effect at opportune moments. If properly delivered, our message will spread far and wide.

With most people believing the official narrative, it's important to avoid any direct confrontation. Stating the obvious in a blunt and humourless way will only serve to entrench listeners. Far better is a light and non-confrontational message that opens the possibility for listeners to pretend that the stated truth is something that they always knew. There should be ambiguity in the way our message is formed, allowing for consideration by the listeners. No-one likes to be told that they have been fooled. Let them therefore claim that they never fully believed the false narrative.

I had the opportunity to try this strategy last night when someone on Facebook used Boris Johnson as an example of someone who've suffered tremendously from Covid. Instead of telling him how gullible he is for believing this, I commented by recanting the events surrounding Johnson's illness with the natural conclusion that Johnson's recovery was nothing short of a miracle. I was in this way simply expanding on the idea that the commentator was holding to be true, siding with him in his naïve belief. I did not reveal whether I was ironic or truthful, allowing him to skip along to a better example, which he promptly did.

My message was thus delivered and understood without offending anyone. The fact that the original commentator chose to veer away from his original example suggests that my message was as successful as it could possibly be. Normally, people don't change their minds when confronted. However, with this somewhat humorous and non-confrontational style, the response indicates at least some budding scepticism to the official narrative. To allow for this scepticism to set, I made a point of not addressing any of his other remarks. My goal was not to make a big statement. My goal was simply to challenge the idea that Boris Johnson is a Covid survivor. 

I also received a number of likes by people who were following the thread, indicating that many may have been prompted into scepticism from my statement. Subtle humour has the quality that it requires a moment of reflection in order to be understood, which is all that's needed in order to poke hole in a false narrative.

What happens next is that the network effect kicks in. Those realizing the unlikelihood of the official narrative will at the very least be reluctant to use Boris Johnson as an example of a Covid survivor. Some may even vent their disbelief. This will in turn propagate through the network until it becomes the majority view. It may not happen right away. A few more gentle pushes may be required, but it's virtually impossible for the official narrative to remain unchallenged for much longer. Some stories are simply too good to be true, and Johnson's epic journey to the underworld and back is definitely in that category.

Boris Johnson

By Ben Shread / Cabinet Office, OGL 3, Link

Mistletoe and Holly

It's a curious thing that Mistletoe and Holly are so often confused with each other. They don't look very much alike, so why the mix up? My theory for this is that they have the same symbolic meaning, and for very similar reasons. Holly is associated with Christ's suffering and crucifixion, and Mistletoe is associated with the death of Balder, the Norse god of beauty. To make up for the fact that these plants were used in terrible ways for no fault of their own, devotees of Balder and Christ made it a habit to bring these plants into their homes as symbols of the beauty and affection that evil tried to destroy.

It's tempting to conclude from this that our reverence for these plants come directly from Norse and Roman mythology. However, the druids considered both plants to have healing power. They too revered these plants. There's therefore a Celtic connection to this story that goes parallel to that of the Norse and the Romans.

Mistletoe

By Elie plus at English Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 3.0, Link

Holly

By Jürgen Howaldt - Self-photographed, CC BY-SA 2.0 de, Link

China's Message to Biden

No less than three headlines hit the news today, all outlining things to come when it comes to America's relationship with China and how this will influence the US dollar. First out was a story about Biden's stance on China, which sounds to be as tough on trade as Trump was. Then there was a headline on rising yields in the treasury market, and finally a bipartisan decision to unleash close to one trillion dollars in economic stimulus.

Surely, China cannot be very pleased with any of this. With trillions of dollars tucked away in US treasuries, China is liable to lose a lot of money unless US politicians show some restraint. More likely than not, China is going to be a net seller of US treasuries going forward, and the recent spike in interest rates may well have been China's way of telling Biden that he better be careful. If Biden stays tough on China and lax on monetary policy, China is liable to accelerate its sale of treasuries.

That would mean that no less than three trillion dollars of Chinese owned dollars are about to hit the market in addition to the trillion dollars unleased by the US congress. Which begs the question, where will it all end up. Being wary of US assets in general, China will continue its recent hoarding of commodities. It will also buy gold and silver. This will set upward pressure on prices for goods relative to the dollar. With interest rates likely to continue upwards as a consequence of China's shift from treasuries to commodities, anything sensitive to interest rates will also be hit. This means that stocks, debt and real estate will face downward pressure relative to gold. While these assets may see nominal gains in dollars, their real value will go down together with the value of the dollar.

With US politicians showing no restraint on debt or foreign policy, it seems inevitable that some sort of hyperinflationary bust is on its way. Those not properly prepared for this outcome are likely to suffer greatly.

Train wreck

By Photo credited to the firm Levy & fils by this site. (It is credited to a photographer "Kuhn" by another publisher [1].) - the source was not disclosed by its uploader., Public Domain, Link

In Praise of Facebook

All sorts of good things have come to me through the internet. Not only did I find my wife on the web, I've found new ways to view the world, and a path to early retirement.

Much of this has been thanks to Facebook which is receiving far more criticism than it deserves. While it's true that it engages paid censors in order to suppress truth, it's nevertheless a net propagator of useful information. I've found all sorts of interesting ideas on Facebook. The electric universe paradigm would have been unknown to me without it, and so would many fascinating facts about the universe and the planet we inhabit. My books on physics wouldn't have come about without this information, nor would my book on personal finance, politics and economy. I would also have missed out on many valuable friendships, including some very interesting Norwegian expats living in here Porto, my adopted home town.

My life would have been a lot sadder without Facebook, and I suspect this to be true for many others as well. It is of course easy to become a little hooked on Facebook, but that's related to our general tendency towards obsessions more than Facebook in itself. Censorship is also an annoying feature of Facebook, but quite harmless in the greater scheme of things. Truth can still be propagated more efficiently through Facebook than more traditional channels, because truth thrives in networks.

The trick when it comes to truth is to recognize that it rarely comes to us through hierarchy, and that we can propagate truth simply by talking honestly and politely about fairly uncontroversial matters. There's no need to organize into hierarchical structures in order to convey truth. What's required is a non-abrasive style and an honest passion for truth. Not only will that kind of posts fly under the radar of censors, they burry deep into the soul of our target audience, which in turn can be verified when we receive thumbs up from the people we want to reach.

I still have a little way to go in order to perfect my style, but I'm definitely getting heard and understood. Just the other day, I posted something related to truth and how it's important to stay open for multiple interpretations when dealing with facts. The underlying message was an attack on dogmatic thinking in science and politics, but I made no point in mentioning this. That would have been counter-productive as it would have come across as a little too personal and aggressive.

The response to my post was interesting in that I received thumbs up from two people I had specifically in mind when I wrote my post. One from an old school friend who probably thinks me a little strange for producing a book on physics that contradicts dogma, and another one from a friend who tends to trust authority in politics a little too much for his own good. The message was read and understood, at least superficially: Life is more interesting when we're open to alternative views and interpretations.

Taking pleasure in two thumbs up on Facebook may seem strange. However, this is the whole point about truth and networks. No-one needs to be a central authority, and everyone can be an essential link. When truth spreads from one node to another, it progresses in turn from these nodes. Some ideas may spread slowly, others spread with lightning speed. Some ideas may be truthful and others may be false. However, only truth has the staying power to remain in the network. The network becomes in this way an engine for truth, and there's no way to stop it. Not even an army of censors can stop an idea who's time has come. 

By Facebook, Inc. - http://en.facebookbrand.com, Public Domain, Link

A National Year Off

My decision to retire early, back in 2011, was in part based on my frustration with the political-economic system. Norway had just spent a small fortune bombing Libya back to the stone ages, and no-one around me seemed to care. The fact that tax rates had reached more than 100% for many individuals, and was at a staggering 70% for me didn't receive any sympathy either. It was as if I was the only one seeing the corruption in the system, and I saw no reason to support it with any of my taxes.

What followed was a period of anger and unease that didn't subside before I finally managed to put together a proper plan for my own survival back in 2016. Before then, I spent quite a few hours trying to come up with ways to band together with others in order to provoke some real resistance to the suicidal path that Norwegian politicians had embarked on. Little did I know back then that one of my plans would be implemented globally by none other than the politicians themselves.

The idea was to get as many productive people as possible to stop doing their productive work, thereby forcing the state to pull back regulation and taxation. It was a half baked plan with no hope of success, but it recognized the plain economic fact that all taxation rests on productive individuals, and that no taxation is possible without our consent. While money printing can paper over the initial shock of a coordinated lockdown, the system will soon crumble. My guess was that a year long lockdown would be sufficient to force real changes onto the system.

The lockdown was supposed to be voluntary. I imagined a great movement of frustrated individuals, all retreating for a year, voluntarily reducing their consumption to a minimum. I called it a national year off, and it was of course doomed to failure. This type of lockdown is only possible through state coercion.

It's ironic that what I imagined more than 5 years ago as a popular movement against the state has in fact transpired, but as a movement by the state against individuals. However, the economic effect is unlikely to turn out very different, so it appears to me that the state is unwittingly shooting itself in the foot. The lockdown seems to be aimed against the little entrepreneur, with the idea being that corporations will do better without competition from the little guys. But this ignores the fact that the little guys support the big guys, not only as customers, but also as service providers. Corporations cannot exist without the eco-system of smaller actors to support them.

Once small businesses shutter, customers and services essential for the survival of corporations will be gone, and the system will collapse. This will in turn force a reset of some kind, but any reset that fails to address the needs of the small business entrepreneur will be short lived. Only a return to small government and sound money can save governments from the national year off that they have engineered, and it's positively surreal to watch this unfold in real time, considering the amount of hours I spent imagining this happening back in the days.

Early retirement