I understand why some people are confused about what capitalism is. They have been lied to for a long time about it, being told that the mess we have in which large corporations collude with the government to take advantage of consumers is capitalism.
They've also been lied to about what Nazism was. National Socialism. It's in the name. German Worker's Party. They have been told repeatedly that Nazis were rightwing, but this couldn't be further from the truth. The Nazis controlled the means of production, not necessarily de jure, but de facto. And that's why they were so buddy-buddy with Mussolini in Italy, the Italian state controlled the means of production and was the birthplace of what we call fascism. Fascism is just another flavor of Marxism. People mistake that because the Russians fought the Germans, and so that they were somehow diametrically opposed economically, but this isn't the case. The Russians wanted International Communism and the Germans wanted German Communism. Americans think they want American Communism and if Solzhenitsyn is any guide, will think they want it even after they get dragged off to the Gulag.
"They didn’t learn it with Katrina, they didn’t learn it with Lahaina, and most of them still haven’t learned it with Covid."
Early in Covid, the governor of NY seized respirators from upstate private hospitals and sent them to NYC. He no right to do that, it was illegal. But he did it anyway. It does not take much these days for the vicious totalitarian instincts of our leftist rulers to come out.
On the bright side, if you could call it that, the French medical doctors determined early on that ventilation was killing covid patients. So, what did the US do? They kept putting people on ventilators anyway. If the ventilators didn't finish them off, the Remdesivir did.
Please read Bretigne Shaffer's response at https://bretigne.substack.com/p/without-the-state-who-would-confiscate . She is appreciative of your excellent work but critical of your characterization of "disaster capitalism" and "putting profits before people". Here's a small example: after a disaster, ice is in extremely short supply. Is it bad that the price of ice is temporarily ten times what it was before? Should the government punish people who raise the price of ice and other goods? NO! People who depend on ice to keep vital medicines such as insulin chilled can at least find ice when the price is allowed to rise, and staying alive makes the price well worth it. When the government forbids the market from setting prices, ice is "cheap", but unavailable except to the very lucky. Your insulin rots, and your life is in danger.
A rule with very few exceptions is that when the government sticks its nose into peaceful trade, things get worse. We have thousands of examples of this all around us, which those who are willing to look can see with no difficulty whatever.
And to take your ice example a little further, it is precisely those higher-than-normal prices that provide the signal, and the incentive, for the folks who have ice to come and benefit by selling it.
But that said: We've also just witnessed (and in fact, witness daily) that most people are more than willing to come and help, to collect donations and give stuff away with no compensation expected, when others are in need. THAT'S human nature. It's the state that interferes with it. And in cases like Helene and Katrina, forcibly prevents it.
The sooner we all recognize who the enemy is, the sooner we can get on with making things better.
"Over and over again, the institution of the state has shown itself to be the enemy of humanity, ... yet so many of us insist on clinging to it as if it is the one thing upon which our survival depends."
The best analogy I can come up with is an abusive relationship. The abused partner is unhappy, yet is afraid things might be even worse if the relationship were terminated, while the abusing partner does a dance, alternately acting in the most cruel, capricious ways, and at other times coming off as comforting and caring, while reinforcing the notion that as bad as the relationship is, it's better than dissolving it. We who have taken off our blinders with regard to the state can see this without any difficulty whatever, but most people are still highly confused and reluctant to let their rulers go.
It's not an analogy but what exactly happens. Also the reason the MSM (propaganda of government) is spouting fear news 24/7 because the abused partner has to be scared of the world and demand more protection from the abuser...
My admittedly conspiratorial mind can't help but wonder if this was a geoengineering/weather modification event intended to wipe out a good chunk of Trump voters. Wouldn't surprise me at all.
FEMA, FDA, homeland security, FBI, TSA, etc. are all just ways to saddle us with useless expenditures of tax dollars in service of nothing more than suppressing freedom of speech, association, assembly and entrepreneurship in favor of authoritarian structures.
They should be disbanded and torte reform should be repealed. Torte reforms were only implemented to remove the real power of the citizenry to keep corporate power in check and to strike down unjust laws, the jury.
If a pharmaceutical company goes out of business because a jury awards a crippling amount of damages in a criminal negligence case, good. That’s the point. Protecting corrupt business practices is the only reason these agencies really exist.
I was shocked that people didn’t rebel against the creation of the department of homeland security after 9/11. It just sounds like a Nazi agency, which preys upon the populace, not criminals. Just look at how they harass Tulsi Gabbard.
I hate the incompetence of government, every agency is wilfully doing the opposite of what it is supposed to do. That's how you know we're being governed by people who hate us.
Welp, looks like we got a whopper coming at us again. Last time we had one come like this, it was brutal. If it reaches the level that the fear mongering weather channel warns us by the minute,I pray red fema doesn’t show up here. We are ready to shoot. We’ve seen enough.
The first Americans had it right when the said, "Never trust government." When I think of it, the situation is so similar. They demoralize you, get you off the land and then round you up. Then they extract the resources. It's always the same process wherever there is government. Mind control with weapons is what they are. We should do gun control on those cats, not on granny who lives in the ghetto.
After Katrina, when we saw all the stories about families being dumped in the Houston Astrodome, my Wyoming employer ran a local campaign to collect toys and games for the confined children, although this rapidly expanded into collecting clothing and personal care products. For such a small town we collected a *lot* of donations—at least a semi trailer's worth.
I was tasked with figuring out how to get the stuff down to Texas. The government people were no help at all, and actively discouraged us from doing anything at all, saying cash was much easier and more convenient to distribute [for them, no doubt true]. Good point, but people wanted to help in a more concrete way.
We ended up finding a trucking company willing to donate transport and a Texas church organization that would agree to accept the donations and distribute them. I do remember it was rather an ordeal.
Thank you, Bretigne, for this post. My anger at the g*ve*n*ent is matched by my sadness at the situation and the pride in watching my fellow Americans help each other. May God bless the people of Appalachia.
I understand why some people are confused about what capitalism is. They have been lied to for a long time about it, being told that the mess we have in which large corporations collude with the government to take advantage of consumers is capitalism.
Perfect descriptor of fascism. lol
They've also been lied to about what Nazism was. National Socialism. It's in the name. German Worker's Party. They have been told repeatedly that Nazis were rightwing, but this couldn't be further from the truth. The Nazis controlled the means of production, not necessarily de jure, but de facto. And that's why they were so buddy-buddy with Mussolini in Italy, the Italian state controlled the means of production and was the birthplace of what we call fascism. Fascism is just another flavor of Marxism. People mistake that because the Russians fought the Germans, and so that they were somehow diametrically opposed economically, but this isn't the case. The Russians wanted International Communism and the Germans wanted German Communism. Americans think they want American Communism and if Solzhenitsyn is any guide, will think they want it even after they get dragged off to the Gulag.
Also: WTF is up with this???
https://www.facebook.com/groups/1159437145471278/permalink/1266137681467890/?rdid=TQ746IjKKiqkaoOH&share_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.facebook.com%2Fshare%2Fp%2FbCyR1jcgVU3Cs8Jf%2F
"They didn’t learn it with Katrina, they didn’t learn it with Lahaina, and most of them still haven’t learned it with Covid."
Early in Covid, the governor of NY seized respirators from upstate private hospitals and sent them to NYC. He no right to do that, it was illegal. But he did it anyway. It does not take much these days for the vicious totalitarian instincts of our leftist rulers to come out.
On the bright side, if you could call it that, the French medical doctors determined early on that ventilation was killing covid patients. So, what did the US do? They kept putting people on ventilators anyway. If the ventilators didn't finish them off, the Remdesivir did.
I posted the following comment to AMW's column:
Please read Bretigne Shaffer's response at https://bretigne.substack.com/p/without-the-state-who-would-confiscate . She is appreciative of your excellent work but critical of your characterization of "disaster capitalism" and "putting profits before people". Here's a small example: after a disaster, ice is in extremely short supply. Is it bad that the price of ice is temporarily ten times what it was before? Should the government punish people who raise the price of ice and other goods? NO! People who depend on ice to keep vital medicines such as insulin chilled can at least find ice when the price is allowed to rise, and staying alive makes the price well worth it. When the government forbids the market from setting prices, ice is "cheap", but unavailable except to the very lucky. Your insulin rots, and your life is in danger.
A rule with very few exceptions is that when the government sticks its nose into peaceful trade, things get worse. We have thousands of examples of this all around us, which those who are willing to look can see with no difficulty whatever.
The government made sure that a lot of people would required insulin in the first place. The ice predicament is way downstream from that.
Nicely done!!
Thanks!
And to take your ice example a little further, it is precisely those higher-than-normal prices that provide the signal, and the incentive, for the folks who have ice to come and benefit by selling it.
But that said: We've also just witnessed (and in fact, witness daily) that most people are more than willing to come and help, to collect donations and give stuff away with no compensation expected, when others are in need. THAT'S human nature. It's the state that interferes with it. And in cases like Helene and Katrina, forcibly prevents it.
The sooner we all recognize who the enemy is, the sooner we can get on with making things better.
I had an excellent interview with Guido Hulsmann on this very topic a few months ago:
https://bretigne.substack.com/p/state-intervention-promotes-a-culture
"Over and over again, the institution of the state has shown itself to be the enemy of humanity, ... yet so many of us insist on clinging to it as if it is the one thing upon which our survival depends."
The best analogy I can come up with is an abusive relationship. The abused partner is unhappy, yet is afraid things might be even worse if the relationship were terminated, while the abusing partner does a dance, alternately acting in the most cruel, capricious ways, and at other times coming off as comforting and caring, while reinforcing the notion that as bad as the relationship is, it's better than dissolving it. We who have taken off our blinders with regard to the state can see this without any difficulty whatever, but most people are still highly confused and reluctant to let their rulers go.
It's not an analogy but what exactly happens. Also the reason the MSM (propaganda of government) is spouting fear news 24/7 because the abused partner has to be scared of the world and demand more protection from the abuser...
100%!
The number one mass-murderer of the 20th century: Government.
Civilians aren't allowed to enter FEMA's kill zone or otherwise interfere in their 'operation'.
"Civilians" need to recognize who their enemy is.
Thanks to Chris Cook for restacking this! I just read it and agreed and will be resharing.
This was my favorite line: “The government is, in fact, your enemy.”
You got a subscriber outta me from this piece, so thank you 🙏🏾
Thank you!
I only hope more people come to recognize this, and quickly.
My admittedly conspiratorial mind can't help but wonder if this was a geoengineering/weather modification event intended to wipe out a good chunk of Trump voters. Wouldn't surprise me at all.
FEMA, FDA, homeland security, FBI, TSA, etc. are all just ways to saddle us with useless expenditures of tax dollars in service of nothing more than suppressing freedom of speech, association, assembly and entrepreneurship in favor of authoritarian structures.
They should be disbanded and torte reform should be repealed. Torte reforms were only implemented to remove the real power of the citizenry to keep corporate power in check and to strike down unjust laws, the jury.
If a pharmaceutical company goes out of business because a jury awards a crippling amount of damages in a criminal negligence case, good. That’s the point. Protecting corrupt business practices is the only reason these agencies really exist.
I was shocked that people didn’t rebel against the creation of the department of homeland security after 9/11. It just sounds like a Nazi agency, which preys upon the populace, not criminals. Just look at how they harass Tulsi Gabbard.
Amen to all of this, and me too (re: Homeland Security.) That was a wake-up call for me.
I hate the incompetence of government, every agency is wilfully doing the opposite of what it is supposed to do. That's how you know we're being governed by people who hate us.
If only it were just incompetence. No, they actually DO hate us, and the sooner folks come to grips with this, the better.
Welp, looks like we got a whopper coming at us again. Last time we had one come like this, it was brutal. If it reaches the level that the fear mongering weather channel warns us by the minute,I pray red fema doesn’t show up here. We are ready to shoot. We’ve seen enough.
The first Americans had it right when the said, "Never trust government." When I think of it, the situation is so similar. They demoralize you, get you off the land and then round you up. Then they extract the resources. It's always the same process wherever there is government. Mind control with weapons is what they are. We should do gun control on those cats, not on granny who lives in the ghetto.
Yes. The empire has turned on us (a long time ago, really, it's just more obvious now), and we are being colonized.
Thank you, Bretigne
After Katrina, when we saw all the stories about families being dumped in the Houston Astrodome, my Wyoming employer ran a local campaign to collect toys and games for the confined children, although this rapidly expanded into collecting clothing and personal care products. For such a small town we collected a *lot* of donations—at least a semi trailer's worth.
I was tasked with figuring out how to get the stuff down to Texas. The government people were no help at all, and actively discouraged us from doing anything at all, saying cash was much easier and more convenient to distribute [for them, no doubt true]. Good point, but people wanted to help in a more concrete way.
We ended up finding a trucking company willing to donate transport and a Texas church organization that would agree to accept the donations and distribute them. I do remember it was rather an ordeal.
Thank you, Bretigne, for this post. My anger at the g*ve*n*ent is matched by my sadness at the situation and the pride in watching my fellow Americans help each other. May God bless the people of Appalachia.
Yes, it is deeply infuriating, yet deeply inspiring at the same time. I only hope more people take the lesson here this time, than did after Katrina.