A Report from Middle America
I was recently involved in a day of meetings with small business owners in the American Midwest. It was both encouraging and sad at the same time.
What I Found First
Overall, I found a large room full of productive human beings. It was uplifting. Most of these people were between thirty and seventy years old, more men than women, and they were all productive people, the kind who get up early every day, make sure that complex systems are producing properly, fix anything that is broken or near breaking, plan for the future, cooperate with large numbers of other people, and then go home at the end of the day and love their families.
If all the world lived like these people, we’d be halfway to a paradise by now. And that was a thought that made me sad.
Why? Because these people – by any standard of decency – should be left alone to create their better world. But instead, they are forcibly tied to wasteful, parasitic, and destructive systems. Half or more of their earnings are taken from them every year. Their actions are restricted by their moral inferiors. They live less than half the rewarding lives they should be enjoying, and for no defensible reason.
The Other Things
Beyond my overall happy/sad impressions, I found quite a few particular things:
- These people would have preferred to discuss the practical particulars of their businesses – tools, materials, technical obstacles and solutions, and so on. But instead, they were forced to discuss government compliance. Almost every subject discussed from the front of the room dealt with government regulations. Most of the subjects discussed on the sides involved tools, equipment, business strategies and so on.
- Dealing with employees is a major issue, especially involving the immigration police. These people are justifiably concerned with fines and indictments, just from hiring employees who are clearly long-time Americans. (That is, not Hispanics or other recent immigrants.) A few of the comments I heard:
“Good luck trying to explain that to an ICE agent.”
“Do NOT waive the 72 hour waiting period.”
“Do NOT allow them to enter your facility or inspect anything without authorization from counsel.”
- Nearly all of these people agreed that government in America is out of control, abusive, and oppositional to their happiness. I think that’s a positive opinion, since it reflects reality, meaning that they have stopped looking at the world through myth-colored glasses. The sad part of that is…
- These (good) people don’t know what to do about it. The system they grew up believing was their friend has turned against them. They’ve gathered the considerable courage required to face that, but they don’t know what to do next. They are working within the system as they can, trying to avoid its hazards, but don’t see any clear alternative – and no path of escape. They’d like to do other things, but they also need to feed their kids, and don’t know what to do about it all.
- Bitcoin is spreading everywhere. One of these business owners, in a very rural area, has built a Bitcoin mining operation. And not only Bitcoin, he is also mining for the other crypto-currencies. And, he’s telling everyone else about it. I was surprised (and pleased) by this, since this meeting had absolutely nothing to do with computers, economics, or anything else that usually connects to crypto-currencies. This man simply saw a great opportunity and jumped on it.
All In All
All in all, I came away from the day more confident in the future than I had been the day before.
We are exposed to so many horror stories every day. The images thrust upon us show a world filled with danger and discouragement. The reality, however – once you remove yourself from the newsfeed – is that there are a lot of very decent people who are generally doing the right things.
Our job now is to define newer and better ways to live and to spread that information to as many good people as we can. And to remind them they DO have the right to live good, happy, prosperous lives.
Please do everything you can along these lines. Thanks.
Paul Rosenberg
[Editor’s Note: Paul Rosenberg is the outside-the-Matrix author of FreemansPerspective.com, a site dedicated to economic freedom, personal independence and privacy. He is also the author of The Great Calendar, a report that breaks down our complex world into an easy-to-understand model. Click here to get your free copy.]
Our elected officials, who derive their powers from the governed, are supposed to represent the wishes of the citizens that elected them.
Instead, the ideals of our Republic have been corrupted by politicians who have sold their souls to corporate and banking interests.
The corruption became more insidious with the creation of the Federal Reserve and the institution of the Federal income tax in 1913.
Since the administration of Franklin Delano Roosevelt, Americans have gone from taking personal responsibility for our own lives to dependence on government to make all decisions in our lives.
The United States has gradually degenerated from a Republic based on individual liberties to a socialized oligarchy run by an exclusive few.
Today, the United States is democratic in name only. The combination of a permanent political class with an undereducated, uninterested, gullible, naïve electorate has permitted the few to wield immense power over the majority.
Has the time has come to abolish the corrupt system and institute a new Government?
For the compelling article these thoughts came from, type in theburningplatform.com/2013/01/02/animal-farm-oldie-but-goodie.
That is, not Hispanics or other recent immigrants. -from the article
I read the article twice so I could understand what the dude is trying to communicate. Evidently he met with some native American businessmen.
I wonder how Paul would differentiate the same group from blacks? That is, not Blacks or other criminal types. women? That is, not Women or other welfare cases.
dammit that comment is loaded with venom, – productive people not hsipanics – sounds like the same shit we have heard forever, “lazy Mexicans”.
I read a t-shirt that said “lazy yet talented”
Fuck Paul. (sorry Teresa)
El coyota , most small business owners are men and mostly white even though that is changing.Not like you to become so ill over one article.You need a hug too?
I do need a hug. I quit drinking diet coke and substituting with instant coffee. I think Rosenberg bothered me last time also. Definitely the other guy (Farrell) bugs me. I think Clammy could have written this article with more flair. Just sayin’.
Speaking of Middle America, I’d like to invite you all to either “explore Gaylord” or “explore, Gaylord”.
They have both an Aquatic Center (open every year from July 1st through July 10th) and an Eggstravaganza, whatever the fuck that is. Also, they apparently have a problem with rampart obstruction of the legal process, as evidenced by this miscreant http://www.bustedmugshots.com/minnesota/gaylord/stephanie-nicole-kyte/110156091
Rosenburg is a dreamer and a moron. What he saw were hard working middle class sheeple who are the very citizens who built the system. These people have the leadership and the government they have made, voted for and contributed too for untold generations. The politicians as disgusting as they are, are only a symptom. Its the sheeple who are the real problem. Its the hard working productive people that are the foundation of the nation. They bitch and they moan and then they bend over every time. They are conformists and live the lives they have been trained to live. They always submit to authority. They may be fine, loving and moral people. They may be our friends and neighbors. But that’s not the point. The point is what their role is. And that role in the larger scheme of things is livestock and beasts of burden. Always has been always will be.
Damn Bruce ,,don’t sugar coat it ,tell it like it is
Within our lifetimes, so let’s just average back 30 years, small business – defined as smaller than 250 employees, I believe – employed 75% of the non-government employees.
The mega-corps employed the other 25% of the private (productive) job pool.
In 2006, while researching a paper for Business Law, the Small Business Administration was reporting that small biz was employing 45% of private employees. Driving through industrial parks, office buildings and small retailers since then shows me that the percentage is still being driven down.
And yes, government compliance and the absolutely indisputable drain on productive thoughts, processes and time/money, is a large reason. From the local building or environment inspector, to the state labor, safety, environment, unemployment, withholding, sales, taxes and then the never-ending issues with consistent new regulations, inspections, rules, forms, fees, taxes on the federal level and you bet your ass that the government is killing us.
Add to that the big guys and mega-corps coming up with their own rules, fees, fines, regulations, and the like and it leads to business closing its American doors and either slinking away, or going elsewhere.
Trade policies started this death-spiral, and now, just like with health care, they are going to regulate the rest of us out of business.
Meanwhile the worker, the non-risk taking, the non-feeling the full wrath of government induced complexity and regulatory apparatus (but many local governments are gearing up for a full-fledged assault now that their golden-goose of small bus is dying, you have been warned), continues to buy into class-warfare and the myth that small businesses can only be successful, and open, if they are somehow screwing their workers.
All I know is that I am mourning the death of the independent, free, non-chemically-poisoned, land of opportunity.
I am, however, experiencing a strong case of schadenfreud at the pain being felt by those that thought if fabulous when it was being rained down upon the little business guys.
I’m glad Paul is hopeful, but I’m watching my son try to rehab a $15,000 in a neighboring city and I can tell you that the local governments are actively, and without exception, closing down all progress, and business, and rehabilitation of abandoned buildings.
Then they sit back, see the loss of tax revenue, and enact a few dozen more increases, regulations, licenses and fees to keep the gravy trains flowing.
There is no fixing this shit until the non-government workers pull their heads from their asses and realize where their bread used to get buttered, and how their continuous bleating for “fairness,” “safety,” and bogus-lawsuits, have killed their very means of living the American dream.
I continue to see by comments both here, and elsewhere, it isn’t going to happen.
Burn, baby, burn. And find a black-market niche. Those are where I place my bets.
I got 11 thumbs down. dang! i felt the rush of celebrity for a while i knew what bb feels like. I complained that this article was without substance (productive folks 30 to 70, who are not hispanic, wow, an exclusive and select group there) because i know from what i learned from old llpoh that the majority of businesses in the USA are losers, most never break even and those that manage to stay alive over three years are not making any profit, they are “a labor of love”. i recall the figure was something greater than 80-85% of businesses are in that category. business owners bitch because they have to cut corners to stay in business and find it difficult to comply with the most basic of government regulations. the customs and immigration folks review business’ paperwork to check that they are in compliance with regards to hiring legal workers, if they are complaining it is because they are not in compliance. the so-called productive folks whose time is taken up with paperwork (cry me a river) should consult a lawyer, an accountant and computerize their operation.
some time ago, somebody threw in movies as an example of losers but that is a special situation involving accounting trickery: music and movies take a lot of talent but little in the way of materials or labor.
Rosenberg mostly seems like one who’s mostly in touch with reality , and then the spirit of crazy takes over nd he starts babbling on about bitcon spreading everywhere.Much like the clap I supposes…. from one careless moron to the next.
http://market-ticker.org/akcs-www?post=228465
Get back to me about this being something other than an all-on scam when someone with some money believes that they’ll get paid. You’ll know when that happens because the spread between these so-called “exchanges” will instantly disappear in a puff of smoke as the arb guys come in and immediately force the different exchanges to converge.