Sooner or later, the bill comes due.  Woe unto those still around when it does...

Simply doing the math, I do not think the system will last another 50 years.  Will that signal the end of the world?  We must only hope that the 'remnant' will retain the wisdom against ever following this path again...

Hear, hear!!  So simple, this could be explained in a single grade school math class.  What would take longer is the explanation on how we got here... hence, why not one in a million high school graduates know this.

Here demonstrates the immutable principle of money mechanics: property derives its value from labor.  Any commodity's 'value' is directly proportional to the amount of labor required to acquire it. 

Money is merely a medium of exchange for labor and property.  'Credit' is a debt that must be repaid, and unless forgiven, perpetually obligates the debtor to the creditor.  It is not too difficult then to understand that a people that depend on a debt-based currency are held perpetually in servitude, their labors and property claimed by their creditors until the debt is paid, and since the debt can never be repaid (by design) their servitude is complete.  The path of the freeman is narrow indeed, and wide is the path to destruction.

I like it! 

Thanks, Brooklyn.  Indeed that is the conundrum — the enemy (communists, socialists, fascists) print up their own money while impoverishing the common man, and war ultimately requires 'credit' to defend oneself.  I believe all wars are bankers wars, and all presidential assassinations were in response to executive orders that aimed at cutting the chains to perpetual debt to the international banking cartel.

When the debt is greater than all the money in circulation, you soon understand the scam, Waffler.  The 'debt' is the money supply — that is how 'money' is issued.  You happily worked for the IRS as a useful idiot "rivet[ing] their chains on the necks of our fellow-sufferers."  Talk about a sick liar...

Democrats (socialists) ushered in this system, and republicans were only to happy to allow it since it put tremendous power into their hands as well.

250 years later, the USA has been turned into the very vassal state it refused to be in 1776.  In fact the money system is pure debt now, and paying the interest now costs more than any government service, and they still borrow more to pay the interest.  If a person did that, they would soon be bankrupt — certainly no creditor would kept lending more.

Sounds more like Nero fiddling while Rome burns...

Yes, but what kind of taxes?  Taxes were supposed to come from commercial activities, not private labors. 

Remember that the government can do nothing a citizen can't do to his neighbor — our government is a representative one, and all powers enumerated are powers the people individually already have.  The proper jurisdictions of law protect the common man in the common law, regulate businesses in commercial law, and establish military rules in admiralty-maritime law. 

Using commercial paper (i.e. legal tender) in lieu of cash (hard currency) comes with rules for its use — paying interest on these promissory notes is one of the conditions, and all users are subject to those conditions.  The corruption is that using lawful currency has been made illegal in this system — merchants cannot accept gold or silver money for purchases because the fiat money system operates in a box — like the board game, Monopoly money has no real value outside of the box, and you can't use 'real' money to buy properties in the game. 

The truth is that taxes don't pay for services, they pay the interest on the unpayable debt that has been converted into the money supply.  The debt can never be repaid — it is the money supply!

There was a time when the USA was the most prosperous nation on Earth, with zero debt, and no income taxes.  Ever wonder how we got there without income and property taxes?

Good lord, Fred, history has proven every one of your proposals wrong.  I suggest going back to the drawing board.  Utopian ideals cannot be enforced without creating a class of one people to govern the rest, and such power always ends up in the hands of he most morally deprived individuals.  Power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely.

In other words, we need to perfect authoritarianism, because the current version doesn't go far enough.  Government makes a poor parent.  Fred, sorry, but no one can be trusted with such power.  I'd rather have freedom with a flawed populace than a dictator that thinks he can do no wrong.

Once a free republic is converted into a socialist dependency, there's no going back without cancelling every social program not consistent with the powers enumerated by the US Constitution. 

That's the tactic — make everyone dependent upon government services (as if that is the way it has always been), and they cannot survive without them. 

What few really understand is that all these services are paid for with money the government prints up itself and charges itself interest on as a guardrail against unlimited paper money — they can't be trusted with the power to simply print the money they need, the lust for power is insatiable, and an indoctrinated populace in communist ideals doesn't understand the consequences of such policies.  That's why history is no longer a requirement for a high school diploma (forget about a college degree...).

Waffler revealed long ago that he worked for the IRS and retired on a government pension.  So, no mystery there ...

From what I have read about the IRS, each taxpayer has an Individual Master File (IMF) that assigns a percentage of corporate excise taxes to each person, thus applying corporate status to individual 'persons.'  In other words, to tax a person's labor, he/she must be treated as a corporation in order for the law to apply. 

The issue has always been a matter of jurisdiction.  The 'voluntary' aspect is to get the 'taxpayer' to declare they are a corporation subject to the tax.  Those that have successfully circumvented this keep a low profile, because the government will make an example of them, and find ways to put them in prison for any number of reasons — there are enough 'laws' on the books to make anyone a criminal, and that's not an accident. 

Remember, the 'process' of having to defend yourself is the punishment, it is very costly, and the govt has unlimited resources and the game is rigged in their favor. It is illegal for a slave to escape his slavery without permission.

Of course it goes without saying, the government should cut about 90% of its spending on subsidies personal and/or corporate.  Pay for actual things of value, a real return-on-investment.  No more welfare fraud scams.  Institute non-profit health insurance (which even socialist healthcare doesn't do).  Create a REAL social security fund that cannot be raided whenever the government wants to (and replaces it with interest-bearing IOUs).  Return to REAL capitalism — i.e. trading in capital, holding capital, not the exact opposite trading in IOUs and holding IOUs.

It's not only possible, it's the law.  The price for cheating is servitude!

Certainly, return to an economic system that allows for cash (hard) and credit (fiat) currencies whose values float against each other as the market demands.  Let sellers demand cash payment in lieu of credit.  Let government print up its own money (fiat) interest-free.  No need of taxes, since government prints what it needs.  The only tax is inflation which would affect the credit holders, not cash savers. People can save using hard currencies, can invest with credit (fiat) currencies. 

Make the distinction between cash and credit — cash transfers ownership, credit transfers equitable interest (learn the difference).  If I buy a house with an IOU, the house is 'owned' by the issuer of the IOU, I own the equitable interest (the right to buy/sell).  Once the debt is paid, the IOU is ripped up, and I become the actual owner with no more tax liability on my property.

This is how things worked prior to 1913.  The only taxes were tariffs (i.e. excise taxes). Property taxes were temporary in times of war.  Funds to build the US Capitol were paid by running a lottery, the winner got a hotel. 

There is more than enough charity in the world — Reston even admits he is happy to 'tithe' a portion of his money out of his grateful abundance (in so many words).  Would he only do that if compelled?  Why?  That is the real question.

Hear, hear!

This is a perfect demonstration of the destructive effects of socialism.  Those that demand it have no idea that their submission is the goal.  Show me a prosperous socialist state!  All are perpetually in debt with never-ending inflation.  "You will own nothing and be happy."  Ha!  Once you have nothing, you can do nothing, you are powerless — that's the goal!  There's no way to later say, "hey, I have nothing, and I am even more miserable than before" — too bad, you have been conned, and there ain't any way to get out. All you can do is beg for better conditions of your slavery, or if that's not possible, demand that anyone with freedom/power that you don't have give it up to be 'fair'.

A nation that uses a hard currency and exports more than it imports will have many enemies in the West scheming on ways to take them down.  That ought to be clear enough.

Aren't the rich spending their own money?  But I agree that those getting rich off government subsidy or contracts should be supervised diligently, as we have seen racket after racket of fraudulent schemes soaking the government

NO, Reston, we can't (and shouldn't)!  Let's stick to the original common law meaning of a 'crime' — mens rea — an act committed with a malicious intent or an intentional act that results in violating another's rights (including one's body or property).  We need no legislation to regulate behavior — if you or I cannot regulate our neighbors behavior, neither can the representative government.

I believe those that prefer disharmony and disunity are 'progressive liberals' — yes, misanthropes, I agree.

I would say that if Liberty is a fruit, constant vigilant husbandry is required for continuous yields.  Liberty cannot be handed off to the next generation on a platter.  That tree of Liberty requires constant attention and care.

The whole world is longing to breathe freely.  Go ahead and break those binds! Don't wait for someone to do it for you.