I have a theory. It has not been proven. I would like to test it here to see how far it goes.

There is one common denominator that binds us all together. Most are too ignorant to realize it. Some understand, but use it to their advantage. Others just play along hoping for the best.

Money

I do not mean money as in a means of exchange for goods and services, because that name can be given to anything and everything. I am talking about official government issue currency. From here on out I will use the word "money" to mean just that.

There was a time when money was not needed to live ones life. Somewhere along the line that changed. When and where that changed is something to debate, but for now please bear with me.

It is impossible in our current state of affairs to live a life in pursuit of "Life, Liberty and the pursuit of happiness" without having a supply of money. There are exceptions to this but in the general scheme of things, it is not possible.

One cannot reside in this country without paying money for something. Certain taxes come to mind. I think I have scratched the surface of a much larger reasoning as to why we must all become "productive members of society".

Let me try and show by example.

Lets take a portion of your paycheck. How does a dollar sound.

For the sake of argument, lets say that it is a newly printed bill. You just cashed your paycheck and are the first to receive it....besides your bank.

(I am using examples of percentages that may not be correct)
(number at the end equals the governments take)

-You receive the dollar-taxed as income. (28%) .28
-You spend dollar at grocery store-sales tax. (8%) .08
-Store owner uses dollar to purchase bulk produce-sales tax. (8%) .08
-Farmer uses dollar to buy fertilizer-sales tax. (8%) .08
-Farm store uses dollar for payroll.
-Farm store worker gets dollar-income tax. (28%) .28
-Worker spends dollar on clothing-sales tax. (8%) .08
-Clothing store spends dollar on new hangers-sales tax.(8%) .08
-Hanger manufacturer spends dollar on payroll.
-Worker gets dollar-taxed as income. (28%) .28

Total so far 1.24


I can go on with this for a while. I won't.

If I have shown my thought correctly, then you should see that when the Government prints a bill, they expect to actually make more money than the bill itself.

Now, I know there is a cost to running any government. How much of that cost is waste? (another topic all together).

What I am trying to show is that somewhere along the line, we were transformed from just living, to becoming a "tool". A tool that someone else utilizes to get rich. A tool that is discarded when no longer useful. A tool that must earn its very right to exist.

I realize that this topic can explode in many directions. I encourage that. I encourage a productive discussion on every aspect of how we became slaves .

Ekilo, you make an interesting argument. However, the situation is far more complex than what you have illustrated in your example. You are only looking at on e side of the coin, where in fact there are too. Taxes where brought into law by men, these men, or their ancestors perhaps, shot themselves in the foot when they introduced the idea that, in a fair, just, �democratic� society, no one is above the law.

Although the concept of equality before the law stood as a strong selling point when trying to conceive new nations in a time when people only knew of nations ruled by tyrannical monarchs, it also meant that in order to materialize this concept the leaders of these new nations would have to part with some of their own powers.

Naturally, no sane person would ever voluntarily forfeit their distinguished positions. But how does one define one�s rank? In those days, much like today, ownership of assets was the most basic means of defining one�s place in society. Naturally, when the conversation turned to taxes, the rich and powerful where much more worried then the common man.

Unlike in a monarchy, under a democratic government, being in power is a relative thing. The power of elected officials is fleeting. You can be in office for 1 or 2 or 4 years, but after your term is over you go back to life the way you knew it. Not only that, but being �granted� a position by the people doesn�t give you any special powers over them, it just makes you a public servant. So in order to keep the peasants from yelling �bloody murder� when you try to pocket their tax money you have to go about things a little differently. While you�re in charge, and you have at least some control over the taxes that you�ll be subject to, you make damn sure to throw in a few loopholes (for yourself and your buddies, the multi-billion dollar corporations). Sure taxes exist, and sure we�re all subject to them, but what about all those little write-offs? That�s how the rich stay rich and the poor stay poor.

The government won�t voluntarily give you back the tax money they worked so hard to steal from you. You�ll have to use every trick in the book to keep it for yourself. It�s not even cheating your taxes, its right there in the laws; it�s just that some times these �impartial� laws tend to tilt towards the rich and away from the poor. So if you think the government steals from you, maybe you should be looking into ways to steal your hard earned cash back from them.

As for your comments about how the government just �prints out money� there is more to it then that.

Interesting choice of name for this thread by the way.

Man...are you ever late to this topic!

I, and others, have ranted on this very subject before, as we realize just what a trap money is!

A good forum for this sort of thing can be found at: "http://goldismoney.info".

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Putting a URL inside of quote marks prevents the hyperlinking, prevents the truncation of long URLs, and is much easier than using the CODE tag. :)

We've got a winner! :D

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I think the most universal currency in the world is FEAR.

What the fear is, of, or whatever, is irrelevant as long as it is there and intense enough to be used as a behavioral modifier by the master against the slave.

EVERYONE is afraid of something. This is the lesson of room 101. ;)

The thing that is in Room 101 is the worst thing in the world. It goes beyond the fear of pain, or death...it is unendurable, and it varies from individual to individual.

Once you know the fear of the target, you have a lever to bend their pscyhe to your will. :)

And regarding taxes, I let them take what they will, and I do not ask for it back in the form of a 'refund'.

That's like asking the highway robber if he'd be so kind as to give you back a bit of all the money he stole from you, so that you can at least eat in the next town you walk to after he's stolen your horse.

A good point NBK.

Ofcourse, one could argue that it is not fear, but pleasure that drives us all.

We all desire a better world for ourselves. I think if we look deep enough, the only thing that drives us all is pleasure and fear.

Indeed it is that purely instinctive reward/punishment complex that drives every living thing. Look at Pavlov's Dogs and you will understand what I mean.

With the highway robber, wouldn't it be better to give him MOST of your stuff, but hide something away? As we are equating the government with the highway robber, he isn't absolutely omniscience....yet.

There are certain activities that if the govern...robber catches you doing you will be punished, but the pleasure of doing these activities is about equal... or more, you decide

There are ways to get around the laws, but as you could say, anything that ISN'T the law is against the law...

It is both pleasure and pain. Fear of pain is a powerful thing, often more than the pain itself, if we let it build inside us, but the pain itself is the initial motivation - and that pain can be physical, mental or even empathic.

Pleasure, and the want of pleasure, drives us forward, too, but not as strongly.

Druggies are an interesting case, they live in fear of not getting the next fix, so they drop back to the normal level, rather than being on the higher pleasure levels. Or that's what they think. (And having done opiates, it's a higher pleasure place!)

Some people get the wires crossed, and get pleasure from pain. I suspect they still fear, though. Might need some research into that. Any hot BDSM babes here?

Sorry about posting so late but I think that this thread raises good point on what can be called a persons essence.

As far as the whole pain thing goes, I think it's related to something like horror films or daredevilry, just a massive adrenaline rush which you can get high on.

Though it could be a crossing of the wires and just a belief that it's pleasure makes it so, someone expecting pleasure normally gets it while someone expecting a painful experience will find it too.

Never underestimate the power of the human mind and how it can really screw you up, you may have heard of the tests in which a person was given morphine at the same time every day for two weeks, but on the last day they were given basically nothing, yet it still had the same effects.

Maybe it is the belief that money gives pleasure that empowers the vision of wealth.

Pleasure and Pain are the weapons used by leaders to enslave their subordinates; Its all about manipulation and mind control through the effective use of the contrasting emotion of pleasure and pain.