Like all living creatures, the prime directive of the State is to survive and grow. But the State is unique. The State, as Mao said, comes out of the barrel of a gun. Since it’s based on coercion, it’s only natural that some form of socialism would be its preferred way to organize society. Currency inflation, income taxes, and debt have enabled governments to get completely out of control. The prognosis is not good.
The WEF wasn’t kidding when they promoted the concept that “You’ll own nothing, and be happy”. Well, at least the elite will be happy.
by Doug Casey
International Man: Almost every government worldwide is moving to increase taxes and regulations on its citizens while at the same time engaging in ever-increasing currency debasement.
What do you think of this trend, and where is it going?
Doug Casey: Higher taxes, more money printing, and more regulations are long-standing trends. The cat first got out of the bag with the French Revolution and the triumph of the Jacobins, who wanted to collectivize French society. They almost succeeded. Not many years later, Karl Marx wrote The Communist Manifesto and Das Capital, letting another feral meme loose into society. The idea that the State was a good thing and should grow is now everywhere.
With the turn of the 20th century, roughly 120 years ago, governments all over the world created central banks and the income tax. They started small but have become behemoths, funding welfare and warfare. Both things are highly destructive. In the 19th century there was no welfare and very few wars, because wars are expensive. Governments were hard-pressed to extract adequate revenue from their populations for fighting.
Like all living creatures, the prime directive of the State is to survive and grow. But the State is unique. The State, as Mao said, comes out of the barrel of a gun. Since it’s based on coercion, it’s only natural that some form of socialism would be its preferred way to organize society. Currency inflation, income taxes, and debt have enabled governments to get completely out of control. The prognosis is not good.
International Man: There seems to be a coordinated effort to increase capital gains taxes.
For example, Canada just announced an increase in the capital gains tax from 50% to 67%. President Biden has proposed increasing the US capital gains tax to 44.6% and adding a tax on unrealized capital gains.
What is going on here?
Doug Casey: The “powers that be” actually want to destroy the middle class. That’s not something they’d say, but it’s apparent that the elite would prefer a society with a small number of themselves supported by a sufficient number of plebs but without a troublesome middle class. They don’t like having to rub shoulders with masses of hoi polloi when they visit St Mark’s Square in Venice or Macchu Pichu in Peru. They want just enough service personnel around to make it an enjoyable experience. They see the middle llass as an enemy and a risk. They agree with Lenin, who said the middle class should be ground between the millstones of taxes and inflation.
These two tax increases you mentioned are harbingers of more to come. That’s guaranteed by the bankruptcy of governments everywhere; they want and need more revenue to maintain the status quo.
Meanwhile, institutions—foundations, pensions, NGOs, and the like—operate tax-free; most taxes don’t directly affect them. That suits the elite just fine because the elite control the institutions, and the institutions increasingly hold most of the middle class’s assets. The middle class and the plebs don’t really own the assets that they have in institutions, except in theory. They’re held at a distance from their money, which is just ephemeral digits on a computer. They certainly don’t control corporate voting to install directors, who in turn hire management. The way things are developing, more and more powerful institutions are controlled by BlackRock types. The elite love to talk democracy, but it’s just a smokescreen.
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