At a cost higher than if the money was spent freely in the market, creating real competitive jobs and wealth for those working rather than a permanent welfare dole.
Are major strides in knowledge being made? Is someone getting an education (the single GREATEST gift anyone can get) who wouldn't necessarily have one?
No, education is worse today than it was 100 years ago. Literacy is down (the literacy rates are up because they changed the reporting to not true literacy but how many years of education a person has). The average person today is dumber than they were even 20 years ago.
Over time, people like me will find black market ways to exit your system. I wish it didn't have to be this way. I would much rather turn off the federal government and let each State be their own entity and I would truly be able to vote with my feet. As I meet more and more people through my posts who have already exited the system, I believe that "freedom" does exist, but it still lives on top of the mess that society has created since FDR.
In my anarcho-capitalist future, we'd all be able to choose our own form of government at the community level -- not at the federal level. You could live happily in a socialist community, and I could live happily in a pure cooperative voluntary anarchist community. Why do we need a huge aggressor?
The problem is that those with the most capital tend to profit the most.
Under a fiat currency, maybe.
Under a fixed 100% reserve currency, no way. If people horde money, it forces prices to drop to get the money back into circulation. The free market addresses this problem nicely. The wealthy can't horde money because if they do, they won't have anything to use it for as businesses fail around them. The wealthy use the money by saving it, and the banks loan it out in safe investments. The poor and the rich are closer to one another in a free market than in a heavily regulated market -- today's wealthy are that way because they took advantage of government, not by offering a great product at the lowest price in the fastest way.
As a reader of your blog, you should write up this whole "millionaire in 6 years making $60,000 a year"
I currently make a good income on my newsletter, and I am working on finding ways to recuperate that income when I start to give that advice freely to the masses. I am very close to working out a sponsor for the site and should be able to cover my ass that way:)
I'll give you a few clues, though:
1. Many people who are posting here who are 30 years old are not millionaires because they refused to attempt to be wealthy in their teens and 20s.
2. Many people who are not wealthy by 30 have over-run their debt, including mortgages, for products they didn't need in their youth and could have afforded better after becoming wealthy (big screen TVs, new cars, etc).
3. Many people who are not wealthy by 30 likely have listened to the media and the masses, believing in 401Ks, stock markets, bank accounts, ATM cards and credit cards, as well as home equity loans and overpriced clothing.
4. Many people who are not wealthy by 30 are W2 employees, unable to maximize the savings set up by the IRS for contract employees and pseudocorps.
My investments locally earn me a 20% dividend minimum annually. I would never invest in the stock market -- it's a suckers game (no dividends, P:E over the maximum of 6 I recommend, no clarity in ownership). A recent business I invested in locally made me nearly 50% in dividend payouts. Even my failed retail store was earning over 25% annually while growing with very little management (it failed due to a tax conflict that we could not afford to fight because we didn't take out the proper insurance).
My housing costs when I owned a huge house were crazy -- almost US$2600 a month including property taxes. I downsized the house and bought mobile homes (and soon a mobile home park that I'll convert into a tech mobile home complex) and for US$9000 I bought a big mobile home that costs me only US$700 a month to live in -- utilities, taxes and insurance. I'm saving US$1900 per month there.
My Land Rover cost me over US$2000 a month to drive -- insurance, gas, maintenance, tires, brakes, servicing, cleaning, etc. I sold it, bought a used 96 Toyota Corolla, and I pay about US$280 a month to drive it. That's over US$1700 a month I'm saving there.
I refused to go into debt for education, so I didn't go to college. I am attending a college now electronically so I can at least get a degree some day, but I am in no rush. I proved my value by selling myself cheaply when I was younger and building up my customer base over time through great work and financial savings for those who used my services.
I am a 1099 contractor for all my work -- offering my huge tax incentives and savings. My billable rate varies from US$80 to US$210 depending on the work I am performing for the customer. I get what I ask, and I get paid on time or ahead of time because I guarantee the work I do.
Let's look at that now. 20%-50% return on my local investments that I have real control in. A savings of nearly US$45,000 a year in living expenses.
If I started this when I was 18, I'd be well over a million now, if not more. I could realistically retire at 30, if I didn't wait as long as I did. Unfortunately, I'll have to wait another 4-5 years, but the wealth builds while my friends blow their futures and retirements by living high on the hog today.
How old are you? If you're 25, what did you do with all your earnings since you were 18? Between 18 and 25 I likely earned about US$400,000. It blew it on stuff I don't even have today! At 25 I learned the secret: stop listening to your friends, your advisors and the media. They don't know. They don't care. They don't see that wealth is not dollars saved but assets built and the future considered merely 10 years away, not 35.
The love it or move argument doesn't work if you don't realie that this country was founded to be small community based with a small central government. It is your kind who should have moved (or stayed where they were initially) rather than change the way America was when it was great.
In my system, socialists can happily live together and even align themselves with other socialist community around the U.S. In your way, it is your way or the highway.
Which one is pro-freedom and which one is authoritarian?
By the way, I do plan on visiting Somalia this fall. Dubai is going to be a quarterly stop for me, and Somalia is just down the water.
Taxes, for me (married 23-yr-old with no kids), cost about $3,500 total.
No, they're nto US$3500 a year total. They're much much higher than that.
Please total up all these taxes you spent in 2005 and get back to me. I'd bet that they come close to being 50% of your gross income:
Sales Tax (I pay up to 8.75% in Chicago) Social Security Employee Share (6.2%) Social Security Employer Share (6.2%) -- This would be passed on as pay if it didn't exist Medicare Employee Share (1.45%) Medicare Employer Share (1.45%) Federal Income Tax State Income Tax Property Tax -- If you rent, a portion of your rent is paying the landlord's property tax Food Tax -- there are regulatory costs also in the price of food, but I'll ignore those Gas Tax Fuel refinery costs License Plate fees
I could list another 50 smaller taxes which all take 1/2% - 1% of your income over the year each.
On top of all of this, government prints new money every week. This new money raises the cost of the average consumer good by the amount of new money added -- this is where inflation comes from. This makes each dollar you have in savings or investments worth less and less over time. This is a hidden tax and it also pushes you into higher tax brackets over time even if you don't really earn more compared to living costs.
I publish a print newsletter called Mobile Home Millionaire. I just picked up a 1030 square foot mobile home that was repossessed for under US$6000. It has an R-rating over 21, offers a cost of living including average lot rent for under US$750 per month. Even at minimum wage you can fit a family of 4 in there nicely (3 bedrooms, 2 baths, family room, kitchen and storage shed).
I'm currently starting an anarcho-capitalist charity to help families transition from high costs of living to low costs of living with the same standards of living. I recently have helped over 20 of my newsletter subscribers to knock nearly US$300,000 in debt from their monthly payments and build real wealth without requiring any intervention of the public taxpayer, the banks or the credit card companies.
Americans don't understand wealth. Wealth is not how much money you have -- money can come from crazy debt. Wealth comes from owning your home, car and preferably land without debt and then upgrading once you've saved enough to actually pat (in full) for the next upgrade.
A geek earning US$60,000 a year can be a millionaire in 6-8 years if they avoid the traps sold to them by the Joneses. Work, build wealth, marry, be happy. That's the order of operations.
Hah, you'd think so but the US dollar is being forgotten quickly as the Fed keeps printing too much of it.
I'm going to London, Warsaw, Zurich and possibly Baden-Baden in 2 weeks. Most of my readers in Europe admit that the general consensus is that we're too powerful and we intrude too much. After Europe I'm going to Dubai, Mumbai and possibly Madras and Goa -- I guarantee the majority of people there hate us. In summer I'll be hitting the Southern Hemisphere (Central and South America) -- my readers in those regions have hated us for over 10 years and continue to.
I have yet to be to one continent in the last 5 years where someone said "America? We love you!" Instead its "America?" *spit in food*
And yet, we can accomplish much more as a group then as a bunch of individuals. If it wasn't for actually putting aside some of that egocentrism, we would not have gotten anywhere, we wouldn't even have survived long enough to get to make the first tools.
Within a group of voluntary cooperation, both parties in any transaction profit from the transaction. Within a group that requires government force to extract "cooperation" you often times see one party profiting while the other party is losing. Voluntary cooperation with a mutual profit is called capitalism. Involuntary use of force with a single party profit is called authoritarianism.
Communities do better with voluntary cooperation (the free market) than through coercion and force and freedoms lost.
Last but not least, I'd refuse your help if that comes with religious and political fanatism as well, thanks.
It doesn't. Not a single person I help has to become a believer in Jesus. I don't even force the issue unless they ask. Yet I will not help people who use my money to buy a bottle or a hooker or a video game or a new car. I will help them become responsible, but those that continue to be irresponsible don't deserve my charity.
If you believe life is completely fair however and use that as justification for your actions then I suggest you tell us what decision of people causes hurricanes, earthquakes, tsunamis and so on? Which individual people decided on those things that caused those, and why are there so many who didn't make those choiuces but became the victim of it anyway?
When I lived in Ft. Lauderdale I was "poor" -- I had no savings and lived paycheck to paycheck. After yet another hurricane, I moved to the Midwest because I couldn't handle the risk. The rewards were terrible. How did I afford the move? I worked an extra job and I saved. Moving from anywhere in the country to anywhere else to start over is not as costly as you think, and there are opportunities everywhere I travel in starting over. Unfortunately, many people who lived on welfare were afraid to move or couldn't because the welfare organizations seem to create dependencies instead of building responsibilities. This is to be considered the norm as I have seen it.
I don't want anything bad to happen to you, but I hope for your own sake that some day you will find yourself in the situation of needing outside help. I also hope you can find it. You may learn a very big lesson from it.
That's why I save. That's why I prepay for insurance. That's why I live in the safest places I can, and that's why I build relationships of trust and accountability with people all over my community and the world. I help those, and I hope they'll help me.
Yet I would NEVER take public money that was stolen from you in order to help myself. If I end up poor it is because of bad savings decisions. Last year I lost a US$300,000 business due to my own mistakes (trusting others without oversight). I didn't ask for any public help, I just swallowed the loss and I am working to make it a mere bump in my personal wealth. Big deal.
I didn't finance higher education on your back, I won't raise my kid with your money, and I won't retire by charging your children to pay for my future. I'll do it on my own by saving, no spending. I won't get a home loan as I don't need a bigger house. I'm not college educated yet I study every day and learn a new trade every year -- if my current businesses fail, I'll go flip burgers or mow lawns. Save, save, save, save, save.
Keep saving, stop spending. Do this for 5 years as I have and you'll find that you can probably overcome almost any tragedy. Just a poor family's cable bill annually (about US$1000 on average) can buy them their own home in 6 years if they canceled it. 6 years!
The purpose of society is to allow a group of people, through collective cooperation, to better the condition of all. For instance, if people did not have children, the human race would die.
And I am fine with this on a community basis. I see no reason why my money should be forced out of my household to pay for people who are not in my community. I pay for education in other towns, other states, hell even in other countries. Why?
I am just asking for accountability for how my time is spent. Money is time saved, that is all money is. If my time is being spent on others I can not hold accountable, I believe I shouldn't have to be responsible to give them that time saved so they can use it against my morals and my beliefs.
I have no problem with government at the community level -- as long as I am free to leave the community if I see fit. I see a huge problem with county, state and federal government that is overbearing and offers the taxpayer absolutely NO ability to hold them accountable for how the money is spent.
Medicine and medical help is actually very cheap. I pay my doctor and my clinics cash before service and get a nice discount, sometimes 70% less than "retail" or insured price. My insurance is very cheap even with two expensive pre-existing conditions that are covered (kidney stones and TMJ problems). I don't use my insurance for regular medical care -- checkups, minor accidents and the like. I use insurance for big problems. Over 10 years I socked away about 10 ounces of gold to cover my deductible, which is now US$5000 and I am negotiating to move my deductible up to US$20,000 in the next 2 years. The more I sock away for savings, the cheaper the insurance gets. And I have great insurance.
Because I prepay cash, my doctor is happy to give me the best treatment possible. My last kidney stone attack was followed up by a house visit -- he appreciates that I respect his ability and offer to pay in cash up front to keep his paperwork and overhead costs down.
Medical care can be cheap if it wasn't to cover every sneeze, cough and pain. Americans (and the world) look at insurance as full coverage for everything. I look at insurance for what-if situations.
Half my family is on lipitor because of cholesterol and high blood pressure. When my blood pressure and weight skyrocketed at the age of 25, I cut my sugars and starches, increased my healthy fats and proteins, and watched my weight and blood pressure and cholesterol fall to pre-high school numbers. I don't take pills. I am healthy, I watch what I eat, and I won't cost the taxpayers hundreds of thousands of dollars because of an irresponsible diet for 50 years of my life. Yet I have to pay for you fatties who won't stop eating starches and sugars.
Maybe you should get a job, instead of the make-believe job(s) you have between you 50,000 word treatises you post everywhere on the Internet for hours at a time. Taxing you would be a lot more profitable if you weren't living out of your mom's basement in Chicago.
Haha. My addresses are publicly available by Google or by phone. My office is downtown in Chicago (on W. Erie Street). My home is in Gurnee. Both addresses are readily accessible.
I offer those who are interested in learning more about freedom the opportunity to hang out for the day and see how I live my life. I've had quite a few slashdotters join me over the years, and I'd love to offer you the opportunity to see how you can turn your US$20 an hour 8 hour a day job into one that makes way more money with way less time by avoiding the pitfalls that we've come to believe are mandated by living in the U.S.
I have jobs. Quite a few of them. I create new ones on a regular basis to stay ahead of becoming a commodity. Last week I found 3 fresh markets in my area that should pay at least US$80 per hour if not twice that. I'd be happy to introduce you to the markets if you want to come visit one day in March. I'll be in Europe in early February (see pics on my site) and in Asia in late February, finding new markets to explore. If you live in London, Warsaw, Zurich, Bombay or Dubai, I'd be happy to visit with you for a few minutes while I'm there.
You can think I live in a basement and am unemployed. You'd be missing out on a great opportunity to live a happy life without the stresses you get from following the lemmings and keeping up with the Joneses.
The road in my community is 100% paid for by the community voluntarily. The road that leads from my community to the main base of stores could easily be paid for by a co-op of the stores. Roads don't need public funding, in fact, my community's private road is cheaper per mile than the public roads are by over 200% in savings.
The Internet can work fine without publicly licensed and subsidized costs. My T1 at my office would be cheaper if not for public mandates an subsidies. The day will come, soon, that those subsidies are removed from the books and our costs will drop.
I'm no troll, I'm just trying to defend my rights to not have to pay for your irresponsibilities. Since you feel you need to force me to pay for your roads, communications and parenting, I can only assume that you're too irresponsible to pay for it yourself.
Intepreting a single line or paragraph of the Constitution is not why the Constitution was written. You have to look at the Constitution and ponder it.
Then you realize the Constitution was written and enacted to force government to only protect freedoms of the governed from the only ones who can take them away: the governments. We were supposed to be free to choose how we spend our money, our time and how we use our bodies. We were supposed to be free to own physical property and protect that property with force from anyone else.
What we live in now is not freedom, it is tyranny, specifically because people (like you) decided to interpret the Constitution piece by piece rather than read it and understand the limitations it forces government to follow.
Um, name just 20% of those, please. . . . 10%, perhaps? 01-10: Antigua, Australia, Austria, Bahamas, Bahrain, Belgium, Canada, Columbia, Cuba, Denmark 11-20: Egypt, France, Germany, Greece, Honduras, Iceland, Indonesia, Italy, Kenya, Japan, Luxembourg 21-30: Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Oman, Peru, Portugal, Singapore, Spain, South Korea, Turkey 31-33: United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom, Venezuela
Want more? This is only where we have official bases of troops. That's 33 nations of official bases.
I'm working right now. Yet 50% of my household income goes to pay for things I don't use or need or could afford on my own. If you have to work so hard that you don't have time for kids, don't have kids. If you do have kids, don't force me to pay for your responsibilities.
Human beings can't do these things and simultaneously do 24 hour bodyguard duty.
Fine. If you want my money, my hard earned money, then submit to me a full audit of your life income and expenses from today all the way back to the day you found out your lady was pregnant.
Have cable? Turn it off. Have a big house in an expensive neighborhood? Sell it and get something you can afford. Buying new clothes? Go to the thrift store. Taking expensive vacations? Stop. Eating at nice restaurants? Cook your own food.
Don't make me pay for your responsibilities, ever, if you have anything in your life that takes time and money away from parenting.
It should also be obvious that not every parent can afford nannies and high-tech surveillance, so don't bother bringing it up.
I help many poor families out through my churches -- nearly 99% of poor families have cell phones, cable TV, X-Boxes, and more than one car. You'd be surprised at what is considered poor. I don't want to pay for them anymore so that they can spend their income on garbage while I spend my income on taking care of their responsibilities.
You don't have a right to having kids. If you have kids, you don't have a right to force me to pay for their care against my will. If you want my money, move to my community where I can hold you accountable for your welfare check.
listening to someone with no kids tell me how to raise them? Well thats like someone with no penis telling me how to wash my scrotum. You are a troll. A troll with a subscription, but still a troll.
You steal my money via taxation to pay for your responsibilities, I should be able to tell you how to raise them. In fact, it is my money, so I want cameras in your home to see how you're spending my money.
That isn't trolling, that's requesting accountability for what you're taking from me against my will. I wouldn't give money to people that I knew were unable to spend that money wisely. Why should I give you money without telling you the requirements I have before giving it to you?
I can't imagine asking her to give up her career to cater to the needs of our offspring, but I imagine that I will eventually want kids (and will seek a mate who has the same goal).
And you want me to pay for your child care, education and protection. That's great. I don't want to.
Women are finding the reason they get paid less in some situations is because they have kids and don't come back. Companies are finding that women are costlier to keep on their payroll because of the retraining costs. The market is providing for what the consumer wants. You can't have your cake and eat it to.
I find it terrible that people tied to their jobs 24/7 believe they have a right to have children and have me pay for the consequence of their un-thought out action. In my experience, every single girl I dated before the age of 25 that went through 4 years of college and more years of graduate school put themselves into a few years of work before retiring to have children. Every one of them. I commend them for doing the right thing for their families.
I see myself as the one retiring to raise the kids. I know I'd do a great job considering I help some of my church family with their own kids on occasion (but always supervised by another adult just to protect myself).
That aside, you still haven't address that you pretty blatantly shot a glare down your nose at people who just can't afford such things, especially ironic given that your blog states that you had a rough and tumble upbringing, and that you vend... what is it, computer hardware?
Of course I shoot a glare down my nose at people who expect me to pay for their responsibilities. I give 10%+ to various churches in my community to help people in MY community. I don't want to pay for people in other communities, I can't hold them accountable.
If I can't hold you accountable for spending my money and my time, I don't want to give you that money or time. Why should you force me to?
From this article: At the Virginia ratifying convention, Patrick Henry expressed his fear that the "necessary and proper" clause of the Constitution (which said that the federal government would have all powers "necessary and proper" to carry into effect the powers granted in Article I, Section 8) would inevitably be interpreted by the federal government as a boundless grant of power, transforming the limited government that supporters of the Constitution promised into an unlimited government that would menace the people's liberties. He was likewise concerned about the "general welfare" clause, since government could justify practically any action it might take by some strained reference to the general welfare.
Do you know what "necessary" and "proper" actually mean?
Necessary -- The group or person must do this in order to follow through on their obligations. The federal government is obligated to two things: protect We the People from piracy, counterfeiting and treason, and prevent the states from trampling on our freedoms.
Proper -- The group or person must do the action morally to follow through on their obligations. The federal government is obligated to only do what the Constitution has limited them to do.
A mark of a mature person is one who can see the benefit of voting against his own self-interest for the benefit of others. Can you even imagine such a thing?
A mark of a mature person is making decisions based on their ability to carry out the responsibilities that decision will require in the future.
Don't buy a big car if you can't afford the maintenance, gas and insurance.
Don't buy a big house if you can't use the space efficiently and afford to keep it clean and safe.
Don't have kids unless you've found a way to pay for their education and know how you'll take care of them.
Don't start a business unless you've researched the market and found a way to make a profit.
Don't get into a relationship unless you've found your significant other is stable, responsible and honest.
Don't make me pay for your mistakes unless I voluntarily offer to share your risk (insurance).
It's going to be tough to live life being permanently attached to your parents.
When a human is a minor, they should be permanently accountable to their parents. When the child decides they are a major (at 13, in my case, at 18 for some, and I'd assume some aren't majors at even 25), they're free to be irresponsible and deal with the consequences.
Public school is a outlet for "free" daycare. I don't have kids yet (I'm 31) because I can't afford to send my child to a good private teaching group. I won't put them in school, I'll put them in a community of children with parents who care -- I'll call it a private teaching group.
I don't believe most people need a basic education beyond the age of 11 or 12. At that point they should enter a mentorship program (for a trade) or enter higher education (specialized towards what they are good at learning). The average high school education curriculum is a terrible education. Children are smarter than that, but they have no opportunity to head in a specific direction.
Schooling should not cost US$20,000 per year per student. 5 teachers earning US$60,000 per year each = US$300,000 budget. 5 teachers can handle 15 students each at a time, which is US$4,000 per year per student. The books can be provided for online instead of in paper form, and the rest of the money can be refunded.
Where does the rest of the money go? Just ask the teachers' unions, I guess.
The thing is that we, as humans, ARE egocentric. I have no problem with others performing jobs I should be doing if I can hold them accountable for the jobs they do on my behalf. Government has no accountability beyond voting, and voting is restrictive and not very productive in setting guidelines and mandates. I don't vote, and I don't appreciate any government because I want accountability.
I donate more than 10% of my income to various church organizations locally -- and I hold them ALL accountable for the way they spend it. I spend much of my time volunteering to help the poor -- I'm currently financing a free tech training center in the town in my county with the worst poverty. I'll also volunteer my time to help mentor to the poor. I help feed them, and I've given benevolence money to help pay for rents and utilities when jobs are lost. These are not Christians I am helping, these are people in my community.
Last week I told my pastor that I wanted the church to stop helping a family we had given a lot of money and time to over the past 6 months. I discovered that they were leeching and lying and manipulating us. After a quick review and request for accountability, the pastor agreed and the family is getting cut off. I'll give them another chance, an infinite amount of chances, if they accept accountability for their actions. They won't.
Yet government is not accountable to us, the taxpayers. When government gives money to others "in need" those in need are not accountable to government. It is a viscious circle of irresponsibility creating more irresponsible people, and the problem gets worse over time.
Do I care? Not for you, sorry. I could care less if you're starving unless you're part of my community. We paid to bring people up from Katrina and in the end we had money left over -- people didn't want to take advantage of our love for those in our community. I sent $0 out of my community for the tragedy. If I'm going to help you, I want to know that you're not taking advantage of me.
I have no desire to help those who will not be accountable to me while I am taking care of them and helping them get out of the hole they put themselves into. Everything that happens to us is based on decisions we previously made. Life is very fair, it is only when others force their beliefs on us that life is unfair -- and only government has the power to truly force anyone to do anything, legally.
Of course some kidnappings are by anonymous nutjobs -- especially when it comes to famous people like the Lindbergs.
For us common folk, kidnappings almost always occur by people we know. This makes it easier to find them -- a kidnapper can not exist for long on just a cash and carry lifestyle. I do believe that many kidnappings can be prevented, and I do blame the parents. Why would 2 parents work when there are kids at home? It makes no sense to me, until we look at the 50% household tax levels most families are paying compared to "just" 30% only 20 years ago. We double the tax level and increase debt to keep up with the Joneses, so mommy leaves to work leaving Nanny Mary to watch the kids. Nanny Mary decides she can do a better job and takes off with them. Typical story.
I'll do some more research on kidnappings, but it seems to me that they are more rare than they are regular. In my entire life, I have known about one kidnapping that was 2 or 3 degrees away from my direct community of peers and family. Considering I'm involved with 3 churches with a total of 1000 families, and I've never heard of a kidnapping in my 31 years, I don't consider it is a likely situation to require a federal organization paid for by tax dollars to try to prevent.
Yet your post covers so many reasons to back down on federal tax-and-spend policy.
First of all, your education is so expensive because of federal involvement. When the feds force money out of the taxpayers to pay for whatever private program there is, the cost of the program always goes up. Professor George Reisman makes a great example of why health insurance is crazy expensive, which is carried directly to why education is expensive and so is property: government involvement. His comment was:
I used to ask my [evening] students to imagine that after class, we would all go to a restaurant for a late dinner, on the understanding that everyone was free to order whatever he liked and the bill would be evenly divided. Thus, if there were thirty students in the class and someone ordered a $20 steak instead of a $5 hamburger, the additional cost to him would be 50 cents. Under such an arrangement, everyone would have the incentive to order anything he wanted, because he would bear very little of the cost. But since everyone would soon do this, the cost to everyone would end up being far higher than it would have been had everyone had to pay his own way.
If everyone had to pay for education directly, they'd be much more competitive with their money. When money is rare, prices are usually lower to attract the money that people are apt to save. Yet the Federal Reserve prints so much new money that money isn't rare -- its readily available. This makes it less worthy to people, so they chase property investments creating the bubbles. The feds give money to anyone who wants an education, so education prices go up. The feds force health care insurance on everyone (medicare, medicaid, social security, and a myriad of programs) so prices go up.
Get them out of the systems they shouldn't be in -- get them out of the market.
My two subscriber-only newsletters are being transitioned right now to the web. Drop me an e-mail and I'll be happy to add you to a once-only notification list when the site eventually goes live. I'm doing more global hopping lately, so the print format is taking up too much time (although the income is nice, hah).
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Meanwhile, is someone being fed by those taxes?
At a cost higher than if the money was spent freely in the market, creating real competitive jobs and wealth for those working rather than a permanent welfare dole.
Are major strides in knowledge being made? Is someone getting an education (the single GREATEST gift anyone can get) who wouldn't necessarily have one?
No, education is worse today than it was 100 years ago. Literacy is down (the literacy rates are up because they changed the reporting to not true literacy but how many years of education a person has). The average person today is dumber than they were even 20 years ago.
Over time, people like me will find black market ways to exit your system. I wish it didn't have to be this way. I would much rather turn off the federal government and let each State be their own entity and I would truly be able to vote with my feet. As I meet more and more people through my posts who have already exited the system, I believe that "freedom" does exist, but it still lives on top of the mess that society has created since FDR.
In my anarcho-capitalist future, we'd all be able to choose our own form of government at the community level -- not at the federal level. You could live happily in a socialist community, and I could live happily in a pure cooperative voluntary anarchist community. Why do we need a huge aggressor?
The problem is that those with the most capital tend to profit the most.
Under a fiat currency, maybe.
Under a fixed 100% reserve currency, no way. If people horde money, it forces prices to drop to get the money back into circulation. The free market addresses this problem nicely. The wealthy can't horde money because if they do, they won't have anything to use it for as businesses fail around them. The wealthy use the money by saving it, and the banks loan it out in safe investments. The poor and the rich are closer to one another in a free market than in a heavily regulated market -- today's wealthy are that way because they took advantage of government, not by offering a great product at the lowest price in the fastest way.
As a reader of your blog, you should write up this whole "millionaire in 6 years making $60,000 a year"
:)
I currently make a good income on my newsletter, and I am working on finding ways to recuperate that income when I start to give that advice freely to the masses. I am very close to working out a sponsor for the site and should be able to cover my ass that way
I'll give you a few clues, though:
1. Many people who are posting here who are 30 years old are not millionaires because they refused to attempt to be wealthy in their teens and 20s.
2. Many people who are not wealthy by 30 have over-run their debt, including mortgages, for products they didn't need in their youth and could have afforded better after becoming wealthy (big screen TVs, new cars, etc).
3. Many people who are not wealthy by 30 likely have listened to the media and the masses, believing in 401Ks, stock markets, bank accounts, ATM cards and credit cards, as well as home equity loans and overpriced clothing.
4. Many people who are not wealthy by 30 are W2 employees, unable to maximize the savings set up by the IRS for contract employees and pseudocorps.
My investments locally earn me a 20% dividend minimum annually. I would never invest in the stock market -- it's a suckers game (no dividends, P:E over the maximum of 6 I recommend, no clarity in ownership). A recent business I invested in locally made me nearly 50% in dividend payouts. Even my failed retail store was earning over 25% annually while growing with very little management (it failed due to a tax conflict that we could not afford to fight because we didn't take out the proper insurance).
My housing costs when I owned a huge house were crazy -- almost US$2600 a month including property taxes. I downsized the house and bought mobile homes (and soon a mobile home park that I'll convert into a tech mobile home complex) and for US$9000 I bought a big mobile home that costs me only US$700 a month to live in -- utilities, taxes and insurance. I'm saving US$1900 per month there.
My Land Rover cost me over US$2000 a month to drive -- insurance, gas, maintenance, tires, brakes, servicing, cleaning, etc. I sold it, bought a used 96 Toyota Corolla, and I pay about US$280 a month to drive it. That's over US$1700 a month I'm saving there.
I refused to go into debt for education, so I didn't go to college. I am attending a college now electronically so I can at least get a degree some day, but I am in no rush. I proved my value by selling myself cheaply when I was younger and building up my customer base over time through great work and financial savings for those who used my services.
I am a 1099 contractor for all my work -- offering my huge tax incentives and savings. My billable rate varies from US$80 to US$210 depending on the work I am performing for the customer. I get what I ask, and I get paid on time or ahead of time because I guarantee the work I do.
Let's look at that now. 20%-50% return on my local investments that I have real control in. A savings of nearly US$45,000 a year in living expenses.
If I started this when I was 18, I'd be well over a million now, if not more. I could realistically retire at 30, if I didn't wait as long as I did. Unfortunately, I'll have to wait another 4-5 years, but the wealth builds while my friends blow their futures and retirements by living high on the hog today.
How old are you? If you're 25, what did you do with all your earnings since you were 18? Between 18 and 25 I likely earned about US$400,000. It blew it on stuff I don't even have today! At 25 I learned the secret: stop listening to your friends, your advisors and the media. They don't know. They don't care. They don't see that wealth is not dollars saved but assets built and the future considered merely 10 years away, not 35.
Maybe the Union of the State should look the slashdot effect and how it may be considered terrorism.
The love it or move argument doesn't work if you don't realie that this country was founded to be small community based with a small central government. It is your kind who should have moved (or stayed where they were initially) rather than change the way America was when it was great.
In my system, socialists can happily live together and even align themselves with other socialist community around the U.S. In your way, it is your way or the highway.
Which one is pro-freedom and which one is authoritarian?
By the way, I do plan on visiting Somalia this fall. Dubai is going to be a quarterly stop for me, and Somalia is just down the water.
Taxes, for me (married 23-yr-old with no kids), cost about $3,500 total.
No, they're nto US$3500 a year total. They're much much higher than that.
Please total up all these taxes you spent in 2005 and get back to me. I'd bet that they come close to being 50% of your gross income:
Sales Tax (I pay up to 8.75% in Chicago)
Social Security Employee Share (6.2%)
Social Security Employer Share (6.2%) -- This would be passed on as pay if it didn't exist
Medicare Employee Share (1.45%)
Medicare Employer Share (1.45%)
Federal Income Tax
State Income Tax
Property Tax -- If you rent, a portion of your rent is paying the landlord's property tax
Food Tax -- there are regulatory costs also in the price of food, but I'll ignore those
Gas Tax
Fuel refinery costs
License Plate fees
I could list another 50 smaller taxes which all take 1/2% - 1% of your income over the year each.
On top of all of this, government prints new money every week. This new money raises the cost of the average consumer good by the amount of new money added -- this is where inflation comes from. This makes each dollar you have in savings or investments worth less and less over time. This is a hidden tax and it also pushes you into higher tax brackets over time even if you don't really earn more compared to living costs.
I publish a print newsletter called Mobile Home Millionaire. I just picked up a 1030 square foot mobile home that was repossessed for under US$6000. It has an R-rating over 21, offers a cost of living including average lot rent for under US$750 per month. Even at minimum wage you can fit a family of 4 in there nicely (3 bedrooms, 2 baths, family room, kitchen and storage shed).
I'm currently starting an anarcho-capitalist charity to help families transition from high costs of living to low costs of living with the same standards of living. I recently have helped over 20 of my newsletter subscribers to knock nearly US$300,000 in debt from their monthly payments and build real wealth without requiring any intervention of the public taxpayer, the banks or the credit card companies.
Americans don't understand wealth. Wealth is not how much money you have -- money can come from crazy debt. Wealth comes from owning your home, car and preferably land without debt and then upgrading once you've saved enough to actually pat (in full) for the next upgrade.
A geek earning US$60,000 a year can be a millionaire in 6-8 years if they avoid the traps sold to them by the Joneses. Work, build wealth, marry, be happy. That's the order of operations.
Hah, you'd think so but the US dollar is being forgotten quickly as the Fed keeps printing too much of it.
I'm going to London, Warsaw, Zurich and possibly Baden-Baden in 2 weeks. Most of my readers in Europe admit that the general consensus is that we're too powerful and we intrude too much. After Europe I'm going to Dubai, Mumbai and possibly Madras and Goa -- I guarantee the majority of people there hate us. In summer I'll be hitting the Southern Hemisphere (Central and South America) -- my readers in those regions have hated us for over 10 years and continue to.
I have yet to be to one continent in the last 5 years where someone said "America? We love you!" Instead its "America?" *spit in food*
And yet, we can accomplish much more as a group then as a bunch of individuals. If it wasn't for actually putting aside some of that egocentrism, we would not have gotten anywhere, we wouldn't even have survived long enough to get to make the first tools.
Within a group of voluntary cooperation, both parties in any transaction profit from the transaction. Within a group that requires government force to extract "cooperation" you often times see one party profiting while the other party is losing. Voluntary cooperation with a mutual profit is called capitalism. Involuntary use of force with a single party profit is called authoritarianism.
Communities do better with voluntary cooperation (the free market) than through coercion and force and freedoms lost.
Last but not least, I'd refuse your help if that comes with religious and political fanatism as well, thanks.
It doesn't. Not a single person I help has to become a believer in Jesus. I don't even force the issue unless they ask. Yet I will not help people who use my money to buy a bottle or a hooker or a video game or a new car. I will help them become responsible, but those that continue to be irresponsible don't deserve my charity.
If you believe life is completely fair however and use that as justification for your actions then I suggest you tell us what decision of people causes hurricanes, earthquakes, tsunamis and so on? Which individual people decided on those things that caused those, and why are there so many who didn't make those choiuces but became the victim of it anyway?
When I lived in Ft. Lauderdale I was "poor" -- I had no savings and lived paycheck to paycheck. After yet another hurricane, I moved to the Midwest because I couldn't handle the risk. The rewards were terrible. How did I afford the move? I worked an extra job and I saved. Moving from anywhere in the country to anywhere else to start over is not as costly as you think, and there are opportunities everywhere I travel in starting over. Unfortunately, many people who lived on welfare were afraid to move or couldn't because the welfare organizations seem to create dependencies instead of building responsibilities. This is to be considered the norm as I have seen it.
I don't want anything bad to happen to you, but I hope for your own sake that some day you will find yourself in the situation of needing outside help. I also hope you can find it. You may learn a very big lesson from it.
That's why I save. That's why I prepay for insurance. That's why I live in the safest places I can, and that's why I build relationships of trust and accountability with people all over my community and the world. I help those, and I hope they'll help me.
Yet I would NEVER take public money that was stolen from you in order to help myself. If I end up poor it is because of bad savings decisions. Last year I lost a US$300,000 business due to my own mistakes (trusting others without oversight). I didn't ask for any public help, I just swallowed the loss and I am working to make it a mere bump in my personal wealth. Big deal.
I didn't finance higher education on your back, I won't raise my kid with your money, and I won't retire by charging your children to pay for my future. I'll do it on my own by saving, no spending. I won't get a home loan as I don't need a bigger house. I'm not college educated yet I study every day and learn a new trade every year -- if my current businesses fail, I'll go flip burgers or mow lawns. Save, save, save, save, save.
Keep saving, stop spending. Do this for 5 years as I have and you'll find that you can probably overcome almost any tragedy. Just a poor family's cable bill annually (about US$1000 on average) can buy them their own home in 6 years if they canceled it. 6 years!
The purpose of society is to allow a group of people, through collective cooperation, to better the condition of all. For instance, if people did not have children, the human race would die.
And I am fine with this on a community basis. I see no reason why my money should be forced out of my household to pay for people who are not in my community. I pay for education in other towns, other states, hell even in other countries. Why?
I am just asking for accountability for how my time is spent. Money is time saved, that is all money is. If my time is being spent on others I can not hold accountable, I believe I shouldn't have to be responsible to give them that time saved so they can use it against my morals and my beliefs.
I have no problem with government at the community level -- as long as I am free to leave the community if I see fit. I see a huge problem with county, state and federal government that is overbearing and offers the taxpayer absolutely NO ability to hold them accountable for how the money is spent.
Medicine and medical help is actually very cheap. I pay my doctor and my clinics cash before service and get a nice discount, sometimes 70% less than "retail" or insured price. My insurance is very cheap even with two expensive pre-existing conditions that are covered (kidney stones and TMJ problems). I don't use my insurance for regular medical care -- checkups, minor accidents and the like. I use insurance for big problems. Over 10 years I socked away about 10 ounces of gold to cover my deductible, which is now US$5000 and I am negotiating to move my deductible up to US$20,000 in the next 2 years. The more I sock away for savings, the cheaper the insurance gets. And I have great insurance.
Because I prepay cash, my doctor is happy to give me the best treatment possible. My last kidney stone attack was followed up by a house visit -- he appreciates that I respect his ability and offer to pay in cash up front to keep his paperwork and overhead costs down.
Medical care can be cheap if it wasn't to cover every sneeze, cough and pain. Americans (and the world) look at insurance as full coverage for everything. I look at insurance for what-if situations.
Half my family is on lipitor because of cholesterol and high blood pressure. When my blood pressure and weight skyrocketed at the age of 25, I cut my sugars and starches, increased my healthy fats and proteins, and watched my weight and blood pressure and cholesterol fall to pre-high school numbers. I don't take pills. I am healthy, I watch what I eat, and I won't cost the taxpayers hundreds of thousands of dollars because of an irresponsible diet for 50 years of my life. Yet I have to pay for you fatties who won't stop eating starches and sugars.
Maybe you should get a job, instead of the make-believe job(s) you have between you 50,000 word treatises you post everywhere on the Internet for hours at a time. Taxing you would be a lot more profitable if you weren't living out of your mom's basement in Chicago.
Haha. My addresses are publicly available by Google or by phone. My office is downtown in Chicago (on W. Erie Street). My home is in Gurnee. Both addresses are readily accessible.
I offer those who are interested in learning more about freedom the opportunity to hang out for the day and see how I live my life. I've had quite a few slashdotters join me over the years, and I'd love to offer you the opportunity to see how you can turn your US$20 an hour 8 hour a day job into one that makes way more money with way less time by avoiding the pitfalls that we've come to believe are mandated by living in the U.S.
I have jobs. Quite a few of them. I create new ones on a regular basis to stay ahead of becoming a commodity. Last week I found 3 fresh markets in my area that should pay at least US$80 per hour if not twice that. I'd be happy to introduce you to the markets if you want to come visit one day in March. I'll be in Europe in early February (see pics on my site) and in Asia in late February, finding new markets to explore. If you live in London, Warsaw, Zurich, Bombay or Dubai, I'd be happy to visit with you for a few minutes while I'm there.
You can think I live in a basement and am unemployed. You'd be missing out on a great opportunity to live a happy life without the stresses you get from following the lemmings and keeping up with the Joneses.
The road in my community is 100% paid for by the community voluntarily. The road that leads from my community to the main base of stores could easily be paid for by a co-op of the stores. Roads don't need public funding, in fact, my community's private road is cheaper per mile than the public roads are by over 200% in savings.
The Internet can work fine without publicly licensed and subsidized costs. My T1 at my office would be cheaper if not for public mandates an subsidies. The day will come, soon, that those subsidies are removed from the books and our costs will drop.
I'm no troll, I'm just trying to defend my rights to not have to pay for your irresponsibilities. Since you feel you need to force me to pay for your roads, communications and parenting, I can only assume that you're too irresponsible to pay for it yourself.
Intepreting a single line or paragraph of the Constitution is not why the Constitution was written. You have to look at the Constitution and ponder it.
Then you realize the Constitution was written and enacted to force government to only protect freedoms of the governed from the only ones who can take them away: the governments. We were supposed to be free to choose how we spend our money, our time and how we use our bodies. We were supposed to be free to own physical property and protect that property with force from anyone else.
What we live in now is not freedom, it is tyranny, specifically because people (like you) decided to interpret the Constitution piece by piece rather than read it and understand the limitations it forces government to follow.
Um, name just 20% of those, please. . . . 10%, perhaps?
01-10: Antigua, Australia, Austria, Bahamas, Bahrain, Belgium, Canada, Columbia, Cuba, Denmark
11-20: Egypt, France, Germany, Greece, Honduras, Iceland, Indonesia, Italy, Kenya, Japan, Luxembourg
21-30: Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Oman, Peru, Portugal, Singapore, Spain, South Korea, Turkey
31-33: United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom, Venezuela
Want more? This is only where we have official bases of troops. That's 33 nations of official bases.
We also have troops in another 70+ countries.
Don't believe me? Maybe you believe your government.
Some of us have to work.
I'm working right now. Yet 50% of my household income goes to pay for things I don't use or need or could afford on my own. If you have to work so hard that you don't have time for kids, don't have kids. If you do have kids, don't force me to pay for your responsibilities.
Human beings can't do these things and simultaneously do 24 hour bodyguard duty.
Fine. If you want my money, my hard earned money, then submit to me a full audit of your life income and expenses from today all the way back to the day you found out your lady was pregnant.
Have cable? Turn it off. Have a big house in an expensive neighborhood? Sell it and get something you can afford. Buying new clothes? Go to the thrift store. Taking expensive vacations? Stop. Eating at nice restaurants? Cook your own food.
Don't make me pay for your responsibilities, ever, if you have anything in your life that takes time and money away from parenting.
It should also be obvious that not every parent can afford nannies and high-tech surveillance, so don't bother bringing it up.
I help many poor families out through my churches -- nearly 99% of poor families have cell phones, cable TV, X-Boxes, and more than one car. You'd be surprised at what is considered poor. I don't want to pay for them anymore so that they can spend their income on garbage while I spend my income on taking care of their responsibilities.
You don't have a right to having kids. If you have kids, you don't have a right to force me to pay for their care against my will. If you want my money, move to my community where I can hold you accountable for your welfare check.
listening to someone with no kids tell me how to raise them? Well thats like someone with no penis telling me how to wash my scrotum. You are a troll. A troll with a subscription, but still a troll.
You steal my money via taxation to pay for your responsibilities, I should be able to tell you how to raise them. In fact, it is my money, so I want cameras in your home to see how you're spending my money.
That isn't trolling, that's requesting accountability for what you're taking from me against my will. I wouldn't give money to people that I knew were unable to spend that money wisely. Why should I give you money without telling you the requirements I have before giving it to you?
I can't imagine asking her to give up her career to cater to the needs of our offspring, but I imagine that I will eventually want kids (and will seek a mate who has the same goal).
And you want me to pay for your child care, education and protection. That's great. I don't want to.
Women are finding the reason they get paid less in some situations is because they have kids and don't come back. Companies are finding that women are costlier to keep on their payroll because of the retraining costs. The market is providing for what the consumer wants. You can't have your cake and eat it to.
I find it terrible that people tied to their jobs 24/7 believe they have a right to have children and have me pay for the consequence of their un-thought out action. In my experience, every single girl I dated before the age of 25 that went through 4 years of college and more years of graduate school put themselves into a few years of work before retiring to have children. Every one of them. I commend them for doing the right thing for their families.
I see myself as the one retiring to raise the kids. I know I'd do a great job considering I help some of my church family with their own kids on occasion (but always supervised by another adult just to protect myself).
That aside, you still haven't address that you pretty blatantly shot a glare down your nose at people who just can't afford such things, especially ironic given that your blog states that you had a rough and tumble upbringing, and that you vend... what is it, computer hardware?
Of course I shoot a glare down my nose at people who expect me to pay for their responsibilities. I give 10%+ to various churches in my community to help people in MY community. I don't want to pay for people in other communities, I can't hold them accountable.
If I can't hold you accountable for spending my money and my time, I don't want to give you that money or time. Why should you force me to?
The necessary and proper clause?
From this article: At the Virginia ratifying convention, Patrick Henry expressed his fear that the "necessary and proper" clause of the Constitution (which said that the federal government would have all powers "necessary and proper" to carry into effect the powers granted in Article I, Section 8) would inevitably be interpreted by the federal government as a boundless grant of power, transforming the limited government that supporters of the Constitution promised into an unlimited government that would menace the people's liberties. He was likewise concerned about the "general welfare" clause, since government could justify practically any action it might take by some strained reference to the general welfare.
Do you know what "necessary" and "proper" actually mean?
Necessary -- The group or person must do this in order to follow through on their obligations. The federal government is obligated to two things: protect We the People from piracy, counterfeiting and treason, and prevent the states from trampling on our freedoms.
Proper -- The group or person must do the action morally to follow through on their obligations. The federal government is obligated to only do what the Constitution has limited them to do.
Don't use words you don't understand.
A mark of a mature person is one who can see the benefit of voting against his own self-interest for the benefit of others. Can you even imagine such a thing?
A mark of a mature person is making decisions based on their ability to carry out the responsibilities that decision will require in the future.
Don't buy a big car if you can't afford the maintenance, gas and insurance.
Don't buy a big house if you can't use the space efficiently and afford to keep it clean and safe.
Don't have kids unless you've found a way to pay for their education and know how you'll take care of them.
Don't start a business unless you've researched the market and found a way to make a profit.
Don't get into a relationship unless you've found your significant other is stable, responsible and honest.
Don't make me pay for your mistakes unless I voluntarily offer to share your risk (insurance).
It's going to be tough to live life being permanently attached to your parents.
When a human is a minor, they should be permanently accountable to their parents. When the child decides they are a major (at 13, in my case, at 18 for some, and I'd assume some aren't majors at even 25), they're free to be irresponsible and deal with the consequences.
Public school is a outlet for "free" daycare. I don't have kids yet (I'm 31) because I can't afford to send my child to a good private teaching group. I won't put them in school, I'll put them in a community of children with parents who care -- I'll call it a private teaching group.
I don't believe most people need a basic education beyond the age of 11 or 12. At that point they should enter a mentorship program (for a trade) or enter higher education (specialized towards what they are good at learning). The average high school education curriculum is a terrible education. Children are smarter than that, but they have no opportunity to head in a specific direction.
Schooling should not cost US$20,000 per year per student. 5 teachers earning US$60,000 per year each = US$300,000 budget. 5 teachers can handle 15 students each at a time, which is US$4,000 per year per student. The books can be provided for online instead of in paper form, and the rest of the money can be refunded.
Where does the rest of the money go? Just ask the teachers' unions, I guess.
The thing is that we, as humans, ARE egocentric. I have no problem with others performing jobs I should be doing if I can hold them accountable for the jobs they do on my behalf. Government has no accountability beyond voting, and voting is restrictive and not very productive in setting guidelines and mandates. I don't vote, and I don't appreciate any government because I want accountability.
I donate more than 10% of my income to various church organizations locally -- and I hold them ALL accountable for the way they spend it. I spend much of my time volunteering to help the poor -- I'm currently financing a free tech training center in the town in my county with the worst poverty. I'll also volunteer my time to help mentor to the poor. I help feed them, and I've given benevolence money to help pay for rents and utilities when jobs are lost. These are not Christians I am helping, these are people in my community.
Last week I told my pastor that I wanted the church to stop helping a family we had given a lot of money and time to over the past 6 months. I discovered that they were leeching and lying and manipulating us. After a quick review and request for accountability, the pastor agreed and the family is getting cut off. I'll give them another chance, an infinite amount of chances, if they accept accountability for their actions. They won't.
Yet government is not accountable to us, the taxpayers. When government gives money to others "in need" those in need are not accountable to government. It is a viscious circle of irresponsibility creating more irresponsible people, and the problem gets worse over time.
Do I care? Not for you, sorry. I could care less if you're starving unless you're part of my community. We paid to bring people up from Katrina and in the end we had money left over -- people didn't want to take advantage of our love for those in our community. I sent $0 out of my community for the tragedy. If I'm going to help you, I want to know that you're not taking advantage of me.
I have no desire to help those who will not be accountable to me while I am taking care of them and helping them get out of the hole they put themselves into. Everything that happens to us is based on decisions we previously made. Life is very fair, it is only when others force their beliefs on us that life is unfair -- and only government has the power to truly force anyone to do anything, legally.
Of course some kidnappings are by anonymous nutjobs -- especially when it comes to famous people like the Lindbergs.
For us common folk, kidnappings almost always occur by people we know. This makes it easier to find them -- a kidnapper can not exist for long on just a cash and carry lifestyle. I do believe that many kidnappings can be prevented, and I do blame the parents. Why would 2 parents work when there are kids at home? It makes no sense to me, until we look at the 50% household tax levels most families are paying compared to "just" 30% only 20 years ago. We double the tax level and increase debt to keep up with the Joneses, so mommy leaves to work leaving Nanny Mary to watch the kids. Nanny Mary decides she can do a better job and takes off with them. Typical story.
I'll do some more research on kidnappings, but it seems to me that they are more rare than they are regular. In my entire life, I have known about one kidnapping that was 2 or 3 degrees away from my direct community of peers and family. Considering I'm involved with 3 churches with a total of 1000 families, and I've never heard of a kidnapping in my 31 years, I don't consider it is a likely situation to require a federal organization paid for by tax dollars to try to prevent.
Yet your post covers so many reasons to back down on federal tax-and-spend policy.
First of all, your education is so expensive because of federal involvement. When the feds force money out of the taxpayers to pay for whatever private program there is, the cost of the program always goes up. Professor George Reisman makes a great example of why health insurance is crazy expensive, which is carried directly to why education is expensive and so is property: government involvement. His comment was:
I used to ask my [evening] students to imagine that after class, we would all go to a restaurant for a late dinner, on the understanding that everyone was free to order whatever he liked and the bill would be evenly divided. Thus, if there were thirty students in the class and someone ordered a $20 steak instead of a $5 hamburger, the additional cost to him would be 50 cents. Under such an arrangement, everyone would have the incentive to order anything he wanted, because he would bear very little of the cost. But since everyone would soon do this, the cost to everyone would end up being far higher than it would have been had everyone had to pay his own way.
If everyone had to pay for education directly, they'd be much more competitive with their money. When money is rare, prices are usually lower to attract the money that people are apt to save. Yet the Federal Reserve prints so much new money that money isn't rare -- its readily available. This makes it less worthy to people, so they chase property investments creating the bubbles. The feds give money to anyone who wants an education, so education prices go up. The feds force health care insurance on everyone (medicare, medicaid, social security, and a myriad of programs) so prices go up.
Get them out of the systems they shouldn't be in -- get them out of the market.
My two subscriber-only newsletters are being transitioned right now to the web. Drop me an e-mail and I'll be happy to add you to a once-only notification list when the site eventually goes live. I'm doing more global hopping lately, so the print format is taking up too much time (although the income is nice, hah).