I thought the story of your childhood vandalism was great. I remember the sorted recklessness from my days of youth also.
But as time would have we age abit and develop this responsibility thing.

And now we want to help, and do the right thing. I’m not sure what to think of the thought of being happy paying taxxes.
But I look forward to the day when paying taxes makes me sleep better.

Thank for the insightful story, and the writing lesson

Gary McElwain

But you were right, as usual. Over the years now, it’s come to be a sign that I’m doing things right, that financial success is there, as gauged by a big tax bill … the key is always adding to the top line, so the bottom line/expenses/taxes are less of a concern. Now I’m paying bigger tax bills than ever before, and I don’t sweat it. I play it straight so I too can ’sleep like a baby’ and focus instead on building the business.

And for those on the fence, I highly encourage you to get John’s offer; I’ve gotten at least a 20x ROI on every buck I’ve spent on working with John, he’s on the real short list of people worth “going deep” into learning from. A genuine key to success.

To huge tax bills (and even bigger profits),

-ken

The truth is our tax funded public schools are churning out some of the stupidest kids in the world. Little multiple choice robots who are going to be chrushed in the global marketplace by billions of smart, creative, and hungry Chinese and Indian’s

What about our Welfare system. There was a time when people were utterly embarrassed to be on government assistance, probably around the time your Dad built that baseball field. Not today. Now they make rap songs bragging about getting a free check on the first of the month.

Yeah, seeing some fat cow with a new leather jacket and six inch finger nails whip out some food stamps in the grocery store makes me want to stand up and solute old glory.

While were at it we might as well get some more amenities for our prisons, after all I’d hate to see those poor murders and rapists be the least bit uncomfortable during their stay.

And then we got foreign aid. The USA is the pathetic friend to the world, you know the kid back in high school you used for money and his car but made fun of him behind his back and never invited him to parties. We are sending billions of tax dollars to countries who are turning around and helping other countries try to kill us.

I’m sick of Americans having to play Atlas supporting the rest of the world. If people in Africa want to stop the spread of AIDS and stop starving children then STOP HAVING SEX! Maybe I should put that in a power point presentation so I could win a Nobel prize.

“Most of the rest of world is agog at our freedoms, and would happily pay twice the tax we dole out just for the privilege of being able to bitch about paying it”

What? Most of us are already forking over 50%+ to the government how the hell can you double that? Unless of course you’re talking about the deadbeats of the world, Yeah they can’t wait to hop on the tax funded gravy train and sink their teeth into a juicy welfare check, subsidized housing, public school for their 10 kids, and the soon to be “free” healthcare.

The doers of the World want no part of America.

Have you looked at corporate taxation in the rest of the World? Here’s a hint, it’s much lower then it is here. The rest of the World gets it. They know that talent and money go where they’re most welcome, and right not the US is all about bleeding successful people dry. You know this is true, just ask 10 random people on the street what they think about people with money and you’ll hear nothing but vicious hatred and contempt.

And these are the people who elect our government officials, who in turn set forth to let thy will of the people be done. The people say Kill The Rich.

Sorry John, I am not happy to pay taxes.

Bailouts with stolen money are NOT part of the free market - they are government interference in the market. Big difference.

Do you still read Ringer these days?

How about Larken Rose?
http://www.861.info

Just because people “got in trouble” for not paying taxes doesn´t mean they are supposed to pay taxes.

Thanks for the great blog. Was just reading your post and I thought I’d share some information from my perspective.

I’m my opinion the Bear Stearns collapse has very little to do with free markets. Why?

Because the banking industry is not a free market in the first place. And in fact the rules that allowed such bad loans were created by the Federal Reserve and banking regulations, not free markets.

The financial system is specifically designed to go through booms and busts. They set up the rules in a way so that collapses will happen. Bankers can do this with impunity because they know that when things go wrong they will get the congress to raise taxes or they can just print more money to cover the losses. Exactly what they did here.

This is all by design and this has happened many times since the creation of the Federal Reserve. The real idea is to weed out the smallest banks and have a large cartel of banks that work together like a monopoly. This is not a free market at work. It only appears that way.

The Federal Reserve was created in 1913 to stop depressions, recessions and crisis like these. They have been miserable failures at this.

But that is because their stated motive is not the actual motive behind the Federal Reserve.

Even the current Fed Chairman Bernanke admits that it was our monetary policy that caused “The Great Depression.”

You can read his admission from 2004. It’s on the actual Federal Reserve website.
http://www.federalreserve.gov/boarddocs/speeches/2004/200403022/default.htm

Now I made have misstated a few facts here in my presentation. I’m just trying to give the general direction of what I’ve discovered via an incredible book. I certainly don’t know all of the details of this current collapse.

But if you take a look at this highly documented book, “The Creature From Jekyll Island,” by G. Edward Griffin you’ll see how and why the Federal Reserve was created and what their real motives are. This is not a purely governmental agency but a mixture of government and privately owned interests.

The book is detailed and highly documented and I guarantee you’ll not be the same person you were after reading it. It’s one of the best books I’ve ever read on history. You’ll see how the bankers love wars because they finance both sides. You’ll see how the bankers purposely got us into World War 1 and planned the sinking of the Lusitania with Winston Churchill.

This article gives an idea of what I’m talking about though this is covered in much more detail and with more references in “The Creature From Jekyll Island.”
http://judicial-inc.biz/w.,ho_really_sunk_the_lusitania.htm

1913 was also the year we were “blessed” with an income tax. Have you ever thought of this?

By filling out an income tax form you can actually be incriminating yourself in a court of law. This is in direct violation of the fifth amendment. Not to mention all of the other ways the income tax is unconstitutional.

In any case, even free markets need rules. The problem with the current banking system is that it’s anything but a free market. The Federal Reserve artificially setting interest rates is an example of that.

And quite frankly I think banking as it’s currently practiced is unethical and should be made illegal. What other business can you have only one million of your own money but loan out ten million?

All bankers can literally create money out of thin air. They earn interest on money they never had. I believe they should only be allowed to loan exactly the money they have. That would stop the collapses immediately.

Our whole financial system as currently comprised is corrupt and will eventually collapse because it’s based on no real assets. Our money is based on paper and as long as we can continue to expand the money supply indefinitely we can continue to degrade the value of the dollar and eventually destroy it completely.

This printing of billions of extra dollars is an invisible tax that we all must pay.

In my opinion, the only way to have any legitimate understanding of politics is to understand the current banking and financial system. You can get a great education on that with the book I mentioned above.

Beware, what you read will fly in the face of most conventionally taught history. But that is because history is written by the people who are secretly behind the controls.

Cheers, Roger

But John brings up a point I’m coming to terms with.

This world is bananas! There have always been people “redistributing” others people money.

Empires come and go.

Tax money is wasted.

We have our own “Sphinxes and Pyramids”.

1000 years ago taxes on a farm ended up buying a catapult for an ancient army….today taxes on e-book sales, will end up buying the computer that guides an ICMB into a terrorists cave.

Same old shit…with more math involved.

I think the only thing you can do to stay sane once you realize the insanity of the world…is to just focus on your life.

Surf the waves…don’t try and stop them.

I don’t agree with taxes either…but perhaps the best way to deal with them is to keep feeding the ravenous beast at our gates. But slowly poison it (or cut its nuts off so it can’t reproduce).

And that means teaching (your close friends and family) how to embrace real freedom…not be afraid of it.

Well, sure… if you’re referring to Uganda or something…

But what can WE do that people in, say, France, Germany, Sweden, The Netherlands, or Finland can’t do?

Not a damn thing.

In fact, we actually have LESS so-called “freedoms” than many other developed countries.

It’s just that everyone in this country is berated by the media all day long to believe the “USA all the way” mentality from birth till death. Gung ho bullshit if you ask me.

Yeah, I used to be a believer. Then I started learning about other countries and traveling more. Most of the European nations can start the same kinds of businesses we can, and pay a whole hell of a lot less for it.

As Gary Halbert himself once said… “The U.S. is one of the greatest tax shelters in the world… but NOT if you live there.”

(that quote was taken from his Root Canal Seminar, by the way, so I can verify)

Be a happy tax payer folks. Aircraft carrier’s ain’t cheap! For the freedoms we enjoy in this country — the greatest one around — be happy to contribute. I am.

Great post John! Very Rohn-ish.

Did you know the top 5% of all taxpayers pay 90% of all taxes? Did you know the bottom 50% - half our entire population - does not pay ANY taxes? Not one penny. Yet they consume 80% of all social, entitlement and welfare benefits.

This is not capitalism. It’s called redistribution of wealth. You may know it by another name - socialism. That’s a major reason why the US will soon be joining former major capitalist countries - and world leaders - like Great Britain, France, Germany etc. in the second hand trailer park trash economies of the world.

It’s been proven over and over and over that socialism does not work. Yet, history has proved governments cannot keep their hands out of a proven success story- capitalism.

I laughed at the recent ‘Economic Stimulus Package’. This is like trying to bail out the Titanic with a teacup.

Look, I went to college in the 60’s. I protested against Vietnam. And the man. Been there, done that. But, I grew up and grew a brain. Studied economics. Studied journalism. Other stuff.

I found capitalism is the best economic system for controlling market prices and raising the overall standard of living of the entire population. But continually raising taxes on the productive members of society to give to the non-productive ‘poor’, is the road to ruin.

Being poor in most other countries means drinking water carried from nearby streams. Sleeping on a dirt floor. Eating anything that crawls.

The ‘poor’ in our society have cell-phones, cable TV, so much food it makes them fat, pets they have to feed and - cars! Poor? In many other countries in the world - they would be rich beyond belief!

John- I don’t mind paying my fair share of taxes. But I do mind paying MORE for the same benefits every other member of our society enjoys without paying ANY taxes.

Scott McNealus

PS.
You’ve motivated me. I’ve started a copyrighting school. I know I have a couple control busters. But, I’m $75,000 short. Can you get me one of those minority or disadvantaged grants to` start my business?