I can't help asking: are we headed toward being what Ireland was when the Great Hunger struck? A land of baronies where the barons are almost the only ones who really own anything and the vast majority of us are just croppies who rent from our baronial landlords who, when blights and/or epidemics strike, will be only too glad to let us starve and/or die of disease? This feels like a time for organized revolution!
That's what I've been saying time for a soft revolution, or a soft succession. If it gets violent, then the Trumpian government will use that as an excuse to invoke the Insurrection act and Martial Law, and he has a police force, under DOJ and DHS, ready and eager to bust heads and kill libs, not to mention a thoroughly coopted and disgraced DOD, and then there are the various right wing militias,standing back and standing by, ready to lunge out as volunteer Sturmabeitlung.
I am not giving him ad vice Daniel, but I do notice your attempt to distract and put the onus on me
He is surrounded with right wing intellectuals, who have already game this out, all I am doing is exposing the game, or maybe you are a Trump humper and don't want the game exposed. How about that?
Probably past time- how about a secret revolution where some clever people create products to OWN (operating systems, software, etc. with a co-op board to check greed) for those of us committed to the change while other clever people group together and reform our government in support of a society that has more to do with living than existing in a slave state just making payments to money addicts (honestly- they’re worse than opioid addicts and we should NOT enable them). If I was clever, I’d be all over one of these.
At some pt.Americans will wake up.I believe technology is totally to blame along with the Hedge Funds who buy 30% of the houses under $450,000 with cash,then rent them out for $3,000 per month and escape any maintenance,they become slum lords. According to recent stats,the average age of 1st time homebuyer is 40. What do families in the 31-39 age range do? They are asking that question.
The culprit behind all of this is Wall Street,CNBC,Vanguard,hedge funds,private equity,all of whom have no regulations since Trump took office.
I was 23, and an E-4 when I bought my first house, or rather assumed a loan. By the time people wake up, it will be too late, the shackles will be around their neck.
For the elite the ruling class, we are just widgets, resources to be used up, consumed, for that is what a resource is, something that is consumed in the production of profits.
Human Resource, next time you hear of HR think of what you really are.
Was not the quote about the Cross of Gold from William Jennings Bryan, a radical racist.
But like Trump the broken clock syndrome comes into force. He was, of course, correct about being crucified on a cross of gold. The USSR tried it and suffered a perpetual depression., there just isn't enough gold to fulfill the need and demand for a medium of exchange, but a sudden dumping, as happened in the disovery of the Americas, caused and inflation.
Same thing happened with silver, the exploitation of silver from the mines of Potosi, Colombia, brought about the renaissance, and the downfall of the Spanish Empire via inflation.
The silver form the Comstock Lode, in Virginia City, NV, caused such an inflation, that congress demonitized it (Crime of '73)and put us on the gold standard, the resuilt was a 7 years depression, that carried over in spurts until the Federal Reserve Act.
Back to the broken clock. Trump said that the media is the enemy of the people. Correct, were it not for the media, he would never have been 45, much less 47
he said the FBI was the enemy of the people, correct again and not just Kash's FBI, but leading up to Jan 6 the FBI was occupied investigating and infiltrating leftist groups like BLM, and giving right wing groups like Proud Boys a pass.
And they have been persecuting the left since Herbert Hoover, MLK Jr a prime example., the McCarthy hearings. commies every where, under the bed in the class room, but NAZI's fascists they got a free ride
Part of this not mentioned in the essay is "right to repair." The customer is forced to buy repairs/parts from the manufacturer and is prevented from repairing their "own" products. Farmers and owners of expensive equipment are finding out the hard way how much expense and trouble this causes.
So glad you wrote about this! There’s a substack written by a man named Jared Brock, who wrote that in Canada in some cases when you buy a home, you don’t own the furnace, but have to rent it annually. That’s already the case with a propane tank here in the US. Unbelievable!
No, we have at least two propane services, primarily they serve the marina, but I paid for and own the propane tanks, two of them 60 gallons each, and my renter has their own 60 gal propane, none of them rented or leased.
So true. I am finding lately, U Tube wants me to log in to watch a video & verify I'm not a bot. Cars are locking you/me from doing our own simple maintenance.. Vladimir Lennon predicted that capitalism would cannibalize itself ,in it's final stages. Seems he was right about that, at least. There is an insatiable greed & need for ever more profit. I hope there is a return to civility, respect for differing views ,a peaceful existence & business serving people rather than enslaving them.
The boldfaced type paragraph of your aeticle reminds me of post war USA. A middle class on its way to thriving. "A chicken in every pot", a car in every garage. College education reachable & affordable. Healthy food at reasonable prices for the most part. Even vacations for the lucky ones. Yes, we still had poverty but we had a national conscience & at least tried to lessen the burden, well, unless you were black. That has always been a problem. The color of your skin oftentimes makes generosity look the other way, I am ashamed to say. But even that was being rectified. That all started to dwindle with the Reagan Revolution. The man who closed the hospitals & clinics that helped the mentally challenged, the streets became their new homes & have stayed that way for many or most. And things have only gotten worse as greed has become the newest thing.
Nothing is ours anyway, we only hold title to it. Check your mortgage, check your car, Your mortgage is more blatant, you hold title in fee simple
Fee simple, the word fee is derived from the feudal system , was created by a baron rebellion (no not the Magna Carta one) under Edward I (Longshanks)
The sovereign holds land in allodium, by conquest, thus William after he defeated Harold Godwinson at Hastings, took possession of Angleland, to be used as a tax farm.
He then awarded favorite lieutenants pieces of the kingdom to hold as baronies,, but he still retained ownership, and the title went with the land, who ever was appointed baron, also held the land, but did not own it.
Edward had a penchant for dispossessing a baron who fell out of favor, and giving the land to another, if only on a whim
The Barons revolted, and at that time he sorely needed the support of the barons, as they were a source of income, men and arms sorely needed as Edward was at war with Scotland and France.
His solution, give them title to the land in fee simple, theirs to hold as if it was there heirs, they could then pass it on to their heirs or even sell it in perpetuity, so long as they obey the sovereigns laws, are loyal, and pay your taxes.
Fail in that and you will be dispossessed, evicted, Don't pay your taxes gone, enage in a criminal enterprise, gone.
That is why the sheriff serves eviction notices, he is a representative of the sovereign
It is also why the sheriff can and does evict you, confiscate your vehicle if you break the laws, such as drug laws. They could do it for any infraction, but that would be impolitic and cause a serious PR problem.
By the way the word sheriff is derivative of shire rieive, or rieive of the shire. A reive (reave) is one who takes your property (see for example https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Border_reivers.
A shire is theAnglo Saxon county, or Danish Wapentake, found in Yorkshire
You do not own the land, you only hold title to it, it is still owned by the sovereign,the state in which you reside.
Do citizens in a commonwealth their land in allodium, or do they hold title to it in Fee Siimple, same with Cars do they own their cars, that is given the bill of lading when they paid off the vehicle, or do they merely hold title to it.
If they hold title, common wealth or not, they don't own it, the state does.
I live in Washington and the Deed is recorded and valid as well, yet I still only hold my property in Fee Simple
Anyone who has title to their property in fee simple, does not own the property
All states have adverse possession laws:
Adverse possession is a legal concept where someone who isn't the true owner can gain legal title to land by openly occupying and using it for a specific, long period, meeting strict state-defined criteria like continuous, exclusive, and hostile possession, essentially "squatter's rights" rewarding productive land use over neglect
Most U.S. states recognize easements by necessity (or implied easements), especially for landlocked parcels, but requirements vary; common principles include a single original tract of land, severance into separate parcels, and strict necessity for access at the time of separation, with states like California, Texas, and Florida having specific interpretations of what constitutes "necessity".
Dower is a historical legal right, originating from English common law, that gave a wife a lifetime interest (often one-third) in her deceased husband's real estate for her support,
My 5th ggrandmother had to relinquish her dower rights in 1767, when my 5th gggf sold his plantation.m such was the custom at the time. And should a widow remarry, she lost ownership and control of her dower, as it fell to the husband.
One of the seven sister colleges, I don't recall the college, but Ken Burns did in a documentary was founded by five heiress who, because they would lose control and ownership of their inheritance if they married, banded together formed a corporation and divested all of their property into the corporation and formed a college for Women, I think it might be Vassar.
You're confused about fee simple. The rights are derived from prior owners, not the state.
I used to have Amish clients who wanted wills solely to write the wives and daughters out of their estates because our dower exited at common law.
I certified title to hundreds of properties. The basis of ownership was my certification to the chain of title, not the state.
Black's Law Dictionary does not mention the state. Defines Fee Simple Title (or Estate) as the highest, most complete form of property ownership, an absolute and unqualified freehold inheritance with indefinite duration, granting the owner full rights to possess, use, sell, or pass it to heirs without conditions or limitations, representing the maximum legal ownership possible.
I want to add something. I have three refrigerators, one in my rental unit, on in the garage and the newest one an LG in the house. The older two runlike forever, in fact there are still operational models of the oldest refrig every made, the one with the unit on top.
My LG was guaranteed for 5 years, five years and two months the compressor went out, a $1,667 repeair. My old refrigerators keep on chugging along.
Same with washer and dryer, and I have three of each, one set services the rental unit, the other set is in storage. The third set is in the house, and I am waiting for them to go out, because they are electronic with all the unnecssary bells and whistles.
When I was young Detroit's business model was planned obsolescence, every two years or less, they came out with a new model, only the sheet metal changed. Check the 57, 58, 59, 60 Chevy.
Now planned obsolescence is in the electronics. The key fob on my 2001 PT Cruiser stopped working after 20 years, and I hardly used the car, it would have cost $1,000 to replace the mother board.,so no thank you, now I have to start the car every time I open it after I lock it.
The Technocracy they are creating is a TRAP........
The Tech Bros and Crypto Creeps that want the technocracy some of us keep harping-on is a throwback to a movement in the 30's. Musk's grandfather (Joshua N. Haldeman, WIKI) was involved in The Technate of America Movement. It looks like paradise on paper, but it is a trap.
Technocrats got us addicted and dependent on their hardware, software, and robots. Now they've been given the golden opportunity to hook-up with a psychopath like TRump. The end result is control over the whole Western Hemisphere from Greenland/Canada down through Venezuela/Columbia.
The map, for The Technate of America, but it is the notes below that must be read:
You can't can't control the oil and resources without controlling the billion people involved. If we don't behave, they shut us down. We need to wake the hell up! See you in the streets.
I liked the art piece for the article. It made me think of Marley's ghost and the money chests he was chained and shackled to.
The parasitism of the rental economy is not a new invention. It's a reiteration of the company store business model. Remember the old Merle Travis song, "Sixteen Tons"?
You load sixteen tons, and what do you get?
Another day older and deeper in debt
Saint Peter don't you call me 'cause I can't go
I owe my soul to the company store
They'll end up owning us if we let them get away with it.
With our present economic system, we are also headed to a corpocracy or Corporatocracy. Whichever you prefer, and because of Citizens United, their control will be complete. We will be totally dependent on our employers who will monitor us with few if any options for our compensation or life choices. Slaves.
The “Brave New World” of Aldous Huxley is here. Interesting how two dystopian oeuvres, “1984” and BNW have succinctly depicted life in the 21st century. And the worst is yet to come with the onslaught of AI unless we revolt and refuse to become useless pawns. But don’t count on it. We’ve been had big time.
I live in rural Costa Rica. People here own their own homes, often built by themselves, drive old cars but they are paid for. They buy propane but own the tanks. A lot of their food is home grown or bought at the community market. They are probably well below the poverty line but don’t know it. And their life is good. It has also highly influenced mine. Pura Vida.
Be careful in Costa Rica Chris: I owned a home there but I couldn't occupy it continually. One day I discovered that a local guy pretending to be Canadian had found a dirty notary to swear he was me and he had sold my property to a third party. I knew nothing about it because it all took place in the capital with no notice to me. I hired a lawyer who completely solved the case in four hours, pulled in all the players to the Real Estate District Attorney in San Jose and over the following year, he stole my property himself. I lost it all and since Covid came along, my hands were tied behind my back. Make sure you get a mortgage, even if it's for one dollar.
So sorry to hear that and it’s not an uncommon experience. I’m here all of the time and have my property in a corporation so it’s relatively safe. I also have a lawyer that I can trust. Was your place near the beach?
Chris: It was inland, in Grecia. It was surrounded by a coffee farm who wanted to buy it and so easy to sell. I lost about one hundred thousand dollars worth.
Similar thefts happen in the States, Paul. From AI Overview: "The scam where someone fraudulently gets the deed to your house is known as deed fraud or home title theft. Scammers use forged documents and stolen personal information to transfer ownership of the property to themselves, and then they can sell the home or borrow against its equity."
As of April this year the FBI says it's on the rise. There's a company wants you to pay to monitor your home records. You can do that yourself of course, but most people don't. First give-a-way is if you don't get a tax bill on time.
Alis: I was told I should have taken out a mortgage even for a small amount which would have put in place additional notification steps if the the ownership changed. As for a tax bill in the US, that's once a year, not a timely warning notice. The lawyer who arranged the original purchase in CR never mentioned these things. Did he know they were a possibility? I will never know. But the lawyer/thief was another lawyer in Grecia. Was I set up for fleecing?
How can we disengage from THIS? Get a land line, but reading the news would be extremely stunted. But perhaps ignorance is better—better not to know. Get outside more, take better care of your health. Work more planting vegetables and raising chickens. Drop out. Get notices for protest marches via land line.
I’m tired of having my everyday plagued by criminal #47 and his butt lickers!
I can't help asking: are we headed toward being what Ireland was when the Great Hunger struck? A land of baronies where the barons are almost the only ones who really own anything and the vast majority of us are just croppies who rent from our baronial landlords who, when blights and/or epidemics strike, will be only too glad to let us starve and/or die of disease? This feels like a time for organized revolution!
I think so. Technofeudalism.
That's what I've been saying time for a soft revolution, or a soft succession. If it gets violent, then the Trumpian government will use that as an excuse to invoke the Insurrection act and Martial Law, and he has a police force, under DOJ and DHS, ready and eager to bust heads and kill libs, not to mention a thoroughly coopted and disgraced DOD, and then there are the various right wing militias,standing back and standing by, ready to lunge out as volunteer Sturmabeitlung.
Trump should thank you for all your advice.
I am not giving him ad vice Daniel, but I do notice your attempt to distract and put the onus on me
He is surrounded with right wing intellectuals, who have already game this out, all I am doing is exposing the game, or maybe you are a Trump humper and don't want the game exposed. How about that?
Feudalism.
Probably past time- how about a secret revolution where some clever people create products to OWN (operating systems, software, etc. with a co-op board to check greed) for those of us committed to the change while other clever people group together and reform our government in support of a society that has more to do with living than existing in a slave state just making payments to money addicts (honestly- they’re worse than opioid addicts and we should NOT enable them). If I was clever, I’d be all over one of these.
I like your ideas, Ellyn. Keep on writing.
Thank you! It’s kind of compulsive right now..💕
At some pt.Americans will wake up.I believe technology is totally to blame along with the Hedge Funds who buy 30% of the houses under $450,000 with cash,then rent them out for $3,000 per month and escape any maintenance,they become slum lords. According to recent stats,the average age of 1st time homebuyer is 40. What do families in the 31-39 age range do? They are asking that question.
The culprit behind all of this is Wall Street,CNBC,Vanguard,hedge funds,private equity,all of whom have no regulations since Trump took office.
I was 23, and an E-4 when I bought my first house, or rather assumed a loan. By the time people wake up, it will be too late, the shackles will be around their neck.
For the elite the ruling class, we are just widgets, resources to be used up, consumed, for that is what a resource is, something that is consumed in the production of profits.
Human Resource, next time you hear of HR think of what you really are.
William,I think it is time for real resistance to begin. Determine who the biggest corp landlords are,then go after them
The only tools we have are boycott, sabotage and social media.
"You shall not crucify mankind upon a cross of gold"
I keep reminding about the Deserted Village, 1770. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Deserted_Village
The more things change, the more they stay the same.
Independence was the subject when I was in the 8th grade. Laid out in general math (although I had algebra). In American Lit. "Nothing can bring you peace but yourself." Ralph Waldo Emerson. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Self-Reliance In US history: the era of the robber barons vs populists like William Jennings Bryan. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cross_of_Gold_speech
Was not the quote about the Cross of Gold from William Jennings Bryan, a radical racist.
But like Trump the broken clock syndrome comes into force. He was, of course, correct about being crucified on a cross of gold. The USSR tried it and suffered a perpetual depression., there just isn't enough gold to fulfill the need and demand for a medium of exchange, but a sudden dumping, as happened in the disovery of the Americas, caused and inflation.
Same thing happened with silver, the exploitation of silver from the mines of Potosi, Colombia, brought about the renaissance, and the downfall of the Spanish Empire via inflation.
The silver form the Comstock Lode, in Virginia City, NV, caused such an inflation, that congress demonitized it (Crime of '73)and put us on the gold standard, the resuilt was a 7 years depression, that carried over in spurts until the Federal Reserve Act.
Back to the broken clock. Trump said that the media is the enemy of the people. Correct, were it not for the media, he would never have been 45, much less 47
he said the FBI was the enemy of the people, correct again and not just Kash's FBI, but leading up to Jan 6 the FBI was occupied investigating and infiltrating leftist groups like BLM, and giving right wing groups like Proud Boys a pass.
And they have been persecuting the left since Herbert Hoover, MLK Jr a prime example., the McCarthy hearings. commies every where, under the bed in the class room, but NAZI's fascists they got a free ride
Part of this not mentioned in the essay is "right to repair." The customer is forced to buy repairs/parts from the manufacturer and is prevented from repairing their "own" products. Farmers and owners of expensive equipment are finding out the hard way how much expense and trouble this causes.
It’s another way to claim monopoly rights.
Clayton Act tie ins.
Yes, they are. It’s illegal tying.
So glad you wrote about this! There’s a substack written by a man named Jared Brock, who wrote that in Canada in some cases when you buy a home, you don’t own the furnace, but have to rent it annually. That’s already the case with a propane tank here in the US. Unbelievable!
I have two propane tanks, and I own them. What state do you live in?
Washington. On an island.
Same here, on the Salish sea, originally named Rodgers Island.
I’m on Vashon Island. Only one service for propane and there’s an annual fee in addition to whatever amount is delivered. Not the case for you?
No, we have at least two propane services, primarily they serve the marina, but I paid for and own the propane tanks, two of them 60 gallons each, and my renter has their own 60 gal propane, none of them rented or leased.
Guess you're on a better island!
You can buy your tank. We did.
So true. I am finding lately, U Tube wants me to log in to watch a video & verify I'm not a bot. Cars are locking you/me from doing our own simple maintenance.. Vladimir Lennon predicted that capitalism would cannibalize itself ,in it's final stages. Seems he was right about that, at least. There is an insatiable greed & need for ever more profit. I hope there is a return to civility, respect for differing views ,a peaceful existence & business serving people rather than enslaving them.
The boldfaced type paragraph of your aeticle reminds me of post war USA. A middle class on its way to thriving. "A chicken in every pot", a car in every garage. College education reachable & affordable. Healthy food at reasonable prices for the most part. Even vacations for the lucky ones. Yes, we still had poverty but we had a national conscience & at least tried to lessen the burden, well, unless you were black. That has always been a problem. The color of your skin oftentimes makes generosity look the other way, I am ashamed to say. But even that was being rectified. That all started to dwindle with the Reagan Revolution. The man who closed the hospitals & clinics that helped the mentally challenged, the streets became their new homes & have stayed that way for many or most. And things have only gotten worse as greed has become the newest thing.
Nothing is ours anyway, we only hold title to it. Check your mortgage, check your car, Your mortgage is more blatant, you hold title in fee simple
Fee simple, the word fee is derived from the feudal system , was created by a baron rebellion (no not the Magna Carta one) under Edward I (Longshanks)
The sovereign holds land in allodium, by conquest, thus William after he defeated Harold Godwinson at Hastings, took possession of Angleland, to be used as a tax farm.
He then awarded favorite lieutenants pieces of the kingdom to hold as baronies,, but he still retained ownership, and the title went with the land, who ever was appointed baron, also held the land, but did not own it.
Edward had a penchant for dispossessing a baron who fell out of favor, and giving the land to another, if only on a whim
The Barons revolted, and at that time he sorely needed the support of the barons, as they were a source of income, men and arms sorely needed as Edward was at war with Scotland and France.
His solution, give them title to the land in fee simple, theirs to hold as if it was there heirs, they could then pass it on to their heirs or even sell it in perpetuity, so long as they obey the sovereigns laws, are loyal, and pay your taxes.
Fail in that and you will be dispossessed, evicted, Don't pay your taxes gone, enage in a criminal enterprise, gone.
That is why the sheriff serves eviction notices, he is a representative of the sovereign
It is also why the sheriff can and does evict you, confiscate your vehicle if you break the laws, such as drug laws. They could do it for any infraction, but that would be impolitic and cause a serious PR problem.
By the way the word sheriff is derivative of shire rieive, or rieive of the shire. A reive (reave) is one who takes your property (see for example https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Border_reivers.
A shire is theAnglo Saxon county, or Danish Wapentake, found in Yorkshire
You do not own the land, you only hold title to it, it is still owned by the sovereign,the state in which you reside.
Unless you live in a commonwealth.
Do citizens in a commonwealth their land in allodium, or do they hold title to it in Fee Siimple, same with Cars do they own their cars, that is given the bill of lading when they paid off the vehicle, or do they merely hold title to it.
If they hold title, common wealth or not, they don't own it, the state does.
In say, Pa, if the deed is recorded and valid, the state has no property interest.
The state can be a creditor i.e. for taxes, but has to sue and get a judgment to execute.
We had common law property rights that don't generally exist in other states. I.E. adverse possession, easments by necessiity, party wall doctrines.
In some cases only a life estate passes. i.e. dower.
Pa law wasn't even codified until the late 1970s.
I live in Washington and the Deed is recorded and valid as well, yet I still only hold my property in Fee Simple
Anyone who has title to their property in fee simple, does not own the property
All states have adverse possession laws:
Adverse possession is a legal concept where someone who isn't the true owner can gain legal title to land by openly occupying and using it for a specific, long period, meeting strict state-defined criteria like continuous, exclusive, and hostile possession, essentially "squatter's rights" rewarding productive land use over neglect
Most U.S. states recognize easements by necessity (or implied easements), especially for landlocked parcels, but requirements vary; common principles include a single original tract of land, severance into separate parcels, and strict necessity for access at the time of separation, with states like California, Texas, and Florida having specific interpretations of what constitutes "necessity".
Dower is a historical legal right, originating from English common law, that gave a wife a lifetime interest (often one-third) in her deceased husband's real estate for her support,
My 5th ggrandmother had to relinquish her dower rights in 1767, when my 5th gggf sold his plantation.m such was the custom at the time. And should a widow remarry, she lost ownership and control of her dower, as it fell to the husband.
One of the seven sister colleges, I don't recall the college, but Ken Burns did in a documentary was founded by five heiress who, because they would lose control and ownership of their inheritance if they married, banded together formed a corporation and divested all of their property into the corporation and formed a college for Women, I think it might be Vassar.
You're confused about fee simple. The rights are derived from prior owners, not the state.
I used to have Amish clients who wanted wills solely to write the wives and daughters out of their estates because our dower exited at common law.
I certified title to hundreds of properties. The basis of ownership was my certification to the chain of title, not the state.
Black's Law Dictionary does not mention the state. Defines Fee Simple Title (or Estate) as the highest, most complete form of property ownership, an absolute and unqualified freehold inheritance with indefinite duration, granting the owner full rights to possess, use, sell, or pass it to heirs without conditions or limitations, representing the maximum legal ownership possible.
I want to add something. I have three refrigerators, one in my rental unit, on in the garage and the newest one an LG in the house. The older two runlike forever, in fact there are still operational models of the oldest refrig every made, the one with the unit on top.
My LG was guaranteed for 5 years, five years and two months the compressor went out, a $1,667 repeair. My old refrigerators keep on chugging along.
Same with washer and dryer, and I have three of each, one set services the rental unit, the other set is in storage. The third set is in the house, and I am waiting for them to go out, because they are electronic with all the unnecssary bells and whistles.
When I was young Detroit's business model was planned obsolescence, every two years or less, they came out with a new model, only the sheet metal changed. Check the 57, 58, 59, 60 Chevy.
Now planned obsolescence is in the electronics. The key fob on my 2001 PT Cruiser stopped working after 20 years, and I hardly used the car, it would have cost $1,000 to replace the mother board.,so no thank you, now I have to start the car every time I open it after I lock it.
The Technocracy they are creating is a TRAP........
The Tech Bros and Crypto Creeps that want the technocracy some of us keep harping-on is a throwback to a movement in the 30's. Musk's grandfather (Joshua N. Haldeman, WIKI) was involved in The Technate of America Movement. It looks like paradise on paper, but it is a trap.
Technocrats got us addicted and dependent on their hardware, software, and robots. Now they've been given the golden opportunity to hook-up with a psychopath like TRump. The end result is control over the whole Western Hemisphere from Greenland/Canada down through Venezuela/Columbia.
The map, for The Technate of America, but it is the notes below that must be read:
https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&opi=89978449&url=https://digital.library.cornell.edu/catalog/ss:34227574
You can't can't control the oil and resources without controlling the billion people involved. If we don't behave, they shut us down. We need to wake the hell up! See you in the streets.
Think Musk wants to rule Mars? He wants to rule YOU first. He's going to need our government money and research we paid for to get there.
Zuck wants to see and hear everything you do. His new glasses he wants you to buy will give it to him.
Just like Thom said, WE are the commodity they deal in.
You can add the for-profit healthcare system where one endlessly pays to “rent” well being with vastly overpriced drugs and procedures.
I liked the art piece for the article. It made me think of Marley's ghost and the money chests he was chained and shackled to.
The parasitism of the rental economy is not a new invention. It's a reiteration of the company store business model. Remember the old Merle Travis song, "Sixteen Tons"?
You load sixteen tons, and what do you get?
Another day older and deeper in debt
Saint Peter don't you call me 'cause I can't go
I owe my soul to the company store
They'll end up owning us if we let them get away with it.
I think Tennessee Ernie Ford’s cover of this song is the best known version. It also shows not much has changed.
Yeah, I listened to Tennessee Ernie Ford sing it when I was a kid, and not much has changed - it's just gone high-tech.
These days Chinese owners own the company stores.
I heard Black Lung cases for 20 years. Some miners were defacto slaves.
I don’t doubt it.
With our present economic system, we are also headed to a corpocracy or Corporatocracy. Whichever you prefer, and because of Citizens United, their control will be complete. We will be totally dependent on our employers who will monitor us with few if any options for our compensation or life choices. Slaves.
We are probably there already. Virtually all of the guardrails are gone.
Thank goodness my wife and I retired.
The “Brave New World” of Aldous Huxley is here. Interesting how two dystopian oeuvres, “1984” and BNW have succinctly depicted life in the 21st century. And the worst is yet to come with the onslaught of AI unless we revolt and refuse to become useless pawns. But don’t count on it. We’ve been had big time.
I live in rural Costa Rica. People here own their own homes, often built by themselves, drive old cars but they are paid for. They buy propane but own the tanks. A lot of their food is home grown or bought at the community market. They are probably well below the poverty line but don’t know it. And their life is good. It has also highly influenced mine. Pura Vida.
Be careful in Costa Rica Chris: I owned a home there but I couldn't occupy it continually. One day I discovered that a local guy pretending to be Canadian had found a dirty notary to swear he was me and he had sold my property to a third party. I knew nothing about it because it all took place in the capital with no notice to me. I hired a lawyer who completely solved the case in four hours, pulled in all the players to the Real Estate District Attorney in San Jose and over the following year, he stole my property himself. I lost it all and since Covid came along, my hands were tied behind my back. Make sure you get a mortgage, even if it's for one dollar.
So sorry to hear that and it’s not an uncommon experience. I’m here all of the time and have my property in a corporation so it’s relatively safe. I also have a lawyer that I can trust. Was your place near the beach?
Chris: It was inland, in Grecia. It was surrounded by a coffee farm who wanted to buy it and so easy to sell. I lost about one hundred thousand dollars worth.
Similar thefts happen in the States, Paul. From AI Overview: "The scam where someone fraudulently gets the deed to your house is known as deed fraud or home title theft. Scammers use forged documents and stolen personal information to transfer ownership of the property to themselves, and then they can sell the home or borrow against its equity."
As of April this year the FBI says it's on the rise. There's a company wants you to pay to monitor your home records. You can do that yourself of course, but most people don't. First give-a-way is if you don't get a tax bill on time.
Alis: I was told I should have taken out a mortgage even for a small amount which would have put in place additional notification steps if the the ownership changed. As for a tax bill in the US, that's once a year, not a timely warning notice. The lawyer who arranged the original purchase in CR never mentioned these things. Did he know they were a possibility? I will never know. But the lawyer/thief was another lawyer in Grecia. Was I set up for fleecing?
I think that is a reasonable assumption.
Thank you for sharing, Paul. Might very well help someone.
How can we disengage from THIS? Get a land line, but reading the news would be extremely stunted. But perhaps ignorance is better—better not to know. Get outside more, take better care of your health. Work more planting vegetables and raising chickens. Drop out. Get notices for protest marches via land line.
I’m tired of having my everyday plagued by criminal #47 and his butt lickers!
I’m beginning to think we might be better off if the citizenry had a say in the structure of our economy.