Does Greece have a government or a protection racket?

Is 1848 about to come back around? 

It's been a while since I have posted, like most of the world it seems the month of August is simply a holiday but there are signs that everyone has gotten over the Olympic spirit and the world is once more turning.

The attitude of the oligarchs is that we masses do not want to take responsibility for our own lives, we want to be told what to do and we are happy as long as we can have someone to blame when it all goes wrong.

The Libertarian revolution is about taking responsibility back from the government and blaming no one but yourself, if things go wrong. Fortunately worldwide governments have proven themselves incapable of getting anything right whatsoever, no matter how insignificant.

The beginnings of rebellion are being felt across Europe...

On the 21st August Greek tax inspectors were driven off the island of Hydra in a scene similar to that seen on the isle of Lemnos in 2009. The coverage on Testosterone Pit points to the lack of tax compliance as being at heart of the Greek problem. But then goes on to explain that the Greek government is selectively defaulting on everything except the pensions and salaries of the Civil Servants.

The Greek government is now no better than a protection racket, stealing taxes, services and goods solely to line the pockets of their own thugs.

But it is not just in Greece.

Ireland, no stranger to rebellion, has itself been conducting a campaign of non-compliance with new taxes introduced to pay for the debts of Allied Irish Bank.

Italy has begun limiting the flight of capital from the country with increased checks at the border and the reported confiscation of silver and gold more than likely indicating that there is a great deal escaping the country.

The Bank of England has recently confirmed that the main beneficiaries of its recent quantative easing program have been the richest 5%, North Sea oil production is less than half that at its peak in 1999 and combined with the collapse of the financial sector and the increasing shakedown of British banks by US banks and regulators the future for the United Kingdom looks bleak - but they have the Channel Islands to squeeze.

There has been a very poor harvest, such as occurred in 1846 and food prices are rising faster than wages and it is a recognised fact that rebellion occurs when food costs 40% or more of wages. For us civilised Europeans it was when 70% of our earnings led to revolt and it was a continent wide experience.

England escaped an actual revolution in 1848 but this was avoided by the extension of the franchise to the urban working class, followed in 1870 by the extension to the rural working class. This tactic was used again in the 1960's to prevent the student revolts by extending it to those between 18 to 21 years.

The modern Englishman knows that the vote is about as worthless as the promise of the treasurer of the Bank of England to actually give you the gold promised.

Is our government going to follow Greece and look to pay the pensions and salaries of Civil Servants before anything else... well yes it looks that way, they are not known for original thought.

When the choice is yours will you be at the barricades or will you be on the side of those trying to clear them?

The States just don't get it

What are the Minister's intentions with this
latest budget proposal? Revenge? 

There have been several instances recently which have displayed the ignorance of the States of Jersey. They simply do not get the realities of life in Jersey.

Firstly, Home Affairs Minister, Ian Le Marquand was distressed to find that several people had chosen to perform the service of enduring imprisonment instead of paying fines. The simple reality is that every statute is simply a means of regulating the operation of government and raising revenue through stealth taxation.

We are all born free and no statute ever tells us we cannot do something, it simply states that if we do perform certain acts then the government will tax us through financial penalties, but that we have the choice to accept imprisonment instead of paying these taxes. It should come as no surprise that people are choosing to endure imprisonment.

Secondly, Social Security Minister, Francis Le Gresley, indicated that 'benefits cheats' had stolen from all of us. This again is not the reality of the situation, it is the States of Jersey that steals from us when they collect taxes from us. As long as there is a benefits system it will be gamed, the only solution is to do away with the benefits system in its entirety.

Finally the Treasury Minister, Philip Ozouf, has set forth what can only be described as a 'F*** You All' budget. The projections for growth of 5% per year and for interest rates of 5% which will be required to 'balance the books' over the next three years are out of line with all thinking from international bodies. It is almost as if they have made the forecasts to support their planned increases in expenditure, rather than plan increases in expenditure based on 0% growth and 0% interest rates, which is still a forecast on the 'upside'.

Perhaps Senator Ozouf has decided that as he is not getting re-elected he is going to bring the whole system down by working towards a plan that can only end in disaster... there can be no confidence in the future of the States of Jersey.