Written by Geoffrey Bastin
There are large areas of human life that are our own, a personal space into which the state should not intrude without some altogether exceptional justification. Personal defensible space is what maintains standards and promotes a sense of ownership hence our desire to own our own home and know when you close the front door that is your castle.
I’ve oft mentioned Milton Friedman, the economist who said that government is the problem and others that believe, as I do, that the role of government should be kept to a minimum and should only be there to facilitate the populace and its entrepreneurial spirit not attempt to micro-manage it. But alas those ideas of management and governance seem long gone as without exception each day we find yet more examples of governmental interference. In fact, we are not run by the government but by a thousand quangos that take the government’s leads and convert those into our daily nightmares all run by leftist elitists who have captured these organisations starting in the Blair era with, amongst them, the NHS.
Among the most influential international organisations that exist today is the World Health Organisation that takes upon itself the statute of almost a world government as it decides for every nation what is and isn’t the latest health risk or craze. As a result, those that like the idea of central controls and a World Government go along with it whilst others take the view that matters of health, which is never a clear cut case, needs open and well-reasoned debate. But how can that level of trust and confidence be there if those that fund the organisation are politically motivated with the largest contributors having the most clout which in one case is not a country but an individual by the name of Bill Gates?
And as our annual Budget nears we need to be mindful of yet more extravagant public expenditure that shows no signs of ever considering the state of the nation’s bank account or whether yet more public expenditure is sustainable before the algebraic equation returns to a more normal equilibrium. Even the Labour Party conference failed to say where all the money will come from to finance their brainstorms and you can bet your last dollar that the same will happen this week at the Tory jamboree in Manchester.
It’s been a common thought that if you want to borrow money then think big. Don’t ask for a thousand when that may be refused so ask for a million where a refusal is taken far less lightly. And so it is with successive governments that never look at the deficit only the thrill of having even more goodies dumped in their account on which to splash out as they see fit. To hell with tomorrow when today looks so promising not forgetting the next general election that’s just over the horizon in May or June of 2023.
Just imagine if you or I used the same approach to our housekeeping we would have been bust long ago but when later generations are to be faced with the often outrageous extravagancies of today’s ministerial excesses, it doesn’t seem to cross this government’s mind to admit the fiasco of the last eighteen months which has left a massive black hole in our public finances with no caution being exercised, presumably in the interests of some public health emergency that was all over more than a year ago.
As the Taxpayers Alliance so ably pointed out this week, research and development expenditure has reached extraordinary levels and now runs at 2.4% of GDP amounting to umpteen millions of such scatterbrained nonsense as Innovate UK that spent £4.5 million exploring how immersive technologies can be used to engage audiences of all ages with dinosaurs and robots in new ways and create a range of valuable learning and entertainment experiences. What the …….. does all that mean? Or The Economic and Social research council who spent £4.8 million on a project entitled Gender Responsive Resilience and Intersectionality in Policy and Practice.
You’re not wrong, the world has gone mad and we are witnessing the events from our armchairs powerless to effect any changes. It’s a horror movie that seems to never end and simply gets worse with each passing day.
Despite the importance placed on Christmas, Easter, anniversaries, birthdays and holidays I would happily forgo all of those to just be able to live in a sensible world where this endless diatribe of insanity is put to rest.
Where are the clowns, send in the clowns, don’t bother, they’re here.
Photo by Beechwood Photography 
Three things entered my head reading this brilliant article.
One the power of the imagination. Two the need to create alternative realities and communities. Three, in doing so try to avoid tax and detach from fiat currency.
Ok, four, chill, because in the end ‘they’ are in a world of their own and you are in the real world where community relationships, love and basic values rule.
Keep your head down and KBO. Also remember the digital world of communication and finance is owned by ‘them’.
How about this then for big government. (Possible conspiracy theory).
http://okcradley.com/missed.htm
Why wouldn’t they do that? Evil bounds in our present world.
TAX
We pay tax whatever happens. Yes Your income is taxed,with income tax and NI contributions
But you also pay other taxes. Some are not called tax. Some you never hear of.
Some your employer pays for the privilege of employing your wondrous self .NHI employers contribution
Aeroplane seat tax
Inheritance Tax.
Council Tax
stamp duty
Apprenticeship Levy
Death duties.
Car Tax
THERE ARE HUNDREDS. Many are paid for you without you ever hearing of them
Many are paid by your employer without you having the faintest idea. But it still comes out from what your boss can pay you,as can the following :–Capital gains, Corporation Tax, Business council tax ( Business Rates ), The enormous, gigantic, obscene, taxes on petrol, Alcohol, spirits, tobacco,Which get close to 100 %……………
.On top of this you have Taxes that are never described to you.The hidden taxes….
.Development Impact tax, Stock profits , Inflation Windfall taxes, devaluation tax, Capital gains, Excise tax, Excess profits tax, land value tax
etc etc etc. Plus The so called reasonable taxes. YOu are paying fees or fines etc to such as Passport, Driving Licence, And So on
This list is nowhere near the whole story..
SO
I like the idea of only paying taxes for specific purposes. So invent a Justice Tax spent on crime prosecution, or a Police presence Tax., or a Border force tax or a This that or the other tax up to a minimum. These departments get what we want. and it isn’t foisted on us without consultation.
etc
Any way some twenty years ago I did an analysis of a variety of several small medium and large company books Partly of Manufactured goods, But all of old pre 20000 type factories. The average tax take was in the region 70 to 85 % of the selling price, and was made up of 75 to 88 % taxes. VAT was included as the exercise was focussed on the home market competitive price structure’ Bear in mind that most of the sales were to the various distribution chains which in those days did not include the parasitical internet distribution anomilies
That ‘s a significant factor why Chinese is cheap and the idiotic JIT and Supply chains.
What amazes me is how ordinary, cautious, responsible, thrifty people who would broadly agree with the thrust of this narrative continue voting for the establishment parties instead of rejecting the lot of them.
Ditto and amen. A couple of elections where the majority votes ‘none of the above’ might be helpful.
All those that hold the levers of power and influence are sanguine that we can print infinity trillions with transitory inflation and eternally inflating asset bubbles so the rich getting richer and the poor getting poorer – If so why bother with all the cost, complication and beaurocracy of any sort of charge, levy, fee or tax, just print the money – It is likely just a case of how long our ‘elite’ can maintain MSM bias and Social Media censorship to cover up what the Emperors tailoring is not.