Yesterday, I published an article entitled, Getting Fleeced by the Banks - A Cautionary Tale.
Go read that artice because this won't make sense until you do.
I received a number of positive comments, and then I got this one:
so to sum up -
you're a tax scofflaw who repeatedly files late, and loses crucial documents.
and you refused to repay the credit card charges you made on the pretext that the account was originally opened by your mommy for your use, and now she's dead.
what a wonderful person you are.
you're a tax scofflaw who repeatedly files late, and loses crucial documents.
and you refused to repay the credit card charges you made on the pretext that the account was originally opened by your mommy for your use, and now she's dead.
what a wonderful person you are.
THIS WAS, IN FACT, THE COMMENT I WAS WAITING FOR.
I've actually been waiting for someone to make a comment such as Baltimore just did....so I could make the following points (which I have copied from my reply on the previous post):
Yes, absolutely. I am a scoff law. I scoff at bad laws. I ignore them when I can. I break them when necessary.
I do not file tax returns because I believe the entire tax system is corrupt to the core....and I encourage everyone else to do the same.
If everyone simply refused to file tax returns, what could the government do about it?
Nothing. They can't put everyone in jail. They can't attach everyone's accounts. The world doesn't work way.
Not filing tax returns is the new mechanism for civil disobedience.
I do not file tax returns because I believe the entire tax system is corrupt to the core....and I encourage everyone else to do the same.
If everyone simply refused to file tax returns, what could the government do about it?
Nothing. They can't put everyone in jail. They can't attach everyone's accounts. The world doesn't work way.
Not filing tax returns is the new mechanism for civil disobedience.
IF EVERYONE DID THIS, THE GOVERNMENT WOULD HAVE TO CHANGE ITS BEHAVIOR OR DEMONSTRATE ITS INNATE DESPOTIC CHARACTER.
Insofar as the credit card debt is concerned, the debts were my parents, not mine. The bank has determined that I am responsible because they issued me a credit card....but I never signed any document accepting responsibility for the debt....and the debt doesn't appear on my account. How, then, am I responsible for that debt?
Not paying debts is another way of bringing the system to its knees and forcing the one percent to redress the grievances of the 99%....but reactionaries like Baltimore do not see the correlation between individual behavior and collective action.
Not paying debts is another way of bringing the system to its knees and forcing the one percent to redress the grievances of the 99%....but reactionaries like Baltimore do not see the correlation between individual behavior and collective action.
IF EVERYONE DID THIS, THE BANKS WOULD HAVE TO UNBEND AND CHANGE THEIR POLICIES IN WAYS THAT THE GOVERNMENT WOULD NEVER FORCE THEM TO DO.
THE BEST WEAPON TO BRING TO BEAR AGAINST CAPITALISM IS CAPITALISM ITSELF.
Collective action begins with individual behavior because individual behavior, once aggregated, becomes collective action.
We need change....now. The Tea Party isn't going to accomplish any positive changes. They have already proven that. The Occupy movement is losing steam and will dissipate because they are essentially anarchists and anarchists can't manage anything effectively, and I say that with affection since I am half an anarchist myself.
Yes, it is quite all right to excoriate me for being a scoff law, a spendthrift, and a wastrel....but we all fit those parameters at one point or another in our lives.
What is wrong is a banking system that isn't paying anything on savings but is charging up to 18% or more on credit card debt. Where is the equity in that?
The point that Baltimore has missed is that I have never owed the US government anything. I have always overpaid my taxes because I have always left myself a few dollars over so that they couldn't claim that I wasn't paying my taxes.
The system is broken....and the only way to fix it is stop pretending that the system works by kowtowing to it.
We need change....now. The Tea Party isn't going to accomplish any positive changes. They have already proven that. The Occupy movement is losing steam and will dissipate because they are essentially anarchists and anarchists can't manage anything effectively, and I say that with affection since I am half an anarchist myself.
Yes, it is quite all right to excoriate me for being a scoff law, a spendthrift, and a wastrel....but we all fit those parameters at one point or another in our lives.
What is wrong is a banking system that isn't paying anything on savings but is charging up to 18% or more on credit card debt. Where is the equity in that?
The point that Baltimore has missed is that I have never owed the US government anything. I have always overpaid my taxes because I have always left myself a few dollars over so that they couldn't claim that I wasn't paying my taxes.
The system is broken....and the only way to fix it is stop pretending that the system works by kowtowing to it.
(A footnote: The card was added to my parents account. It wasn't a separate account in my name. I have my own separate accounts.)
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Comments
"Collective action begins with individual behavior because individual behavior, once aggregated, becomes collective action. "
"What is wrong is a banking system that isn't paying anything on savings but is charging up to 18% or more on credit card debt. Where is the equity in that?"
R♥
You are resisting 'the system' as a matter of principle. The system is annoying as hell.
You are out $35. Don't like it -- change banks.
Not a bad idea anyway what with an attempt at identity theft.
Most people have simple tax returns and get refunds. Otherwise no one would file. The IRS makes money on small guys not filing -- like illegal immigrants.
However. It is an interesting and convoluted story. The details are bizarre enough to make it totally believable.
Sage, according to your response to "the one comment you were waiting for"; mightn't it be a good idea to try to turn this conversation to what (if I ?"understand you aright"?) was really the central point you wanted to make?
Am I wrong in feeling that what you'd like to do here is to initiate a discussion of what kind of ?"radically"? (if I must ... words are dangerous here) effective collective action appears to be currently available to those of us who feel the need for large-scale-effective change? I have my own skepticisms of the likelihood of any immediate large-scale effective collective taxpayer refusal movement but as someone who put myself at risk of a 12-year jail sentence (for "conspiracy") as a [selectively-chosen] "tax refuser" during the U.S. war in Indochina, I'd be fascinated to see how far you might be able to get with this idea. Thanks for the alert.
R
* BEAUTIFUL SOUL AWARD!**** Once you have been given this award, you are supposed to paste it on the wall of AT LEAST 5 women/ men who deserve it. If you receive more than 3, you know you are truly special....You rock!! Its just to appreciate each other. It is always sweet to know that someone thinks you're a wonderful and special Person ♥♥♥ you are dont ever forget.
♥▬▬●▬▬ஜ۩۞۩ஜ▬▬●▬▬ஜ۩۞۩ஜ▬▬●▬▬ஜ۩۞۩ஜ▬▬●▬▬ஜ۩۞۩ஜ▬▬●▬▬♥
Some of these would-be romantics would bode well to take steam and just fucking relax enough to boldly say what's on their minds.
The internet must be open and not some paranoid disambiguous rim around the volcano for crackpots.
Of course I did not read through word x word but have humble expertise to seriously discuss the two Americas.
These incessant attacks on critical thinking are vast. Isn't it incumbent upon the best and the brightest to at some vanishing point to take action? Simple stuff like perpetual elections. Psych-ops, lollypops.
Mind control upon progressives.
My designated driver once said that there're about a half million of you going in the same direction.
Maybe the sign should read absolute silence. Stay cool. Exercise with oxygen. Don't give up. Honk if you're reading this in jail.