Zero-sum game is a mathematical representation in game theory and economic theory of a situation that involves two competing entities, where the result is an advantage for one side and an equivalent loss for the other.
There are two YUGE problem in our current monetary/crapitalism system.
- People, especially marxist, believe that there is only a zero-sum game. That there is only different ways to split up the pie, ignoring all the ways there are to make a bigger pie. This ends up with a me vs you (us vs them) mentality when approaching any negotiation.
- Our system isn't even zero-sum game. The parties are being bled from many skimming, rent seeking activities, and taxes. Each transaction, done in a "proper legal" fashion makes you poorer.
Compound growth is amazing for your future wealth.
Compound losses are incredibly destructive.
"A slow sort of country!" said the [White] Queen. "Now, here, you see, it takes all the running you can do, to keep in the same place. If you want to get somewhere else, you must run at least twice as fast as that!" - Through the Looking-Glass
In our system, if you are standing still, you are losing wealth.
And taxes are but a small proportion of our losses.
Exchanges
Lets set barter as the base state:
We have a chicken farmer who trades eggs for milk from a dairy farmer.
eggs get traded for milk. There is almost no loss in this system except for time.
But, if you do this the "legal and regulated" way…
If both farmers had a little store, and both farmers bought $10 worth of eggs/milk from the other's store, then:
From that $10 is taken
- Sales tax
- Income tax
- Inflation tax
And this is on top of all the expenses of having a store
- sellers license
- building costs + property tax
- accounting costs
and so many other costs that i have left out for brevity.
The farmers have less than $5 each from the transactions.
Both farmers have lost HALF of their money. (and time & effort are poorly turned into money.)
And both have to sell twice as much, at least, to have what they had in the beginning.
Both farmers have to work twice as hard.
That is 4x as much work being done.
Being Robbed From Both Ends
People go to work and are taxed on their pay.
Then, people are taxed if they spend that money, or save that money.
The average person pays about 30% on income tax (over 50% if you include the amount the employer pays in employment taxes)
Then, the average person pays about 5% in sales tax when spending that money. But, if they keep it under the mattress, they will lose about 10% to inflation per year.
If you look at only one end of this theft, it will look ok, almost appropriate for the amount of social support that is handed out. However, if you look at both ends, and add up all the pieces that eat into your time & effort you will find that you keep so very little of what you put out. I would say that more than 75% of your work is sucked up by something.
And, what is worse, is that it can go to 100% or 105%. Yes, losing all your time & effort and then some.
There Isn't Enough Money = Bankruptcies
If we took all of our money, and took it to the banks and paid off all the loans, we would be out of money, and there would still be loans left.
The way that fractional reserve lending works is that only the principal is created. The interest is not. And so, you have to borrow more to pay the interest, which comes with more interest, so you have to borrow more. Never ending increase in debt levels. (this is why usury is prohibited by the Bible)
Flipping this around, it means that the slowest person is going bankrupt. They CANNOT get enough money to pay their loans. It doesn't exist.
And since we are system where the money is fixed at any moment. The rich get richer and the poor get poorer. Every dollar the rich "make" is a dollar taken from the poor. It is not the rich's fault, it is the system. And it is that the poor are trained to stay poor, be poor, remain poor. A horrifying system. (the only way this system has lasted so long is that certain rich people have greatly increased production. So, every person's dollar goes farther.)
The Debt Based, Fractional Reserve Lent monetary system coupled with Death By A Thousand Cuts tax system, is bleeding everyone dry.
Is it a coincidence that the Fed and the IRS were formed in the same year?
And, if we could balance giving and receiving, then it would work.
But, at our current level of understanding, this is just barter.
And so, we created money to keep track of the balance.
And then banksters took that, and perverted it into a system where they could skim from all of our work.
In the future, we do get to a moneyless system, but that is a level that is almost impossible for me to explain, and at least 3 BIG steps up from where we are with bitcoin.
Right now, we can minimize our exposure to the system by:
- Growing your own food
- Working out trade agreements
- Become as self sufficient as possible
- Pay off your mortgage
- Live debt free
The bankster system is falling apart.
I wish everyone would realize how truly evil banksters are, and hang them from lampposts for the evils they have done to the people and the world. But, i will accept the banks just being closed up and forgotten.
Remember, the colonies went to war over a 3% tax.
What we never realize is how much just that much causes you to spiral into complete obliteration.
We never realize the compounding of taxes over time creates a sum to be paid that is more than all the money in the world.
Banksters are truly evil. (and their puppets the countries too)