We Are Building Walls While They Build Dependence

[slapper]

Every country is talking about independence: energy independence, food independence, technology independence, supply chain independence, and the more they pursue independence, the more people become dependent on their choices all around.

They tell us that they are protecting us by regulating trade and building walls and deciding who can sell what to whom. But protection can become a new type of prison. When governments choose what products we are allowed to purchase and who we are allowed to trade with, they are making choices on how we live. 

We spend too much time worrying about money and prices and economic systems. But, how much of our lives are we in control of? 

I am not talking about moving to a mountain and living in solitude. That apparently is not ideal for many of us. What about building skills that no government is able to tax? Creating Value that does not require permission? Thinking in ways that survive in changing systems. The research provides evidence that countries are weaponizing everything at the moment. Money and materials, shipping routes, even data. If everything is a weapon, then it is dangerous to depend upon any one system.



"Wanderer above the Sea of Fog" by Caspar David Friedrich (1818)

Original size?

[Moreno233]

What you have explained is just a way government establish their control over their people. If they don't bring those limitations and restrictions, their powers will not be felt. My country closed borders with our neighbors thereby leading to unprecedented rise in the prices of goods yet they spend so much money on the media to convince the citizens that it was a decision made in their interest, to encourage local production meanwhile they placed serious embargo on access to FX for small businesses and made policies that kills businesses before they are started. It is a terrible system we find ourselves in terms of governance.

[viljy]

The "sovereignty parade" is just a reaction to globalism. The main attack of globalists on the world is the covid "pandemic" artificially caused by the laboratory virus. It was an act of biological warfare by the globalists against humanity. The attack ended in failure. Globalists gnash their teeth with anger and an unfulfilled thirst for world domination.

As for closing borders and refusing to trade, all this resembles such a term from psychoanalysis as "anal malice", only at the state level (when a child refuses to poop out of spite, which transforms into such a form of behavior in an adult). And only Russia is open to any cooperation in trade. This is if we consider the events in the format of the reaction of individual "child" countries (to close borders and restrict trade - "out of spite, do not poop") to the actions of globalist "parents" (an attempt to establish world domination - "demand submission").

Of course, for residents of all these countries, including Russia, it is important to exist at the household level, and not all these games of politicians. Therefore, we are enjoying the fruits of their activities in the form of constantly rising prices for literally everything. Alas, this is the era of the collapse of capitalism. We're just unlucky to be living in this time of change.

[summonerrk]

I fully understand the concept of countries seeking sovereignty and the desire to create only their own products from their own raw materials and provide services without relying on external assistance. Unfortunately, this concept has two sides to it: on the one hand, yes, it strengthens the domestic currency and makes the country independent. But on the other hand, the country becomes too closed and unwilling to import cheap goods that are superior to inferior domestic ones. I believe that any country should allow everyone the opportunity to leave at any time and provide a full range of choices for citizens, even foreign ones.

[Zlantann]

Every country is talking about independence: energy independence, food independence, technology independence, supply chain independence, and the more they pursue independence, the more people become dependent on their choices all around.

They tell us that they are protecting us by regulating trade and building walls and deciding who can sell what to whom. But protection can become a new type of prison. When governments choose what products we are allowed to purchase and who we are allowed to trade with, they are making choices on how we live. 

We spend too much time worrying about money and prices and economic systems. But, how much of our lives are we in control of? 

As it stands now, only Bitcoin gives financial freedom. The government controls almost every parts of our lives. You no longer have the freedom to engage in tasks you like because you are forced to engage in economic activity that would make you survive. Many jobs are becoming obsolete because a set of people is controlling the global economy. Humans are now robots controlled by the elites.

I am not talking about moving to a mountain and living in solitude. That apparently is not ideal for many of us. What about building skills that no government is able to tax? Creating Value that does not require permission? Thinking in ways that survive in changing systems. The research provides evidence that countries are weaponizing everything at the moment. Money and materials, shipping routes, even data. If everything is a weapon, then it is dangerous to depend upon any one system.

It will be difficult to bypass or avoid taxes. The government is always updating laws to cover up loopholes that citizens can take advantage of. However, one of the ways to avoid tax is to receive payments in cryptocurrencies. Ensuring that you don't use centralized exchanges and strive to use crypto for payments. Moving to some tax-friendly countries is another option.

[Alone055]

There are no skills that are not taxable, and there is no way for you to live under the rule of a government and earn money without having to pay taxes unless you find a loophole, but if you are found using a loophole and not paying your taxes even when you are making money, you will face legal consequences for doing so, and you will not be able to defend yourself because the court will say that you are wrong, and you deserve to be punished.

There is basically no way for us to avoid being controlled by the government, or allowing them to peek into everything we do or have, whether it's our personal life or financial, they know everything, and they have control over everything. Ever wondered why governments have been against Bitcoin since the beginning? Some of them have now accepted it, but that doesn't mean they like it, it's only because they know they can't compete with all the people that are interested in it, so they had to accept it, but they are doing their best to control Bitcoin users and their activities as much as possible.

[Ucy]

"Building skills governments are unable to tax or value without permission"  will require lots of "self-sufficiency" even to the individual level. This still boils down on independence from the system and living on mountains, in forest or generally in very remote places with no kind of artificial development existing there.
By the way, not paying taxes or needing permission to do stuff will require relying completely on natures, or building basic things from nature(or naturally) or relying on things built freely by other people, but nature is more reliable (all Glory to the CREATOR) because it' can sustain you and itself and wont easily degrade or get exhausted if you handle it with care and don't get greedy. This is unlike man-made things that will require things like taxes to maintain or sustain.

[TheUltraElite]

Whatever a country has in excess and is needed by others near it, they will make sure to control its supply. Nowadays every consumer good is made of materials which are sourced from multiple countries, but there is not alternative to this unless every country is self-reliant, which is very tough to attain.

Nobody can actually become independent, they are always under the control of someone or the country.

Still develop your own skills because that will determine your possibility of making money and continue the grind.

[jaberwock]

While liberalism of course worked out for select few, there is a reason why it is not rampant and unregulated. You need regulations and without them and government interference with business world, we would have child labour once more.

People need to remember that, when child labour was a thing, and government wanted to ban it, business owners went on big lobbying effort and bribed as many politicians as much money as possible to keep working children for cheap. That may sound awful to you now, but believe me, that would repeat again or similar stuff would repeat again if you do not put regulations.

You think minimum wage is for fun? If there were no minimum wage, the entire nations salary averages would be lower by now.

[Mhizlove]

I fully understand the concept of countries seeking sovereignty and the desire to create only their own products from their own raw materials and provide services without relying on external assistance. Unfortunately, this concept has two sides to it: on the one hand, yes, it strengthens the domestic currency and makes the country independent. But on the other hand, the country becomes too closed and unwilling to import cheap goods that are superior to inferior domestic ones. I believe that any country should allow everyone the opportunity to leave at any time and provide a full range of choices for citizens, even foreign ones.

I understand your point, self reliance is good because it's strengthen's a country but if the country is that close, citizens will lose access to high quality and foreign goods. This kind of approach can limit choices of the people.

The best thing is when everything is balanced because if the country is balance, the country can support local production and it still allows important and freedom of choice so that citizens will not feel limited and held down

[Shadiq]

The world needs a leader who will work for the freedom of the people instead of influencing them, who will work to protect their rights and help them live properly. Is there such a leader in the world now? No, I don't think there is any leader who has left his people free.

Governments have created country borders so that they can rule the country, control the price of goods, control taxes and, if necessary, loot the people's money. When the borders of countries are broken, it will not be easy for any leader to dominate the people.

[Fortify]

It seems like corporatism is the unavoidable peak of capitalism and the effects of it are on show in America right now, everywhere you look it seems companies are consolidating for their own benefit, squeeze profits for the benefit of a few and abuse their position to the max. Regulated capitalism is the ideal scenario, but it relies on very intelligent politicians that can build rules that run a fine balance between protecting the public and rewarding business owners, while keeping all transactions as transparent as possible. Considering the grade of politicians that get in to power these days, using highly negative and destructive tactics, it seems that regulated capitalism is very hard to achieve - corporatism is always trying to degrade it after all, because it wants higher profits and lower pushback from laws. Globalization has actually brought huge benefits to the world, but it also creates dependencies that can be detrimental - for example the inability to stand up to countries that create a stranglehold on certain materials or products.

[Agathamay]

Whatever a country has in excess and is needed by others near it, they will make sure to control its supply. Nowadays every consumer good is made of materials which are sourced from multiple countries, but there is not alternative to this unless every country is self-reliant, which is very tough to attain.

Nobody can actually become independent, they are always under the control of someone or the country.

Still develop your own skills because that will determine your possibility of making money and continue the grind.

A country that have not achieve sovereignty have multiple purposes to explore for development, they stood dormant because there are more powers suppressing them and been a hurdle for them not to grow. This world is now diversified and there are more opportunities flying in and out of the country. Some make poor decision about the irony of life while others survived this cruel world and step up to become something. Independent countries are mostly doing well because they're in charge of the economy and know how to stand strong when things blow out of proportion.

[coupable]

We spend too much time worrying about money and prices and economic systems. But, how much of our lives are we in control of? 

In a world living under the capitalisme system, what do you expect? What do you expect the culture to be based on when money becomes the biggest interest of everybody everywhere in the planet? People commit crimes for few pennies and this is what reveals the true face of capitalism-imperialism. What we see in everyday life is the same we see between big powers who fight against each others just for the materialist interests.

[slapper]

The "sovereignty parade" is just a reaction to globalism. The main attack of globalists on the world is the covid "pandemic" artificially caused by the laboratory virus. It was an act of biological warfare by the globalists against humanity. The attack ended in failure. Globalists gnash their teeth with anger and an unfulfilled thirst for world domination.

As for closing borders and refusing to trade, all this resembles such a term from psychoanalysis as "anal malice", only at the state level (when a child refuses to poop out of spite, which transforms into such a form of behavior in an adult). And only Russia is open to any cooperation in trade. This is if we consider the events in the format of the reaction of individual "child" countries (to close borders and restrict trade - "out of spite, do not poop") to the actions of globalist "parents" (an attempt to establish world domination - "demand submission").

Of course, for residents of all these countries, including Russia, it is important to exist at the household level, and not all these games of politicians. Therefore, we are enjoying the fruits of their activities in the form of constantly rising prices for literally everything. Alas, this is the era of the collapse of capitalism. We're just unlucky to be living in this time of change.

You talk of globalists as the "parents" who are attempting to gain power, and nations as "children" who are responding by closing borders. But this results in a strange hierarchy in which some human organizations (globalist institutions) are more mature than other human organizations (nation states). Both are just groups of people making decisions based upon incentives. Neither is inherently more rational nor more parental.

The part about Russia being open to co-operation is worth looking at. Open to whom and on what terms? Because from what I see, every major power is claiming to be open and at the same time building their exclusive systems. China says it is open as it creates mBridge. The US claims to be in favor of free trade and at the same time imposes tariffs. Russia says that it's cooperative while being locked out of SWIFT. Everyone is "open" to deals that benefit them and closed to deals that don't.

I fully understand the concept of countries seeking sovereignty and the desire to create only their own products from their own raw materials and provide services without relying on external assistance. Unfortunately, this concept has two sides to it: on the one hand, yes, it strengthens the domestic currency and makes the country independent. But on the other hand, the country becomes too closed and unwilling to import cheap goods that are superior to inferior domestic ones. I believe that any country should allow everyone the opportunity to leave at any time and provide a full range of choices for citizens, even foreign ones.

I think you're right but at the same time maybe missing something. You say countries should allow people to leave at any time and allow them a full range of choices. Yes. Absolutely. But what does that actually mean in practice? And if I can walk away as soon as things get bad, anytime, why would I ever invest in fix-ups? Why would I stick it out through the hard part? I'd just bounce to where is doing better at that moment. Which sounds great as far as I am personally concerned. But it means the place I left gets worse because everyone with options left.

This is already happening. Brain drain is real. The smart people leave. The connected people leave. The people with money leave. And the country that's left behind don't have anybody to fix it. So it gets worse. So more people leave. It's a spiral. The cheap foreign goods thing is more of a mess. Yeah domestic products may be inferior. But if all purchase foreign, then the domestic industry dies. Then you're totally dependent on the foreign supplier. And the second, there's a war or trade dispute or a pandemic or whatever, you're screwed. No domestic capacity. No alternatives. Just hope the foreign country continues to sell you.

There are no skills that are not taxable, and there is no way for you to live under the rule of a government and earn money without having to pay taxes unless you find a loophole, but if you are found using a loophole and not paying your taxes even when you are making money, you will face legal consequences for doing so, and you will not be able to defend yourself because the court will say that you are wrong, and you deserve to be punished.

There is basically no way for us to avoid being controlled by the government, or allowing them to peek into everything we do or have, whether it's our personal life or financial, they know everything, and they have control over everything. Ever wondered why governments have been against Bitcoin since the beginning? Some of them have now accepted it, but that doesn't mean they like it, it's only because they know they can't compete with all the people that are interested in it, so they had to accept it, but they are doing their best to control Bitcoin users and their activities as much as possible.

Yeah they tax everything. But you're talking about money and I'm talking about something else. Maybe I wasn't clear before. The skill is what generates the income. And there's a gap between those two things, and it's more important than people actually realize. Example. Someone that can only do one specific job that requires a license and a degree and an employer. That person is fully exposed to the system. Whatever they do gets exposed somewhere. They're taxed, tracked, categorized. You're describing that person and you're right about their situation.

But someone who can do problems in six different industries, who can freelance or consult or build or teach or write depending on what's needed. That person is more difficult to pin down. Not because they're hiding. Because they're moving. The system is extremely good to control static things. It's bad at controlling things that shape change.

And look I'm saying here that this is not easy, it's not something that most people can do. I'm saying the possibility exists and it's different to what you're describing.

About Bitcoin. You said governments accepted it because it was too much interest for them to compete with. I believe that's backwards actually. They accepted it because that if they banned it, they would show they're scared. And they can't afford to be afraid of something their own citizens are using. So instead they do this thing where they regulate the edges and they pretend that's the same as controlling the center.

Whatever a country has in excess and is needed by others near it, they will make sure to control its supply. Nowadays every consumer good is made of materials which are sourced from multiple countries, but there is not alternative to this unless every country is self-reliant, which is very tough to attain.

Nobody can actually become independent, they are always under the control of someone or the country.

Still develop your own skills because that will determine your possibility of making money and continue the grind.

This is the truth nobody wants to say out loud. Complete independence does not exist. Even the most powerful countries are dependent on others for something. Rare materials. Energy. Markets to sell to. The entire system is a web of dependencies and everyone is pretending that they can escape it.

Think about it this way. A worker in a factory is at the mercy of the factory owner. The supply chain controls the factory owner. The supply chain is controlled by the governments and shipping companies. The governments are controlled by the need for resources that they do not have. Everyone is in a state of dependency. But the traps are varying sizes.

The person who has skills has a smaller trap. They can switch factories. Switch industries. Switch countries if needed. The dependency is still there but the leash is longer.

[Oluwa-btc]

I fully understand the concept of countries seeking sovereignty and the desire to create only their own products from their own raw materials and provide services without relying on external assistance. Unfortunately, this concept has two sides to it: on the one hand, yes, it strengthens the domestic currency and makes the country independent. But on the other hand, the country becomes too closed and unwilling to import cheap goods that are superior to inferior domestic ones. I believe that any country should allow everyone the opportunity to leave at any time and provide a full range of choices for citizens, even foreign ones.

This is a defensive sovereignty, protecting territory.Some countries always say we are protecting our sovereignty,but in reality,many other countries are losing it quietly by becoming dependent on foreign loans and aids,currencies options and security regulations from stronger countries.Some countries may look sovereign;but their dependence decides if they actually are.

[iv4n]

"Wanderer above the Sea of Fog" by Caspar David Friedrich (1818)

Interesting choice. This painting asks a lot of questions... Somehow, I think it's more about inner questions, the question about inner life. And that can go in many ways... psychological & philosophical. Maybe I am completely wrong, I just got interested... Your topic and picture reminded me of a photo I saw a long time ago:


Indian viewing railroad from top of Palisades. 435 miles from Sacramento

But, how much of our lives are we in control of?

It's a tricky question... The answer depends on many factors. I guess many of us control very little of the world around us, but we can control ourselves... our actions & reactions. 

[Porfirii]

Every country is talking about independence: energy independence, food independence, technology independence, supply chain independence, and the more they pursue independence, the more people become dependent on their choices all around.

They tell us that they are protecting us by regulating trade and building walls and deciding who can sell what to whom. But protection can become a new type of prison. When governments choose what products we are allowed to purchase and who we are allowed to trade with, they are making choices on how we live.

-snip-

What you're describing has a name: Autarky.

It seems to be more of a left-wing theory, but in my country we lived an attempt to make it real under fascist General Franco's dictatorship, which failed miserably. Although the country was initially excluded for that and other reasons from the Marshall Plan, the USA reconsidered its position and eventually delivered aid to Spain as an ally because of its anti-communist policies.

In an increasingly globalised world, the trend of being self-sufficient makes new sense, but it's a very old idea.

[EFS]

The idea of a country being self-sufficient sounds appealing, but in reality it's not possible. Due to geographical reasons, it's impossible for any country to be self-sufficient in every aspect. What matters is that a country can be self-sufficient as much as possible and cover its shortcomings through international trade. However, many strict governments don't hesitate to restrict freedoms under the name of protecting their people. You can even see this in countries that define themselves as the most libertarian. People need to stop being under the illusion that governments think about their well-being.

[bitgolden]

This is a defensive sovereignty, protecting territory.Some countries always say we are protecting our sovereignty,but in reality,many other countries are losing it quietly by becoming dependent on foreign loans and aids,currencies options and security regulations from stronger countries.Some countries may look sovereign;but their dependence decides if they actually are.

Unfortunately foreign debt that some nations have are making them very desperate for money and nationalization to pay off debts are causing even further problems growing the nations economy. However, it all depends on how powerful you are, for example USA has more debt than any nation in the world, they are the nation with biggest debt, over 30 trillion, getting closer to 40 trillion, I can't even imagine remotely close to that for my nation, but they are fine. Because they are big enough so nobody can do anything about it.