Back in March of 2009, when I had to spend my afternoons watching the Secretary of the Treasury of the United States suggest that top-down pay-caps were probably in order, in other words, full blown Communism in the United States was being floated in a trial balloon, I decided that enough was probably enough.  I began to seriously consider leaving the United States, my adopted home, after having spent a lifetime trying to enrich it (and myself in the process of course).  In one of my angrier moments, I penned "Wait a second... you want to blame ME for the financial crisis?" here on ARFCOM.

On the morning of March 22, 2009, in response to the pay caps proposal, I wrote in part:



DK Prof (AFLAC!) finally had to lock that post owing to "Personal attacks."  Shame.  (You can find it here if you are interested).

But, it was sort of an angry post, and a large part of my anger was directed to the degree to which the duty of the executive branch and its officers to defend the constitution had been abrogated.  I mean seriously.



Here he is.  Geithner in all his glory on January 26, 2009, as Joe Biden administers the Oath of Office.  Just as a reminder, let me refer you to 5 USC § 3331:



Reflect on the construction of that.  Notice, for instance, that this passage:

"...that I will well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office on which I am about to enter."

...is (aside from the "penalty clause") dead fucking last.  First, and, by word count, nearly half of the oath (including filler) is an oath to defend the constitution.  Only after that do we have the affirmant swear that they aren't, at this precise moment, full of shit, and (oh by the way) that they'll try to do a good job at work if divine providence will help them a little.

But really, in the context of what the United States self-identifies as standing for, the only thing remarkable about this is that this crude, grad-school deconstructionist analysis would seem remarkable.  But it does a little, doesn't it?  Why exactly?

I think because it is plain to anyone who contemplates the matter for even a few minutes that this oath, and with it the Oath of Office for the President and the Vice President and those of such other civic officials as drafters saw fit to customize, is regarded at best as mere formality, but, far more likely, as a joke.

How else do you explain this picture in the context of this timeline:

Monday, January 26, 2009:



Geithner went on to quip:



See: CNN Transcript.

Wednesday, February 4, 2009... just nine days after his swearing in:



See New York Times, February 4, 2009.

I mean are you fucking kidding me?

Nine days?  Seriously?  That's all it took?  I thought about protesting too.  So, you see, I started this anti-Capitalism thing guardedly interested.  Did they mean Anti-Crony-Capitalism?  That could be interesting.  But I digress....

Well, pay caps drifted off into the sunset (or perhaps just into Obamacare), but the sentiment didn't change.  I didn't leave in 2009.  I left in 2010.  One can only watch the executive branch poke fingers through the television screen right in your face so many times before abandoning ship.

And so now, when the laws of economics can finally be bent no further, some organization of nebulous political provenance calls for 20,000 protestors to flood Wall Street and "occupy" it in a U.S. "Day of Rage."  This term "Day of Rage" is lifted shamelessly from the "Days of Rage" in Chicago in 1969 but the two could not be more different, aside from a curious common thread: A hypocritical and some what sinister disregard for the consequences of democracy.  In the case of the Weathermen's "Days of Rage" (The Weathermen was spun off from Students of a Democratic Society) this took front billing in the form of "The Elections Don't Mean Shit.  Vote Where The Power Is.  Our Power Is In The Street."



In the case of the Occupy Wall Street crowd, matters are less clear.  Whatever the virtues of a "leaderless protest" that condition has the side effect of causing the hulking mass of 500 me-generation types to wander about, well, sort of leaderlessly.  But, if you look at the Ad Busters website, (Ad Busters appears to have been the nexus of most of the early publicity) seems to take the form of a general call to Obama (and ill-defined other political figures of note) to subvert democracy (as distinguished from capitalism) by edict and... well something.  See, the demands are sort of... well the situation is fluid.  This however is one of my favorites:



See: Occupy Wall Street Website (Ew)

Very democratic, no?  Well, certainly in the sense of the "Democratic People's Republic of Korea."

But, really, even with these lofty goals (A whole 20,000 people?  Get out!) all that really shines through is... well, honestly, a sort of sadly pathetic uberfail.

I think what unites it all for me is the unabashed and pervasive ignorance of the most basic tenants of economics.  Chanting for minimum wages and full employment in the same breath, for instance.  But some more superficial images stand out starkly.

Consider the ignominy of:



Being totally outgunned by the police, even in the bullhorn department.

Part of the ability of a protest to command notice and attention is its ability to overwhelm local authorities and thereby exert its will on the area.  I'm sorry folks, you're not doing that with 2000 people, much less 200.  This brings me to:



Being totally outnumbered without even costing the city overtime.  Who's idea was this again?  Well whomever it was should pay for their lack of vision.  You aren't making much of a statement when:



You can only afford to burn a $1.00 bill.  (Just to be an asshole capitalist, I torched a CHF 100 bill yesterday when I saw this picture, just to enjoy a private moment of fuck-you zen).  Since they are broke they probably can't really afford a trip to Whole Foods or the local Falafel stand on the date which would be a precursor to Hot, Angry Protest Sex(tm).  What happened to the free love of the 60's?  Sheesh.  But don't cry.



The opportunities for Hot, Angry Protest Sex(tm) are somewhat limited.  Yuck.  (Upside, at least modern hipsters seem to have discovered hair removal).  Still, that's a downer, because instead you are subject to:



The slightly bored, passing ridicule of (and video recording by) Manhattan's tourism sector.  The suckage is compounded by the:



Total lack of any direction, entertainment, or... anything.  Plus, an 11 o'clock curfew?  Woah, man.  The revolution kinda... sucks, like being a pre-teen living at home.  ("Turn down that racket!")  And no XBox either.  Bummer.  Break the rules and you might also get a ride in Mom's hybrid Mini Van.  Also known as:



The Low Carbon Footprint, High Speed, Hybrid Electric ride to the Big House(tm).

And in the end, for what?



That's New York there, sonny.  With that wimpy bullhorn and your scant numbers it would take a talented scout-sniper team to locate even a minor target indicator from more then 300 meters.  Look at where you are.  Outside your 100 meter liberal-event horizon no one can even see the thin trickle of your evaporating solidarity radiation.

Plus, your timing sucks.  Elsewhere in the world...



It's fucking Oktoberfest.

Meanwhile you languish in a private park owned by one of the largest property holding companies in the world (Brookfield Properties [NYSE: BPO] with a market cap of over $7 billion)



Blissfully unaware that your "revolution" is sponsored by dozens of large corporate juggernauts which you paid in order to destroy.

It's enough to make me sympathize with the noble occupants of Liberty Plaza and their endless fight against greedy corporations, greedy bankers, money, mom, mom's BMW SUV, dad, dad's Mercedes sedan and... other stuff.

Ok, not really.  That last bit was total horseshit.

Suck it, hipsters.

wow. you put some time into this. well done. I thought it was funy when  the coppers maced the shit outa those hippies and they were all screaming and crying

LOL!!!

Good read.  Glad to see you kept your promise and moved.  Any change of heart taking an Americans money to invest?

Yep, trust fund hipster-tards are annoying. Especially when they wail when mace'd. Naw, then its just funny.

I would hit the chick in the White T-shirt, the Plaid shirt, and the Black tank top.

I enjoyed that.

Bravo

I tried to send pizza to them along with lots of other folks, but I couldn't get the pizza folks to cooperate and include soap and deodorant, along with a note stipulating that both must be used before they got the pizza.

Posted Via AR15.Com Mobile

So, how's the expatriation laws working for you?  More and more folks are trickling out, renouncing their citizenship and avoiding US taxes.

I'm stuck on the cleavage on a couple of those underagers in the Oktoberfest pic.

Very nice..

Age of consent in Germany is 14 (subject to non-exploitation and coercion clauses).

That last picture is an instant classic.

Post is so good, I'm wondering what the hell it's doing in GD.

Picture isn't loading 100% for me.  Bottom row is cut off.  Have to make due with top row.





May have to fly to Germany if the pic doesn't load all the way.





 

Great post Austrian.

Pointing out the hypocrasy of the hippie/hipster/me-generation is always a good time.  


I think the current problems we're experiencing in Washington is due to a lack of experience in the private sector prior to taking office.  Anyone that says "the government can create jobs" with a straight face should be skull punched with force and rapidity.


Thankfully, my state has had an epiphany in this regard.  Gov.Haslam and Commissioner Haggarty are reducing regulation for exisiting business and scaling back state offices such as TDOT and Local Planning (which was completely eliminated).  TDOT has ~5,100 employees-this will be slashed immensely.  Local Planning personnel were non-existent in the locales they were hired to help-new Governor took notice and eliminated the entire division.

The states will (and should) lead the charge.  I know TN has already begun.

This is what keeps me coming back to GD time and time again

Between the political depression I experience from the text of the thread, and that tidbit of information, I can see that I will be moving overseas sometime soon.

Austrian, your stuff is top-shelf. Beer seems somewhat out of its league, but it's all we have so

One of these days you should pen a tome.

Something like a thinking man's plan for economic success amidst the relentless crush of socialism (a.k.a. Fornicate the System)

Great read, thanks.

Great post.  I remember seeing a protest for women rights in centrail park once.  It consisted of 8 protestors and 3 cameramen holding cameras at low angles and telling them where to stand to try to make it look bigger.

Once again, Austrian knocks it out of the park and into low Earth Orbit.

An orbit which will eventually decay, and cause a flaming ball of hate and logic to come screaming out of the sky and crack a hippie in the skull.

Austrian, can you elaborate at all on the US' 'draconian expatriation laws'? I'd be interested to read about them.

Great post OP

I enjoyed that!  Love the last pic!

They protest against the system until, like the borg, they are assimilated (i.e. start working).

There was a cartoon from many years ago which showed the hippie protesting corporate America...then the same (former)hippie sitting behind the big desk sighing "now I am corporate America".

What will you do with all the internets you have won?

Spoken like someone who truly sees the bigger picture. Bravo, sir, bravo.

I only wish that this "rant" wasn't wasted on the choir here at Arfcom. I know the tribulations of trying to educate those who really need to hear things like this, I attended school in NYC. I was constantly surrounded by these very protesters. It's pointless. They will not learn. They have one single cause, or two that are connected at most. They CANNOT see a big picture because they are blinded by some vision of a socialist, do nothing utopia that cannot ever be. Most of these people are on the back side of the bell curve, the rest are highly "educated" morons who can never accept that the basic premises of their education and beliefs are wrong.

The best thing I could think of to torment these morons was a casual stroll past their ranks, laughing, and going to my paying job... the very job on Wall St. that paid for my education. Yeah, that's right, EARNING my way through college. Debt is slavery, the idiots say. YES, and they are the slaves and the poor capitalist pigs like me are the "free"... those staying out of debt by working for a fucking living. Imagine that!!

Good luck to all of us trying to save a country we love from people who are too stupid to understand that they're building their own prisons.

somebody go find zhukov, i'm gonna need a tour guide that can speak the language!

Best thread in a long while.

I could care less about the Occupy Group.  What I do find fascinating is that the world economy has been in the crapper for 3 years now and companies like GS and JPM are doing fantastic.   They must be amazing people with god like talent.

Best.

Rant.

EVER!!!!

Pretty easy, when you grease the right palms...

Top All-Time Donors, 1989-2012

25 Goldman Sachs $21,084,295 D-60% R-39%

46 JPMorgan Chase & Co $14,702,960 D-46% R-52%

Way down the list are some smaller donors who didn't get 'help' when they were down on their 'luck'. Imagine that.

You made my morning.  That's hilarious, Austrian.

I saved that photo with all of the products tagged by corporation.
That's pretty much the epitome of the irony.

Well done, Avatar. Well done.

There are few posters here where I'll read a thread whenever I see they are the author. Austrian is definitely one of them and I am always richer for the experience.

People who yell the loudest generally know the least.

10 out of 10 for that one

Almost redefining the use of "rant," nearly deserving a class all it's own. Ausgezeichnet!

HIZZAH!!!!

Epic.

Outstanding.

My situation is a bit unique, and I won't belabor it here, what I can say is that there are a ton of US Expats and expat hopefuls where I am.  The waiting time for renunciation of citizenship (it requires numerous interviews) is measured in "months" with double digits.  Some people have taken to making appointments in obscure consulates in the former Eastern Bloc to get it done faster.  You can imagine the State Department is in no hurry to speed things along, and expect a lubeless audit somewhere in the process if you try it.

 (Bloomberg from earlier this year).

(I only have numbers as of Q1 2011, but they look... well... about like the national debt's trajectory).

 (Credit, WSJ).

There's an interesting primer on the process here:

http://renunciationguide.com/Renunciation-Process-Step-By-Step.html

How's it going?  I never looked back.  Aside from being able to sit unmolested in the downtown Apple store with my SIG 550/1 slung, little things like the fact that people stand a full 7 meters away from you while you put your pin number into the ATM, or that the Post Office is not only a model of service and efficiency but also delivers on Saturday (earlier this month I sent the equivalent of a first class letter across town in the morning, it fucking got there that afternoon), but it is simply a JOY that such things don't come at the cost of constant bailouts or bloodsucking unions.

The Swiss Post cleared $700 million in pre-tax profit for the first half of this year.  (Nearly a 13% Operating Margin).

Read that again.

I'm not usually a fan of state run (or GSE style) entities, but... you just gotta smile when they not only make a shitton of money, but provide amazingly effective and efficient service such that even the likes of FedEX has a hard time getting a foothold here.

Everyone once in a while I think about coming back to visit then...

....nah.  Maybe next year.