If you’re reading this, you’re no doubt asking yourself, “Why did this
have to happen?” The simple truth is that it is complicated and has
been coming for a long time. The writing process, started many months
ago, was intended to be therapy in the face of the looming realization
that there isn’t enough therapy in the world that can fix what is
really broken. Needless to say, this rant could fill volumes with
example after example if I would let it. I find the process of
writing it frustrating, tedious, and probably pointless… especially
given my gross inability to gracefully articulate my thoughts in light
of the storm raging in my head. Exactly what is therapeutic about
that I’m not sure, but desperate times call for desperate measures.
We are all taught as children that without laws there would be no
society, only anarchy. Sadly, starting at early ages we in this
country have been brainwashed to believe that, in return for our
dedication and service, our government stands for justice for all. We
are further brainwashed to believe that there is freedom in this
place, and that we should be ready to lay our lives down for the noble
principals represented by its founding fathers. Remember? One of
these was “no taxation without representation”. I have spent the
total years of my adulthood unlearning that crap from only a few years
of my childhood. These days anyone who really stands up for that
principal is promptly labeled a “crackpot”, traitor and worse.
While very few working people would say they haven’t had their fair
share of taxes (as can I), in my lifetime I can say with a great
degree of certainty that there has never been a politician cast a vote
on any matter with the likes of me or my interests in mind. Nor, for
that matter, are they the least bit interested in me or anything I
have to say.
Why is it that a handful of thugs and plunderers can commit
unthinkable atrocities (and in the case of the GM executives, for
scores of years) and when it’s time for their gravy train to crash
under the weight of their gluttony and overwhelming stupidity, the
force of the full federal government has no difficulty coming to their
aid within days if not hours? Yet at the same time, the joke we call
the American medical system, including the drug and insurance
companies, are murdering tens of thousands of people a year and
stealing from the corpses and victims they cripple, and this country’s
leaders don’t see this as important as bailing out a few of their
vile, rich cronies. Yet, the political “representatives” (thieves,
liars, and self-serving scumbags is far more accurate) have endless
time to sit around for year after year and debate the state of the
“terrible health care problem”. It’s clear they see no crisis as long
as the dead people don’t get in the way of their corporate profits
rolling in.
And justice? You’ve got to be kidding!
How can any rational individual explain that white elephant conundrum
in the middle of our tax system and, indeed, our entire legal system?
Here we have a system that is, by far, too complicated for the
brightest of the master scholars to understand. Yet, it mercilessly
“holds accountable” its victims, claiming that they’re responsible for
fully complying with laws not even the experts understand. The law
“requires” a signature on the bottom of a tax filing; yet no one can
say truthfully that they understand what they are signing; if that’s
not “duress” than what is. If this is not the measure of a
totalitarian regime, nothing is.
How did I get here?
My introduction to the real American nightmare starts back in the
early ‘80s. Unfortunately after more than 16 years of school,
somewhere along the line I picked up the absurd, pompous notion that I
could read and understand plain English. Some friends introduced me
to a group of people who were having ‘tax code’ readings and
discussions. In particular, zeroed in on a section relating to the
wonderful “exemptions” that make institutions like the vulgar, corrupt
Catholic Church so incredibly wealthy. We carefully studied the law
(with the help of some of the “best”, high-paid, experienced tax
lawyers in the business), and then began to do exactly what the “big
boys” were doing (except that we weren’t steeling from our
congregation or lying to the government about our massive profits in
the name of God). We took a great deal of care to make it all
visible, following all of the rules, exactly the way the law said it
was to be done.
The intent of this exercise and our efforts was to bring about a
much-needed re-evaluation of the laws that allow the monsters of
organized religion to make such a mockery of people who earn an honest
living. However, this is where I learned that there are two
“interpretations” for every law; one for the very rich, and one for
the rest of us… Oh, and the monsters are the very ones making and
enforcing the laws; the inquisition is still alive and well today in
this country.
That little lesson in patriotism cost me $40,000+, 10 years of my
life, and set my retirement plans back to 0. It made me realize for
the first time that I live in a country with an ideology that is based
on a total and complete lie. It also made me realize, not only how
naive I had been, but also the incredible stupidity of the American
public; that they buy, hook, line, and sinker, the crap about their
“freedom”… and that they continue to do so with eyes closed in the
face of overwhelming evidence and all that keeps happening in front of
them.
Before even having to make a shaky recovery from the sting of the
first lesson on what justice really means in this country (around 1984
after making my way through engineering school and still another five
years of “paying my dues”), I felt I finally had to take a chance of
launching my dream of becoming an independent engineer.
On the subjects of engineers and dreams of independence, I should
digress somewhat to say that I’m sure that I inherited the fascination
for creative problem solving from my father. I realized this at a
very young age.
The significance of independence, however, came much later during my
early years of college; at the age of 18 or 19 when I was living on my
own as student in an apartment in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. My
neighbor was an elderly retired woman (80+ seemed ancient to me at
that age) who was the widowed wife of a retired steel worker. Her
husband had worked all his life in the steel mills of central
Pennsylvania with promises from big business and the union that, for
his 30 years of service, he would have a pension and medical care to
look forward to in his retirement. Instead he was one of the
thousands who got nothing because the incompetent mill management and
corrupt union (not to mention the government) raided their pension
funds and stole their retirement. All she had was social security to
live on.
In retrospect, the situation was laughable because here I was living
on peanut butter and bread (or Ritz crackers when I could afford to
splurge) for months at a time. When I got to know this poor figure
and heard her story I felt worse for her plight than for my own (I,
after all, I thought I had everything to in front of me). I was
genuinely appalled at one point, as we exchanged stories and
commiserated with each other over our situations, when she in her
grandmotherly fashion tried to convince me that I would be “healthier”
eating cat food (like her) rather than trying to get all my substance
from peanut butter and bread. I couldn’t quite go there, but the
impression was made. I decided that I didn’t trust big business to
take care of me, and that I would take responsibility for my own
future and myself.
Return to the early ‘80s, and here I was off to a terrifying start as
a ‘wet-behind-the-ears’ contract software engineer... and two years
later, thanks to the fine backroom, midnight effort by the sleazy
executives of Arthur Andersen (the very same folks who later brought
us Enron and other such calamities) and an equally sleazy New York
Senator (Patrick Moynihan), we saw the passage of 1986 tax reform act
with its section 1706.
For you who are unfamiliar, here is the core text of the IRS Section
1706, defining the treatment of workers (such as contract engineers)
for tax purposes. Visit this link for a conference committee report
(http://www.synergistech.com/1706.shtml#ConferenceCommitteeReport)
regarding the intended interpretation of Section 1706 and the relevant
parts of Section 530, as amended. For information on how these laws
affect technical services workers and their clients, read our
discussion here (http://www.synergistech.com/ic-taxlaw.shtml).
SEC. 1706. TREATMENT OF CERTAIN TECHNICAL PERSONNEL.
(a) IN GENERAL - Section 530 of the Revenue Act of 1978 is amended by
adding at the end thereof the following new subsection:
(d) EXCEPTION. - This section shall not apply in the case of an
individual who pursuant to an arrangement between the taxpayer and
another person, provides services for such other person as an
engineer, designer, drafter, computer programmer, systems analyst, or
other similarly skilled worker engaged in a similar line of work.
(b) EFFECTIVE DATE. - The amendment made by this section shall apply
to remuneration paid and services rendered after December 31, 1986.
Note:
· "another person" is the client in the traditional job-shop relationship.
· "taxpayer" is the recruiter, broker, agency, or job shop.
· "individual", "employee", or "worker" is you.
Admittedly, you need to read the treatment to understand what it is
saying but it’s not very complicated. The bottom line is that they
may as well have put my name right in the text of section (d).
Moreover, they could only have been more blunt if they would have came
out and directly declared me a criminal and non-citizen slave. Twenty
years later, I still can’t believe my eyes.
During 1987, I spent close to $5000 of my ‘pocket change’, and at
least 1000 hours of my time writing, printing, and mailing to any
senator, congressman, governor, or slug that might listen; none did,
and they universally treated me as if I was wasting their time. I
spent countless hours on the L.A. freeways driving to meetings and any
and all of the disorganized professional groups who were attempting to
mount a campaign against this atrocity. This, only to discover that
our efforts were being easily derailed by a few moles from the brokers
who were just beginning to enjoy the windfall from the new declaration
of their “freedom”. Oh, and don’t forget, for all of the time I was
spending on this, I was loosing income that I couldn’t bill clients.
After months of struggling it had clearly gotten to be a futile
exercise. The best we could get for all of our trouble is a
pronouncement from an IRS mouthpiece that they weren’t going to
enforce that provision (read harass engineers and scientists). This
immediately proved to be a lie, and the mere existence of the
regulation began to have its impact on my bottom line; this, of
course, was the intended effect.
Again, rewind my retirement plans back to 0 and shift them into idle.
If I had any sense, I clearly should have left abandoned engineering
and never looked back.
Instead I got busy working 100-hour workweeks. Then came the L.A.
depression of the early 1990s. Our leaders decided that they didn’t
need the all of those extra Air Force bases they had in Southern
California, so they were closed; just like that. The result was
economic devastation in the region that rivaled the widely publicized
Texas S&L fiasco. However, because the government caused it, no one
gave a shit about all of the young families who lost their homes or
street after street of boarded up houses abandoned to the wealthy loan
companies who received government funds to “shore up” their windfall.
Again, I lost my retirement.
Years later, after weathering a divorce and the constant struggle
trying to build some momentum with my business, I find myself once
again beginning to finally pick up some speed. Then came the .COM
bust and the 911 nightmare. Our leaders decided that all aircraft
were grounded for what seemed like an eternity; and long after that,
‘special’ facilities like San Francisco were on security alert for
months. This made access to my customers prohibitively expensive.
Ironically, after what they had done the Government came to the aid of
the airlines with billions of our tax dollars … as usual they left me
to rot and die while they bailed out their rich, incompetent cronies
WITH MY MONEY! After these events, there went my business but not
quite yet all of my retirement and savings.
By this time, I’m thinking that it might be good for a change. Bye to
California, I’ll try Austin for a while. So I moved, only to find out
that this is a place with a highly inflated sense of self-importance
and where damn little real engineering work is done. I’ve never
experienced such a hard time finding work. The rates are 1/3 of what
I was earning before the crash, because pay rates here are fixed by
the three or four large companies in the area who are in collusion to
drive down prices and wages… and this happens because the justice
department is all on the take and doesn’t give a fuck about serving
anyone or anything but themselves and their rich buddies.
To survive, I was forced to cannibalize my savings and retirement, the
last of which was a small IRA. This came in a year with mammoth
expenses and not a single dollar of income. I filed no return that
year thinking that because I didn’t have any income there was no need.
The sleazy government decided that they disagreed. But they didn’t
notify me in time for me to launch a legal objection so when I
attempted to get a protest filed with the court I was told I was no
longer entitled to due process because the time to file ran out. Bend
over for another $10,000 helping of justice.
So now we come to the present. After my experience with the CPA
world, following the business crash I swore that I’d never enter
another accountant’s office again. But here I am with a new marriage
and a boatload of undocumented income, not to mention an expensive new
business asset, a piano, which I had no idea how to handle. After
considerable thought I decided that it would be irresponsible NOT to
get professional help; a very big mistake.
When we received the forms back I was very optimistic that they were
in order. I had taken all of the years information to Bill Ross, and
he came back with results very similar to what I was expecting.
Except that he had neglected to include the contents of Sheryl’s
unreported income; $12,700 worth of it. To make matters worse, Ross
knew all along this was missing and I didn’t have a clue until he
pointed it out in the middle of the audit. By that time it had become
brutally evident that he was representing himself and not me.
This left me stuck in the middle of this disaster trying to defend
transactions that have no relationship to anything tax-related (at
least the tax-related transactions were poorly documented). Things I
never knew anything about and things my wife had no clue would ever
matter to anyone. The end result is… well, just look around.
I remember reading about the stock market crash before the “great”
depression and how there were wealthy bankers and businessmen jumping
out of windows when they realized they screwed up and lost everything.
Isn’t it ironic how far we’ve come in 60 years in this country that
they now know how to fix that little economic problem; they just steal
from the middle class (who doesn’t have any say in it, elections are a
joke) to cover their asses and it’s “business-as-usual”. Now when the
wealthy fuck up, the poor get to die for the mistakes… isn’t that a
clever, tidy solution.
As government agencies go, the FAA is often justifiably referred to as
a tombstone agency, though they are hardly alone. The recent
presidential puppet GW Bush and his cronies in their eight years
certainly reinforced for all of us that this criticism rings equally
true for all of the government. Nothing changes unless there is a
body count (unless it is in the interest of the wealthy sows at the
government trough). In a government full of hypocrites from top to
bottom, life is as cheap as their lies and their self-serving laws.
I know I’m hardly the first one to decide I have had all I can stand.
It has always been a myth that people have stopped dying for their
freedom in this country, and it isn’t limited to the blacks, and poor
immigrants. I know there have been countless before me and there are
sure to be as many after. But I also know that by not adding my body
to the count, I insure nothing will change. I choose to not keep
looking over my shoulder at “big brother” while he strips my carcass,
I choose not to ignore what is going on all around me, I choose not to
pretend that business as usual won’t continue; I have just had enough.
I can only hope that the numbers quickly get too big to be white
washed and ignored that the American zombies wake up and revolt; it
will take nothing less. I would only hope that by striking a nerve
that stimulates the inevitable double standard, knee-jerk government
reaction that results in more stupid draconian restrictions people
wake up and begin to see the pompous political thugs and their
mindless minions for what they are. Sadly, though I spent my entire
life trying to believe it wasn’t so, but violence not only is the
answer, it is the only answer. The cruel joke is that the really big
chunks of shit at the top have known this all along and have been
laughing, at and using this awareness against, fools like me all
along.
I saw it written once that the definition of insanity is repeating the
same process over and over and expecting the outcome to suddenly be
different. I am finally ready to stop this insanity. Well, Mr. Big
Brother IRS man, let’s try something different; take my pound of flesh
and sleep well.
The communist creed: From each according to his ability, to each
according to his need.
The capitalist creed: From each according to his gullibility, to each
according to his greed.
Joe Stack (1956-2010)
02/18/2010
_iJunes02.19.10 - 11:25 am
reply
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Ridazz Roulette!
finally someone stood up to them. sucks that people got hurt