Gombe
chimpanzees devoted about 10 percent of their time spent on feeding
to the pursuit and consumption of game. (Marvin
Harris - Our Kind, pg 37)
In
a !Kung band studied, adults hunted or gathered only during three
days a week on average, and the children didn't work at all. (Jane
Jacobs - Systems of Survival, pg 77)
A
study by the International Metalworkers Federation in Geneva forecasts
that within 30 years as little as 2 percent of the world's current
labor force will be needed to produce all the goods necessary for
total demand. (Jeremy
Rifkin - The End of Work, pg 8)
Work
kills more people than war: the UN's International Labor Organization
estimates that approximately two million workers lose their lives
annually due to occupational injuries and illnesses, with accidents
causing at least 350,000 deaths a year. The death toll at work,
much of which is attributable to unsafe working practices, is the
equivalent of 5,000 workers dying each day, 3 persons every minute.
This is more than double the figure of death from warfare (650,000
per year.) According the ILO, work kills more people than alcohol
and drugs together. Each year 6750 US workers die because of injuries
at work, while 60,225 meet their maker due to occupational diseases.
(Russ
Kick - 50 Things You're Not Supposed to Know, pg 90)
If
the primary cause of the breakdowns of civilizations had been a
failure to get rid of war, a secondary cause had been a failure
to get rid of class conflict by changes in the pressure and product
of work and in the enjoyment and use of leisure. (Arnold
J. Toynbee - A Study Of History, Vol 2, pg. 365))
When
the government of old Egypt fell, 4% of the people owned all the
wealth. When the Babylonian civilization collapsed, 3% of the people
owned all the wealth. When old Persia went down to ruin, 0.5% of
the people owned all the wealth. When the Roman empire fell by the
wayside, 2000 people owned all the wealth. (R.
E. Search - Lincoln Money Martyred)
In
the end, all systems enslave, whether they be orders of government,
religion, or society... the difference between the monkey in the
zoo and the man on the street is that the monkey cannot be contained
without physical restraint, while man can be caged and shackled
and exist in captivity in a prison without walls and still believe
to be free. (Gerry
Spence - Seven Simple Steps to Personal Freedom, pgs 17, 20)
In
his or her lifetime the average American works 24,000 hours earning
the money to pay taxes. (Leland
H. Gregory - Great Government Goofs, pg 239)
What
really distinguished the chattel slave from a freedman in the 19th
century was not the work that he did. He did the same kind of work
that he would have done if he had been free. So what was the difference?
The chattel slave couldn't quit the job. Can you afford to quit
yours? (Charley Reese - Americans Are Slaves To Debt, Conservative
Chronicle 1999 Nov 3)
Slaves
throughout history are often hard to recognize. In some cases, such
as the Medieval Serfs, they were held slaves to the rulers by religious
belief, and did not see themselves as slaves even though they were
treated as such.The favored slaves of Asian potentates wore jewels
to make a movie star gasp, yet were still slaves for all their finery.
So, what is a slave? What makes them different from free people?
Free people can say "no". Free people can refuse demands
for their money, time, and children. Slaves cannot. There is no
freedom without the freedom to say "no". If someone demands
that you do something and you can say "no" and refuse
to do it, then you are a free human being. When you are forced to
surrender half your life's work to the government in ever-increasing
taxes, then you are a slave. For Roman slaves, the ratio of work-for-self
versus work-for-rulers was about 50-50. The same ratio applied to
Medieval Serfs, and even to the slaves of the American south. And,
when you add up all the overt taxes, covert fees, tariffs, excises,
plus the increased price you pay for products to pay the taxes of
the companies that make those products, you will find that Americans
are at that same half-for-self” versus half-for-rulers”
ratio! Can you say "no" to the confiscation of half of
your life? Can you even get the masters to maybe reduce the burden
by a significant amount? No? Congratulations. You are a slave.
(Michael Rivero - 2004 - Year of the Slave)
Poverty
is a thing created by what we call civilized life. It exists not
in natural state. (The Thomas Paine Reader, pg. 475)
To
see the main source of this artificially created poverty / slavery,
see the chapter on fiat
money |