i heard the personal attacks against PMs start today

[chad]

a bunch of my friends from college have turned in to die hard leftists since we graduated about 16 years ago. i keep in touch with them on facebook just to see pics of kids, old photos, etc. i never talk about politics for obvious reasons. in fact, i go out of my way to play along and blend in to the crowd.

lately, all of the talk has been about occupy wall street. endless posts, pictures, discussions, etc. about the evil rich, conservatives, capitalism, etc.

today, a bunch of them were having discussions about taxing the rich and the usual blather, when one of them posted this (and i cut-and-paste):

And when it comes time to redistribute everything equally for the good of our future don't forget that all of them own Gold and Silver. Just turn on any Republitard radio show and every commercial is for Gold products. These bastards are buying fucking coins while the rest of us are starving and can't afford basic rights like health insurance or housing. Do you know any working person buying Gold or Silver coins? Of course not, only the rich do that. The rest of us are WORKING FOR A LIVING!!!!!!!!!!

this post was followed up with no less than 37 replies agreeing + talking about rich people with their PMs.

so, now i've heard it firsthand. i'm cringing too, because every other commercial on fox, glenn beck, rush, etc. IS for gold products.

well, there you have it. i suspect that sooner or later PM ownership is going to start showing up on OWS signs, msnbc discussions, tax code, etc. it's out there now.

[DMac]

I hope all knew this day would come.

Gold buyers caused the economy to crash by hoarding and not spending.

Damn terrists

[optionT]

Good thing Im in treasuries!

[Serpo]

At least we know where to point the blame...........

[VX1]

HOLY S-H-I-T!

I'm rich!

This isn't going to end well. Wait til they find out we "hoard" brass and lead.

[chad]

i'm digging through all of the replies. here's another gem:

I have read lots of stories that this is how they avoid paying taxes. They buy Gold coins instead of having money in the bank to pay taxes on. Drug cartels do this a lot in Mexico. Read up on it. Come to think of it there's not a lot of difference between criminals and Rethugs.

most of the rest of them are profanity laced rants against anyone who disagrees with obama.

[Joe King]

today, a bunch of them were having discussions about taxing the rich and the usual blather, when one of them posted this (and i cut-and-paste):

And when it comes time to redistribute everything equally for the good of our future don't forget that all of them own Gold and Silver. Just turn on any Republitard radio show and every commercial is for Gold products. These bastards are buying fucking coins while the rest of us are starving and can't afford basic rights like health insurance or housing. Do you know any working person buying Gold or Silver coins? Of course not, only the rich do that. The rest of us are WORKING FOR A LIVING!!!!!!!!!!

this post was followed up with no less than 37 replies agreeing + talking about rich people with their PMs.

so, now i've heard it firsthand. i'm cringing too, because every other commercial on fox, glenn beck, rush, etc. IS for gold products.

well, there you have it. i suspect that sooner or later PM ownership is going to start showing up on OWS signs, msnbc discussions, tax code, etc. it's out there now.
Yes. As it all starts crashing, prepare to be blamed by the herd.

After all, if not for the people who selfishly bought stuff like that instead of using that "money" to buy stuff that helps keep the consumerism going, we might not have these problems.......is what they'll see.

What you should ask them is what did they do with all the "money" they had back during the so-called "good" times?
...and remind them that had they not ignored the reality of the situation then, they might be doing better now.

Granted, that would probably piss them off, but oh well. People not caring enough to want to understand are their own worst enemy.

[mamboni]

"Yeah, and I heard one of our members here has got big gold-laced boulders all throughout his house. The guy is rolling in it while we work our fingers to the bone, living on Ramen noodles and unable to afford the latest model of Iphone. It's not fair! Boo hoo. We must take from him for the good of all of us. Besides, he didn't earn those gold boulders; he found them!!! I mean, anyone can prospect for and find gold. It's not like he earned a liberal arts degree in Political Science - that is a real accomplishment!"

[General of Darkness]

Reminds me of these maroons.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SESy3p21OKU

[mamboni]

a bunch of my friends from college have turned in to die hard leftists since we graduated about 16 years ago. i keep in touch with them on facebook just to see pics of kids, old photos, etc. i never talk about politics for obvious reasons. in fact, i go out of my way to play along and blend in to the crowd.

lately, all of the talk has been about occupy wall street. endless posts, pictures, discussions, etc. about the evil rich, conservatives, capitalism, etc.

today, a bunch of them were having discussions about taxing the rich and the usual blather, when one of them posted this (and i cut-and-paste):

And when it comes time to redistribute everything equally for the good of our future don't forget that all of them own Gold and Silver. Just turn on any Republitard radio show and every commercial is for Gold products. These bastards are buying fucking coins while the rest of us are starving and can't afford basic rights like health insurance or housing. Do you know any working person buying Gold or Silver coins? Of course not, only the rich do that. The rest of us are WORKING FOR A LIVING!!!!!!!!!!

this post was followed up with no less than 37 replies agreeing + talking about rich people with their PMs.

so, now i've heard it firsthand. i'm cringing too, because every other commercial on fox, glenn beck, rush, etc. IS for gold products.

well, there you have it. i suspect that sooner or later PM ownership is going to start showing up on OWS signs, msnbc discussions, tax code, etc. it's out there now.

Chad,

I think you should play along and respond to this Marxist wannabe as follows:

I don't understand what you're saying. Why do you want to take these people's silver and gold? They are just metals, archaic relics of the past. They have no real value like a college degree or coupon for a Starbucks Latte. You can't create a job with them. You can't grow food or educate someone with them. Why do you care if some deluded fool has silver and gold? What would you do with it?

[chad]

Chad,

I think you should play along and respond to this Marxist wannabe as follows:

I don't understand what you're saying. Why do you want to take these people's silver and gold? They are just metals, archaic relics of the past. They have no real value like a college degree or coupon for a Starbucks Latte. You can't create a job with them. You can't grow food or educate someone with them. Why do you care if some deluded fool has silver and gold? What would you do with it?

he-he, maybe i will. they are very pissed off at anyone who does not at age 45, work at subway, drive a rusted out car, and struggle with rent. main activities seems to include going to indie rock shows at some bar every night + thinking about the next tattoo. oh, and trying to find 'green jobs' is up there as well.

[cortez]

i'm digging through all of the replies. here's another gem:

I have read lots of stories that this is how they avoid paying taxes. They buy Gold coins instead of having money in the bank to pay taxes on. Drug cartels do this a lot in Mexico. Read up on it. Come to think of it there's not a lot of difference between criminals and Rethugs.


most of the rest of them are profanity laced rants against anyone who disagrees with obama.

can you post a link or if its facebook share so that i may respond? or private message me

[chad]

can you post a link or if its facebook share so that i may respond? or private message me

can't post a link to it since it's on cia book. i posted in the thread, so it's obvious who i am, plus you could just scan my friends in it and figure out who i am in 2 seconds. that crosses the line of internet creepiness for me.

[chad]

between 40 and 44. i'm the young end of the spectrum (40 in january). we all graduated college together around 1994.

[chad]

mamboni has got me thinking. i'm going to continue going stealth, throw a few blase 'questions' here and there and see what i get. thinking about writing a piece to submit to zero hedge.

[Veni, vidi...evigilavi!]

Yeah I would write to zero hedge...play along with them as far as you can like mamboni suggests :D

[ximmy]

Only evil doers own gold...

[VX1]

Tell 'em we need to push for a more progressive tax system. All I ask is I get a picture and a letter from all the poor unfortunate souls with big rims I voluntarily support with their television and baby-making habits. Aid-4-Africa at least gives you that.

[oldmansmith]

I'm 50 and my "friends" are the same. My real friends acknowledge that I'm right, but gold and silver are "too expensive' right now.

Right now the US dollar accounts for 85% of international trade. What do you think the price will be when it is 50%? 25%? 0%?

[Golden]

There was a chemistry professor in a large college that had some exchange students in the class. One day while the class was in the lab, the prof noticed one young man, an exchange student, who kept rubbing his back and stretching as if his back hurt.

The professor asked the young man what was the matter. The student told him he had a bullet lodged in his back. In his native country he had been shot while fighting communists who were trying to overthrow his country's government and install a new communist regime.

In the midst of his story, he looked at the professor and asked a strange question. He asked:

"Do you know how to catch wild pigs?" The professor thought it was a joke and asked for the punch line. The young man said that it was no joke.

"You catch wild pigs by finding a suitable place in the woods and putting corn on the ground. The pigs find it and begin to come everyday to eat the free corn. When they are used to coming every day, you put a fence down one side of the place where they are used to coming. When they get used to the fence, they begin to eat the corn again and you put up another side of the fence. They get used to that and start to eat again. You continue until you have all four sides of the fence up with a gate in the last side. The pigs, which are used to the free corn, start to come through the gate to eat that free corn again. You then slam the gate on them and catch the whole herd. Suddenly the wild pigs have lost their freedom. They run around and around inside the fence, but they are caught. Soon they go back to eating the free corn. They are so used to it that they have forgotten how to forage in the woods for themselves, so they accept their captivity."

The young man then told the professor that is exactly what he sees happening in America. The government keeps pushing us toward Communism/Socialism and keeps spreading the free corn out in the form of programs such as supplemental income, tax credit for unearned income, tax cuts, tax exemptions, tobacco subsidies, dairy subsidies, payments not to plant crops (CRP), welfare, medicine, drugs, etc. while we continually lose our freedoms, just a little at a time.

One should always remember two truths: There is no such thing as a free lunch and you can never hire someone to provide a service for you cheaper than you can do it yourself.

If you see that all of this wonderful government 'help' is a problem confronting the future of democracy in America , you might want to send this on to your friends. If you think the free ride is essential to your way of life, then you will probably delete this email. But God help you when the gate slams shut!

[Twisted Titan]

Old man how is the misses?

[gunDriller]

And when it comes time to redistribute everything equally for the good of our future don't forget that all of them own Gold and Silver. Just turn on any Republitard radio show and every commercial is for Gold products. These bastards are buying fucking coins while the rest of us are starving and can't afford basic rights like health insurance or housing. Do you know any working person buying Gold or Silver coins? Of course not, only the rich do that. The rest of us are WORKING FOR A LIVING!!!!!!!!!!

i'm amazed at what some people who work for a living buy at the supermarket.

of course working folks have to scrimp more to buy PM's. but if a lot of them put into silver what they put into Cigs and other don't need it crap ... they'd have PM's.

[mamboni]

mamboni has got me thinking. i'm going to continue going stealth, throw a few blase 'questions' here and there and see what i get. thinking about writing a piece to submit to zero hedge.

Capital idea! I can guarantee that if you post some of these collectivist gems on ZH that it will be like throwing fresh chum into a tank full of hungry sharks - chomp chomp!! You'll probably break the record for most replies.;D

[StreetsOfGold]

Didn't these "friends" of your have any savings at all?? If so, most likely it was in 401k and IRA's, etc. I would polietly point out that while they were attempting to save using paper means and actually trusting the government, some of us were smart enough (to believe the Bible) and store our labour and purchasing power in REAL money Gold / Silver. I worked all through the last 10 years and did just that. If you were too stupid and/or brainwashed to not do that, too bad. You reap what you sow.

Since I am a Christian, I added the (to believe the Bible) since that was my personal reason, you may substitute your own.

[chad]

most all of them are broke. no savings, but they all go to the club every weekend. cd box sets, wii, xbox, they have all that.

[sunnyandseventy]

What are 40 somethings doing with that shit?

[chad]

What are 40 somethings doing with that shit?

trying to hold on to youth i think. don't know, i'd find it really weird to be living with roomates and hitting the club at 42, but i know at least 6 of them who are still in to that. facebook may be cia, but it's ground zero for finding out the true state of affairs with how people think + live.

[Awoke]

They can have my PMs after they get through my other precious metal collection of brass and lead.

[gunDriller]

Didn't these "friends" of your have any savings at all?? If so, most likely it was in 401k and IRA's, etc. I would polietly point out that while they were attempting to save using paper means and actually trusting the government, some of us were smart enough (to believe the Bible) and store our labour and purchasing power in REAL money Gold / Silver. I worked all through the last 10 years and did just that. If you were too stupid and/or brainwashed to not do that, too bad. You reap what you sow.

Since I am a Christian, I added the (to believe the Bible) since that was my personal reason, you may substitute your own.

does the Bible have passages about silver & gold ?

[madfranks]

does the Bible have passages about silver & gold ?

When the Bible talks about money it's in the form of gold and silver. The idea is that God knew that money was essential for a human economy to function, so He provided it in the form of gold and silver.

Rev 3:18 I counsel thee to buy of me gold tried in the fire, that thou mayest be rich

[osoab]

trying to hold on to youth i think. don't know, i'd find it really weird to be living with roomates and hitting the club at 42, but i know at least 6 of them who are still in to that. facebook may be cia, but it's ground zero for finding out the true state of affairs with how people think + live.

They also like living an easy life. They don't want things to be difficult. This is a mindset that is pervasive.

I give you credit for still recognizing these people. How do you manage not to go off on tirades?

[chad]

They also like living an easy life. They don't want things to be difficult. This is a mindset that is pervasive.

I give you credit for still recognizing these people. How do you manage not to go off on tirades?

i type them up, and then i close the browser window before i click the 'post' button. i think you nailed it too, they want everything to be easy.

[sunshine05]

Wow, Chad! It must be difficult for you to sit back and read all of that and not say anything! It makes me so glad that I figured things out a few years ago before pm prices rose. It is a little surprising that so many people are still so clueless.

[Shami-Amourae]

Palladium is looking prettier. People know what Gold, Silver, and Platinum are, but few have even heard of Palladium.

[chad]

i try to remember them for what they were, not who they are now.

my main observation is that they're clueless for the exact reason so many of us talk about here. left vs. right paradigm. PMs, for example, can't be good because goldline advertises on glenn beck. if goldline advertised on the rachel maddow show, they'd probably be donating plasma to buy some.

make no mistake though, we are for sure the enemy in a few years. give it time.

[osoab]

Palladium is looking prettier. People know what Gold, Silver, and Platinum are, but few have even heard of Palladium.

Talk up lead and copper based alloys. That will get them thinking/running.

[sunshine05]

i try to remember them for what they were, not who they are now.

my main observation is that they're clueless for the exact reason so many of us talk about here. left vs. right paradigm. PMs, for example, can't be good because goldline advertises on glenn beck. if goldline advertised on the rachel maddow show, they'd probably be donating plasma to buy some.

mak no mistake though, we are for sure the enemy in a few years. give it time.

And it's a good reminder to not advertise that we collect pm's.

[mrnhtbr2232]

I passed the "99%"ers at the San Francisco Fed on Market street today - what a bunch of sad sack homeless bums. Not one of them owns property or has a stake in the game. Instead, it's all entitlements and redistributed wealth by the looks of their signs. If this is the same in other cities then OWS is hands-down an Op because the few legitimates are outnumbered 100-to-1 by convenient numbers that look good on camera but are really just props that barf and talk to imaginary friends.

[Twisted Titan]

We. can play a sheep only but for so long.........


when the time comes we. will be ready.....

[Awoke]

Not to be a prick Chad, but IMO you are duty-bound to at least attempt to teach them the truths regarding money, government, and the global conspiracy.

[chad]

Not to be a prick Chad, but IMO you are duty-bound to at least attempt to teach them the truths regarding money, government, and the global conspiracy.

i've thought about it, but i don't know at this point anymore.

they're venomous. i've never seen anything like it. it's like a pack of wolves attacking anything they see as 'against them.' i think about 1/5 of them work in some capacity for either unions or the obama re-election campaign. i have one friend who does not post anything on facebook other than daily stories of how we should tax rich people at 91%. every day for almost 2 years i've read it. and then there's the profanity. i throw out the f bomb on here then and again against politicians i don't like, but even i would not post paragraph after paragraph laced with expletives that veer towards genuine crazy talk.

i'm kind of scared to go down the 'talk to them' road actually, as i literally think i'll end up on some secret list they're compiling. one of them went through his friend list and purged anyone he could ever remember as 'questioning obama' on facebook. he works for the democratic party of iowa. it's creepy.

i do feel some obligation to talk about things to them, but i'm still trying to figure it out without being portrayed as a "fucking bagger who wants to see working people in our country killed" (quote from my friend 'doug' about anyone doesn't believe in 91% taxation).

still trying.

[mamboni]

i've thought about it, but i don't know at this point anymore.

they're venomous. i've never seen anything like it. it's like a pack of wolves attacking anything they see as 'against them.' i think about 1/5 of them work in some capacity for either unions or the obama re-election campaign. i have one friend who does not post anything on facebook other than daily stories of how we should tax rich people at 91%. every day for almost 2 years i've read it. and then there's the profanity. i throw out the f bomb on here then and again against politicians i don't like, but even i would not post paragraph after paragraph laced with expletives that veer towards genuine crazy talk.

i'm kind of scared to go down the 'talk to them' road actually, as i literally think i'll end up on some secret list they're compiling. one of them went through his friend list and purged anyone he could ever remember as 'questioning obama' on facebook. he works for the democratic party of iowa. it's creepy.

i do feel some obligation to talk about things to them, but i'm still trying to figure it out without being portrayed as a "fucking bagger who wants to see working people in our country killed" (quote from my friend 'doug' about anyone doesn't believe in 91% taxation).

still trying.

Chicken shit pussy asswipe sniveling spineless yellow belly!!!!;D:o;D


...............not you Chad, I'm talking about the 91% tax guy.::)

[palani]

I wouldn't be too hard on them. They chose their own destiny.


if the question be, to quit a form of government to which alone it appeared that the people were willing to submit on their entering into the bonds of society, — if the greater part of a free people, after the example of the Jews in the time of Samuel, are weary of liberty, and resolved to submit to the authority of a monarch, — those citizens who are more jealous of that privilege, so invaluable to those who have tasted it, though obliged to suffer the majority to do as they please, are under no obligation at all to submit to the new government: they may quit a society which seems to have dissolved itself in order to unite again under another form

[Awoke]

Since you put it that way and expanded on it a little more, I would actually sever ties completely with that group.

They are inculcated and propogate each other's poisonous mentality. You don't need that in your life.

[chad]

Since you put it that way and expanded on it a little more, I would actually sever ties completely with that group.

They are inculcated and propogate each other's poisonous mentality. You don't need that in your life.

this close to it, this close. the only reason i haven't done it is because i consider it a spy-line to the enemy.

[mamboni]

this close to it, this close. the only reason i haven't done it is because i consider it a spy-line to the enemy.

And this is how a society becomes balkanized. One group adopts an orthodoxy that demands slavish obediance and shuts down all debate. They say all the right buzz words in exhorting their cause: freedom, rights, caring etc. Yet they have discarded basic principles of individual rights and freedoms and have constructed a political platform built on lies and fantasy. When confronted with fair questions and attempts to debate their position they become angry, violent and oppressive. In the same breath, they claim to be oppressed victims of an unfair uncaring society. They then proceed to demand that property and rights be taken from their chosen scapegoat and transferred to them. Their basic premise is that inequality in outcome, in property, in personal wealth, is proof of an unfair society which favors some over the rest. They completely discount individual abilities, desires, ambitions, and constants like luck and misfortune. Theirs are the minds of children living in a virtual playground world of the mind, insisting that all have a toy and a spot in the sandbox; and like children, lacking restraint, long term thinking, and ability to empathize with those around them, they become violent and tempermental when their desires are not satisfied immediately.

We have a large segment of society that have subscribed to a sort of gangster mentality, sugar-coated with make-believe altruism and having a core of primitive hate and envy. These folk are mentally ill and totally enslaved to a false paradigm and therefore cannot be reasoned with because logic gets in the way of their desires. Therefore, free men will be forced to use violence to protect their rights and their property. It has been this way since time and memorial.

[chad]

mamboni, you have described my experience perfectly. perfectly.

[k-os]

Your old college buddies seem too emotional to think things through to their inevitable consequence. (I think this about most people deeply entrenched in the Left/Right paradigm.)

[Canadian-guerilla]

facebook may be cia, but it's ground zero for finding out the true state of affairs with how people think + live.

i'll never register for facebook but i do agree with studying the enemy
when i'm on the computer at home,
the tv is usually on CNN / CNBC financial channel and a lot of to talk radio ( for the call ins )

[DMac]

..

C-G I think your signature is quite applicable to this thread:

the ability to stay undetected may be the most underrated and difficult prep there is
momopanda - gim1

Good posts Mamboni.

Chad, I feel for you pal. I've basically cut off the folks I used to have in my life that were like that. It helps keep my blood pressure in a healthy range by not engaging in conversations with them.

I've tried leading those horses to water. They prefer the path to the glue factory. Who am I to judge?

[Awoke]

I count me blessing. I have a lot of friends, and almost all of them either know about the conspiracy as well as me, or they know something is not right. None of my friends really buy into the LRP, etc.

[chad]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=wrPGoPFRUdc

[Silver Rocket Bitches!]

What are 40 somethings doing with that shit?

A fine example of neoteny.

[Silver Rocket Bitches!]

These people sound straight out of that scene in Atlas Shrugged with the Twentieth Century Motor Company. Our country is going to end up like that company if this shit continues.

[Joe King]

i've thought about it, but i don't know at this point anymore.

they're venomous. i've never seen anything like it. it's like a pack of wolves attacking anything they see as 'against them.'.........it's creepy.Yes, it is creepy. I've had my own experience along these lines. A person I've known for a few years and had always been good with was full of anger, ranting about how bad everything is and how his generation is so screwed. He actually said that "everyone in my generation wants to kill everyone in your generation". I doubt he meant it literally towards me, but I've noticed a great change in him recently.

He was saying how the younger generation is going to "rise up" for revolution. Talkin' about them getting guns, etc etc....I couldn't f'in hardly believe it.
....and yes, he's out of work, but to a large degree, it's his own fault.

I don't think he liked hearing about the near 20% unemployment I faced after entering the workforce.



i do feel some obligation to talk about things to them, but i'm still trying to figure it out without being portrayed as a "fucking bagger who wants to see working people in our country killed" (quote from my friend 'doug' about anyone doesn't believe in 91% taxation).

still trying.That's what I've always felt because if everyone who knows just sits quietly in a quest to not look different, it'll go their way for sure. Squeaky wheel gets the grease, remember.

However, on that note, one must be careful in how things are presented. What I've learned over the last 20+ years of trying to get through to people is that if it's presented in certain ways it can elicit an angry response. I've had people on the verge of physical altercation for simply having explained the truth about our monetary system.

IMHO, it's better to ask calculated questions about their ideas so that it forces them to actually think about their own ideas for a minute.
It helps if you act as though you're interested in their ideas, but are probing questions in order to have a more clear understanding of them.

If you shove facts in front of their faces and rub their noses in it, they get angry and shut down all reasonable thought and will reject you and your message, out-right.

I guess what I'm saying is that cognitive dissonance is a bitch, but try to cause it to be self inflicted in them. lol

It's only when one has opposing ideas that one can begin to sort them out.

[madfranks]

These people sound straight out of that scene in Atlas Shrugged with the Twentieth Century Motor Company. Our country is going to end up like that company if this shit continues.

That's exactly what I thought of too! For those unfamiliar, here's a small excerpt from that portion of the book. The whole excerpt can be read at this link. (http://bluecollarmuse.com/2008/10/06/socialisms-lying-promise/)


“Do you know how it worked, that plan, and what it did to people? Try pouring water into a tank where there’s a pipe at the bottom draining it out faster than you pour it, and each bucket you bring breaks that pipe an inch wider, and the harder you work the more is demanded of you, and you stand slinging buckets forty hours a week, then forthy-eight, then fifty-six – for your neighbor’s supper – for his wife’s operation – for his child’s measles – for his mother’s wheel chair – for his uncle’s shirt – for his nephew’s schooling – for the baby next door – for the baby to be born – for anyone anywhere around you – it’s theirs to receive, from diapers to dentures – and yours to work, from sunup to sundown, month after month, year after year, with nothing to show for it but your sweat, with nothing in sight for you but their pleasure, for the whole of your life, without rest, without hope, without end … From each according to his ability, to each according to his need …

“We’re all one big family, they told us, we’re all in this together. But you don’t all stand working an acetylene torch ten hours a day – together, and you don’t all get a bellyache – together. What’s whose ability and which of whose needs comes first? When it’s all one pot, you can’t let any man decide what his own needs are, can you? If you did, he might claim that he needs a yacht – and if his feelings are all you have to go by, he might prove it, too. Why not? If it’s not right for me to own a car until I’ve worked myself into a hospital ward, earning a car for every loafer and every naked savage on earth – why can’t he demand a yacht from me, too, if I still have the ability not to have collapsed? No? He can’t? Then why can he demand that I go without cream for my coffee until he’s replastered his living room? … Oh well … Well, anyway, it was decided that nobody had the right to judge his own need or ability. We voted on it. Yes, ma’am, we voted on it in a public meeting twice a year. How else could it be done? Do you care to think what would happen at such a meeting? It took us just one meeting to discover that we had become beggars – rotten, whining, sniveling beggars, all of us, because no man could claim his pay as his rightful earning, he had no rights and no earnings, his work didn’t belong to him, it belonged to ‘the family’, and they owed him nothing in return, and the only claim he had on them was his ‘need’ – so he had to beg in public for relief from his needs, like any lousy moocher, listing all his troubles and miseries, down to his patched drawers and his wife’s head colds, hoping that ‘the family’ would throw him the alms. He had to claim miseries, because it’s miseries, not work, that had become the coin of the realm – so it turned into a contest between six thousand panhandlers, each claiming that his need was worse than his brother’s. How else could it be done? Do you care to guess what happened, what sort of men kept quiet, feeling shame, and what sort got away with the jackpot?

“But that wasn’t all. There was something else that we discovered at the same meeting. The factory’s production had fallen by forty percent, in that first half year, so it was decided that somebody hadn’t delivered ‘according to his ability.’ Who? How would you tell it? ‘The family’ voted on that, too. We voted which men were the best, and these men were sentenced to work overtime each night for the next six months. Overtime without pay – because you weren’t paid by time and you weren’t paid by work, only by need.

“Do I have to tell you what happened after that – and into what sort of creatures we all started turning, we who had once been humans? We began to hide whatever ability we had, to slow down and watch like hawks that we never worked any faster or better than the next fellow. What else could we do, when we knew that if we did our best for ‘the family,’ it’s not thanks or rewards that we’d get, but punishment? We knew that for every stinker who’d ruin a batch of motors and cost the company money – either through his sloppiness, because he didn’t have to care, or through plain incompetence – it’s we who’d have to pay with our nights and our Sundays. So we did our best to be no good.

“There was one young boy who started out, full of fire for the noble ideal, a bright kid without any schooling, but with a wonderful head on his shoulders. The first year, he figured out a work process that saved us thousands of man-hours. He gave it to ‘the family,’ didn’t ask anything for it, either, couldn’t ask, but that was all right with him. It was for the ideal, he said. But when he found himself voted as one of our ablest and sentenced to night work, because we hadn’t gotten enough from him, he shut his mouth and his brain. You can bet he didn’t come up with any ideas, the second year.

“It didn’t take us long to see how it all worked out. Any man who tried to play straight, had to refuse himself everything. He lost his taste for any pleasure, he hated to smoke a nickel’s worth of tobacco or chew a stick of gum, worrying whether somebody had more need for that nickel. He felt ashamed of every mouthful of food he swallowed, wondering whose weary nights of overtime had paid for it, knowing that his food was not his by right, miserably wishing to be cheated rather than to cheat, to be a sucker, but not a blood-sucker. He wouldn’t marry, he wouldn’t help his folks back home, he wouldn’t put an extra burden on ‘the family.’ Besides, if he still had some sort of sense of responsibility, he couldn’t marry or bring children into the world, when he could plan nothing, promise nothing, count on nothing. But the shiftless and irresponsible had a field day of it. The bred babies, they got girls into trouble, they dragged in every worthless relative they had from all over the country, every unmarried pregnant sister, for an extra ‘disability allowance,’ they got more sicknesses than any doctor could disprove, they ruined their clothing, their furniture, their homes – what the hell, ‘the family’ was paying for it! They found more ways of getting in ‘need’ than the rest of us could ever imagine – they developed a special skill for it, which was the only ability they showed.

“Love of our brothers? That’s when we learned to hate our brothers for the first time in our lives. We began to hate them for every meal they swallowed, for every small pleasure they enjoyed, for one man’s new shirt, for another’s wife’s hat, for an outing with their family, for a paint job on their house – it was taken from us, it was paid for by our privations, our denials, our hunger. We began to spy on one another, each hoping to catch the others lying about their needs, so as to cut their ‘allowance’ at the next meeting. We began to have stool pigeons who informed on people, who reported that somebody had bootlegged a turkey to his family on some Sunday – which he’d paid for by gambling, most likely. We began to meddle into one another’s lives. We provoked family quarrels, to get somebody’s relatives thrown out. Any time we saw a man starting to go steady with a girl, we made life miserable for him. We broke up many engagements. We didn’t want anyone to marry, we didn’t want any more dependents to feed.