Inside the Trillion-Dollar Underground Economy Keeping Many Americans (Barely) Afloat in Desperate T

reply to post by Aim64C


Your belief that this can be changed with a political coup of sorts is commendable but not workable. The machine does not care much what the peasants think. The powers that be will not allow establishment corporate press to point a camera at a candidate for office that the establishment does not want so they will not get elected.

The underground economy is capitalism in purest form...and most people I know deal in it in some form. Most of them do so, not for ethics or protests,...it is merely a way to make some extra money without regulations, fees, taxes, licenses, etc....

Many others do so to avoid drug tests...they employ themselves, provide a service...and do good work. then when it is time to relax... they burn one. No piss in a cup for them.

Still others report the check and credit card income to the business...but any cash goes straight into the economy... so to speak.

What I fear is the government, through some contrived economic collapse, will do away with the dollar... physical currency, and switch over to electronic money or credits of some sort... all the better to reign in the underground economy...

In which case, bartering will surely become a form of currency exchange.

If you're not apart of the underground economy, you either have a really awesome job, or you aren't trying

tax THIS.

reply to post by illuminatislave

The premier book on the concept of a free society and free market p2p association of people is called "A lodging of Wayfaring Men" Download the book here: agorism.info...

This book defines the future and the underground economy in a very prophetic way.

Originally posted by wayouttheredude
reply to post by TeslaandLyne

 

Thanks for the thread bump but reading your post I am like WTF? I am guessing drunk driving on the information superhighway.

Too funny..I had to read the post twice but no luck..I'm still lost

I believe if the US government tries to limit the undergound economy, then alternative currencies will become normal where they may not be normal yet. I read the state government where I live has politicians proposing a state currency convertible to gold. I believe I saw a tv show indicating that there may be over 200 different currencies in use in the US right now. Most of course don't have widespread use since most people prefer using dollars.

I've talked to some exotic dancers and it's not usual for a lot of their cash income to not be reported unless she had to so that she could qualify for a mortgage to buy a house. Many families and even people in the same neighborhood do work in exchange for money at times and nothing gets reported to anyone. If you do yard work for someone else, it used to be you got paid whatever the two of you agreed to. If you got paid for the job and it took a lot longer than expected, you got screwed unless you were still happy getting a set sum for hard work that took hours longer than expected. I can't believe how much lawn care people make for trimming the tiny little lawns on my street. $20 to $30 or more for 30 minutes or less of work.

Originally posted by illuminatislave
If you're not apart of the underground economy, you either have a really awesome job, or you aren't trying

tax THIS.

I gotta say that I am part of the underground and still have a really awesome job.

Originally posted by wayouttheredude
reply to post by TeslaandLyne

 

Thanks for the thread bump but reading your post I am like WTF? I am guessing drunk driving on the information superhighway.

I think the intent was to say red heads were too horny and donated
more than their share. Well people got it or they don't as the red
hair gene is hidden. I never did get a reading on blue eyes if that
gene was the same way.

Yeah WTF to you too.

Originally posted by skindoc

Originally posted by wayouttheredude
reply to post by TeslaandLyne

 

Thanks for the thread bump but reading your post I am like WTF? I am guessing drunk driving on the information superhighway.

Too funny..I had to read the post twice but no luck..I'm still lost

edit on 23-9-2011 by skindoc because: (no reason given)

Sit on it.
What is your clue.
WTF a doppelganger.

Mr. WTF and Mr. Doppelganger do not consider a sperm bank part
of an underground economy. So why don't the F you say so.
Lets deny ignorance instead of showing yours.

Originally posted by TeslaandLyne
Are sperm donations reported.
Red heads are too eager to donate and can't give it away free now.
That had to be an under the table network.
The government will start printing money to end the money contraction by
AIG bail outs and the money masters and start free energy plans too I hope.

I am sure when you wrote this you understood what you were saying. I am afraid it did not turn out that way for others trying to make some sense of these words strung together. It reads like 3 incomplete thoughts on 3 different subjects. I read it like 3 times and it still did not make sense so that was the reason for my comment. Sorry to seem so critical but you just did not make sense with that post.

The bump was one day old.
I bumped into the posts of serious experts and ruined the tone of propaganda of some agenda
most likely. I'm not going back and cut and past like an editor but try and recall what you
missed like an estimated trillion dollars being involved and some states printing their own
money. I am satisfied with the research and finding I found on the net but some of this topic
is from the hallucinations of some agents drive down the internet highway of propaganda.

So got you back.
Thanks for making amends.
Best to you and all posters.

Originally posted by wayouttheredude
reply to post by michaelmcclen

 

I do the same over here. Also if I am at a business dinner and paying with my card I pay the tip in cash. I know that wait staff are paid far less than minimum wage and then they have to split their tip jar with the government. It makes me sick that the lowest wage workers have to split their meager earnings with big brother. At least when I pay them in cash perhaps they can under report some of it. That way they are able to feed their kids and pay their car insurance.

If you are so against paying taxes, then stop using public roads and other tax payer funded amenities.
Maybe you would like to foot the bill for roads and infrastructure, education, health care etc out of your own pocket and yours alone?

I'm not saying the wars are just or money well spent. What I'm saying is think of the big picture.
Millions of people stop paying taxes, then how will roads and other services be provided?
Your country is already in a massive debt hole that it probably wont get out of.
Look at Greece. Tax evasion and the black economy are the number one reason why the country is in debt.
Because of that, governments over the past 15-20 years had to borrow massive amounts of money. Then the global economy faltered. Now what?

By not paying taxes, you are not some ultra patriot that should have a statue built in his honour. You are doing your country a disservice and in the long run not only hurting your self and the current generation, but future generations as well who will be left to foot the bill of your selfishness.

reply to post by BLV12


I am talking about the most underpaid people in the job market here. Wait staff are not even paid minimum wage. I am saying that they have to split their measly tip jar with the government when there wages are not even as high as the dish washer. You think I am against paying for public services? I am saying that those who are given the least in this system should be given a break against taxation that far exceeds anything fair or reasonable.

What planet are you on? How does someone make a living on $400-$500 per week in an economy where you have to have at least that much to own a car and pay its insurance and pay for your rent and food. People are taxed enough on the lower income levels of this society already. No one stated that we do not think roads are needed or fire departments.

You people, maybe not you specifically but others in this thread(damn, this is why this forum software needs a multi-quote option like vBulletin), are talking about either being "off the grid" or going off it, and not paying taxes, and basically living in the black economy.

If it wasn't you, then I apologise. But my points still stand.
Even if you are making below minimum wage, the government shouldn't be held accountable for YOUR choices.
Circumstances are different for everyone, some are born into poverty, etc, etc. That doesn't mean one has to stay in poverty.
There are options out there to improve your life, if you stop feeling sorry for your self and get off your ass and do something about your situation and improve your life.

My grandparents left Europe 60 years ago. They couldn't speak a word of English. They left with nothing, literally a suit case each and a few old clothes they had. They worked their asses off 12 hours a day and saving as much money as they could. My parents, they worked their asses off 12 hours a day too. I barely saw them as a child, I was pretty much raised by my grand parents because my parents were working all day.

The point I'm making is they didnt sit there feeling sorry for them selves. What money they made, they saved as much as they could. They didn't get out of poverty in a few weeks, it took them years. It's why I had the opportunities I did, it's why I got to go to private schools, it's why I went on four over seas holidays before I had even turned 18, and so on.

I have no sympathy for people who feel sorry for them selves when they do NOTHING to improve their lives.
If they are happy where they are, then fine. But to sit there are whine about taxes and other nonsense when your fate and your future is in your own hands is absolutely disgusting.

There are people far worse off then minimum wage earners. There are people who have come from a lot less and done something with their lives.

So spare me the theatrics about taxes and low income earners.
The government isn't holding them down. They are holding them selves down.