by James Corbett
corbettreport.com
August 10, 2016
Freedom. Terrible, terrible freedom. It's almost like people are naturally inclined to seek it out. And if you're not careful, it can pop up anywhere.
Take this "Peer-to-peer economy" that the plebs are talking about these days. They actually want to trade products and services directly, without going through the transnational corporate slave structure that we've spent so long honing to perfection! The nerve!
And apparently it's working out for them. Did you know that professionals who sell their services directly to clients through the P2P economy are now making a median income of $61,000 a year, higher than the national average of $54,000?
And that's just the income they're willing to admit to making. Who knows how much people make working under the table for cash, or participating in community exchanges! None of that income will ever be taxed, of course. So who, exactly, is going to pay for the Pentagon's next trillion dollar boondoggle or the next war of aggression in the Middle East?
And what of our beautiful taxicab medallion system? You know, those monopolies on the government-granted privilege of making money by giving someone a ride? That system was working out so well for corrupt city officials and their crony business friends. Why, in the 10 years from 2001 to 2011 alone the price rose nearly 6000% to $1 million. In the next two years it more than doubled to $2.5 million. $2.5 million just to buy the right to operate a taxi in New York City! What a beautiful system.
But then these ride-sharing services came along. The gall of them, letting drivers communicate directly with customers to arrange rides via their phones. Faster service. Cheaper rides. No million dollar medallions or golden handshakes or taxi monopolies. Freedom. Terrible, terrible freedom. And the people seem to like it. The majority of taxi users in Australia now use ride sharing apps.
But wait, it gets worse. When the city of Austin ran both Uber and Lyft out of town with proposed regulatory burdens, something strange happened. People didn't sheepishly go back to using the city-approved taxis. They started looking for even greater freedom. Now instead of using bloated, government-colluding corporate ride-sharing apps they began looking for decentralized, peer-to-peer ride-sharing alternatives. Within weeks an alternative had sprung up with 30,000 riders and drivers connecting directly to each other without a corporate middleman.
And here's the worst part: That ride-sharing platform teamed up with a sharing economy charity that distributes discarded food from restaurants and grocery stores to the homeless. Together they have now delivered 1,000 meals to the homeless in Austin.
So what's next for these freedom-loving degenerates, you ask?
Free, peer-to-peer global cash transfers that eliminate delays, bank charges, and even the need for a bank account? It's already here.
A decentralized social messaging system that alerts a social circle of your choosing in the event of an accident, emergency or run in with the police? There's an app for that.
Freedom cells, conscious agorism and a general awakening to countereconomics by which people can support each other rather than wait for the government to do it for them? Check, check and check.
Do you realize what this means? It means that the plebs are actually starting to spontaneously organize in new and innovative ways to help each other. This is a disaster! What if they stop believing that all charity on earth must be provided by the government? What if they start creating self-sufficient communities? Or collaborating without corporate middlemen? Or transacting around the world without the knowledge or oversight of our tax collectors?
Freedom. Terrible, terrible freedom. What if there's no putting a lid on it?
Decentralize all the things!!
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With all the bombardment of terror and fear porn thrown at us these days, how beautifully refreshing this news is. So wonderful to hear about such positive turns happening. There is hope for us yet.
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Here is similar content:
http://theinternationalforecaster.com/International_Forecaster_Weekly/Terrible_Freedom
Author is the same one. I follow James Corbett for quite some time. Nice to know that there are people like you, who alerts about possible copy-pasters. But @corbettrport is not one of them.
The future belongs to peer-to-peer and decentralized systems. This much is for sure.
@corbettreport is one of the best media outlets around. I think I watch/read everything he puts out. Happy to have you here!
What has the government done for me lately?
Nothing comes to mind.
What has the government done to me lately?
But I am not black, nor am I the victim of terrorism like the man in the picture above, but if it happens to one of us, it is happening to all of us. Hopefully someday we can stop the terrorists.
Awesome post... reminds how the US alone has murdered millions of people in Iraq and Afghanistan yet most Americans call Muslims "evil"... always nice to see others not brainwashed into praising the State! Cheers
Thanks, I'm glad you are here :)
These systems of Agorism, Counter-Economics, Voluntarysism, and others which seem to be organized around the NAP all seem to be coming together just in time to watch the global economy collapse.
All the solutions are already out there. It's just up to people to start using the most powerful word, "NO". Once we start refusing to participate in systems that are enslaving humanity, we can embrace all the new systems which will free us. It's beautiful destruction brought on by Truth which we are all a part of and witnessing. James Corbett is on the front lines! Upvote this man!
Nice and hilarious article. Keep fighting for freedom and one day the dystopian world that you have mention before will come true.
By the way, you just resembled Larken Rose sense of humor here. LOL.
We will all be murdered by Hitlery Cliton(it's not a typo)
Nice to find you here as well... I am following your work for quite some time. Great post!
everything is getting decentralized. anyone heard of the blocknet? decentralized crypto exchange.
Thank you Mr Corbett - I saw your video, then Lukes, then signed up. I hope it works out fine... I am a avid fan of your work. Kepp on keeping on. Big Love. Mark Mace Smith - thepoet
Help! I got the freedom on me!!!!!!
I so dearly hope there's no putting a lid on it, because what we have now isn't working.
Something's gotta give.
I eat legislation for breakfast.
I have no problem with this paradigm but we must be aware of compelling arguments from people such as economist Richard Wolff. Peer-to-peer or horizontal economy loses it's horizontal appeal when again one at the top is taking money that should go to the drivers and pocketing it. What looked horizontal at first becomes a vertical top-down system where the driver gets undercut and works for less money than she should. I'm all about the worker coop aspect of the peer-to-peer economy where there are no fat cats at the top. If there is top-down going on, it's not fully peer-to-peer. Uber is partly peer-to-peer and part "i own you". If the owners of Uber wanted to they could flip the switch and kill it. True peer-to-peer should run on block chain, be decentralized, run into infinity and divide the profits equally to those that do the work. What about http://arcade.city/? https://cointelegraph.com/news/arcade-city-decentralized-blockchain-based-answer-to-uber http://motherboard.vice.com/read/arcade-city-is-the-black-market-uber-that-runs-on-facebook-christopher-david
There are not a lot of people I love outside my Pack! But I have loved you James for a long time by far one of the best the internet has to offer! Cheers
our only hope,
ohh buy one can you be more open
Thanks @corbettreport, a lot of good info in this article and timely for me personally as I am trying to detox from all the negative news of the last few weeks.
First time on steemit after watching James Corbett's video. I've been following Corbett Report for a long time. There aren't many trustworthy reporters left these days. James Corbett is one of the few . I hope he gets lots of upvotes for his cause. Trouble is, I do not see how to upvote his article.
To upvote, click the little upward pointing arrow next to the dollar amount, just below the main article.
I'm so happy to see Mr. Corbett here on steemit. He and Larken Rose are the two people I trust and admire most in the voluntaryist world.
Freedom works for honest upright people. With an evil element, it's self-destruction. Somehow, the evil element always seems to come in and ruin everything.