SHTF 2011 what do you do?

[D5CAV]

Except Patrick Henry...

One big stain on Washington's record is his heavy-handed supression of the "Whiskey Rebellion".

Hamilton put a 25% tax on whiskey to pay off notes of the continental congress. These notes were not expected to be paid by anyone except for wealthy financier friends of the Sec Treas Hamilton (sound familiar?). These financiers sent agents around the country buying up these notes for pennies on the dollar. Once they had about 90% of all the notes outstanding, Hamilton put in place a system to pay off these notes in specie (silver). To do this, he had to collect taxes in specie (silver).

So what's wrong with paying some sin taxes on that evil whiskey? you ask. Well, if you were scraping out a living on the frontier in Western Pennsylvania or Western Virginia, you may as well have been on the moon by today's standards. You were a good weeks journey from Philadelphia or Baltimore.

If you were a farmer, there was no way it was economic for you to ship grain from the Ohio River valley to Philadelphia. So you distilled it into whiskey, which was high-enough value to be shipped. Whiskey was money on the frontier. Many people went a year without seeing a single silver coin. So the tax collector shows up and says "pay taxes." You say, "OK, take some whiskey." He says "No -- must be in silver!" Why silver? So Hamilton can give his payoff to his rich Wall Street friends and relatives in NYC.

Here's a little bit about it here: http://mises.org/story/2110

[D5CAV]

The Motor City Madman also says "The US Constitution is my CCW!".

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LCHtw6WbbnM

[The Quiet Man]

The Motor City Madman also says "The US Constitution is my CCW!".

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LCHtw6WbbnM

Money quote - "I don't like repeat offenders, I like DEAD offenders." It warmed my heart just to hear another human being utter those sentiments