Playing The Game
Battle armor is where you find it
Modern Fascism began 5,000 years ago in Sumer, in the southern plains of Iraq. To recapitulate my argument from my last column, Fascism (a.k.a. Corporatism) is a form of collectivism, whereby power is concentrated in corporations (artificial “persons”) that supersede and supplant political and religious organizations. It could even be argued that the Tower of Babel was a metaphor for collectivist entities like corporations.
History teaches us that humans are collectivist beings. Despite brief flashes of individualism, we tend to congeal around collective entities, because the centralization of power — economic and political — offers benefits to the individual that they cannot find anywhere else. Fact of life, not much we can do about human nature. The problems arise when we grant our collectivist entities the same or greater power than the individual — personhood — under the law.
When one fully understands what has been happening, during the entire history of human civilization, one can appreciate the Sisyphean task of fighting the relentless march of Fascism. Corporations are clearly consolidating political and economic power, and its followers defend it with a zeal that borders on religious.
How does someone fight this wave without getting swamped? I have a theory based on the idea that it’s easier to reach the shore when you paddle with the current.
The law, especially in the United States, but increasingly throughout the world, protects corporations, and thanks to court decisions like Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission, collectivist organizations have been handed the purse strings to governments.
In fact, I would argue that the end result of the recent pandemic was the triumph of Fascism, in which corporate interests dictated policies and mandates to governments the world over, with great apparent success. The 2020 US elections might turn out to be another victory. After all, in both cases, who were the arbiters of “misinformation” and “disinformation”? Correct answer: corporations.
Who owns the GeezerMedia and all the Blow-Dried Baubleheads? What are at the hearts of all the campaigns, political parties, unions, global organizations, and even the United Nations? Who owns the Central Bank system, SWIFT, and the stock exchanges? Who owns the pharmaceutical companies, hospitals, insurance companies, and apothecaries? Who owns the production of raw materials, the processing plants, the shipping industry, and product marketing agencies? Who owns the mortuaries, crematoria, and cemeteries? Who’s trying to take ownership of the very atmosphere and the building blocks of life (carbon)?
Oh yes, and how does your place of worship receive tax exempt status, collect donations, contract with service providers, and operate beyond the tenure or lifetime of the principles? Oh that’s right, they’re all corporations.
And just to drive a nail in it, do you think the “evil” countries — i.e. Russia, Libya, Syria, Iran, North Korea, etc. — are part of the global Fascist system, or fighting it?
So, with all that behind us, do you think it’s more effective to fight the beast head on, or figure out a way to use their system against them?
Why not form a family corporation? The big boys do, and that’s how the rich get richer, while the rest of us get screwed.
Suppose a little paperwork and a filing fee would short-circuit lawsuits against members of your family, protect your assets, covert all your living expenses into corporate expenses, derail family court systems and child “protective” services, prevent probate courts and death taxes from destroying your lifetime of hard work, and enrich your progeny for generations to come?
Be on notice that nothing in this column constitutes legal or financial advice, and the reader is encouraged to investigate this matter independently, and seek licensed, certified “experts” to guide and inform.
Let’s say you, the family CEO, die. There’s no will to fight over or greedy government salivating over your estate. The Board of Directors (your family) simply appoint a new CEO and march on into the fog — no death tax, no lawyers, no probate court appointments.
Let’s say all your monthly bills are deducted from corporate revenues before being taxed. Marriage becomes a Merger & Acquisition or a Joint Venture, while divorce becomes a mediated disassociation with division of assets according to percentage of ownership. Heck, you might even be able to sue your ex for libel if he/she says anything disparaging about you or the corporation, and an NDA might even help that. Might there also be a non-compete agreement in the mix?
Let’s say a guest at your company party falls off the deck and sues, but they can’t touch you nor any of your family’s assets, nor any of the officers. At best, they get an out-of-court settlement with your insurance provider, but piercing the “corporate veil” makes anything more a monumental task.
Maybe the school gets “concerned” about one of your officers (your child). They would have an entirely new buffer of legal mumbo-jumbo before they can even think about touching an officer of your corporation.
But wait! I hear you say. How come nobody ever talks about things like this?
Exactly. I rest my case.
Look at all the major political and industrial families. They all have “foundations” and “trusts” behind which they operate. This is because the “corporate” blanket provides certain protections and immunities for the individuals involved and their assets, that the lone “natural human” on the land does not have. The laws are specifically set up that way, because the corporations have the political and economic clout to lobby for those protections, and they certainly don’t want us plebes enjoying the same privileges.
In the digital age, there are new and updated corporate forms coming that offer even more opportunities to amass wealth, share the benefits and even offer shares on the open market without oversight. One such entity is called the Decentralized Autonomous Organization (DAO).
This is essentially a “can’t beat ‘em so join ‘em” strategy, and perhaps it is not a perfect one for those seeking to unwind the Fascist system. It does, however, empower the individual in ways not available otherwise, and allows families to amass wealth the same way the Big Guys do. In a sense, it is the ancient Peerage system updated to a more complex social and legal system that allows anyone to buy into it with the proper paperwork.
The newer digitized versions of corporations are even more interesting, and can be used to democratize power and influence in ways never before conceived. In a sense, it is using “their” system against them.
It’s a strategy and not an end.
Establish your entity on the Far Side:
E-book: Paper Golem: Corporate Personhood & the Legal Fiction
Contact Bernard Grover at luap.jkt @ gmail . com
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There is something inherently distasteful about these concepts, but you put it correctly about paddling with the tide. It is in our nature to play by the rules within a 'fair' system, but eventually we realize the system was never fair. Doug Casey is a good source of info, he especially advocates corporations and trusts for the reasons you stated. They are 'within the rules' of the tax man, just not well understood by the public at large. Family corps are still legitimate business, even if they have an ulterior motive.
Trusts are the real big deal, because they can own corporations and other assets. So you can end up with several layers of security, to the point where the owners of the trust located on foreign soil are not even disclosed. I have not managed to do this mainly because it is very expensive to set up, but this is how all the big players do it. My advice is paddle with that tide. Use their own system to your advantage, enjoy more freedom, privacy, and future security.
If you can't beat them, join them . In as much as using their game to our own advantage. There are a myriad of little and big things that can be achieved. What is deemed illegal by the criminally un just system becomes less so. Why are all politicians lawyers? Because they can use it to their criminal advantage.