Posted on 03/19/2013 10:23:36 AM PDT by Ernest_at_the_Beach
But here is what's happening to me.
I have spent the last 5 years paying down debts and have finally started making some serious headway to becoming completely debt free. So even though I am making about the same amount of money, I have more disposable income because it's not all going to interest on various loans I used to have.
I recently paid a plumber $120 to crawl under my house and change out three drains. He works for a plumbing company but came over and did it on his day off. (Got him by word-of-mouth. Theres no way I would have had somebody do this job at the price the plumbing company wanted.) I know a roofer and a carpenter who will do one heck of a job, for cash. I think they are otherwise unemployed. I know a woman who will hook up your air conditioner and get it running. Shell tell you what to buy on the internet and how to get it shipped and help you install it. No warranty, but its 1/3 the cost of having a company do it. These people are pretty busy.
Now, having had a company, Im annoyed. But unemployed people cant afford paying the freight to have any of these jobs done with insured, bonded, licensed workers. As an employer, once you add the mandatory requirements for health insurance, unemployment tax, social security, and other freight, you must charge $100/hour and $250 to send a truck out. So a simple, minor job, done by the book, costs the client $500-1,000. When the client has no income, they simply put off doing these things or they trade for them or they buy them off-book for cash. And, no, this isnt healthy for the economy. In the Soviet Union, everybody had their day job where they pretended to work and the government pretended to pay them; then, they had their real work. Theyd stand on street corners with a toolbox and fix cars, or do plumbing, or make illegal alcohol. Thats what the government is driving us to; an unregulated, off-book economy. And, heres the thing. Once the bulk of the economy has converted to off-book, it wont convert back.
Lots of cash day work here in California going on.
Our millions of California illegals paid thus.
Saves those hiring big bucks.
Allows the cash-payment workers to claim lower income so to get the govt freebies too.
Before the existence of the IRS, one could argue the entire economy was “black market”. I believe the entire article is based on a false premise, though I agree that when a lot of people go galt (it would fit within the author’s definition of “black market”) it does mean we have a problem.
The current Administration picks and chooses which laws they will or will not obey.
No surprise if ordinary folks notice and figure that what is good for the gander is good for the goose.
I’m looking for a deal on scuba gear; you know how many unfortunate boating accidents there have been with innocent guns on board?
It’s why we got chickens, a garden and a couple of steers. We’re splitting the steers with another guy and our chickens produce six eggs a day in winter. We can from the garden.
A friend who is an electrician does most of his work for cash. But they don’t need much cash because they also sell “shares” in their dairy cattle, allowing “shareholders” to legally consume the non-pasteurized milk they sell. They sell their eggs too. They get a lot more than us.
They pay no income tax. They are below the “poverty level”.
Good point, and it’s also the preppers stocking up.
>>> Further, its not healthy for the government that creates or amplifies such a market, if for no other reason than it cannot extract rational revenues from its participants, putting more of a burden on legal commerce.
Ed Morrissey still thinks our government is benevolent, and follows all of its own laws.
I haven’t heard a thing but I do know how to get rust off stuff.
Tax cheating
Craigslist
Barter
Lack of income reporting
Black market usage (food stamps for cash, etc.)
ObamaLand is a terrible place, and people react.
That’s why the government would like nothing better than to eliminate cash. If all transactions are done digitally they can trace it and tax the hell out of it. Right down to sales tax at a garage sale.
Comming soon. Due to the extreme cost of paper money the Government will be going to the credit system. All electronic.
I’ve been wondering about this for some time. The economic numbers don’t add up to what I see with my own eyes. During the election campaign, a black man called local talk radio. He was defending Obama and the unemployment figures. He said unemployment wasn’t as bad as everyone was saying. He said he personally knew about 50 people who were collecting unemployment compensation and working somewhere for cash under the table. Add in the underground economy of the illegals. That’s the Obama economy.
And that is more or less exactly what it is. The whole dam country is on food stamps. If I didn’t have to spend $300-400 a month on food I could sure buy alot of crap.
Was talking to a friend about this the other day when she was out shopping as cheaply as she could and she noticed everyone elses baskets were full.
Your not kidding, screw them!
My wife done some minor damage to her vehicle this winter. Not enough to turn in on insurance which would have killed my rates. The guy at the body shop says $300 to repair it. I said how about straight cash? $250. He does the repair I hand over the cash and we both say screw you to the feds and the KY revenue cabinet.
Food stamps artificially inflate food costs for those not using them. We not only pay for them, but get screwed by them.
>>>Due to the extreme cost of paper money the Government will be going to the credit system. All electronic.<<<
Barter has never really disappeared - it’s the natural default human economic system. If it comes down to it, I’ll trade cabbages and tomatoes for someone to come over and dig a trench for the new septic system. I would imagine that somewhere along the line some form of informal money would also emerge - perhaps along the form of paper checks. Ensuring that both parties are satisfied, however, could be a real problem, since it’ll be operating outside the law. However, people could also self-construct parallel government systems, too - sort of like the mob, maybe, or maybe paying people to be a private police force or army. I would bet there would be rough frontier justice sometimes, too.
It’ll be like feudalism all over again.
God help us.
Wonder how much ‘increased consumer spending’ is fueled by under-the-table cash sales of counterfeit ethanol RINS and bogus “carbon credit” certs?
Wonder how much scrapping out somebody else’s copper church roof or air conditioners “contributes”?
I understand there’s also a cash market for used school buses in Chicagoland, too, that would certainly boost spending, if the cops would just keep their interfering noses out of the business of the scrap business.
My experience is that a lot of these off the books skilled workers are on disability. Ticks me off...
You're doing the only thing left to reign in the statists - starve the beast. Deny it's fuel to grow ever larger and controlling.
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