“1. Work hard and make the most money you can.”
As a thought exercise, when you do that, assuming you do so legally and taxably, roughly 50% of that money is removed from your control, tracked, and in general, housed within a government-controlled entity subject to partial or full confiscation. Unless you coffee-can it which is increasingly an actionable activity in and of itself, should you be discovered. Of that which is removed from your control, roughly half probably goes to a “program” of sorts that is designed to empower, either by vote-recruitment or armed paramilitary recruitment, folks who would be happy to turn you and yours into food. So if you make $1000, $250 potentially goes to pay some dudes from the hood armed with AK-47’s that you probably paid for. Your taxes bankroll the opposition, in effect. If you’re confident in your ability to fend off a Waco-grade assault, fine.
Your other points I (and Karl) agree with.
You can’t make all the necessary preparations without money regardless of what the FedGov takes unless you already have loads of cash. I can agree with the concept of lowering income AFTER you have prepared, but not before.