Replies

If you’re reading this, you’re no doubt asking yourself, “Why did this have to happen?” The simple truth is that it is complicated and has been coming for a long time. The writing process, started many months ago, was intended to be therapy in the face of the looming realization that there isn’t enough therapy in the world that can fix what is really broken. Needless to say, this rant could fill volumes with example after example if I would let it. I find the process of writing it frustrating, tedious, and probably pointless… especially given my gross inability to gracefully articulate my thoughts in light of the storm raging in my head. Exactly what is therapeutic about that I’m not sure, but desperate times call for desperate measures.

We are all taught as children that without laws there would be no society, only anarchy. Sadly, starting at early ages we in this country have been brainwashed to believe that, in return for our dedication and service, our government stands for justice for all. We are further brainwashed to believe that there is freedom in this place, and that we should be ready to lay our lives down for the noble principals represented by its founding fathers. Remember? One of these was “no taxation without representation”. I have spent the total years of my adulthood unlearning that crap from only a few years of my childhood. These days anyone who really stands up for that principal is promptly labeled a “crackpot”, traitor and worse.

While very few working people would say they haven’t had their fair share of taxes (as can I), in my lifetime I can say with a great degree of certainty that there has never been a politician cast a vote on any matter with the likes of me or my interests in mind. Nor, for that matter, are they the least bit interested in me or anything I have to say.

Why is it that a handful of thugs and plunderers can commit unthinkable atrocities (and in the case of the GM executives, for scores of years) and when it’s time for their gravy train to crash under the weight of their gluttony and overwhelming stupidity, the force of the full federal government has no difficulty coming to their aid within days if not hours? Yet at the same time, the joke we call the American medical system, including the drug and insurance companies, are murdering tens of thousands of people a year and stealing from the corpses and victims they cripple, and this country’s leaders don’t see this as important as bailing out a few of their vile, rich cronies. Yet, the political “representatives” (thieves, liars, and self-serving scumbags is far more accurate) have endless time to sit around for year after year and debate the state of the “terrible health care problem”. It’s clear they see no crisis as long as the dead people don’t get in the way of their corporate profits rolling in.

And justice? You’ve got to be kidding!

How can any rational individual explain that white elephant conundrum in the middle of our tax system and, indeed, our entire legal system? Here we have a system that is, by far, too complicated for the brightest of the master scholars to understand. Yet, it mercilessly “holds accountable” its victims, claiming that they’re responsible for fully complying with laws not even the experts understand. The law “requires” a signature on the bottom of a tax filing; yet no one can say truthfully that they understand what they are signing; if that’s not “duress” than what is. If this is not the measure of a totalitarian regime, nothing is.

How did I get here?

My introduction to the real American nightmare starts back in the early ‘80s. Unfortunately after more than 16 years of school, somewhere along the line I picked up the absurd, pompous notion that I could read and understand plain English. Some friends introduced me to a group of people who were having ‘tax code’ readings and discussions. In particular, zeroed in on a section relating to the wonderful “exemptions” that make institutions like the vulgar, corrupt Catholic Church so incredibly wealthy. We carefully studied the law (with the help of some of the “best”, high-paid, experienced tax lawyers in the business), and then began to do exactly what the “big boys” were doing (except that we weren’t steeling from our congregation or lying to the government about our massive profits in the name of God). We took a great deal of care to make it all visible, following all of the rules, exactly the way the law said it was to be done.

The intent of this exercise and our efforts was to bring about a much-needed re-evaluation of the laws that allow the monsters of organized religion to make such a mockery of people who earn an honest living. However, this is where I learned that there are two “interpretations” for every law; one for the very rich, and one for the rest of us… Oh, and the monsters are the very ones making and enforcing the laws; the inquisition is still alive and well today in this country.

That little lesson in patriotism cost me $40,000+, 10 years of my life, and set my retirement plans back to 0. It made me realize for the first time that I live in a country with an ideology that is based on a total and complete lie. It also made me realize, not only how naive I had been, but also the incredible stupidity of the American public; that they buy, hook, line, and sinker, the crap about their “freedom”… and that they continue to do so with eyes closed in the face of overwhelming evidence and all that keeps happening in front of them.

Before even having to make a shaky recovery from the sting of the first lesson on what justice really means in this country (around 1984 after making my way through engineering school and still another five years of “paying my dues”), I felt I finally had to take a chance of launching my dream of becoming an independent engineer.

On the subjects of engineers and dreams of independence, I should digress somewhat to say that I’m sure that I inherited the fascination for creative problem solving from my father. I realized this at a very young age.

The significance of independence, however, came much later during my early years of college; at the age of 18 or 19 when I was living on my own as student in an apartment in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. My neighbor was an elderly retired woman (80+ seemed ancient to me at that age) who was the widowed wife of a retired steel worker. Her husband had worked all his life in the steel mills of central Pennsylvania with promises from big business and the union that, for his 30 years of service, he would have a pension and medical care to look forward to in his retirement. Instead he was one of the thousands who got nothing because the incompetent mill management and corrupt union (not to mention the government) raided their pension funds and stole their retirement. All she had was social security to live on.

In retrospect, the situation was laughable because here I was living on peanut butter and bread (or Ritz crackers when I could afford to splurge) for months at a time. When I got to know this poor figure and heard her story I felt worse for her plight than for my own (I, after all, I thought I had everything to in front of me). I was genuinely appalled at one point, as we exchanged stories and commiserated with each other over our situations, when she in her grandmotherly fashion tried to convince me that I would be “healthier” eating cat food (like her) rather than trying to get all my substance from peanut butter and bread. I couldn’t quite go there, but the impression was made. I decided that I didn’t trust big business to take care of me, and that I would take responsibility for my own future and myself.

Return to the early ‘80s, and here I was off to a terrifying start as a ‘wet-behind-the-ears’ contract software engineer... and two years later, thanks to the fine backroom, midnight effort by the sleazy executives of Arthur Andersen (the very same folks who later brought us Enron and other such calamities) and an equally sleazy New York Senator (Patrick Moynihan), we saw the passage of 1986 tax reform act with its section 1706.

For you who are unfamiliar, here is the core text of the IRS Section 1706, defining the treatment of workers (such as contract engineers) for tax purposes. Visit this link for a conference committee report (http://www.synergistech.com/1706.shtml#ConferenceCommitteeReport) regarding the intended interpretation of Section 1706 and the relevant parts of Section 530, as amended. For information on how these laws affect technical services workers and their clients, read our discussion here (http://www.synergistech.com/ic-taxlaw.shtml).

SEC. 1706. TREATMENT OF CERTAIN TECHNICAL PERSONNEL.

(a) IN GENERAL - Section 530 of the Revenue Act of 1978 is amended by adding at the end thereof the following new subsection:

(d) EXCEPTION. - This section shall not apply in the case of an individual who pursuant to an arrangement between the taxpayer and another person, provides services for such other person as an engineer, designer, drafter, computer programmer, systems analyst, or other similarly skilled worker engaged in a similar line of work.

(b) EFFECTIVE DATE. - The amendment made by this section shall apply to remuneration paid and services rendered after December 31, 1986.

Note:

• "another person" is the client in the traditional job-shop relationship.

• "taxpayer" is the recruiter, broker, agency, or job shop.

• "individual", "employee", or "worker" is you.

Admittedly, you need to read the treatment to understand what it is saying but it’s not very complicated. The bottom line is that they may as well have put my name right in the text of section (d). Moreover, they could only have been more blunt if they would have came out and directly declared me a criminal and non-citizen slave. Twenty years later, I still can’t believe my eyes.

During 1987, I spent close to $5000 of my ‘pocket change’, and at least 1000 hours of my time writing, printing, and mailing to any senator, congressman, governor, or slug that might listen; none did, and they universally treated me as if I was wasting their time. I spent countless hours on the L.A. freeways driving to meetings and any and all of the disorganized professional groups who were attempting to mount a campaign against this atrocity. This, only to discover that our efforts were being easily derailed by a few moles from the brokers who were just beginning to enjoy the windfall from the new declaration of their “freedom”. Oh, and don’t forget, for all of the time I was spending on this, I was loosing income that I couldn’t bill clients.

After months of struggling it had clearly gotten to be a futile exercise. The best we could get for all of our trouble is a pronouncement from an IRS mouthpiece that they weren’t going to enforce that provision (read harass engineers and scientists). This immediately proved to be a lie, and the mere existence of the regulation began to have its impact on my bottom line; this, of course, was the intended effect.

Again, rewind my retirement plans back to 0 and shift them into idle. If I had any sense, I clearly should have left abandoned engineering and never looked back.

Instead I got busy working 100-hour workweeks. Then came the L.A. depression of the early 1990s. Our leaders decided that they didn’t need the all of those extra Air Force bases they had in Southern California, so they were closed; just like that. The result was economic devastation in the region that rivaled the widely publicized Texas S&L fiasco. However, because the government caused it, no one gave a shit about all of the young families who lost their homes or street after street of boarded up houses abandoned to the wealthy loan companies who received government funds to “shore up” their windfall. Again, I lost my retirement.

Years later, after weathering a divorce and the constant struggle trying to build some momentum with my business, I find myself once again beginning to finally pick up some speed. Then came the .COM bust and the 911 nightmare. Our leaders decided that all aircraft were grounded for what seemed like an eternity; and long after that, ‘special’ facilities like San Francisco were on security alert for months. This made access to my customers prohibitively expensive. Ironically, after what they had done the Government came to the aid of the airlines with billions of our tax dollars … as usual they left me to rot and die while they bailed out their rich, incompetent cronies WITH MY MONEY! After these events, there went my business but not quite yet all of my retirement and savings.

By this time, I’m thinking that it might be good for a change. Bye to California, I’ll try Austin for a while. So I moved, only to find out that this is a place with a highly inflated sense of self-importance and where damn little real engineering work is done. I’ve never experienced such a hard time finding work. The rates are 1/3 of what I was earning before the crash, because pay rates here are fixed by the three or four large companies in the area who are in collusion to drive down prices and wages… and this happens because the justice department is all on the take and doesn’t give a fuck about serving anyone or anything but themselves and their rich buddies.

To survive, I was forced to cannibalize my savings and retirement, the last of which was a small IRA. This came in a year with mammoth expenses and not a single dollar of income. I filed no return that year thinking that because I didn’t have any income there was no need. The sleazy government decided that they disagreed. But they didn’t notify me in time for me to launch a legal objection so when I attempted to get a protest filed with the court I was told I was no longer entitled to due process because the time to file ran out. Bend over for another $10,000 helping of justice.

So now we come to the present. After my experience with the CPA world, following the business crash I swore that I’d never enter another accountant’s office again. But here I am with a new marriage and a boatload of undocumented income, not to mention an expensive new business asset, a piano, which I had no idea how to handle. After considerable thought I decided that it would be irresponsible NOT to get professional help; a very big mistake.

When we received the forms back I was very optimistic that they were in order. I had taken all of the years information to Bill Ross, and he came back with results very similar to what I was expecting. Except that he had neglected to include the contents of Sheryl’s unreported income; $12,700 worth of it. To make matters worse, Ross knew all along this was missing and I didn’t have a clue until he pointed it out in the middle of the audit. By that time it had become brutally evident that he was representing himself and not me.

This left me stuck in the middle of this disaster trying to defend transactions that have no relationship to anything tax-related (at least the tax-related transactions were poorly documented). Things I never knew anything about and things my wife had no clue would ever matter to anyone. The end result is… well, just look around.

I remember reading about the stock market crash before the “great” depression and how there were wealthy bankers and businessmen jumping out of windows when they realized they screwed up and lost everything. Isn’t it ironic how far we’ve come in 60 years in this country that they now know how to fix that little economic problem; they just steal from the middle class (who doesn’t have any say in it, elections are a joke) to cover their asses and it’s “business-as-usual”. Now when the wealthy fuck up, the poor get to die for the mistakes… isn’t that a clever, tidy solution.

As government agencies go, the FAA is often justifiably referred to as a tombstone agency, though they are hardly alone. The recent presidential puppet GW Bush and his cronies in their eight years certainly reinforced for all of us that this criticism rings equally true for all of the government. Nothing changes unless there is a body count (unless it is in the interest of the wealthy sows at the government trough). In a government full of hypocrites from top to bottom, life is as cheap as their lies and their self-serving laws.

I know I’m hardly the first one to decide I have had all I can stand. It has always been a myth that people have stopped dying for their freedom in this country, and it isn’t limited to the blacks, and poor immigrants. I know there have been countless before me and there are sure to be as many after. But I also know that by not adding my body to the count, I insure nothing will change. I choose to not keep looking over my shoulder at “big brother” while he strips my carcass, I choose not to ignore what is going on all around me, I choose not to pretend that business as usual won’t continue; I have just had enough.

I can only hope that the numbers quickly get too big to be white washed and ignored that the American zombies wake up and revolt; it will take nothing less. I would only hope that by striking a nerve that stimulates the inevitable double standard, knee-jerk government reaction that results in more stupid draconian restrictions people wake up and begin to see the pompous political thugs and their mindless minions for what they are. Sadly, though I spent my entire life trying to believe it wasn’t so, but violence not only is the answer, it is the only answer. The cruel joke is that the really big chunks of shit at the top have known this all along and have been laughing, at and using this awareness against, fools like me all along.

I saw it written once that the definition of insanity is repeating the same process over and over and expecting the outcome to suddenly be different. I am finally ready to stop this insanity. Well, Mr. Big Brother IRS man, let’s try something different; take my pound of flesh and sleep well.

The communist creed: From each according to his ability, to each according to his need.

The capitalist creed: From each according to his gullibility, to each according to his greed.

Joe Stack (1956-2010)

02/18/2010

<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN">
<!-- saved from url=(0023)http://embeddedart.com/ -->
<HTML xmlns="http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-html40" xmlns:o = 
"urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" xmlns:w = 
"urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:word"><HEAD><TITLE>Well Mr. Big Brother IRS man... take my pound of flesh and sleep well.</TITLE>
<META content="text/html; charset=windows-1252" http-equiv=Content-Type>
<META name=ProgId content=Word.Document>
<META name=GENERATOR content="MSHTML 8.00.6001.18882">
<META name=Originator content="Microsoft Word 9"><LINK rel=File-List 
href="./default_files/filelist.xml"><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
 <o:DocumentProperties>
  <o:Author>Joe Stack</o:Author>
  <o:LastAuthor>Joe</o:LastAuthor>
  <o:Revision>27</o:Revision>
  <o:TotalTime>1848</o:TotalTime>
  <o:Created>2010-02-16T19:24:00Z</o:Created>
  <o:LastSaved>2010-02-18T06:42:00Z</o:LastSaved>
  <o:Pages>3</o:Pages>
  <o:Words>2676</o:Words>
  <o:Characters>15254</o:Characters>
  <o:Company>Embedded Art</o:Company>
  <o:Lines>127</o:Lines>
  <o:Paragraphs>30</o:Paragraphs>
  <o:CharactersWithSpaces>18732</o:CharactersWithSpaces>
  <o:Version>9.6926</o:Version>
 </o:DocumentProperties>
</xml><![endif]-->
<STYLE>@font-face {
	font-family: Lucida Console;
}
@font-face {
	font-family: Arial Unicode MS;
}
@font-face {
	font-family: @Arial Unicode MS;
}
@page Section1 {size: 8.5in 11.0in; margin: .75in .5in .5in .5in; mso-header-margin: .5in; mso-footer-margin: .5in; mso-paper-source: 0; }
P.MsoNormal {
	MARGIN: 0in 0in 6pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial; FONT-SIZE: 12pt; mso-style-parent: ""; mso-pagination: widow-orphan; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"
}
LI.MsoNormal {
	MARGIN: 0in 0in 6pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial; FONT-SIZE: 12pt; mso-style-parent: ""; mso-pagination: widow-orphan; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"
}
DIV.MsoNormal {
	MARGIN: 0in 0in 6pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial; FONT-SIZE: 12pt; mso-style-parent: ""; mso-pagination: widow-orphan; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"
}
P.MsoBodyTextIndent {
	TEXT-INDENT: -0.25in; MARGIN: 0in 0in 6pt 0.75in; FONT-FAMILY: Arial; COLOR: red; FONT-SIZE: 12pt; mso-pagination: widow-orphan; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"
}
LI.MsoBodyTextIndent {
	TEXT-INDENT: -0.25in; MARGIN: 0in 0in 6pt 0.75in; FONT-FAMILY: Arial; COLOR: red; FONT-SIZE: 12pt; mso-pagination: widow-orphan; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"
}
DIV.MsoBodyTextIndent {
	TEXT-INDENT: -0.25in; MARGIN: 0in 0in 6pt 0.75in; FONT-FAMILY: Arial; COLOR: red; FONT-SIZE: 12pt; mso-pagination: widow-orphan; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"
}
P.MsoBlockText {
	TEXT-INDENT: -0.25in; MARGIN: 0in 0.75in 6pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial; COLOR: red; FONT-SIZE: 12pt; mso-pagination: widow-orphan; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"
}
LI.MsoBlockText {
	TEXT-INDENT: -0.25in; MARGIN: 0in 0.75in 6pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial; COLOR: red; FONT-SIZE: 12pt; mso-pagination: widow-orphan; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"
}
DIV.MsoBlockText {
	TEXT-INDENT: -0.25in; MARGIN: 0in 0.75in 6pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial; COLOR: red; FONT-SIZE: 12pt; mso-pagination: widow-orphan; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"
}
A:link {
	COLOR: blue; TEXT-DECORATION: underline; text-underline: single
}
SPAN.MsoHyperlink {
	COLOR: blue; TEXT-DECORATION: underline; text-underline: single
}
A:visited {
	COLOR: purple; TEXT-DECORATION: underline; text-underline: single
}
SPAN.MsoHyperlinkFollowed {
	COLOR: purple; TEXT-DECORATION: underline; text-underline: single
}
P.MsoPlainText {
	MARGIN: 0in 0in 6pt; FONT-FAMILY: "Lucida Console"; FONT-SIZE: 10pt; mso-pagination: widow-orphan; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New"
}
LI.MsoPlainText {
	MARGIN: 0in 0in 6pt; FONT-FAMILY: "Lucida Console"; FONT-SIZE: 10pt; mso-pagination: widow-orphan; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New"
}
DIV.MsoPlainText {
	MARGIN: 0in 0in 6pt; FONT-FAMILY: "Lucida Console"; FONT-SIZE: 10pt; mso-pagination: widow-orphan; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Courier New"
}
P.h1 {
	FONT-FAMILY: "Arial Unicode MS"; MARGIN-LEFT: 0in; FONT-SIZE: 12pt; MARGIN-RIGHT: 0in; mso-pagination: widow-orphan; mso-style-name: h1; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto
}
LI.h1 {
	FONT-FAMILY: "Arial Unicode MS"; MARGIN-LEFT: 0in; FONT-SIZE: 12pt; MARGIN-RIGHT: 0in; mso-pagination: widow-orphan; mso-style-name: h1; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto
}
DIV.h1 {
	FONT-FAMILY: "Arial Unicode MS"; MARGIN-LEFT: 0in; FONT-SIZE: 12pt; MARGIN-RIGHT: 0in; mso-pagination: widow-orphan; mso-style-name: h1; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto
}
P.body {
	FONT-FAMILY: "Arial Unicode MS"; MARGIN-LEFT: 0in; FONT-SIZE: 12pt; MARGIN-RIGHT: 0in; mso-pagination: widow-orphan; mso-style-name: body; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto
}
LI.body {
	FONT-FAMILY: "Arial Unicode MS"; MARGIN-LEFT: 0in; FONT-SIZE: 12pt; MARGIN-RIGHT: 0in; mso-pagination: widow-orphan; mso-style-name: body; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto
}
DIV.body {
	FONT-FAMILY: "Arial Unicode MS"; MARGIN-LEFT: 0in; FONT-SIZE: 12pt; MARGIN-RIGHT: 0in; mso-pagination: widow-orphan; mso-style-name: body; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto
}
SPAN.owner {
	mso-style-name: owner
}
DIV.Section1 {
	page: Section1
}
OL {
	MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0in
}
UL {
	MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0in
}
</STYLE>
</HEAD>
<BODY style="tab-interval: .5in" lang=EN-US link=blue vLink=purple>
<DIV class=Section1>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0.4in 6pt" class=MsoNormal><![if !supportEmptyParas]><![endif]> <o:p></o:p></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0.4in 6pt" class=MsoNormal>If you’re reading this, you’re 
no doubt asking yourself, “Why did this have to happen?”<SPAN 
style="mso-spacerun: yes">  </SPAN>The simple truth is that it is 
complicated and has been coming for a long time.<SPAN 
style="mso-spacerun: yes">  </SPAN>The writing process, started many months 
ago, was intended to be therapy in the face of the looming realization that 
there isn’t enough therapy in the world that can fix what is really broken.<SPAN 
style="mso-spacerun: yes">  </SPAN>Needless to say, this rant could fill 
volumes with example after example if I would let it.<SPAN 
style="mso-spacerun: yes">  </SPAN>I find the process of writing it 
frustrating, tedious, and probably pointless… especially given my gross 
inability to gracefully articulate my thoughts in light of the storm raging in 
my head.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes">  </SPAN>Exactly what is 
therapeutic about that I’m not sure, but desperate times call for desperate 
measures.</P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0.4in 6pt" class=MsoNormal>We are all taught as children 
that without laws there would be no society, only anarchy.<SPAN 
style="mso-spacerun: yes">  </SPAN>Sadly, starting at early ages we in this 
country have been brainwashed to believe that, in return for our dedication and 
service, our government stands for justice for all.<SPAN 
style="mso-spacerun: yes">  </SPAN>We are further brainwashed to believe 
that there is freedom in this place, and that we should be ready to lay our 
lives down for the noble principals represented by its founding fathers.<SPAN 
style="mso-spacerun: yes">  </SPAN>Remember? One of these was “no taxation 
without representation”.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes">  </SPAN>I have 
spent the total years of my adulthood unlearning that crap from only a few years 
of my childhood.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes">  </SPAN>These days anyone 
who really stands up for that principal is promptly labeled a “crackpot”, 
traitor and worse.</P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0.4in 6pt" class=MsoNormal>While very few working people 
would say they haven’t had their fair share of taxes (as can I), in my lifetime 
I can say with a great degree of certainty that there has never been a 
politician cast a vote on any matter with the likes of me or my interests in 
mind. <SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>Nor, for that matter, are 
they the least bit interested in me or anything I have to say.</P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0.4in 6pt" class=MsoNormal>Why is it that a handful of 
thugs and plunderers can commit unthinkable atrocities (and in the case of the 
GM executives, for scores of years) and when it’s time for their gravy train to 
crash under the weight of their gluttony and overwhelming stupidity, the force 
of the full federal government has no difficulty coming to their aid within days 
if not hours?<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes">  </SPAN>Yet at the same time, 
the joke we call the American medical system, including the drug and insurance 
companies, are murdering tens of thousands of people a year and stealing from 
the corpses and victims they cripple, and this country’s leaders don’t see this 
as important as bailing out a few of their vile, rich cronies.<SPAN 
style="mso-spacerun: yes">  </SPAN>Yet, the political “representatives” 
(thieves, liars, and self-serving scumbags is far more accurate) have endless 
time to sit around for year after year and debate the state of the “terrible 
health care problem”.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes">  </SPAN>It’s clear 
they see no crisis as long as the dead people don’t get in the way of their 
corporate profits rolling in.</P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0.4in 6pt" class=MsoNormal>And justice? You’ve got to be 
kidding!</P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0.4in 6pt" class=MsoNormal>How can any rational individual 
explain that white elephant conundrum in the middle of our tax system and, 
indeed, our entire legal system?<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes">  
</SPAN>Here we have a system that is, by far, too complicated for the brightest 
of the master scholars to understand.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes">  
</SPAN>Yet, it mercilessly “holds accountable” its victims, claiming that 
they’re responsible for fully complying with laws not even the experts 
understand.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes">  </SPAN>The law “requires” a 
signature on the bottom of a tax filing; yet no one can say truthfully that they 
understand what they are signing; if that’s not “duress” than what is.<SPAN 
style="mso-spacerun: yes">  </SPAN>If this is not the measure of a <SPAN 
class=owner>totalitarian regime, nothing is.</SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0.4in 6pt" class=MsoNormal>How did I get here?<SPAN 
style="mso-spacerun: yes">  </SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0.4in 6pt" class=MsoNormal>My introduction to the real 
American nightmare starts back in the early ‘80s.<SPAN 
style="mso-spacerun: yes">  </SPAN>Unfortunately after more than 16 years 
of school, somewhere along the line I picked up the absurd, pompous notion that 
I could read and understand plain English.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes">  
</SPAN>Some friends introduced me to a group of people who were having ‘tax 
code’ readings and discussions.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes">  </SPAN>In 
particular, zeroed in on a section relating to the wonderful “exemptions” that 
make institutions like the vulgar, corrupt Catholic Church so incredibly 
wealthy.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes">  </SPAN>We carefully studied the 
law (with the help of some of the “best”, high-paid, experienced tax lawyers in 
the business), and then began to do exactly what the “big boys” were doing 
(except that we weren’t steeling from our congregation or lying to the 
government about our massive profits in the name of God).<SPAN 
style="mso-spacerun: yes">  </SPAN>We took a great deal of care to make it 
all visible, following all of the rules, exactly the way the law said it was to 
be done.</P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0.4in 6pt; mso-pagination: widow-orphan lines-together" 
class=MsoNormal>The intent of this exercise and our efforts was to bring about a 
much-needed re-evaluation of the laws that allow the monsters of organized 
religion to make such a mockery of people who earn an honest living.<SPAN 
style="mso-spacerun: yes">  </SPAN>However, this is where I learned that 
there are two “interpretations” for every law; one for the very rich, and one 
for the rest of us… Oh, and the monsters are the very ones making and enforcing 
the laws; the inquisition is still alive and well today in this country.</P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0.4in 6pt" class=MsoNormal>That little lesson in 
patriotism cost me $40,000+, 10 years of my life, and set my retirement plans 
back to 0.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes">  </SPAN>It made me realize for 
the first time that I live in a country with an ideology that is based on a 
total and complete lie.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes">  </SPAN>It also 
made me realize, not only how naive I had been, but also the incredible 
stupidity of the American public; that they buy, hook, line, and sinker, the 
crap about their “freedom”… and that they continue to do so with eyes closed in 
the face of overwhelming evidence and all that keeps happening in front of 
them.</P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0.4in 6pt" class=MsoNormal>Before even having to make a 
shaky recovery from the sting of the first lesson on what justice really means 
in this country (around 1984 after making my way through engineering school and 
still another five years of “paying my dues”), I felt I finally had to take a 
chance of launching my dream of becoming an independent engineer.</P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0.4in 6pt" class=MsoNormal>On the subjects of engineers 
and dreams of independence, I should digress somewhat to say that I’m sure that 
I inherited the fascination for creative problem solving from my father.<SPAN 
style="mso-spacerun: yes">  </SPAN>I realized this at a very young age.</P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0.4in 6pt" class=MsoNormal>The significance of 
independence, however, came much later during my early years of college; at the 
age of 18 or 19 when I was living on my own as student in an apartment in 
Harrisburg, Pennsylvania.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes">  </SPAN>My 
neighbor was an elderly retired woman (80+ seemed ancient to me at that age) who 
was the widowed wife of a retired steel worker.<SPAN 
style="mso-spacerun: yes">  </SPAN>Her husband had worked all his life in 
the steel mills of central Pennsylvania with promises from big business and the 
union that, for his 30 years of service, he would have a pension and medical 
care to look forward to in his retirement.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes">  
</SPAN>Instead he was one of the thousands who got nothing because the 
incompetent mill management and corrupt union (not to mention the government) 
raided their pension funds and stole their retirement.<SPAN 
style="mso-spacerun: yes">  </SPAN>All she had was social security to live 
on.</P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0.4in 6pt" class=MsoNormal>In retrospect, the situation 
was laughable because here I was living on peanut butter and bread (or Ritz 
crackers when I could afford to splurge) for months at a time.<SPAN 
style="mso-spacerun: yes">  </SPAN>When I got to know this poor figure and 
heard her story I felt worse for her plight than for my own (I, after all, I 
thought I had everything to in front of me).<SPAN 
style="mso-spacerun: yes">  </SPAN>I was genuinely appalled at one point, 
as we exchanged stories and commiserated with each other over our situations, 
when she in her grandmotherly fashion tried to convince me that I would be 
“healthier” eating cat food (like her) rather than trying to get all my 
substance from peanut butter and bread.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes">  
</SPAN>I couldn’t quite go there, but the impression was made.<SPAN 
style="mso-spacerun: yes">  </SPAN>I decided that I didn’t trust big 
business to take care of me, and that I would take responsibility for my own 
future and myself.</P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0.4in 6pt" class=MsoNormal>Return to the early ‘80s, and 
here I was off to a terrifying start as a ‘wet-behind-the-ears’ contract 
software engineer... and two years later, thanks to the fine backroom, midnight 
effort by the sleazy executives of Arthur Andersen (the very same folks who 
later brought us Enron and other such calamities) and an equally sleazy New York 
Senator (Patrick Moynihan), we saw the passage of 1986 tax reform act with its 
section 1706.</P>
<P 
style="PAGE-BREAK-AFTER: avoid; MARGIN: 0in 0.4in 6pt; mso-pagination: widow-orphan lines-together" 
class=MsoNormal>For you who are unfamiliar, here is the core text of the IRS 
Section 1706, defining the treatment of workers (such as contract engineers) for 
tax purposes. Visit this link for a <A 
href="http://www.synergistech.com/1706.shtml#ConferenceCommitteeReport">conference 
committee report</A> 
(http://www.synergistech.com/1706.shtml#ConferenceCommitteeReport) regarding the 
intended interpretation of Section 1706 and the relevant parts of Section 530, 
as amended. For information on how these laws affect technical services workers 
and their clients, read our discussion <A 
title="Laws affecting Brokered Independent Contractors' tax status" 
href="http://www.synergistech.com/ic-taxlaw.shtml">here</A> 
(http://www.synergistech.com/ic-taxlaw.shtml). </P>
<P 
style="PAGE-BREAK-AFTER: avoid; MARGIN: 0in 0.4in 6pt; mso-pagination: widow-orphan lines-together" 
class=MsoNormal><SPAN style="COLOR: red">SEC. 1706. TREATMENT OF CERTAIN 
TECHNICAL PERSONNEL.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P 
style="PAGE-BREAK-AFTER: avoid; TEXT-INDENT: -0.25in; MARGIN: 0in 0.4in 6pt 0.75in; mso-pagination: widow-orphan lines-together" 
class=MsoNormal><SPAN style="COLOR: red">(a) IN GENERAL - Section 530 of the 
Revenue Act of 1978 is amended by adding at the end thereof the following new 
subsection:<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN-RIGHT: 0.4in" class=MsoBodyTextIndent>(d) EXCEPTION. - This 
section shall not apply in the case of an individual who pursuant to an 
arrangement between the taxpayer and another person, provides services for such 
other person as an engineer, designer, drafter, computer programmer, systems 
analyst, or other similarly skilled worker engaged in a similar line of 
work.</P>
<P 
style="PAGE-BREAK-AFTER: avoid; TEXT-INDENT: -0.25in; MARGIN: 0in 0.4in 6pt 0.75in; mso-pagination: widow-orphan lines-together" 
class=MsoNormal><SPAN style="COLOR: red">(b) EFFECTIVE DATE. - The amendment 
made by this section shall apply to remuneration paid and services rendered 
after December 31, 1986.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P 
style="PAGE-BREAK-AFTER: avoid; MARGIN: 0in 0.4in 6pt 0.5in; mso-pagination: widow-orphan lines-together" 
class=MsoNormal>Note: </P>
<P 
style="PAGE-BREAK-AFTER: avoid; TEXT-INDENT: -0.25in; MARGIN: 0in 0.4in 6pt 1in; mso-pagination: widow-orphan lines-together; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo2; tab-stops: list 1.0in" 
class=MsoNormal><![if !supportLists]><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: Symbol">·<SPAN 
style="FONT: 7pt 'Times New Roman'">      
</SPAN></SPAN><![endif]>"another person" is the client in the traditional 
job-shop relationship.</P>
<P 
style="PAGE-BREAK-AFTER: avoid; TEXT-INDENT: -0.25in; MARGIN: 0in 0.4in 6pt 1in; mso-pagination: widow-orphan lines-together; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo2; tab-stops: list 1.0in" 
class=MsoNormal><![if !supportLists]><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: Symbol">·<SPAN 
style="FONT: 7pt 'Times New Roman'">      
</SPAN></SPAN><![endif]>"taxpayer" is the recruiter, broker, agency, or job 
shop.</P>
<P 
style="TEXT-INDENT: -0.25in; MARGIN: 0in 0.4in 6pt 1in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo2; tab-stops: list 1.0in" 
class=MsoNormal><![if !supportLists]><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: Symbol">·<SPAN 
style="FONT: 7pt 'Times New Roman'">      
</SPAN></SPAN><![endif]>"individual", "employee", or "worker" is you.</P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0.4in 6pt" class=MsoNormal><![if !supportEmptyParas]><![endif]> <o:p></o:p></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0.4in 6pt" class=MsoNormal>Admittedly, you need to read 
the treatment to understand what it is saying but it’s not very 
complicated.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes">  </SPAN>The bottom line is 
that they may as well have put my name right in the text of section (d).<SPAN 
style="mso-spacerun: yes">  </SPAN>Moreover, they could only have been more 
blunt if they would have came out and directly declared me a criminal and 
non-citizen slave.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes">  </SPAN>Twenty years 
later, I still can’t believe my eyes.</P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0.4in 6pt" class=MsoNormal>During 1987, I spent close to 
$5000 of my ‘pocket change’, and at least 1000 hours of my time writing, 
printing, and mailing to any senator, congressman, governor, or slug that might 
listen; none did, and they universally treated me as if I was wasting their 
time.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes">  </SPAN>I spent countless hours on 
the L.A. freeways driving to meetings and any and all of the disorganized 
professional groups who were attempting to mount a campaign against this 
atrocity.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes">  </SPAN>This, only to discover 
that our efforts were being easily derailed by a few moles from the brokers who 
were just beginning to enjoy the windfall from the new declaration of their 
“freedom”.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes">  </SPAN>Oh, and don’t forget, 
for all of the time I was spending on this, I was loosing income that I couldn’t 
bill clients.</P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0.4in 6pt" class=MsoNormal>After months of struggling it 
had clearly gotten to be a futile exercise.<SPAN 
style="mso-spacerun: yes">  </SPAN>The best we could get for all of our 
trouble is a pronouncement from an IRS mouthpiece that they weren’t going to 
enforce that provision (read harass engineers and scientists).<SPAN 
style="mso-spacerun: yes">  </SPAN>This immediately proved to be a lie, and 
the mere existence of the regulation began to have its impact on my bottom line; 
this, of course, was the intended effect.</P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0.4in 6pt" class=MsoNormal>Again, rewind my retirement 
plans back to 0 and shift them into idle.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes">  
</SPAN>If I had any sense, I clearly should have left abandoned engineering and 
never looked back.</P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0.4in 6pt" class=MsoNormal>Instead I got busy working 
100-hour workweeks.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes">  </SPAN>Then came the 
L.A. depression of the early 1990s.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes">  
</SPAN>Our leaders decided that they didn’t need the all of those extra Air 
Force bases they had in Southern California, so they were closed; just like 
that.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes">  </SPAN>The result was economic 
devastation in the region that rivaled the widely publicized Texas S&L 
fiasco.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes">  </SPAN>However, because the 
government caused it, no one gave a shit about all of the young families who 
lost their homes or street after street of boarded up houses abandoned to the 
wealthy loan companies who received government funds to “shore up” their 
windfall.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes">  </SPAN>Again, I lost my 
retirement.</P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0.4in 6pt; mso-pagination: widow-orphan lines-together" 
class=MsoNormal>Years later, after weathering a divorce and the constant 
struggle trying to build some momentum with my business, I find myself once 
again beginning to finally pick up some speed.<SPAN 
style="mso-spacerun: yes">  </SPAN>Then came the .COM bust and the 911 
nightmare.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes">  </SPAN>Our leaders decided that 
all aircraft were grounded for what seemed like an eternity; and long after 
that, ‘special’ facilities like San Francisco were on security alert for 
months.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes">  </SPAN>This made access to my 
customers prohibitively expensive.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes">  
</SPAN>Ironically, after what they had done the Government came to the aid of 
the airlines with billions of our tax dollars … as usual they left me to rot and 
die while they bailed out their rich, incompetent cronies WITH MY MONEY!<SPAN 
style="mso-spacerun: yes">  </SPAN>After these events, there went my 
business but not quite yet all of my retirement and savings.</P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0.4in 6pt" class=MsoNormal>By this time, I’m thinking that 
it might be good for a change.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes">  </SPAN>Bye 
to California, I’ll try Austin for a while.<SPAN 
style="mso-spacerun: yes">  </SPAN>So I moved, only to find out that this 
is a place with a highly inflated sense of self-importance and where damn little 
real engineering work is done.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes">  </SPAN>I’ve 
never experienced such a hard time finding work.<SPAN 
style="mso-spacerun: yes">  </SPAN>The rates are 1/3 of what I was earning 
before the crash, because pay rates here are fixed by the three or four large 
companies in the area who are in collusion to drive down prices and wages… and 
this happens because the justice department is all on the take and doesn’t give 
a fuck about serving anyone or anything but themselves and their rich 
buddies.</P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0.4in 6pt" class=MsoNormal>To survive, I was forced to 
cannibalize my savings and retirement, the last of which was a small IRA.<SPAN 
style="mso-spacerun: yes">  </SPAN>This came in a year with mammoth 
expenses and not a single dollar of income.<SPAN 
style="mso-spacerun: yes">  </SPAN>I filed no return that year thinking 
that because I didn’t have any income there was no need.<SPAN 
style="mso-spacerun: yes">  </SPAN>The sleazy government decided that they 
disagreed.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes">  </SPAN>But they didn’t notify 
me in time for me to launch a legal objection so when I attempted to get a 
protest filed with the court I was told I was no longer entitled to due process 
because the time to file ran out.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes">  
</SPAN>Bend over for another $10,000 helping of justice.</P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0.4in 6pt" class=MsoNormal>So now we come to the 
present.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes">  </SPAN>After my experience with 
the CPA world, following the business crash I swore that I’d never enter another 
accountant’s office again.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes">  </SPAN>But here 
I am with a new marriage and a boatload of undocumented income, not to mention 
an expensive new business asset, a piano, which I had no idea how to 
handle.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes">  </SPAN>After considerable thought 
I decided that it would be irresponsible NOT to get professional help; a very 
big mistake.</P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0.4in 6pt" class=MsoNormal>When we received the forms back 
I was very optimistic that they were in order.<SPAN 
style="mso-spacerun: yes">  </SPAN>I had taken all of the years information 
to Bill Ross, and he came back with results very similar to what I was 
expecting.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes">  </SPAN>Except that he had 
neglected to include the contents of Sheryl’s unreported income; $12,700 worth 
of it. To make matters worse, Ross knew all along this was missing and I didn’t 
have a clue until he pointed it out in the middle of the audit.<SPAN 
style="mso-spacerun: yes">  </SPAN>By that time it had become brutally 
evident that he was representing himself and not me.</P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0.4in 6pt" class=MsoNormal>This left me stuck in the 
middle of this disaster trying to defend transactions that have no relationship 
to anything tax-related (at least the tax-related transactions were poorly 
documented).<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes">  </SPAN>Things I never knew 
anything about and things my wife had no clue would ever matter to anyone.<SPAN 
style="mso-spacerun: yes">  </SPAN>The end result is… well, just look 
around.</P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0.4in 6pt" class=MsoNormal>I remember reading about the 
stock market crash before the “great” depression and how there were wealthy 
bankers and businessmen jumping out of windows when they realized they screwed 
up and lost everything.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes">  </SPAN>Isn’t it 
ironic how far we’ve come in 60 years in this country that they now know how to 
fix that little economic problem; they just steal from the middle class (who 
doesn’t have any say in it, elections are a joke) to cover their asses and it’s 
“business-as-usual”.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes">  </SPAN>Now when the 
wealthy fuck up, the poor get to die for the mistakes… isn’t that a clever, tidy 
solution.</P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0.4in 6pt" class=MsoNormal>As government agencies go, the 
FAA is often justifiably referred to as a tombstone agency, though they are 
hardly alone.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes">  </SPAN>The recent 
presidential puppet GW Bush and his cronies in their eight years certainly 
reinforced for all of us that this criticism rings equally true for all of the 
government.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes">  </SPAN>Nothing changes unless 
there is a body count (unless it is in the interest of the wealthy sows at the 
government trough).<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes">  </SPAN>In a government 
full of hypocrites from top to bottom, life is as cheap as their lies and their 
self-serving laws.</P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0.4in 6pt" class=MsoNormal>I know I’m hardly the first one 
to decide I have had all I can stand.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes">  
</SPAN>It has always been a myth that people have stopped dying for their 
freedom in this country, and it isn’t limited to the blacks, and poor 
immigrants.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes">  </SPAN>I know there have been 
countless before me and there are sure to be as many after.<SPAN 
style="mso-spacerun: yes">  </SPAN>But I also know that by not adding my 
body to the count, I insure nothing will change.<SPAN 
style="mso-spacerun: yes">  </SPAN>I choose to not keep looking over my 
shoulder at “big brother” while he strips my carcass, I choose not to ignore 
what is going on all around me, I choose not to pretend that business as usual 
won’t continue; I have just had enough. </P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0.4in 6pt" class=MsoNormal>I can only hope that the 
numbers quickly get too big to be white washed and ignored that the American 
zombies wake up and revolt; it will take nothing less.<SPAN 
style="mso-spacerun: yes">  </SPAN>I would only hope that by striking a 
nerve that stimulates the inevitable double standard, knee-jerk government 
reaction that results in more stupid draconian restrictions people wake up and 
begin to see the pompous political thugs and their mindless minions for what 
they are.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes">  </SPAN>Sadly, though I spent my 
entire life trying to believe it wasn’t so, but violence not only is the answer, 
it is the <I>only</I> answer.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes">  </SPAN>The 
cruel joke is that the really big chunks of shit at the top have known this all 
along and have been laughing, at and using this awareness against, fools like me 
all along.</P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0.4in 6pt" class=MsoNormal>I saw it written once that the 
definition of insanity is repeating the same process over and over and expecting 
the outcome to suddenly be different.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes">  
</SPAN>I am finally ready to stop this insanity.<SPAN 
style="mso-spacerun: yes">  </SPAN>Well, Mr. Big Brother IRS man, let’s try 
something different; take my pound of flesh and sleep well.</P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0.4in 6pt" class=MsoNormal><![if !supportEmptyParas]><![endif]> <o:p></o:p></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0.4in 6pt" class=MsoNormal><B>The communist creed: From 
each according to his ability, to each according to his need.<o:p></o:p></B></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0.4in 6pt" class=MsoNormal><B>The capitalist creed: From 
each according to his gullibility, to each according to his 
greed.<o:p></o:p></B></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0.4in 6pt" class=MsoNormal><![if !supportEmptyParas]><![endif]> <o:p></o:p></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0.4in 6pt" class=h1><SPAN 
style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'">Joe 
Stack (1956-2010)<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0.4in 6pt" class=h1><SPAN 
style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'">02/18/2010<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0.4in 6pt" class=MsoNormal><![if !supportEmptyParas]><![endif]> <o:p></o:p></P>
<P style="MARGIN: 0in 0.4in 6pt" class=MsoNormal><![if !supportEmptyParas]><![endif]> <o:p></o:p></P></DIV></BODY></HTML>