The Price of Civilization

Taxes are the price we pay for civilization ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ April 15, 2024  |  [Sign Up]( The Price of Civilization “Taxes are the price we pay for civilization.” – Carved above the entrance to the IRS building in Washington D.C., attributed to Oliver Wendell Holmes [Reminder: In case you missed [our announcement]( The Essential Investor has merged with legacy contributors to Agora Financial. The new, larger, more inclusive project is called The Grey Swan Investment Fraternity. If you’re interested in the scope and benefits of our new endeavor, please see what prompted us to merge [here](. If you’ve been a member of The Essential Investor, keep an eye out for your new benefits.] Dear [Reader], April 15, 2024 – It’s tax day, here’s your receipt: Courtesy: [Peter G. Peterson Foundation]( Uncle Sam. We ran into the conniving old fart this morning. He mumbled, something to the effect that he wishes to “thank you” [unintelligible] “for your service” then went about his way with purpose.  The above receipt is not an itemized account. So, today, I’ll cover a few nefarious line items from this weekend picked at random. For a complete list, you’re welcome to conduct your own audit of the [Federal Register](. Before you get started, know it’s broken into 12 books. The neatly alphabetized table of contents is available in PDF form. It’s 68 pages long. Anyway, here are the three I picked: CONTINUED BELOW... >>ADVERTISEMENT<< 2024 – The Real Election Year Surprise In 2016, the October Election Surprise was Hillary Clinton’s email scandal… In 2020, the October Election Surprise was the suppression of all the dirty material on Hunter Biden’s “forgotten” laptop… Now, in 2024, we’re forecasting an October Election Surprise that almost no one sees coming — and this time it’ll be way more devastating than anything you’ve seen before. [Click here to learn about 2024’s real October Election Surprise »]( It’s not at all what you think. CONTINUED... From Liz Wolf writing in [Reason Roundup]( On Saturday night, Iran launched 300 drones and missiles at Israel; the vast majority were intercepted. The damage appears to be minimal, but a few dozen people have reported injuries and some damage has been [sustained]( at an Israeli military base in the Negev Desert. … Israel mostly used the Arrow 3 defense system, which halts ballistic missiles outside of the planet's atmosphere, as opposed to the more frequently used Iron Dome. Allies helped shoot down missiles and drones, including U.S. fighter jets—which destroyed 70-plus drones—and the repositioned warships, which shot down several missiles. Brian Lutz from [dollarcollapse.com]( gives us the second: UN climate chief [Simon Stiell] presses for faster action, says humans have 2 years left “to save the world”: “Who exactly has two years to save the world? The answer is every person on this planet,” Stiell said. “More and more people want climate action right across societies and political spectrums, in large part because they are feeling the impacts of the climate crisis in their everyday lives and their household budgets…” Not everyone is convinced such warnings will be helpful. “Two years to save the world is meaningless rhetoric — at best, it’s likely to be ignored, at worst, it will be counterproductive,” said Princeton University climate scientist Michael Oppenheimer, who is also a professor of international affairs. The United Nations Climate Chief is desperate to maintain relevance. According to the Paris Agreement, the world only has two years left to be saved. Those are the agreement's goals. So he announced it to the world. Apparently, the average citizen around the world has been taken hostage by the climate crisis. Rising grocery prices seem to be the responsibility of CO2 emission producers... resulting in drought, floods, and storms... resulting in food supply shortages. And the third item from [Matt Taibbi’s Racket News]( How CNN [described]( extension of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, or FISA: After wailing for years about misuse of secret FISA surveillance against their own, House Republicans turtle, letting voters know exactly where they stand: “A Republican rift is jeopardizing extension of a cornerstone of the US intelligence gathering by which the government hoovers up massive amounts of internet and cellphone data. The trove of data now in jeopardy has vital importance to the US. According to one assessment, it forms the basis of most of the intelligence the president views each morning, and it has helped the US keep tabs on Russia’s intentions in Ukraine, identify foreign efforts to access US infrastructure, uncover foreign terror networks and thwart terror attacks in the US.” How the National Security Agency wrote about FISA in [press release]( “The U.S. Intelligence Community relies on Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act in the constant hunt for information about foreign adversaries determined to harm the nation or our allies. The National Security Agency (NSA), for example, uses this law to target terrorists and thwart their plans… Under Section 702, NSA can target foreigners reasonably believed to be located outside the United States only if it has a basis to believe it will acquire certain types of foreign intelligence information that have been authorized for collection.” It’s bad enough we have news media indistinguishable from the comms departments of enforcement agencies, but why bother having political parties if you can’t count on their own self-interest? If you did meet your tax filing deadline, congratulations. You’ve covered a minute fraction of the tax receipts that the government will lean on to justify overspending the non-existent annual budget by $1.6 trillion in FY2024. It’s a tiny part, yes. But you can still feel good that you and your family have done your part to foster democracy on earth and good will among men, er, peoples of the planet. Bravo, Addison Wiggin, The Wiggin Sessions P.S. Slight correction: “Taxes are the price we pay for failing to be civilized.” Buy defense contractors. P.P.S. The English writer, director, and producer Alex Gardner can not be accused of being interested in politics. His latest film Civil War is about a band of journalists traveling from New York City to Washington D.C. in the midst of a civil war that has befallen the United States. “Don’t make a film about journalists,” Mr. Gardner was warned by his critics and presumably the financiers of the film. Gardner said as much in a clip from an interview last week we caught by mistake before seeing the movie. Still, a film about journalists is exactly what was made. While the subject seems like it could be fertile ground, there is more political angst in these daily missives than in the film he wrote and directed. There are only three off-hand comments about why the war started in the first place. Rather than spoil the plot, we’ll let you see the film and identify the quips yourself. The production quality of the film is high. Big loud explosions and people dying in a few disturbing scenes help you see and hear what being in the midst of civil war might feel like. If you like character sketches about human beings in uncertain, unexplained circumstances, it’s a good movie. Kirsten Dunst plays a war reporter who shot to fame early in her career from a single photograph. She has instincts honed by experience. She’s weary and afraid. Mostly, she’s sad. Wagner Maura’s character, Dunst’s partner-in-crime, is an adrenaline addict and has a slight Cubanesque accent. Cailee Spaeny is in the role of a precocious young ’un who idolizes the Dunst character. Her naivete about what’s going on in the world is what drives the plot of the film and is ultimately what gets people killed. Race and gender help put some flesh on the characters bones, but neither in a serious or complex way that might approximate contemporary American culture. The characters are maybe emblematic of stereotypes. Even those are intentionally not visible. There isn’t enough development to suggest they represent an ideology. Rather, Gardner’s characters go out of their way to avoid talking about why the war broke out in the first place. Each scene is compact. Words are sparse and as deliberate as a Hemingway novel. Images do more to tell the story. The only explicit motives come from dialog that expresses the self-interest of the journalists. You could, ostensibly, become famous, for example, if you are the one who gets an interview with the president before – or snaps the photo while – he’s getting shot by secessionists in the White House situation room. Their motives are about as true as anything you could draw from the film. Gardner first came to some fame as a screenwriter on Danny Boyle’s 2002 film 28 Days Later. That film depicts Gardner’s view of what the world would look like a month after a virus has infected the human race and turned all but those who are genetically immune into flesh-eating zombies. Like Civil War, the characters from 28 Days Later are a quick study in what it might be like to deal with an inexplicable situation. The audience is left intentionally in the dark as to what the virus is, or if the zombie apocalypse was an act of some diabolical scientific experiment gone awry. In both films, the characters are merely reacting to the circumstances they find themselves in. They’re likable enough. But any depth you find in their stories will be the result of the biases you bring as a viewer. The opportunity Gardner possibly missed could have come by way of developing the backstory of each character, or in the present-day dialogue he uses to advance the plot. That said, if war is an extension of politics, both are outside the scope and ambition of this film. It’s a film about journalists. My 17-year old daughter said afterward she liked it. Other than to clarify parts of the plot she missed (which may or may not, in fact, have actually existed) she didn’t ask questions about the origin of the civil war or the conclusion at the end of the film’s last scene. Just like zombies running amok in 28 Days Later, Gardner’s Civil War doesn’t require you to ask “Why?” to enjoy it. So, yeah. Please send your comments, reactions, opprobrium, vitriol and praise to: addison@greyswanfraternity.com. 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