Reform is Hopeless

Zman had a sobering post today, which puts into context just how inept our government is. They can't be bothered to provide basic services like border security or protection from phone scammers, but issue all sorts of rules and regulations we must comply with. The FTC has pulled down the website for it's Do-Not-Call list and replaced it with a snide protest of the government shutdown. The FTC has paused their program - which doesn't work - in protest of the president's fight to provide basic border security. The incident gives a nice visual of the extent that the federal government is a system that takes a very large chunk of our incomes and provides little benefit in return, and much harm.

The yellow vest protestors in France have declared that Saturday is Bank Run day. They're encouraging all citizens to withdraw their savings on that day to crash the banks. They understand that their government is a tyrannical monster fueled by money. Kill the economy and you kill the state...and save the nation. It's good to see they're thinking about things the right way, but I'd be pessimistic about the results. The French banks will be bailed out by the government if necessary, or by the European Central Bank. A bank run that threatens the system would have to spill out of France and into the other Eurozone countries. While not impossible that they could cause enough inflation fears to cause some trouble, in seems unlikely they'll have much impact.

The next move in the escalation of nonviolent opposition would be to block industrial transport. If they could stop fuel shipments into Paris for a week, they would force the government to either call up the military or cede defeat. Infrastructure is the soft underbelly of a modern society. The police can't protect all of it.

The government is calling for a national discussion to walk back tensions. Reform is insinuated. The yellow vests know that reform is hopeless. Their rulers are not their fellow countrymen but more like foreign occupiers. It would not take a tremendous number of saboteurs to threaten the government they oppose. As the consensus grows in the west that reform is hopeless, calls for organized resistance against financial and economic assets will become more likely.