A recent headline from Yahoo read, “Madoff to NY Magazine: Government a Ponzi Scheme.”
While most people are not interested in hearing mocking political commentary from the swindling Madoff who made-off with the wealth of his unenlightened investors, any slight tilt toward reasoned thought will surely lead one to assess how his abominations pale in comparison to the crimes of organized government.
A recent conversation about Madoff with my Austro-anarcho-actuary colleague at work led him to say this to me: “At least people had to choose to join his scam…”
As we veteran libertarians know, the voluntary action (or lack thereof) makes for a crucial distinction between the actions of Madoff and the exploits of government. As I always explain to libertarian wannabees and newbies – the one thing that separates government from all else is its monopoly on violence (force, coercion). If you dislike Wal-Mart, you can refuse to do business with the company. Hate McDonald’s? Go to Burger King or an abundance of other competitors. McDonald’s executives will not throw you in jail, garnish your wages, take away your children, ban you from preferred product choices, take your property in the name of “public service,” or close down your business.
Yet government monopolies (monetary, postal, infrastructure, military, etc.) force you to take or use what it tenders, and it arrests those who encroach upon its monopolistic territories or deny its edicts. You are either forced, drafted, or given no other alternatives but to use the monopoly services provided by the legalized gangsters who run the fuzz militia, own the courts, and turn down the sheets in the state gulags. The Federal Reserve’s monetary ponzi scheme is not an offering, it is not a choice, and you are not persuaded to participate in its product offering. You are exploited by the system that empowers a few while enslaving the many because you have no choice but to accept the status quo unless you opt out or enter the underground economy, both of which usually involve a sizable opportunity cost as well as risk of punishment or incarceration.
In the case of Madoff, he’ll spend the next 5,000 years in jail. Always, the government arrests its very minor competitors (the mafia or the Highwayman, etc.) for impeding on its plunderer turf. And then those thieves are “punished” by the state in the name of “doing time” for the good of the “public,” while your restitution is actually never of concern. The victims of Madoff’s fraud don’t benefit one smidgen from Madoff’s time in stripes. Meanwhile, the real criminal – the US government – continues to operate its ponzi schemes that enable and inspire further ponzi schemes down the line. No Madoffian scheme could have ever transpired without the perfect storm created by the Federal Reserve’s financial manipulation and ensuing bubble.
Which brings to mind the bumper sticker found in the office of congressman Ron Paul: “Don’t steal. The government hates competition.”
