We rode the horse mercilessly, never pausing for rest and recovery, never feeding or watering, and never grooming him, until he fell over, exhausted, and died in the 60s. The universal tragedy of man, and in this regard men are, indeed, equal, is the flawed, corruptible nature of the species. Every culture, every civilization goes through this cycle of self-induced ruin, and it's our turn in the drum. One's perspective, interpretations, and reactions are invariably influenced by where he/she enters the cycle. Born in 1952, I came in at, or near, the top, and it has been an unpleasant and revelatory experience, caught in the downhill onslaught, when I expected the apex into which I was born and raised to last, magically, forever. Best always. PM
Yes brother Paul, we were born a few years apart, and have been witnessing the evolution of decline in our once wonderful nation. I chose to surround myself with family and friends who share the same values and beliefs. Sure, the world is changing at the normal frantic pace it always has, just as our bodies are, but faith, family and friends all make the inevitable change just part of a wonderful journey that we all still enjoy. Wishing you the same peace and happiness my friend 🙏
Thanks for the reply. Always good to hear from you. Your participation on these forums is a positive contribution. Facts get a fair hearing here, and it seems less agenda-driven than other places I could name. Best always. PM
Yes Paul, it broke my heart to see all the good folk purged from BPR and replaced with a cultist following that appreciated Bills mental downward spiral. Birds of a feather sort of thing I guess. Anyway, I always enjoyed our friend Joel and his better understanding of truth and his beautiful writing. Of course I’m happy to have you and others who always contributed truth and logic into any conversation. Hope you’re fighting your battles as best you can and are blessed as I have been. God is good 🙏🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸
there are many of us Paul and some of us have learned that if you can't share whatever good fortune has been bestowed upon you, then your just an empty bell that no longer has sound to give or for others to enjoy .. as Joel says many run off somewhere and try to ring their bell elsewhere but no one is listening..
Joel, this is why I'm here. Aside from your fecundity of thought and expression, your ability to analyze in unconventional ways and your beautifully poetic prose, your love of adventure and what may be the finest beef in the world, your upbringing, education, and perspective from a situation and cousin-culture half-a-world away, the predominant theme always manages to come through: "Try though you may, you can't deceive, delude, or gull me with lies, pretense, and bribes." The gullery on display in NYC is a lab demonstration in real time of what happens when a country loses its way. Many thanks and best always. PM
I continue to be amazed and disappointed that so many voters chose candidates who promise to give them greater access to the public trough.
I know little about the new mayor of NYC but, based on his Robin Hood ambitions, I suspect he's never made a dime's worth of wealth in his life. He's a classic wealth-taker; not a wealth-maker.
BS .. he's probably worked harder and made & saved more than you have but he's recognised that if you don't give back your market (people) will eventually disappear ..
that works 'WHEN' the so called rich or 'have's' of their OWN free will share their gains with the lesser who are not all rip off merchants .. but both ends of the scale have greed/corruption to deal with. The past age of US tycoons or wealthy by birth have always known that what you don't SHARE you can't take with you .. unless your coffin has big pockets you won't be taking anything along that really matters!
Take solace from accepting that, regardless whether a citizen inherited wealth or made it, or is or is not motivated by free will to share it with others, a portion of everyone's income and the wealth enabled by their income is taxable.
And with the tax revenue they garner, all governments -- state, local, Federal -- use some of their tax revenue for programs to help those less well-off to become better-off.
More: greed is a personality disorder. It has no effect on tax policies or on government "betterment" programs.
Even a greedy miser who lives modestly while accumulating more and more wealth is, by placing money in banks, helping society writ large.
The miser's money enables the bank to lend more money, for example, to entrepreneurs and home buyers, all of whom are job makers and tax revenue generators.
What ever happened to charity!? I thought good people took care of people in a pinch... at least that's the world I was taught and lived and still try to live!
yes there is always an excuse or argument for not doing what's right, the poor will try to cheat and so will the rich .. who's to adjudicate ? why we elect those those who should do that but don't, why ..? graft bribes greed corruption so the elected become part of the problem rather adjudicate that closed loop can be broken briefly but yes history would indicate humans will invent new ways to do wrong regardless of what activity has become corrupt .. eventually govts just want to stay in power so they do.
Yes. Our species is vile, deceitful and treacherous. We're killers all. Everything we eat we first kill. We even kill for pleasure hapless animals and fish struggling to survive. There has never been any time in recorded history when one batch of us hasn't waged war on another.
Thank you Joel🙏 always filled with logic and wisdom, your words provide a rare knowledge and reasoning that may even have an impact on some of our most left leaning dear fellow readers. I’m hopeful that Mr Griffen will stop any further investment in an extremely hostile third world city, and move his entire operation to a more logical location where his money can benefit Americans, and not foreign and domestic enemies of capitalism and America. Elections have consequences, and the damage that years of corruption and democrat control has caused to NY is now irreversible. Let the city fail, burn and eat themselves, as most democrat cities will…. “I think myself that we have more machinery of government than is necessary, too many parasites living on the labor of the industrious. Government big enough to supply everything you need is big enough to take everything you have ... The course of history shows that as a government grows, liberty decreases. The two enemies of the people are criminals and government, so let us tie the second down with the chains of the constitution so the second will not become the legalized version of the first." ~ Thomas Jefferson
“ The two enemies of the people are criminals and government, so let us tie the second down with the chains of the constitution so the second will not become the legalized version of the first.”
Yes Joel “The two enemies of the people are criminals and government” and unfortunately both enemies pretty much wrap up our past and current democrat cult 🫏🫏🫏. Corrupt asses that have done more damage to our Republic than any foreign enemy ever could.
Jimm, my take on it, for whatever it's worth, is that they didn't see it ever needing to be codified, because it is patently obvious among thinking, capable people, that one should not see deficits and debt as acceptable policy. For all of their insight and understanding of "man", they missed that part big-time. Best always.PM
Paul, they had to see it. The debt of King George was what was driving that Stamp Act that sparked the rebellion. The founders tried to codify only Gold as the basis of a secure currency (not debt), but loopholes were found by lesser men. Bill Bonner gets this part right.
One man's law is another man's loophole. If you put enough lawyers on the case, of either political party, your laws become virtually meaningless and rule by a "Uniparty" of elites, posturing for the cameras but cutting deals in the cloakroom, just takes over.
Men find a way to destroy everything they do. It's the tragic nature of humanity. The ability to game the system to gain an advantage is both a challenge and a reward irresistible to many. Always glad to see your posts, and I enjoy the opportunity to interact. We've gotten away with this lamentable situation so long, because the original enterprise was so marvelous and exceptional. Many thanks and best always. PM
Experiments in socialism / communism have been and are currently being implemented in many places and in various times throughout the world. 100% free market capitalism, 100% unabated protection of individual freedom and property has never been allowed to be implemented.
What are the powers that be afraid of? It can be answered in one word. Success. Which would
invalidate the need for the coercive political state.
The Founders saw that problem as well and chose to address it with the Electoral College equal representation in lieu of mob rule. But men being men, all will always seek an advantage over others. Thus, we saw (R) Texas first seeking to Gerrymander districts in between census driven role districting, soon followed by (D) Virginia.
Thiel is a very complicated figure. That much money will do that. I, too, have to careful of categorizing him too conveniently and too quickly. His presence, though, in what I take to be one of your favorite barrios must be more a little disconcerting. I can understand, too, his immediate desire to own a home in one of the most beautiful cities in the world.
Yet another beautifully-crafted thought-piece, Joel. It leaves me wishing I had the time and the talent to write a short and pithy thank-you note (this effort is a fail on that score!) and to write it half as well and half as entertainingly as your original. What I can do is to read your stories with a huge smile on my face and to say a big THANK YOU at the end…
I see that Peter Thiel knows where money is treated well. And Zohran the Madman I can't figure out how to treat money and property that belongs to others in any way that resembles stewardship. Or fiduciary responsibility, though we know that no politicians can be burdened with that concept. As it stands, I'm thinking of re-titling that Mayor of Gotham to Moochus Moronicus.
As a resident of the state of New Jersey, I am grateful for the extreme policies that Mandavi is willing to underwrite on my behalf. Tracking from the days of Covid with the sudden influx of thousands of Empire state license plates (who knew these people could even drive?), through to President Trump's purchase of his "Summer Whitehouse" in Bedminster a mere ten miles away, accelerating housing prices have never slowed - and we're living in a Blue state too.
No matter. As Jack Nicholsons character in the movie "Five Easy Pieces" opined - "in a Leper Colony, the man with three fingers is King"...
Dr. Fauci's support for his "Gain of Function" experiments in China, alongside communist biowarfare scientists, and now Mandavi's pursuit of "Loss of Function" policies for the Marxist malcontents in nearby New York City, has my small exurban town of Flemington, NJ, experiencing a real estate development boom like no other in its long history.
Joel interesting article and comments.I think more than trying old solutions (take money from the rich) we need to scrap the infrastucture of the U.S., like Argentina has done, and start anew. Thanks Richard.
As usual, Joel, you are bang on! I’ve been saying for quite a while that the only people that should be allowed to vote in elections are net tax payers.
When half the population can vote themselves a distribution from the treasury it’s a wonder that a two party system has endured this long.
It hasn't.
We rode the horse mercilessly, never pausing for rest and recovery, never feeding or watering, and never grooming him, until he fell over, exhausted, and died in the 60s. The universal tragedy of man, and in this regard men are, indeed, equal, is the flawed, corruptible nature of the species. Every culture, every civilization goes through this cycle of self-induced ruin, and it's our turn in the drum. One's perspective, interpretations, and reactions are invariably influenced by where he/she enters the cycle. Born in 1952, I came in at, or near, the top, and it has been an unpleasant and revelatory experience, caught in the downhill onslaught, when I expected the apex into which I was born and raised to last, magically, forever. Best always. PM
Yes brother Paul, we were born a few years apart, and have been witnessing the evolution of decline in our once wonderful nation. I chose to surround myself with family and friends who share the same values and beliefs. Sure, the world is changing at the normal frantic pace it always has, just as our bodies are, but faith, family and friends all make the inevitable change just part of a wonderful journey that we all still enjoy. Wishing you the same peace and happiness my friend 🙏
Thanks for the reply. Always good to hear from you. Your participation on these forums is a positive contribution. Facts get a fair hearing here, and it seems less agenda-driven than other places I could name. Best always. PM
Yes Paul, it broke my heart to see all the good folk purged from BPR and replaced with a cultist following that appreciated Bills mental downward spiral. Birds of a feather sort of thing I guess. Anyway, I always enjoyed our friend Joel and his better understanding of truth and his beautiful writing. Of course I’m happy to have you and others who always contributed truth and logic into any conversation. Hope you’re fighting your battles as best you can and are blessed as I have been. God is good 🙏🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸
As always my friend.🙏🙏🇱🇷🇱🇷
NYC voters are going to get very well acquainted with the ol’ admonition: “Be careful what you wish for; you just might get it.”
Boy, are they gonna get it 🍿🍿
there are many of us Paul and some of us have learned that if you can't share whatever good fortune has been bestowed upon you, then your just an empty bell that no longer has sound to give or for others to enjoy .. as Joel says many run off somewhere and try to ring their bell elsewhere but no one is listening..
Joel, this is why I'm here. Aside from your fecundity of thought and expression, your ability to analyze in unconventional ways and your beautifully poetic prose, your love of adventure and what may be the finest beef in the world, your upbringing, education, and perspective from a situation and cousin-culture half-a-world away, the predominant theme always manages to come through: "Try though you may, you can't deceive, delude, or gull me with lies, pretense, and bribes." The gullery on display in NYC is a lab demonstration in real time of what happens when a country loses its way. Many thanks and best always. PM
Appreciate your kind words, good sir! Thanks a lot!
Like Bill Klem (q.v.), I call them as a I see them. Best always. PM
Paul the PEOPLE have lost their way .. the country is still struggling to adapt ..
I continue to be amazed and disappointed that so many voters chose candidates who promise to give them greater access to the public trough.
I know little about the new mayor of NYC but, based on his Robin Hood ambitions, I suspect he's never made a dime's worth of wealth in his life. He's a classic wealth-taker; not a wealth-maker.
Wow Jimm, starting to see the light 🤔
BS .. he's probably worked harder and made & saved more than you have but he's recognised that if you don't give back your market (people) will eventually disappear ..
We differ.
Governments will not long endure if they take money from those whom they think have too much to give to those whom they believe deserve more
It's a destructive policy.
It destroys the incentive of the both the "have" group and the "want" group to earn more money than they already receive.
The optimum solution is to remove impediments that discourage wealth-making.
More people making more wealth is the financial equivalent of a rising sea raising all boats
that works 'WHEN' the so called rich or 'have's' of their OWN free will share their gains with the lesser who are not all rip off merchants .. but both ends of the scale have greed/corruption to deal with. The past age of US tycoons or wealthy by birth have always known that what you don't SHARE you can't take with you .. unless your coffin has big pockets you won't be taking anything along that really matters!
Take solace from accepting that, regardless whether a citizen inherited wealth or made it, or is or is not motivated by free will to share it with others, a portion of everyone's income and the wealth enabled by their income is taxable.
And with the tax revenue they garner, all governments -- state, local, Federal -- use some of their tax revenue for programs to help those less well-off to become better-off.
More: greed is a personality disorder. It has no effect on tax policies or on government "betterment" programs.
Even a greedy miser who lives modestly while accumulating more and more wealth is, by placing money in banks, helping society writ large.
The miser's money enables the bank to lend more money, for example, to entrepreneurs and home buyers, all of whom are job makers and tax revenue generators.
What ever happened to charity!? I thought good people took care of people in a pinch... at least that's the world I was taught and lived and still try to live!
yes there is always an excuse or argument for not doing what's right, the poor will try to cheat and so will the rich .. who's to adjudicate ? why we elect those those who should do that but don't, why ..? graft bribes greed corruption so the elected become part of the problem rather adjudicate that closed loop can be broken briefly but yes history would indicate humans will invent new ways to do wrong regardless of what activity has become corrupt .. eventually govts just want to stay in power so they do.
Yes. Our species is vile, deceitful and treacherous. We're killers all. Everything we eat we first kill. We even kill for pleasure hapless animals and fish struggling to survive. There has never been any time in recorded history when one batch of us hasn't waged war on another.
Thank you Joel🙏 always filled with logic and wisdom, your words provide a rare knowledge and reasoning that may even have an impact on some of our most left leaning dear fellow readers. I’m hopeful that Mr Griffen will stop any further investment in an extremely hostile third world city, and move his entire operation to a more logical location where his money can benefit Americans, and not foreign and domestic enemies of capitalism and America. Elections have consequences, and the damage that years of corruption and democrat control has caused to NY is now irreversible. Let the city fail, burn and eat themselves, as most democrat cities will…. “I think myself that we have more machinery of government than is necessary, too many parasites living on the labor of the industrious. Government big enough to supply everything you need is big enough to take everything you have ... The course of history shows that as a government grows, liberty decreases. The two enemies of the people are criminals and government, so let us tie the second down with the chains of the constitution so the second will not become the legalized version of the first." ~ Thomas Jefferson
Great Jefferson quote!
“ The two enemies of the people are criminals and government, so let us tie the second down with the chains of the constitution so the second will not become the legalized version of the first.”
Yes Joel “The two enemies of the people are criminals and government” and unfortunately both enemies pretty much wrap up our past and current democrat cult 🫏🫏🫏. Corrupt asses that have done more damage to our Republic than any foreign enemy ever could.
Joel,
You're right. It is a great quote
Pity the chains securing the US constitution are either absent (e.g., no requirement for balanced budgets) or not heeded (e.g., waging war ).
I've always wondered why
Jimm, my take on it, for whatever it's worth, is that they didn't see it ever needing to be codified, because it is patently obvious among thinking, capable people, that one should not see deficits and debt as acceptable policy. For all of their insight and understanding of "man", they missed that part big-time. Best always.PM
Paul, they had to see it. The debt of King George was what was driving that Stamp Act that sparked the rebellion. The founders tried to codify only Gold as the basis of a secure currency (not debt), but loopholes were found by lesser men. Bill Bonner gets this part right.
One man's law is another man's loophole. If you put enough lawyers on the case, of either political party, your laws become virtually meaningless and rule by a "Uniparty" of elites, posturing for the cameras but cutting deals in the cloakroom, just takes over.
Men find a way to destroy everything they do. It's the tragic nature of humanity. The ability to game the system to gain an advantage is both a challenge and a reward irresistible to many. Always glad to see your posts, and I enjoy the opportunity to interact. We've gotten away with this lamentable situation so long, because the original enterprise was so marvelous and exceptional. Many thanks and best always. PM
Experiments in socialism / communism have been and are currently being implemented in many places and in various times throughout the world. 100% free market capitalism, 100% unabated protection of individual freedom and property has never been allowed to be implemented.
What are the powers that be afraid of? It can be answered in one word. Success. Which would
invalidate the need for the coercive political state.
That one is a ringer and there in lies the truth.
Go to the head of the class. So many of us get "it", but we are still headed to oblivion. Doesn't make sense. Best always. PM
The success of some begetting the envy of many others. How many people are even capable of cheering for those succeeding where they may have failed?
'Couldn't agree more Steve!
Central Planning 🆚 Free Markets in the era of AGI acceleration, privacy 👁️🔎🤖 and security:
https://claude.ai/public/artifacts/4a13a9dd-ec74-4ce5-89f1-f9a7c49dc9b2
.....dragons, bots, surveillance & 💽📲 tech. (4/2026)
Majority Rule can be a VERY serious problem, just ask Socrates....
Death by democracy
The Founders saw that problem as well and chose to address it with the Electoral College equal representation in lieu of mob rule. But men being men, all will always seek an advantage over others. Thus, we saw (R) Texas first seeking to Gerrymander districts in between census driven role districting, soon followed by (D) Virginia.
That faint but growing sound you can hear in NYC is the fluttering of wings.
Them chickens coming home to roost.
Own it, New York.
Argentina is becoming a destination to move too ...
Ayatollah Mamdani.....
Thiel is a very complicated figure. That much money will do that. I, too, have to careful of categorizing him too conveniently and too quickly. His presence, though, in what I take to be one of your favorite barrios must be more a little disconcerting. I can understand, too, his immediate desire to own a home in one of the most beautiful cities in the world.
No risk. It's pocket change for him. Best always. PM
Yet another beautifully-crafted thought-piece, Joel. It leaves me wishing I had the time and the talent to write a short and pithy thank-you note (this effort is a fail on that score!) and to write it half as well and half as entertainingly as your original. What I can do is to read your stories with a huge smile on my face and to say a big THANK YOU at the end…
I see that Peter Thiel knows where money is treated well. And Zohran the Madman I can't figure out how to treat money and property that belongs to others in any way that resembles stewardship. Or fiduciary responsibility, though we know that no politicians can be burdened with that concept. As it stands, I'm thinking of re-titling that Mayor of Gotham to Moochus Moronicus.
⚖️📜🗽🧮✏️📓🤔❤️🩹⏳ On Courage…..
https://claude.ai/public/artifacts/e415960d-31a5-46c7-bfe7-2f6977a541e8
....Feast of the Holy Evangelist St Mark🦁🪽
As a resident of the state of New Jersey, I am grateful for the extreme policies that Mandavi is willing to underwrite on my behalf. Tracking from the days of Covid with the sudden influx of thousands of Empire state license plates (who knew these people could even drive?), through to President Trump's purchase of his "Summer Whitehouse" in Bedminster a mere ten miles away, accelerating housing prices have never slowed - and we're living in a Blue state too.
No matter. As Jack Nicholsons character in the movie "Five Easy Pieces" opined - "in a Leper Colony, the man with three fingers is King"...
Dr. Fauci's support for his "Gain of Function" experiments in China, alongside communist biowarfare scientists, and now Mandavi's pursuit of "Loss of Function" policies for the Marxist malcontents in nearby New York City, has my small exurban town of Flemington, NJ, experiencing a real estate development boom like no other in its long history.
Thanks Zorro!
Joel interesting article and comments.I think more than trying old solutions (take money from the rich) we need to scrap the infrastucture of the U.S., like Argentina has done, and start anew. Thanks Richard.
As usual, Joel, you are bang on! I’ve been saying for quite a while that the only people that should be allowed to vote in elections are net tax payers.