Ruining the illusion of the long-lasting stability
Seeing the possession of my surrounding by the belief in the propaganda of everlasting institutions made me put down some thoughts on present-day socialism and freedom of decision.
It was the generation of my grandparents who lived in the communistic world based on the manipulative illusion of unity, equation, and belief in the socialistic ideal. If we all participate, we achieve the bigger goal. Nationalizing the property, central planning, and propaganda of fairness. I know I wanted to talk about the socialism of the past century, but we live in it today. We just call it differently, with more fancy words.
I am just twenty-six. Ask people my age if they ever believe they’ll get a retirement. Even my mum doesn’t believe in it. In my country, it’s a mandatory fee and its height is depending on your monthly salary. We don’t call it a tax, or Ponzi Scheme, despite it is no different from those. In spite of not believing in any retirement, people keep supporting it by 28 % monthly of what their employer pays for them. Sending more than one-fourth of my income to something I don’t believe is a pretty high investment. I would expect it to be even more over the years. Especially with the trend of the aging population.
You can also opt-in for an additional retirement monthly fee that can be supported by ‘the state’.
Now a little more difficult question: Where does the state take that money? Is there any magic wand that brings money to our account?
No.
It’s the money we paid on taxes MINUS the process MINUS the officers who need to eat something MINUS additional bureaucracy (more officers) MINUS someone who came up with this brilliant idea (more officers) MAKES the rest we are paid off.
I see many people hungry for even more state subsidies. The more you want to take, the more you actually pay.
There comes my favorite quote: “What is the price for a free service?” In this case, you pay it twice and you cannot wait to get (read as ‘pay’) even more.
How long can the myth keep going if we stop believing in it?
It cannot.
Imagine a hypothetical situation where most of the young people leave the country for paying too high expenses while getting zero value from it. They just stop believing they will ever see their money back. They stop believing in better roads in twenty years. They stop believing it’s right to support this collective illusion. They leave to some welcoming country with more favorable conditions, low bureaucracy level, and high ease of making business.
I am sure some people will stay. This scenario is not for everyone — people love the comfort of the illusion of stability and unity. However, will they not rethink their situation if their monthly expenses will be constantly rising?
After a certain time, the ratio of those paying vs. receiving in the country will be overwhelming. The crash is unavoidable. The willingness and ability of people to contribute will be destroyed. It’s not just about the social&health contribution (which is nothing else than a socialistic myth), but about the loss of trust in this illusionary system of stability.
Seeking getaways back in the communities
The lack of willingness to contribute to the nation-state propaganda (or, if you prefer, the less pejorative word of ‘Public Relations’) leads people from their comfort zone of citizenship, to seek a more individualistic, decentralized approach. People search for alternative like-minded communities ranging from the crypto communities to expats & digital nomads.
“The success is never forgiven.”
The anti-tech companies and anti-offshore manipulation is increasing the hate of those who still believe in the socialistic ideal. It makes total sense especially if you don’t have many ambitions. Why should you work more? We all should work equally, get the same salary and the same benefits, no? Well, guess what? We don’t.
Surprisingly, some people are more efficient, know more languages, have better (self-)education and strive for more. Why those people should contribute to those who are lazy or simply unwilling to run the extra mile? This hate and envy is a tiring and sad part of our society. As my friend puts it: “The success is never forgiven.”
The two approaches
From the manipulation perspective, it is much easier to feed the hate, and unity illusion, than expand the freedom to grow.
I got the impression that the state institutions are afraid of losing power and control. It’s like those anxious people calling themselves ‘managers’ while being babysitters in real life.
There are a few good managers who create an environment based on trust, personal responsibility, and mutual respect. Then, you have the babysitters — people who are afraid of losing control if they don’t see you working from behind your shoulder, creating external, fear-based motivation and stressful tight deadlines while offering zero autonomy.
Question for 100 points — which one will you prefer?
Bringing this to the context of the above, you can either support the ease of business, bring more revenue by new investors impressed by the low taxation and zero bureaucracy, invite crypto people with 0% taxation because you know these people will also buy food & housing in your country.
Or, you can create new regulations, fear of doing anything, hiring more people for fining, establishing a huge monitoring system creating an even wider gap between you and people who pay you more and more cash.
Despite the temporary cease caused by the pandemic that reminded us about our passport issuer importance, people realized things will never be as they were before. However, some people still believe in the return of the pre-pandemic life.
But those who woke up already realized, there’s no way back. They got a remote work and can move anywhere they’ve always wanted. They cut their expenses by 50+% and work from the ocean coast, pay lower taxes and save more money than ever before. Some may already buy a cottage in the woods and enjoy more offline time with their family in the off-hours. You will never bring those people back to the office to work from 9 to 5 unless they willingly work on shifts with the presence requirement.
Flexibility for the brave
The buying power is getting from the hands of the governments to the individuals. People unwilling to contribute are leaving the limits behind, crashing the boundaries that set them back. Rethinking the priorities is the first step needed. The one right following is the ability to stop searching for excuses, but the solutions. Third — research & action.
It was a question of time till this happens.
We are taught through life to set our long-term chains (we call it ‘roots’ to not sounding too propagandistic). Taking the mortgages and loans, buying the house (and promising we’ll be able to pay it in the next 50 years), buying the car for leasing, signing the 10-years or infinite contracts, contributing on the ‘insurance’ with the belief of the brighter tomorrow, buying more than we need… In addition, some countries imposed an ‘exit tax’ to make it even more difficult for you to leave.
The more of these chains we have, the harder it is to escape our known comfort to seek a better one. I know you don’t want to leave the warmth of the bed in the morning, but you know that if you will never do it, you’ll eventually die there.
I’ve also noticed that nationalist propaganda created the safety illusion. No matter who I ask, from any origin, every person believes, that their country is the best and safest ever. People often travel abroad just to see a local resort or the seaside, without having any idea of how life is really going on out there. Indeed, some places might definitely be safe. However, often, these illusions don’t correlate with the global safety index data. Why does this work? Because we’re naturally afraid of the unknown. That’s why the concept of the ‘us and them’ works too.
How is all this connected together? If you create an illusion of the best-of-the-best, people will less likely ever travel abroad to try to find an alternative. Our educational systems don’t teach us to question the status quo, so why should we do it? We can see that the previous two generations are contributing, so why rethink it?
Definitely. You don’t have to. That would cost you effort and time for the gain of a possibly much better life. Again, why should you leave the comfort of the warm bed? No matter that the bed might crash over time? I don’t know — ask yourself.
I can only share what I prefer: the ability to decide on my own what I do with the money I make. I don’t mind paying 1% on the taxes and 30$ monthly for the private global insurance. Besides getting a much better living standard, I am able to fully buy my own flat by 27, lower my monthly expenses for good quality in exchange, or I can afford to travel much more often while living in the country I love.
However, I understand it’s not for everyone. It requires you to leave the comfort of what you got used to over years. It asks for finding solutions to the problems that might arise in your head. That’s something you can train yourself for.
Making the step into the unknown means taking full responsibility for our lives. It’s not for everyone.
No matter your decision, your surrounding might not support you, and the closest people might not accept your decision. Expect the shame. Others ‘know the recipe is to stay where they know it’. You’ll be called a fool, and betrayer. At this point, you can understand it’s just ego-centric emotional extortion. I faced it too, even from my relatives. I asked for respecting my decision. I’m already grown up, able to decide on my life myself. It took more than a year to get an email “I can see you’re happy there. That’s great.”.
Why do you believe others would wish you wealth, happiness, and success? It would question their own laziness. I know. We don’t try to point out their mistakes. We just don’t care. However, that’s the way some people read it anyway.
At the same time, I am not saying that by staying in the place you’re honestly happy, you’re bad or stupid. Not at all. I believe that’s perfectly possible. However, I am afraid more people never ask themselves whether they are happy in the place they are. Many never even thought it was possible to make any change in their lives.
So there it is — it’s possible.
The biggest limit is only in our minds. Making the step into the unknown means taking full responsibility for our lives. It’s not for everyone.
🚀 You can support my writing and “buy me a book” here for as little as 5 EUR (one-time, one-click, no registration needed).
