Dark Age

It was bound to happen. Sooner or later, the hammer comes crashing down and even the most stubborn nail is driven into submission, or bent so badly as to be completely marginalized in its purpose. I too, have been marginalized. By my reckoning, I have only a short time to live, but in this brief timespan, I hope to share with you my story, or at least some of the pertinent aspects of it. Hopefully, in a few dozen years, or a few hundred, whenever the gathering winds of freedom have attained hurricane force once again, my story can provide some comfort, some solace or some inspiration to those trying desperately to obliterate the colossal structures of tyranny.

I have been in hiding or on the run for the last twenty years. There have been a few close calls, but an opportunity for escape always presented itself. Not this time. The road has reached its end in a cul-de-sac and there will be no more running possible.

As it turned out, World War III, though devastatingly brutal, was not Armageddon. That came a bit later. After Social Security was finally declared defunct in 2021, massive changes swept the world, paralleling the worst case scenarios of the gloomiest doomsayers of old. Following a third downgrade of its credit rating, the US defaulted on its sovereign debt—an incomprehensible $24T. That number is roughly equivalent to $63,000 per citizen, regardless of age. Needless to say, the dollar collapsed and destroyed most of the rest of the developed world’s currencies in the process. Chaos reigned supreme.

Unemployment, at the time hovering around 14% in the US, soared, doubling and then tripling that within two years. Martial Law was declared early in 2024 as a feeble attempt to regain control of the downward spiraling double-helix of humanity and the economy. Through misapplication of the Commerce Clause in the US Constitution, the Federal Government annexed all of the nation’s business and then virtually erased the Constitution and all the protections it sought to offer the citizens of the country. Individualism and initiative died.

With the government setting prices for goods and services of all descriptions, skyrocketing prices on food and most other necessities of life stabilized, but only briefly. The smoke and mirrors of government control of supply and distribution fell prey quickly to the realities of shortages, cost overruns and bureaucratic morass. The manufacturing sector was the first to go, followed almost immediately by the few remaining entities in the financial sector. The cost of living began its upward surge again. Higher prices generally meant even less business and brought a new round of workforce-wide layoffs. It became a vicious, self-sustaining, perpetual motion machine of slow, all consuming destruction. The lights went out, most of them anyway, in 2026. The world had entered another dark age.

There were pockets of resistance to the revocation of freedom and evisceration of liberties, many at first, but continually dwindling under constant government assault through lengthy prohibitions and increased regulations and when those did not work to circumscribe the behaviors of the offending groups, frequent use of military intervention and deadly force. I sojourned among the inhabitants of these castaway outposts for years, spending as much time as I could with each of them, moving to the next when expedient. Together, we fought the oppressor’s hand, driving him back and gaining a brief respite on occasion. All too often, though, we were driven from our stake, forced again into hiding or retreating just to survive; stragglers running to the next safe haven.

As far as I am aware, this is the last enclave. It is here, today, that we will make our final stand. It has been a long war, but I fear, that this day will be my last battle. I have been their primary target since this war began. The forces arrayed against me and those here that stand with me have become too powerful, all permeating, unrelenting. Though I have been hounded for years and called despicable, scathing names by those that fear me.and branded as evil by those that seek to destroy me, to my friends, I am known as Liberty.

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Notes:

Short-Range Results
The assets of the OASI Trust Fund and of the combined OASI and DI Trust Funds are projected to be adequate over the next 10 years under the intermediate assumptions. However, the assets of the DI Trust Fund are projected to steadily decline under the intermediate assumptions, and would fall below 100 percent of annual cost by the beginning of 2013 and continue to decline until the trust fund is exhausted in 2018. The DI Trust Fund does not satisfy the short-range test of financial adequacy, which requires that the trust fund remain above 100 percent of annual cost throughout the short-range period.

Source: Social Security Trustees Report, Overview Section

Also in the Overview are some interesting recommendations from the Trustees to “fix” the very real issues with the Social Security Ponzi scheme. Such as a greater than 2% increase in withholdings and a reduction in benefits. Sounds to me like “What we’re doing isn’t working, so let’s do it some more and see it that changes anything.”