Praise for the Socialism Survival Guide
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
The Socialism Survival Guide Copyright © 2020 by Stansberry Research. All Rights Reserved. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means including information storage and retrieval systems, without permission in writing from the author. The only exception is by a reviewer, who may quote short excerpts in a review. Edited by Steven Longenecker Designed by Lauren Thorsen Cover photo credit: iStock/btgbtg Stansberry Research Visit our website at www.StansberryResearch.com First Edition: April 2020 ISBN: 978-1-7338773-3-6 About Stansberry Research Founded in 1999 and based out of Baltimore, Maryland, Stansberry Research is the largest independent source of financial insight in the world. It delivers unbiased investment advice to self-directed investors seeking an edge in a wide variety of sectors and market conditions. Stansberry Research has nearly two dozen analysts and researchers – including former hedge-fund managers and buy-side financial experts. They produce a steady stream of timely research on value investing, income generation, resources, biotech, financials, short- selling, macroeconomic analysis, options trading, and more. The company’s unrelenting and uncompromised insight has made it one of the most respected and sought-after research organizations in the financial sector. It has nearly 200 employees and serves 240,000-plus customers in more than 120 countries. Praise for The Socialism Survival Guide “Buck Sexton tells the truth about ‘democratic socialism’ – that there’s no truth in it. Democratic socialism is all lies. “There’s nothing ‘democratic’ about having the government run your whole life. There’s nothing capital-D Democratic about it either. No sane Democrat – however liberal – believes in socialism. There’s nothing ‘social’ about socialism’s promise to politicize all of society. “Democratic socialism isn’t even ‘socialistic’ in the ideological sense of workers owning the means of production. Democratic socialism is just a grab bag of fanatics trying to grab power from we the people.” – P.J. O’Rourke, No. 1 New York Times bestselling author and editor in chief of American Consequences magazine “When Buck came to me with his idea of writing a clear, concise, and actionable survival manual for Americans in the face of what’s coming next in our nation – I was confident the resulting book would be good. “I was wrong. This book is exceptional. It should be required reading for every American who thinks they know a lick about politics, financial markets, and the state of the country today. Whether the subject is health care, government bureaucracy, or our out-of-control national debt, Buck takes no prisoners. Nor should he.” – Porter Stansberry, founder of Stansberry Research who predicted the 2008 financial crisis Table of Contents Forward: Dr. Ron Paul ........................................................................ i Introduction: Why I Wrote This Book................................................. v Socialism Is Winning in America .......................................................1 Health Care Delusions: “Medicare for All” Is a Disaster ..................23 Open Borders: Sovereignty Is for Suckers ......................................39 Green Extremes: Climate Change Is Total Control ..........................63 Free College: Somebody’s Gotta Pay .............................................91 The Debt Bomb: Nobody Wants to Defuse it ................................109 The Bureaucracy: Our Slothful Overlords ......................................133 Taxes: Your Property Is Their Plunder ...........................................163 The Battle for 2020 and Beyond ...................................................189 Foreword Foreward By Dr. Ron Paul Never before have I seen such danger in America as I do today. When I left Congress in 2012, I warned that big government, fiat money, ignoring liberty, central economic planning, welfarism, and warfarism caused our prior crisis... and that if folks in Washington didn’t wake up and realize it, then we could expect an even more dangerous crisis in the future. That’s exactly the world we face today. The ultimate consequences will be severe. The presidential election of 2020 is just the latest salvo – and it could well be the final one. Because the coming battle for the future of America will devastate the nation. If you believe, as I do, that the folks in Washington, D.C., are playing with fire – then I urge you to read this book from Buck Sexton. He’s one of the brightest minds to come out of New York City in years. I spoke extensively with him about four years ago at a private financial conference in Las Vegas. And since then, I’ve followed his work with great interest. So if you’re concerned about the direction of our nation – we both are likely bringing you bad news in this book. It’s going to get much, much worse. We’re no longer participating in a free market economy. And we’re no longer using sound money. Asset prices move up and down at the whim of the Federal Reserve. i The Socialism Survival Guide Since the creation of the Federal Reserve, the U.S. dollar has lost over 96% of its value. This stealth tax hurts every American citizen, particularly middle- and working-class Americans. And the Federal Reserve has facilitated the growth of government by printing money since its creation. It is no coincidence the birth of the Federal Reserve was immediately followed by the rise of the welfare- warfare state. I hope you seek to neutralize the threats that our dangerous monetary system has created. What you do will determine the fate of your family’s financial future. For your sake and the sake of our nation, I hope you choose to act. I hope you save this copy of Buck Sexton’s book, The Socialism Survival Guide. The topics that Buck writes about here – from the unstoppable rise in government bureaucracy, our national $23 trillion and growing debt bomb, and the outright theft of personal liberties – will only grow worse. Take the so-called “Green New Deal.” Like all forms of socialism, the Green New Deal suffers from what Ludwig von Mises identified as the “calculation problem.” That is, knowledge of the most efficient use of resources is conveyed by prices set in a free market. And those prices reflect individuals’ subjective preferences regarding the best use of resources. Yet when government uses force to remove resources from the marketplace, it makes it impossible for the price system to function. And the No. 1 reason why the price system fails is the absence of the market rate of interest... causing insidious malinvestment and maldistribution of wealth and leaving government officials and private citizens unable to determine the most efficient use of resources. That is why every attempt at government management of the economy inevitably reduces the people’s standard of living. The ultimate result of these socialist policies will be disaster for our nation. ii Foreword When the economic crisis that both Buck and I are warning about comes, vast swathes of the nation will no longer be able to afford next month’s rent, gas for their car, or food for their children. The good news is that there are a few simple things you can do to protect yourself and your family. That’s why Buck has also included “Survive & Profit” advice at the end of each chapter from America’s preeminent financial publisher, Stansberry Research. The financial analysts at Stansberry Research have helped hundreds of thousands of investors see the truth about what is happening in America today. And they can help you, too. The Socialism Survival Guide will help you protect yourself from the coming catastrophe. I urge you to read it closely. This book tells the story of how we got here... why folks across the nation are losing faith in America... and exactly how to prepare for the dangerous times ahead. I hope you take this message seriously. Best regards, Dr. Ron Paul iii Introduction Introduction Dear reader, The most devastating attack is the one you aren’t expecting – the big surprise or shot out of the dark. And learning how to avoid those shock events – through preparation and foresight – is the greatest informational advantage of all. There are two events of global significance that changed the course of my life – and that ultimately brought me to write this book. The first was the terrorist attacks of 9/11. I was born and raised in New York. Evil came for my city and my country that day, and I wanted to go and join the fight. After graduating college, I joined the CIA. Within a few years, I would find myself in the deserts of Iraq and the mountains of Afghanistan, making whatever contribution I could to what was then known as the “Global War on Terror.” There were some heady moments. Before my 30th birthday, I ran two Oval Office briefings for the president of the United States, giving him analyses on issues of critical importance to the nation. It definitely wasn’t the midtown Manhattan finance job most of my friends ended up doing. The second event that dramatically changed things for me, and in a very different way, was the Great Recession of 2008. After years of chasing terrorists (and writing a lot of memos), I began to wonder about what life would be like in the private sector. The allure of more freedom – and let’s be honest, more money – was too much to ignore. I had served my government, but knew I wasn’t a v The Socialism Survival Guide lifer. And just as I began to look outside the walls of Langley for my next gig, the financial world suddenly stood on the brink of ruin. I’ll never forget when an old friend of mine called from Lehman Brothers in mid-September, right as the bank was finding out its fate, to tell me that “this is not a drill.