Freedom Fighter Irwin Schiff Passes Away In US Prison

Yesterday, Irwin Schiff, father of Peter Schiff and freedom activist passed away in a US prison where he was being held as a political prisoner.

We would like to express our condolences to the Schiff family and publicly thank Irwin Schiff for his service and sacrifice.

Irwin Schiff was a prominent figure in the tax protester movement.  From Wikipedia, “Schiff was known for writing and promoting literature in which he claimed the United States income tax is applied incorrectly. He lost several civil cases against the federal government and had a record of multiple convictions for various federal tax crimes. Schiff was serving a 13-plus year sentence for tax crimes at the time of his death.”

While we respect the years of his life he put into this effort and the ultimate sacrifice he undertook by becoming a political prisoner we have always felt that fighting the IRS via the US government's own “justice” system would never be successful and we mostly recommend that Americans who can just try to get out of the US to escape the largest and most aggressive tax collection outfit on Earth.

The only other option that has any chance of success is for a large number of US citizens to stop paying tax in protest… but there seems to be little public appetite for this in the US at this time as too many Americans continue to admire their own chains.

But one only needs to see the titles of many of Mr. Schiff's books to know what he was all about, including:

• Federal Mafia: How It Illegally Imposes and Unlawfully Collects Income Taxes
• The Biggest Con: How the Government Is Fleecing You
• The Great Income Tax Hoax: Why You Can Immediately Stop Paying This Illegally Enforced Tax
• The Social Security Swindle: How Anyone Can Drop Out

While I never was fortunate enough to meet Mr. Schiff in person I admired his courage in fighting the system and never backing down until his ultimate end.  In this sense he was a true American patriot standing up for the ideals that originally founded the country but have been so sorely lost over the centuries.  And he was a true libertarian hero, having even ran for the Libertarian Party in the 90s.

Aside from his tax protest work he also wrote a book that is a must read for all children… and, unfortunately, most adults who are economically clueless.  The book is written like a children's book  and explains exquisitely what makes for the best economy possible.

The book, “How an Economy Grows and Why It Crashes” is worthwhile reading even if you understand economics as he so deftly shows why real capitalism (not the crapitalism/corporatism/fascism in the US) is so important to improving human lives.

Someone has also turned a version of that book aimed more at children (but still something 99% of most adults don't understand and should view too) into a Youtube video here:

In Mr. Schiff's memory, I took the time to skim through that book today and it is full of gems.  As Amazon describes the book, “How an Economy Grows and Why it Crashes uses illustration, humor, and accessible storytelling to explain complex topics of economic growth and monetary systems.”

It's very worthwhile reading for all and, in fact, should be considered mandatory (but not violently enforced) reading for all children… and, as I said, adults too.

Here is an excellent section on the importance of savings:

In the past, the United States was known as a nation
of savers. Throughout much of our history American
citizens typically saved 10 percent or more of their incomes
annually. This discipline not only helped build a huge
supply of savings to fi nance our growing industrial activity,
but it also helped families and communities endure
unexpected hardships.

However, in recent years, economists have severely
downgraded savings on the economic value chain. In fact,
as far as many economists are concerned, savings are a drag.
Keynesians view savings as detrimental to growth because
the act removes money from circulation and decreases
spending (which they assume is the crucial element in
creating economic growth). Policy makers, infl uenced
by these ideas, have made rules that reward spenders and
penalize savers.

As a result, Americans have, for years, spent more than we
have earned. In a contained economy, like an island, this
would be impossible. But in our modern world, the fl ow of
money across borders and the seemingly magical qualities
of the printing press have temporarily blinded many
Americans to the simple truth that we can’t consume more
than we produce, or borrow more than we save … at least
not for very long.

This is exactly the problem that central banks are creating worldwide by artificially manipulating interest rates at near 0% and in some cases, in numerous European countries now, negative interest rates!

In fact, on October 6th, yields on US Treasuries went negative briefly (“3-Month Treasury Yield Turns Negative“).

Sadly this is a planned attempt at destroying capitalism worldwide.  Capital is just another way of saying “savings” and the Keynesian central banksters are trying to destroy capital/savings and are doing a very good job at it.  The plan has been in process for decades as this cartoon in the Chicago Tribune in 1936 is just as relevant, or even more so, today than it was nearly 80 years ago.

To show how correct this cartoon was, it says that the people shovelling the money out of the back of the cart are “Young pinkies from Columbia and Harvard”… and Barack O'HospitalBomber was said to have attended both those schools! (although no one seems to remember him being there)

But this plan to destroy capitalism is already causing problems worldwide and if left to continue it will eventually turn most of the world into what Venezuelans are currently dealing with… shortages of just about everything and a decimated economy resulting in impoverishment of nearly everyone except the banksters and political elites.

Yesterday we lost a great freedom fighter and educator on libertarianism and free markets.

Please pass on Mr. Schiff's great book and/or the video above to as many people as you can.  If not enough people understand what is really going on we will all pay the price tomorrow as savings/capital are extinguished and anything remaining is held by the 0.1%.

R.I.P. Irwin Schiff and thank you for your service.