# The Hidden Tax: How Inflation and Property Assessments Are Eroding Middle-Class Wealth

# The Hidden Tax: How Inflation and Property Assessments Are Eroding Middle-Class Wealth

When Mitch Vexler's property tax bill arrived last month, the assessment showed his modest suburban home had appreciated from $285,000 in 2015 to $625,000 today. Good news for his net worth—or so it seemed. His annual property tax had jumped from $4,275 to $9,375, a 119% increase that forced him to take on additional freelance work to cover the difference.

But measured against gold, Vexler's home tells a different story. In 2015, his $285,000 home was worth roughly 259 ounces of gold at $1,100 per ounce. Today, at $4,500 per ounce, that same home represents just 139 ounces—a 46% decline in real value. Yet he's paying dramatically higher taxes on what amounts to monetary inflation, not actual wealth creation.

Vexler's situation—while a fictional example constructed for illustration—reflects a widening gap in how monetary policy affects different participants in the economy, a gap that experts say is fundamentally reshaping wealth distribution in America.

## The Tale of Two Inflations

The Federal Reserve's monetary expansion since 2008 has created what economists call a "Cantillon Effect"—named after 18th-century economist Richard Cantillon, who observed that new money doesn't affect everyone equally. Those closest to money creation benefit first, before prices adjust. Those furthest away receive devalued currency after prices have already risen.

"The question isn't whether your home appreciated," explains Dr. James Morrison, monetary economist at the Cato Institute. "It's whether it appreciated faster than the currency depreciated. For most homeowners, the answer is no—but they're paying property taxes as if the answer were yes."

Consider the mathematics: A $200,000 home purchased in 2000, when gold traded at $280 per ounce, cost 714 ounces. That same home assessed at $500,000 today, with gold at $4,500 per ounce, represents just 111 ounces—an 84% decline in real purchasing power.

Yet property taxes tell a different story. Based on nominal dollar appreciation, that homeowner has seen tax bills rise 150% while the asset's real value declined by more than four-fifths.

"Property taxation based on nominal values effectively taxes currency debasement," says Morrison. "You're paying annual tribute on an accounting fiction."

## The Silver Standard Tells the Same Story

The pattern becomes even more pronounced when measured against silver, historically the monetary metal of common commerce. That same $200,000 home in 2000, when silver traded at approximately $5 per ounce, was worth 40,000 ounces of silver. Today at $75 per ounce, the $500,000 assessment represents 6,667 ounces—an 83% loss in silver-denominated value.

"Precious metals provide an unmanipulated measuring stick," notes Jennifer Abruzzo, financial policy analyst at the Roosevelt Institute. "They reveal what dollar-denominated accounting obscures: most Americans haven't built wealth through homeownership—they've simply maintained nominal positions while real purchasing power evaporated."

## The Credit Divide

The disparity extends beyond taxation into the fundamental structure of credit access—an advantage that has allowed institutional investors to accumulate real assets while households struggle with rising costs.

When the Federal Reserve creates liquidity, primary dealers—the 24 major financial institutions authorized to trade directly with the Fed—access these funds at the federal funds rate, which hovered near 0.25% for years following the 2008 crisis and again during the pandemic response.

Meanwhile, average Americans face dramatically different rates:

- Credit cards: 18-29% APR

- Auto loans: 6-12% APR  

- Personal loans: 10-20% APR

- Mortgages: currently 6-8% APR

"There's a 600-to-3,000 basis point spread between institutional borrowing costs and consumer credit," notes Abruzzo. "That differential represents one of the largest wealth transfer mechanisms in modern finance."

The implications are profound. Institutional investors can borrow at near-zero rates to purchase real assets—including single-family homes—before broader inflation adjusts prices. By the time households compete for the same assets, prices have already risen, and they're borrowing at multiples of institutional rates.

Blackstone, Invitation Homes, and other institutional investors have purchased over 574,000 single-family homes since 2011, according to MetLife Investment Management data. These purchases were largely financed with cheap institutional credit unavailable to individual buyers.

## The Bailout Asymmetry

The 2008 financial crisis and 2023 banking instability revealed another structural advantage: selective downside protection.

The Federal Reserve's emergency response to 2008 included $16.1 trillion in loans to financial institutions, according to a Government Accountability Office audit—a figure far exceeding the publicly discussed $700 billion TARP program. Zero criminal prosecutions of major bank executives followed.

In March 2023, when Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank collapsed, the Fed created $300 billion in emergency lending facilities within days. Large depositors were made whole above FDIC insurance limits through systemic risk exceptions.

"The message to markets is clear," says Robert Hockett, Cornell Law professor specializing in financial regulation. "Institutional failure triggers intervention. Individual failure triggers liquidation."

During the 2008-2012 foreclosure crisis, approximately 3.8 million completed foreclosures occurred, according to RealtyTrac data. Those distressed sales often transferred properties to the same institutional investors whose risk-taking had contributed to the crisis—and who had received billions in bailout support.

## The Real Estate Trap

The confluence of these policies has transformed homeownership from a wealth-building vehicle into what some economists now characterize as a "liquidity trap."

Beyond property taxes rising on nominal gains, homeownership carries substantial hidden costs:

**For a $200,000 home held 24 years:**

- Property taxes (1.5% annually): $126,000+

- Maintenance (1.5% annually): $84,000+

- Insurance: $36,000+

- Mortgage interest (30-year loan): $200,000+

- Transaction costs (eventual sale): $30,000-50,000

Total: $476,000-$500,000+ in costs, plus opportunity cost of capital.

Meanwhile, 714 ounces of gold (the 2000 equivalent value of that $200,000 home):

- Storage costs: nominal

- No annual taxation

- No maintenance requirements

- Complete portability

- Preserved purchasing power—now worth $3.2 million at $4,500/oz

Or 40,000 ounces of silver from 2000:

- Same advantages as gold

- Now worth $3 million at $75/oz

- More divisible for smaller transactions

"We've convinced two generations that homeownership is the cornerstone of wealth building," says Abruzzo. "But measured in real terms rather than nominal dollars, most middle-class home equity has been stagnant or negative once you account for carrying costs. Meanwhile, those who held precious metals preserved—and dramatically enhanced—their purchasing power."

The immobility factor compounds the issue. High transaction costs (typically 8-10% of sale price between commissions, closing costs, and moving expenses) make relocation economically punishing. Combined with mortgage obligations and property tax requirements, homeownership reduces geographic flexibility precisely when labor markets demand increased mobility.

## The International Dimension

Recent geopolitical developments have accelerated trends that may intensify domestic inflationary pressures. The freezing of Russian central bank reserves in 2022 and the weaponization of the SWIFT payment system prompted BRICS nations to accelerate development of alternative reserve currencies and settlement systems.

"When foreign central banks reduce dollar reserve holdings, those dollars flow back to the U.S. domestic economy," explains Morrison. "That increases domestic money supply without corresponding productivity gains—classic inflationary pressure."

The IMF reports that the dollar's share of global reserves has declined from 72% in 2000 to approximately 58% today, with accelerated decline post-2022. As de-dollarization continues, the cushion that allowed the U.S. to export inflation through reserve currency status diminishes.

The rise in precious metals prices reflects this global monetary uncertainty. Gold's climb to $4,500 and silver's surge to $75 represent not just inflation hedging but a loss of confidence in fiat currency stability worldwide.

## Measuring What Matters

Financial advisors are increasingly counseling clients to measure wealth in real rather than nominal terms.

"If your net worth increased 40% over a decade but gold increased 310%, you got dramatically poorer in real terms," says Thomas Ramirez, CFP and founding partner at Sentinel Wealth Management. "Yet you'll pay capital gains taxes on that nominal 40% increase when you sell assets, even though your purchasing power declined relative to sound money."

The precious metals capital gains tax exemplifies the disconnect. When investors liquidate gold holdings—often during financial stress—they're taxed on gains measured in the devalued currency itself. If gold rises from $1,000 to $4,500 while the dollar loses purchasing power correspondingly, the entire "gain" is simply currency debasement reflected back.

Yet the IRS treats it as income subject to taxation at collectibles rates of up to 28%—higher than long-term capital gains rates on stocks. This creates a powerful disincentive to hold the very assets that best preserve purchasing power, effectively penalizing citizens for protecting themselves against monetary debasement.

## Policy Implications

Some economists argue that current monetary policy has created what amounts to a two-tier system: one for institutions with direct Fed access and bailout protection, another for households facing rising costs, high borrowing rates, and no downside protection.

"The Cantillon Effect isn't theoretical anymore—it's empirically observable in asset ownership trends," says Hockett. "When institutions access zero-cost capital and households pay 7-20%, the mathematical result is wealth concentration regardless of individual effort or merit."

Proposed reforms include:

- Property tax adjustments based on inflation-indexed or precious-metals-adjusted valuations

- Tiered capital gains treatment accounting for monetary inflation

- Expanded Fed lending facilities for small businesses and individuals

- Automatic bailout triggers for household distress comparable to institutional interventions

- Elimination or reduction of capital gains taxes on precious metals to remove penalties for holding sound money

However, political appetite for such reforms remains limited. Federal Reserve officials maintain that monetary policy operates through existing financial architecture, and that redesigning credit access or taxation falls to Congress and state legislatures.

## What Individuals Can Do

Financial planners suggest several strategies for navigating the current environment:

**Diversify into real assets:** Precious metals, productive land, and inflation-resistant investments can preserve purchasing power independent of nominal dollar measurements.

**Minimize debt:** High consumer interest rates make debt service a significant wealth drain. Reducing leverage increases financial flexibility.

**Maintain liquidity:** The premium on mobility and optionality has increased. Liquid reserves provide negotiating power and opportunity access.

**Consider total cost of ownership:** When evaluating real estate, calculate property taxes, maintenance, insurance, and opportunity costs—not just nominal price appreciation.

**Track real returns:** Measure investment performance against gold, silver, or inflation-adjusted dollars rather than nominal gains.

For our fictional example Mitch Vexler, understanding these dynamics came too late to avoid this year's property tax increase. But in this scenario, he's restructuring his finances accordingly—selling his home to rent while maintaining precious metals positions, eliminating consumer debt, and building liquid reserves.

"I thought I was building wealth," he might say. "I was just building obligations while my purchasing power eroded. The 'gain' on my home was an accounting trick, but the taxes were real."

As monetary policy continues navigating post-pandemic inflation and geopolitical realignment, the gap between nominal wealth and real purchasing power shows no signs of narrowing. For millions of middle-class Americans, the question is becoming less about how much their assets are "worth" in dollars—and more about what those dollars are worth at all.

With gold at $4,500 and silver at $75, the message from markets is clear: confidence in fiat currency continues to erode. Those who recognized this trend early and positioned accordingly have preserved their wealth. Those who trusted nominal dollar accounting have watched their purchasing power evaporate—while paying taxes on the illusion of gains.

A prison is a place where the inmates belong in a racial hierarchy in which those that get caught the most lead the rest.

Inside California prison structure and some of its flaws

 From gang enhancements, to just recently overturn federal crack lynching laws, the United States of America has not yet fully lifted itself from a punitive system designed from motivations of white racial supremacy.   It is why still today that white criminal-like activities and drunk driving are legally judged with different standards as to what is a serious crime, and or potentially detrimental to society. If the average white person is likely to do it, it is often not a crime.

Our policing agencies are not there to protect the citizens, they are there to protect an order, a system.

In America's past, Minority crimes have been focused on and demonized.  The less likely the average white person is likely to commit it, the "worse "the crime is often perceived to be. Gang, gun, crack, prison prior enhancements, in terms of deadly potential there is not much difference than those crimes and drunk driving.

such disparaging sentences are often a political decision, and not an honest one.

 A mandatory minimum sentence for,  crack cocaine is not something that is done to protect the society. It does not pass the smell test. Putting an enhancement on crack is like putting a large vehicle or truck enhancement on a DUI.  Except for the fact that a larger vehicle is indeed much more likely to harm innocent bystanders than a modified form of cocaine compared with another form.

 It is the same when dealing with mandatory minimum sentences regarding the showing of a gun during the commission of a felony.

 Though not as fast as bullets, a few extra thousand pounds a vehicle can equate to an increase of inertial energy greater than that of even 100 flying bullets. And if guns are such a concern for the American public, why are bulletproof vests illegal in California? Why aren't seatbelts illegal? Can't they promote speeding? Do they not increase the feeling of safety for the speeder?

It is also the same when dealing with mandatory minimum gang enhancements.  Gangs, now labeled Street terrorists.


Historically, minorities living in ghettos lived in a virtual police state.  Their parents would be sent to jail, they would then be taken care of by their friends. Gangs began. An American ghetto historically was basically run by a foreign occupation force… I.e., White cops. Minorities in these communities often suffered countless injustices day after day under a system designed to keep every Avenue they might likely use in hopes of receiving protection or enacting retribution punishable by a virtual, or a real, death sentence.

 The American public has been groomed to deeply fear things like games and terrorists. The American public has willfully given up many rights due to this fear.

Through our disunity they rule us, and I believe one day we will extremely regret how  Easily we had let them influence and indeed control us with emotions. By doing this, we have allowed them to take many of our rights away. We have also had avenues of recourse taken away if our rights are violated. This all took place in the name of our own protection and the ability to punish and control the various groups we had been taught to feel we needed that protection from.

No man is an island

 A simple breakdown of the quote that "No man is an island",  related to the prison industrial complex.

It is common sense that family members can affect their family in serious ways simply by their absence. The social capital of a family is diminished as their loved one is shipped to a prison which is often very troubling and hostile to visitors. The sadness and Psychological pain this all creates may lead to physical pain which also reduces one's activity. Both work and recreation are affected, which reduces the physical, psychological, and emotional health of self, family.  These people internal influence the community.  Though the person or family is still alive, it is not truly living. With the reduction of communal engagement, capital in circulation within the economy is reduced as well as positive feelings.

 Just as the humiliating treatment of Germany in the first size treaty led to World War II,  advantageous punishment often has adverse repercussions.

Emotions like rage, feelings of this grace, due to repressive conditions have quite a few unintended consequences.

Cruel disappointment, stress, and anxiety without a healthy release can lead to emotional displacement. These feelings are experienced by both those in prison and those dealing with the prison system in honor of an imprisoned loved one. In either case, most cannot afford it to confront the culprit of the evil deed, whether it be a staff member or a gang member… Often two peas in a pod… So they're hurting emotion can often only build, destroying the person who harbors it. Emotion can fester until it is finally triggered by something unrelated to its creation. It is a subconscious process. And it creates innocent victims.  The prisoner, X prisoner, or loved one of either, may release this built-up negativity on the loved one, or both on each other (thereby further stressing the commitment to each other),  or either of them may release it on an innocent victim.

Not only those who have had direct contact with the system but us all and up suffering the build-up hurt that has been needlessly and unnecessarily unleashed on those having to deal with a system ran by people who are not held accountable.

"Make America Great Again"

Real Patriotism explained. Looking at it in a way which might make you consider wanting someone else's land or resources like cheating on the land you have, your county. Love it, don't try to change it, use it for good and be good to it.

https://youtu.be/ufgQH_uDxgs

Parallels between domestic and foreign policy

 California claims it's enforcement agencies targeted the ghettos with unprecedentedly harsh tactics and prosecuted suspects with unprecedentedly harsh laws to protect its citizens.  The 2010 CIA world factbook claims quotation mark continued Iraq he noncompliance with UNSC resolutions led to the US-led invasion of Iraq in March 2003.

 The UNSC is the united nations security council. If it was non-compliance that led to the war, you would think the other 4 permanent members would have also agreed to the invasion. They did not. The US did it on its own.   Despite Israeli, US and British officials manufacturing evidence in order to justify the invasion.

Californias prison system is a result of the same sort of money and power-hungry dynamic which caused the second Iraq war. A dynamic which includes lies in order for the established powers to benefit from taxpayer fear. We agree to imprison and fight each other, the wealthy elite gains strength, power, and capital.

 It is a story that has been played out countless times throughout history. Two armies were convinced to fight and die fighting each other. Those at the top fill their pockets and secured their future rule.  Lucrative deals were made amongst the elites. The profit off of the murder. George W. Bush is lies cost hundreds of thousands to die. Our own servicemen died. And our own servicemen killed. All done with our tax money. Our tax money in this way is laundered.   Always the most disadvantaged groups are the ones that suffer the most.

 Instead of murder, the trillions spent on war and imprisonment could be used to lift people away from poverty. If our elites spent more time on productive inventions instead of quick nasty schemes to increase their own money and power, many jobs could be created and funded to help people. The result would be an exponential advancement of the human race.

The decision to arm police like this was not made to protect the public from criminals. It is being done to protect the criminal banking/multi-national/ political establishment (from US citizens) which has robbed the country and the world. To add some perspective to it, being a trash man is more dangerous than being a police officer. It is not a very dangerous job in America. 

Domestically and abroad, I feel like we are in a vortex. If there is no de-escalation all there is is an escalation. With great power comes great responsibility. The true power is in the hands of the state.

As long as we accept that they can use one random exception to set the rule and justify increasing their power, we can never win. All it takes is one person in 300 million for them to justify themselves. And it can be an exception that they promoted or in fact, knowingly caused.

Some people would sacrifice everything for a loved one. While most others would sacrifice one loved one for a few desired things. Find the latter, cherish them and be grateful for who they are.

California Prison, Cause and Effect

California Prison

Cause and Effect

"In no country is criminal justice administered with more mildness than in the United States," --Alexis de Tocqueville

The above quote highlights the fact that once upon a time, Europe looked at our justice system with admiration, now it looks at it with horror. Mandatory sentences imposed regardless of circumstance have been the main game changer. They are mistakes--on so many levels. Today, America makes up roughly 4% of the world's population, yet contains nearly 25% of its prisoners.

Ever wondered what prisons such as California's are really like? That answer came to me pretty fast. But other questions I had to wait long to answer. Questions like is there a possibility for rehabilitation during, and as a part of, these unusually long prison sentences? Are mandatory punishments legitimate crime deterrents? Are long sentences, life sentences, death sentences, (I would like to add, widespread police savagery inside the facilities) our best or only answer for criminality in a free society? What are the usual outcomes of people thrown in these places?

The following are the answers I found.

As for punishing or not punishing the detained, several studies have concluded, while others have supported, that the threat of severe punishment does not teach someone that the forbidden is not to be performed or wrong or even unenjoyable. It only teaches that one should avoid being caught. And, Elliot Aronson, one of the world’s most distinguished social psychologists to have studied this, claims that it at best causes an increased desire for the forbidden act.⑧  The mechanisms behind this are vast, however, most relate to human nature as opposed to cultural factors.

Studies also show that when a human is subjected to a severe initiation, whether it be for the armed forces or college fraternity, one is drastically more likely to form a favorable opinion of it and of the people who belong to it.⑧

The above phenomena don’t just appear for the accused via long prison sentences and abuse by governmental employees, but also in the prison gang/racially segregating environment. Like many others, Californian prisoner culture is one in which the individual is forced into his/her own racial group and forced, under the threat of never-ending retribution, to take part in riots, crime, and violence.  These groups openly target, though not exclusively, the newest and youngest to partake in a violent act on another fellow inmate, someone targeted to be removed by beating (often someone whose presence is causing racial tension) usually in front of guards. These orders are made under the threat of severe violence. Cooperation is deemed mandatory.

This is done so officials will then remove the victim from that prison yard. This then mandates that the newly arrived attackers (a.k.a. “torpedo's”) be doused in pepper spray and often batoned or shot with “non-lethal” projectiles or shrapnel from exploding devices. Then they are sent to the hole with maybe thirty days, a year, or even (though unlikely) an extra charge depending on, regardless of how severe the intended or accidental injuries to the victim are and who’s ready to testify * In the hole they will get even less food and are subject to a strict regiment of little sleep, no naps, and mandatory workouts. A perfect storm. A perfect hazing for the “torpedo”

It should be noted that people labeled “nonviolent” by the courts do 50%,  33%, or less of their added time. In contrast, those labeled “violent” do 80 – 85% of it for the same violation. Meaning on the street with no more than a perceived threat of violence you can receive two strikes and 85% much reminiscent of police praying on the accused. Someone labeled “nonviolent” can be a violent savage in prison, battering person after person, with no significant risk of ever being found guilty, much less struck out– even if brought to court --praying on disregarded Americans. Inevitably this fosters a dynamic where nonviolent prisoners, who have strikes, are put at extreme mercy to other unethical "non-violent" criminals. The non-violent criminals can start the fight, the strike holder will a lot more time regardless and likely the blame for the incident.

Besides the studies I am about to elaborate on, the mere involvement in the above coerced act (Involvement which one could superficially call voluntary) which leads to so much pain, done often for safety concerns, leaves massive room for dangerous self-justifications. Either rationalize or admit to themselves that they agreed to a violent act in order to avoid seeking police protection,

Since no one enjoys the feeling or wants others believing they are being pressured into engaging in a self-destructive and horrendous act, all such pawns are in danger of using any variation of the following rationalizations to cope:

“I did what I did because.”

• “I’m a criminal,”
• “I enjoy hurting people,”
• “I’m down for my race/racial prison gang,”
• “I’m always down for whatever,”
• “Those like him/her deserve it,”
• “Doing time and earning your stripes ain’t nothing.”

Regardless of the rationalizations internalized (i.e., made a part of one's self-image) I believe the majority of those that will make the young person feel good, in a time of stress and deprivation, are all tragedies for our civilization. This is because they enforce criminality within the individual by justifying a disgusting act.   Another tragedy lies with the victims whether mental or physical trauma. Even if he/she “heals”,  brain damage is permanent. Whatever they could have been, the victim will never be as rich and bright as before. A TBI (traumatic brain injury) often makes the victim short-tempered,  frustrated and more likely to return to poverty and/or prison (16).  TBI ’s sustained by inmates costs states an average of $29,000 a year (18). Data suggests that traumatic brain injuries in inmates may be as much as 10-times as prevalent as that of the general population (16,17).

No matter how insignificant the loss, it’s still a permanent loss, a permanent change. But the system uses the logic of “who cares, they’re the ones that did the crime, right”? This logic though seems right, misses much. And the resulting unofficial punitive additions such logic helps perpetuate does not do society good. They have no place in a civilized country. But more than that they are stupid. California taxpayers alone have lost nearly ten billion each year for prisons. That too is lost richness and brightness that is forever lost but could have flowed into people's hearts--instead of simply out of their pocketbooks.

It is hypocritical to say that “no person whoever committed a crime deserves mercy”. We are all criminals of some law.  And it is unfair to use logic such as“the boy partook in a violent act, this is evidence that he is violent and needs to be violently punished in a prison”. Hillary Clinton was wrong, there are no cities filled with "Super Predators" that need clearing. Yet in fact, this sort of logic would lead to what our current prison system has become. Contrary to what many think, imprisoning youth offenders is not a victory for society. What victory costs us $50,000 a year with the only result of making him more likely to come to prison than if we showed some intellect or mercy? “Rehabilitation” has only been an unnatural afterthought. Victory? We are getting screwed! An even worse deal than could be expected since CDCR itself continues to break the law by packing prisons past their legal limit, thus increasing chances for violence and disease. It is unacceptable and will continue to affect us all.

Any psychological “hazings” or “hell weeks” Californian prisoners experience are unproductive to our society. They create negative effects. If the torpedo believes in any way he/she had the power to avoid it but didn’t, they will likely convince themselves that they wanted to do it. Their self-justification may play out as follows: “I let myself be subjected to a  lot of pain. I must love this club/group, either that or I’m a complete idiot!” His/her most likely choice will be the answer which most satisfies his need for self-preservation and/or his ego -- in this case that is the first choice. A step more towards prison guard job security than rehabilitation or correction.

As for the kid and/or anyone new to prison, unwritten prison law will then consider the entry fee paid--for now. Include this with the firsthand knowledge of what was the inevitable punishment, as unavoidable and severe as it had been, then include the earned peer validation and respect, and it might be enough for him/her not to agree to another violent act (minus a riot, which participation therein is forever mandatory). An act that, if accused, no matter the truth of the accusation, will lead to severe punishment if the individual has strikes. Though, in the long run, his propensity towards violence may have been encouraged to increase. Take into account the following published studies: Development and Psychopathy, 6, 445-461,  also Genetic psychology monographs, 47, 135-234, which studied kids who experienced severe punishment for any signs of aggressive behavior in the home (prison), the result was that while the children showed little aggression at home, they were extra aggressive both at school and in play away from home (in the public).

Combined the frustrating severity of punishment for those with strikes while in prison and when facing prison time, i.e., double lengthened sentences at 80 to 85% time served as compared to 50 to 33% for the same exact crimes committed by those without strikes. Along with the lifelong threat of life in prison for even minor crimes, which forever must change a person. And I suspect you encourage parolees to explode their bottled up emotional confusion in bursts when they believe a punishers’ wrath is escapable--even if only from an illusion created by mind-altering substances.

The outcome then is not one that helps the prisoner or society. It is one that robs both society and the prisoner of things like wealth, security, love, happiness, peace, and even mental and emotional stability.

The long history behind police murders

Police in this country have always served other agendas than the ones the U.S.  government claims publicly.  Ironically (like many other negative things in American society ), the banking institutions and the entrenched wealthy were directly responsible for how American policing unfolded. Proof that the origins of police and military power derive not in the interest of protecting the citizens as a whole can be found when one researches Shay’s  Rebellion and the extra-legal response America's so-called Founding Fathers had enacted to make sure it never would happen again. Before the rebellion, the U.S. had the Articles of Confederation which allowed for only a weak central government. Not a government that could unilaterally protect the exploiters from the exploited. Daniel Shay was a military hero from America's fight for independence. But failure by the US government to pay Daniel enough allowed the bank to take his home from him as soon as he was done risking his life for his country (obviously, the bankers had not been doing the same). While he was in court, he witnessed the same fate for a pregnant woman. 

The rebellion that followed remained unstoppable for some time. Its success lies in the fact that local policing agencies would not take up arms against a man, and men, they knew to be good and right. The founding fathers wanted to solve this problem, and help protect the exploiters, by making sure there were Balian troops always available, e.g. The National Guard, to intervene on the side of the wealthy, and do whatever was necessary to crush anyone opposing their agenda.

This dynamic remains. Its consequences are felt today. Of course, the system will not punish the police for killing the citizens at the bottom. One could argue that making sure that police would be ready to kill average citizens is why the Constitutional Convention came to be. It should be said that not all the Founders had only the wealthy in mind. A few courageous men known as the Anti-Federalists were able to fight for the Amendments. Due to this, we were protected from a military regularly operating as a police force within the country. Unfortunately, though, we are not protected from a police force militarizing as has now been taking place, e.g., acquiring weapons of war, becoming and/or acting like an occupying military force.

Not much has changed over the centuries. When a cop today is brought to trial for a murder, a beating, or any other crime the media stumbled upon, how many cops still get off with sub-par sentences? Many--especially when destroying not a “human being” but a “convict”. It is not blacks, but the convicted – as cause and effect intertwine – who our system can destroy regularly without society reacting or losing faith in its policing forces.

The judges and prosecution teams are still showing us that crimes and murder committed by police are acceptable. That police crime and cover-up is not a blatant abuse of the power they were granted (for perfunctorily swearing an oath "to serve, protect, and--far from break manipulate--uphold the law"). In fact, unlike their dealings with the public, the prosecution team seems to take law-breaking police as acceptable human mistakes, completely excusable and deserving of collaborative manipulation of the inconvenient law to free them from justice.

There is a saying that goes “ there is no honor amongst thieves”  At least thieves took no oath. What honor remains in our justice system? Is lying to protect a fellow cop supposed to be considered honorable? Again, unlike police, thieves didn’t take an oath that they break every day in order, allegedly, to enforce it.

The bottom line is that prosecutors have to work with and depend on the police to gain their sought-after convictions, the last thing that they want to do is start poking around, asking the wrong questions and agitating those they depend upon to make their record look good.  The system is broken, has always been, but as my last post touched on, fixable. Though seeming very much so when viewed from the outside, our system is not one that treats its prisoners like humans. Sad but true, with the nearly limitless power over the convicted within our institutions hidden from public eyes, law enforcement abuse comes naturally. It is what happens when police are used to ensure the power of the state instead of serving the public.  Safeguards could eliminate much of this abuse of power, but no public will exists to do so, even though it should. Doing so will save us an incredible sum of money in the long run.

Stanford Prison Experiment

The following is a well-known experiment (which was videotaped) from many years ago. The scientists in this experiment chose subjects based on tests showing their high levels of sound mind. Here is an excerpt from E. Aronson’s book, The Social Animal, explaining the experiment and its intended outcome:

“0In a dramatic piece of research, Philip Zimbardo and his students created a simulated prison in the basement of the Psychology Department at Stanford University. In this “prison” he brought a group of normal, mature, stable, intelligent young men. By flipping a coin, Zimbardo designated one-half of them prisoners and one-half of the guards, and they lived together for several days. What happened? Let’s allow Zimbardo to tell us in his own words: ‘At the end of only six days we had to close down our mock prison because what we saw was frightening. It was no longer appears to us or most of the subjects where they ended and their roles began. The majority had indeed become “prisoners” or “guards,” no longer able to clearly differentiate between role-playing and self. There were dramatic changes in virtually every aspect of their behavior, thinking and feeling. In less than a week, the experience of imprisonment undid (temporarily) a lifetime of learning; human values were suspended, self-concepts were challenged, and the ugliest, most base, pathological side of human nature surfaced. We were horrified because we same some boys (“guards”) treat other boys as if they were despicable animals, taking pleasure in cruelty, while other boys (“prisoners”) became servile, dehumanized robots who thought only of escape, of their own individual survival, and of their mounting hatred of the guards’”

Even for myself who has seen this dynamic unfold countless times in real life; its rapidity surprised me. And though absent in this study, I suspect surely by the seventh day the homosexual gang rape impulse buried deep in most prisoners would have surfaced in at least three of them (and made a much edgier story). Sorry, bad joke. We should exit this paragraph wondering, is life’s coin flip fair? Is it what we understand justice to be? And, can we picture these “guards”  taking the stand to speak the unbiased truth for any of those “prisoners”? If not, can we picture the D.A., judge, or uninformed public jury stopping them? Or do you think, even in spite of obvious inconsistency, overall, the “guards “would be believed and the convicts found at fault? What are we doing?  But we are all so busy.  Many of us can’t even help ourselves.  Many more do what they can. As sad as it is too, many of us will stare into the mirror day after day squaring our lovely selves away only to pass into nothing without spending but one self-reflective afternoon attempting to square away just a single injustice in our society.

A Journey Into The Mind of A Prisoner

Let’s take a journey into the mind of a prisoner, a prisoner serving life that never physically hurt anyone. Try to experience his deprivation. Stuck in a cell with a stranger, waking up year upon year, everyday him realizing how so very much he lost and is doomed to lose. One day at a time, for years to come. How he was such a stupid, blind fool. How horrible it is to hear that another loved one has died. Someone he has missed for years. How wrong and unjust the police are, even as they get to drive home every day and celebrate on their weekends just to come back and day after day mind rape him and those like him while they’re condemned to have forever lost those precious years of their one and only life. What a thought to overcome having had invested so many days and years, building relationships just to have them all frozen only to perish into faded memories. Remembering all his valuable possessions he’s lost, etc. How much of that is i internalized? What are they able to minimize and accept as unimportant? Is it a practical move? I think so, internalizing that prison isn’t such a bad alternative, thereby saving yourself a never-ending mental rape, filled with anguish, loss and sorrow, is much more sustainable. I believe the justice system forces him to either make a sane transformation into acceptance or to live in excruciating anguish and/or commit suicide, He cannot live normally realizing with clarity everything he ever loved and had been is one way or another eternally stolen (even if by the person he used to be). True hopelessness. There is absolutely zero he can do to change what is lost and will be lost.

Then there are those that make it free. For them, we have special laws that threaten their lives eternally. Well, though labeled rehabilitated, they are rarely ever completely free, completely out, Living with the constant realization that you have a possibility of life in prison for even, say, being accused of taking someones candy, car, or of threatening them, At the end of it all, these people wind up right where the cynic prison official would want them.

The term Cognitive Dissonance is most easily described as the discomfort caused in, or by, the mind that is believing in the truth of two ideas which are contradictory to each other. Generally, our minds attempt to make sense of the world. Our minds are not good at dealing with contradictions, the discomfort that results is called cognitive dissonance. People move to relieve themselves of this discomfort. Often people become blind with events, possibilities or tragedies which do not fit into the narrative instead of confronting such discomfort.

Much of an x-prisoners mind takes to the illogical, but very practical, view that the loss of time, as unique as it is, was not all that devastating. The rest of the mind logically fears prison and a life sentence. Here one’s own fear can sabotage the mind. Because his/her logical fear at some time or another will arouse some cognitive dissonance. With his/her self-deceptive minimization of pain regarding his/her ten years in prison. Now he/she must forever feed the – non-coinciding with reality – idea that this loss was not devastatingly perverse. And yet do this in a way that hopefully would bring him back to that very same place his psyche must work so hard to coexist in happy peace with.

If this isn’t frustrating enough, on top of the daily physical pain and discomfort of prison life, and the resulting adaptations, add the possibility that his psyche simply began equating pain and let-down as pleasurable. As crazy as this sounds, the subconscious may do this in an attempt to deal with severely painful situations. To say it simply, with the pain attached to the whole affair, his/her rehabilitation better have taught the convicted how to be pretty creative.

We all have known the frustration and the anger it has caused us. As an example could be when a tool, appliance or machine, even a person, “acted” in a way you felt went against what was reasonable. You felt it wasn’t doing what it was supposed to or should have done no matter how hard you tried. You felt personally attacked – often illogically – and as it reminded you of your true helplessness in life you blamed it, maybe even felt like throwing, breaking, or somehow retaliating against it and the perceived injustice it “caused.” Though it may not have been enough to overcome your patience, imagine minute after minute, day after day of it.

The blinding contrast between a human beings continually deteriorating flesh and the permanent iron-bared caves of the mountain of concrete that we were locked in was mind-bending. Furthermore, to fathom that only money was what was temporarily halting the construction of more of these structures made it hard for me to see just exactly what humanity meant, where it existed, where it had stopped, and where did it begin.

Is there any necessity in our prisons in our systems arbitrary punitive sentences or the existing Three Strikes Law? Here is a little history lesson. It involves the historic case (1963) Gideon vs. Wainwright which allowed Florida prisoners convicted without representation to be released early before they were certified “rehabilitated.” In terms of crimes committed there were no distinguishable differences between the released and those who were still condemned to complete their whole sentence -- only then to be released with the label “rehabilitated.” Some years after, the ruling study of this event done by C. Eichmann, published since 1966 revealed an alarming truth: Those who served their complete term, far from being rehabilitated, were twice as likely to return to prison as those released early!

In today’s atmosphere of pulling every penny, we can’t afford to lose (including those from education with its tragically high-interest rate) to punish in the most outdated, illogical, fashion practically conceivable. We can no longer continue to keep our eyes and fists closed. As it is today, they blatantly encourage their two-strike possessing prisoners to slave in groups of nearly twenty in the public, watched by only one fire captain and no police of any sort (twenty prisoners, remember, at $50,000 per inmate a year would be one million dollars annually – just twenty!)

This takes place at the same time they continually and successfully deny the use of modern (job-murdering, millions-of-dollars-saving) technology to do essentially the exact same thing. But more on this later.

At the time of the Eichman study, 45 years ago they may have felt they had no alternative but to build more of the same -- but with ever-increasing studies condemning it. Technology outdating it. Excessive costs invalidating it. And different approaches all around the world successfully running circles around it. It’s time we see it as what it is: Barbarian-like, unproductive slavery for our cash – an extremely successful way to rip us off.