I feel you. I started my career in the Swiss Private Banking. I only lasted 2 years knowing that I would be unhappy all my life if I kept doing the same thing only for money. I quit everything and started again with a small freelance job, in another country, living in the countryside. It's been almost 20 years now and I don't regret it.

I refuse to work full time since having to go back to fiat mining - my times worth a lot more to me these days, especially since I'm essentially "middle aged" now.

ABSOLUTELY 💯🚀🚀🚀 Livin the dream! 👊✊🙏

2030 Harvard Business review:

1. Feed customers baklava for btc

2. Customer makes dirty toilet

2. Clean their dirty toilets for btc

3. Repeat

4. Eternal riches

There are many benefits to staying in the lower income strata, one of which being you are less likely to be coerced into experimental medical treatment.

Not an american myself but somehow unhappy with my own government too. I can relate. Kudos to you.

-

The greatest virtue is to follow the Way utterly.

[Tao Te Ching chapter 21]

I’ve been thinking along the same lines. But I keep coming back to the question of security overhead.

Everything that has a boundary must maintain that boundary. Maintaining boundaries takes energy.

So for example, if you have a yard that abuts wild space, you have to maintain the line between yard and weeds, or the weeds will take over (eventually). Every cell of every living thing must maintain its lipid outer layer, or succumb to apoptosis, etc.

Taxation is theft. But even if we succeed in abolishing it, one must still outlay for security. I would love to find out what the expected cost of security is, in general, and whether this cost scales up or down with entity size. Do nations spend more or less on security than cities? Cities more or less than tribes? Bodies more or less than cells? Etc. etc.

All of this is putting aside the moral question that you posed, which has to do with what happens to the tax money once you’ve lost it to the State. The answer is, ironically, nothing.

A currency-producing State doesn’t need tax revenue to fund operations. It manifests currency in any volume it pleases. Taxation is the means by which the State forces its subjects to need its otherwise worthless currency units.

So I guess from my perspective, paying taxes or not has little impact on the actions of the currency producing State apparatus. It only affects those smaller government bureaus that lack a money printer. (And even those can take on debt, which is a kind of printing since those debt obligations are dematerialized, bundled and traded).

I quit my engineering job 6 months ago for the same reason, I haven’t gone back yet but am definitely looking for simpler job to minimize taxes and free up mental capacity

I often find it difficult to keep dragging myself in to work sometimes for the same reasons.

Hopefully I’ll be able to do it for free someday soon. That will give me joy 🤙

I quit my last job for similar reasons. Not worth it emotionally and spiritually. It did allow me to stack sats during the bear.

Yes. And my career was processing payroll. I was the one taking the taxes out of those paychecks for everyone.

When I realized that the system relied on me to do this or it couldn’t function, I immediately wanted to stop doing it.

Nice try Fed!

(Lol jk)

You put my story into words, only i make weed m&ms and smoke a bunch of weed. Thank you. Lol.

I think so, I'm currently in the process of leaving behind my career as a software engineer to become a plumber.

You are richer than you could ever been

🫡 lowest bracket gang

Absolutely

Yes. I've found myself repelled by any activities that send any of my energy back into the state system. Glad there are more of us.

I hate looking at taxes…

my taxes make me mad, no doubt.

nostr doesn't know about the BT meme drinking game: Anytime a post from Mandrik mentions "2011" "Baklava" or "Cleaning toilets" you take a shot of Golden Grain.

I can attest just scrolling his timeline on X or listening to Livera's podcast episode #246 will get you shitfaced in no time.

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I went down the Agorism rabbit hole. I was also heavily influenced by the book "Your Money or Your Life."

I noticed many people with higher paying jobs are broke because that income gets taxed at a higher rate, and they often pay more for housing.

Then, their savings is taxed via inflation and they end up working 12 hours a day for credit card debt and stuff that will end up in a landfill within 5 years.

It's getting harder to live on a lower income these days, however. The government redistributed too much wealth for those of us with lower incomes to sustain ourselves so I'm brainstorming different business models.

Your story is an inspiration.

while I completely understand the sentiment you don't have to sacrifice high pay.

this is why I preach so heavily about coupling BTC with real estate. I don't say this to brag at all but rather to help others. My wife and I are considered high earners for our ages and yet we pay almost no taxes. I would encourage anyone reading this to learn the tax game. It's an incentive structure with basic rules. They tax alcohol, tobacco, gasoline heavily etc because they want to incentive less of it. On the other hand they subsidize real estate entrepreneurship etc. My depreciation (phantom expense) wipes out most of our tax bill which enables us to make more and save the would be taxes and stack a ton more BTC.

just my 10¢ for what they're worth

Paying the least amount of taxes, if not at all, is my favorite martial art.

I've felt this way a lot, but am struggling with taking the plunge.

Yes, something in my brain switched in the last few years and im in a state of conflict. I want to have enough wealth to live medium comfortable. But i dont want to contribute to this slavery system.

I do want to contribute to society which helps me feel good. Im thinking i could do more good and also find peace if I resolved this conflict. Quit job and just do open source projects. Hopefully ill be able to do this before too long.

You are full of shit. You *settled* with the IRS a dn thus contributed to ongoing endless wars. Fuck you Mandrik.

Didn't you settle with the IRS like a pussy ? Fuck off with your sanctimonious bullshit.

How much did you pay the IRS to settle with them ?

Did you think it was fucjked working for a company that was actively attacking the bitcoin blockchain ? Did you not stick around and collect the BTC salary ? Did you not settle with the IRS after years of not filing ? How much did you pay the IRS ?

👀 👇

nostr:note1ws4kjyuutdkqcpr79qpau7czjtvxu2vf6p62d6jqhf8nqvrdp7mqheg0ng