You would not believe just how much bureaucracy is built on top of you living in a simple structure on your own land.
The entire bureaucratic system is built to siphon off as much wealth as possible from you, in order to sustain and grow itself.
The real reasons for expensive housing, and lack of opportunity is not about rich people, gentrification, or any of the propaganda reasons you are sold to give government more power. The real source of limitation is the bureaucracy itself.
In western countries you never actually own the land.
I think a few USA states might let you own land but most of USA you can't actually own your own land you're just renting it.
Same thing here in Australia, miss a rate payment and the local government will send the police out to have you imprisoned so they can auction your land off.
"You will own nothing and you will be happy" is the motto of the modern western nations.
Interesting.
Ive started to think where I live in the UK (where most peoples wealth is in their house) the amount of houses constructed is carefully managed to ensure prices don't go down. Any "housing crisis" could easily be fixed (build more houses), but the supply/demand economic incentives are out of whack. It's a covert lever of the economy.
on a local level, in the NW US, ive been looking at the county code policies for about 4 years.
the conclusion ive come to is that the codes are rooted in 3 goals…
1. maximize local government income.
2. force money flow to cooperative partner corporations
3. aggressively outlaw anything which is perceived to threaten 1 and 2.
the people, sustainability, innovation, and affordable housing do not enter into the picture unless they are gigantic tax funded projects which feed the existing bureaucracy, and rarely have any practical effect.
the simple act of not outlawing tinyhomes, converted RVs,
yurts, and other alternative structures would have a very real and immediate effect. Particularly since hundreds of people live in RVs on their property already within a 10 mile radius of me.
The reason they fight this is because it would lower county bureaucracy income.
considering that their primary way of enforcing this is the threat of armed violence, ive come to view them as State sponsored extortionists.
We have the same issue in Canada. Everyone's savings are in their houses, and our government's GDP relies on the real estate market. Therefore, the bubble must keep inflating.
It's very effectively slavery with extra steps, and modern technology that's much less crude than ropes & trees.
nostr:nprofile1qyxhwumn8ghj7mn0wvhxcmmvqy2hwumn8ghj7mn0wd68yetvd96x2uewdaexwqpqvyrx2prp0mne8pczrcvv38ahn5wahsl8hlceeu3f3aqyvmu8zh5sadd5mz Serious question, how much does one have to save up to try to live a life like yours (with some modest safety net in case I find out I'm incapable of living that way)? Do you still have to be a "productive" member of society or able to literally live off the land? Or better phrased, how much capital and time do you need to save and learn to execute this?
But 100% agree, its death by a thousand cuts and a machete blow (federal + state + city taxes) if you live in select urban areas.
That depends on where you want to live an how you want to live.
Land prices vary widely.
Ive taken a couple runs at writing something universal, and it just doesnt exist. This kind of thing varies so widely based on where you want to live, how you are comfortable living, etc.
But if I was young and single, i might try something like this...
buy and build out a van to live in. not fancy, functional, with everything. power, water, simple compost toilet, everything you need. then i would buy the land. the van serves as a way to live on the land immediately if you want to, or enables you to spend blocks of time on it as you figure it out.
it also enables you to just leave for a period of time if you have to.
There are a bunch of ways to do this. But the most important thing IMO about living like this is finding a place where you wont be bothered. That means counties that are more lenient, or have a small enforcement budget. meaning, they dont bother people unless there is a complaint. which leads to the next important factor... neighbors. if your neighbors are freedom lovers, and you dont live in a high traffic area, you can do alot without being bothered. this is key.
Living off grid is not hard now, systems being what they are. The hard part is avoiding the bureaucracy.
Living off the land is possible, but requires pretty serious dedication. The real art form would be finding a way for the land to pay for itself. I think a combination of part time work, or seasonal work is not a bad way to go. We have been surprised how little is actually needed to live comfortably. Alot of what you think you need, you dont. And there is great freedom in simplicity.
If you have more specific questions, i can take a shot at answering them.
i appreciate the thoughtful response. A lot of food for thought.
Bit of sidebar: I have a few friends working high stress, lucrative but ultimately unfulfilling jobs and they've mentioned that their ultimate goal is to save as much as possible until middle-age then switch to a second career which aligns more w/ their sense of fun (eg trader -> make nature documentaries) + live minimally w/ max autonomy. Think the underlying actual goal aligns with how your tackling life. But not having that psychological safety net of ABC $ / [BTC] prevents them from executing now. If I zoom out, I actually think there's a large cohort of folks I know that aim to do something similar / get off the hedonic treadmill. Anyways, long way to say, good on you to actually walk the walk
i tend toward being a “do it now” kind of a person. but i as popular as “this is the way” is today, i don’t believe that. each path is relative to start point. if there is “a way”, is has to do with radical honesty with yourself and God, and choosing based on the actual desires of your heart. That kind of honesty can be challenging, because many times we have no idea how to get where we really want to go, and are afraid to step out on the water. So we live in the world of plan B and call it “practical”. Maybe it is, maybe it isnt. It all depends on being brutally honest with yourself.
“I dont have the drive to go through the difficultly of getting to that place” is something worth admitting so you can plan without shame and dishonesty. Admitting “id rather die that live in a slave system” is also worth admitting, so you know what motivates you. Honest to the core is the start point that will sustain you through the bullshit.
