The Freedom Search

Not long ago, we were enjoying a tremendous traffic jam and listening to the radio, when we found an interesting interview. In it, a well known entrepreneur commented some aspects of his new book, Against the culture of subsidy.

He said that in Spain there is a tremendous fear of failure, and therefore the level of entrepreneurship is the lowest in Europe. I agree, but let me add one more cause: hate to success. The model of the dog who neither eats nor lets eat.

Let me explain: you try to build upon an idea, but nobody pays damn attention (at best, at worst they laugh at your face), so you have to go to the other side of the world. But when you say it, voices start to reproach, precisely, about you going taking the idea elsewhere. And be careful if it works and you dare to come back …

That anger, that hatred towards the one that gets or tries to leave by its own means off the stagnant well of shit, is terrible. In a country of lordly fops and deal-obtainers, those who dare not to go along by their rules, are faced with death. Social, and economic if possible.

We can find another example, a website of links to TV shows and movies, that a journalist decided to ‘investigate’, publishing full names of those responsible, company name and, tadaaa: estimated monthly income, based on some esoteric calculations from other similar websites.
At the time, the guys in charge opted to close some of its accounts and blogs, I guess to avoid the trolling or a DDoS attack, so fashionable lately.

Another plausible option is that these people do not want to be in the public eye, under the scrutiny of the mass of commentators, pundits and other screaming zombies. Because unlike ants, when humans gather in large numbers creating a “mass”, “collective intelligence” becomes “subprime intelligence”.
It did take no time to start reading out pearls and diamonds the size of “those who go down, has something to hide”, “now we have a live Wikileaks of our own”, or to launch accusations to those guys of being freeloaders, usurpers, thieves and other niceties when, little less than two years ago, these same pundits boasted of distributing similar products for free. Pure Party Approved Bullying®.

Being in business in this country is really difficult. Procedures are slow, stupid, expensive and sometimes duplicate. Obviously, everyone will be eager to suck money at the expense of who had the audacity of wanting to be different.
And when things do not go well, the same way in reverse. Even to close the firm, friends of your money appear everywhere. From the state to the notary, through the accountant.

But as the thing goes minimally good, then they start to appear: critics, ethicists, researchers and opinion leaders who are dedicated to systematically destroy, brick by brick, the house that one took so long to build.

Earn money for your work? Benefiting from an idea? And, moreover, economic profits? Who the hell would think that! Capitalist pigs… damn bloody oppressors … let’s redistribute their wealth! Collectivization for The Common Good®!

Oh, and I forgot the “If not for me, not for anybody®”.

It is nobody’s business what this or that company bills or fails to bill. If someone gets mad when a company moves forward and charge for their services or products, I believe that in North Korea there are still some untapped field of beets.

But, it’s always more important to wikilick the deal-obtainers, and that those who have ideas, those who bring them out and build a boat, which by the way, the state slashes them with taxes, it is important that these people end up disgusted and closing the shed (and incidentally stopping to pay those wonderful, succulent taxes, although it seems that nobody has thought of it).

Either that or going somewhere else where the winds are more favourable, and the population of zombies is as small as possible, or in the process of extinction. Perhaps this is the solution, the creative brain drain increasing to a level that the country will finally sink completely, being able make tabula rasa.
But do not expect me.

---

Poster by Red Square @ ThePeoplesCube.com

Who is John Galt?
Both questions have completely different meaning… or at least they should.

Years ago I was a partial time wage-earner doing what is known as “working for somebody else”. Then I met some people and start collaborating with them in my free time, for free.
Years later, they offered me a free-lance partial time job working at home as the editor of an electronic newspaper, which combined with my other partial-time job, made a good income. Life was good, and then it started to change.
In exchange of that, and in 4 years maximum, me and my wife where supposed to build our own firm and economically sustainable business, for which we would receive all help needed. And so we did, in one year, with these people as financial partners and shareholders.

I quitted my first partial job, and also did my wife, and started to dedicate almost full time to our new company, keeping some time for the newspaper.

Since our partners and I we were writing and thinking togheter for years, we were supposed to grow together, and with time, they developed a life system.
6 months after we quitted our former jobs, my wife and I chose to leave our home, family and friends back, and join our partners. Integrate with them and their life-system:

• The company pays all: rent, food, tools and devices, healthcare and whatever you may want.
• Cash money: after having all your expenses paid, you could have your own cash money for your own expenses, without having to give any explanation. Just pass the invoice and get your transfer.
• Everyone works for everyone: the strong business helps the new one to grow, and in exchange, when the small becomes strong, returns the investment.
• Easy leaving: if you wanted to have some vacation, you were supposed to resign the ‘all paid service’ but continue receiving your cash money for your private expenses. If you wanted to leave and build another business, you received all necessary funding and collaboration, in exchange of joining the companies group once the business was running.

We had all our needs fulfilled. We had computers, e-readers, paid travels… as in Atlas Shrugged, we’ve found Galt’s Gulch, Mulligan’s Valley… we found Atlantis.
With this scheme, you are supposed to be happy and, as much work you do, the better for you, and your brothers.

Atlantis sinking

But then things started to screw. Reality was starting to be distorted. What one day was white, it was black the next, grey the day after, and completely unexistant the day after.
The thing went on for six months. Four of the eight people who were there were forced to leave, and we started to become even more paranoid, until we decided to leave and get back home.
After we said that, we did not received anything, neither support nor a single penny, and had to pay the truck moving our stuff back. We were almost on the street, without a job and without any money.

What was the thing that broke our Atlantis dream? We were supposed to work for ourselves and, this way, promoting the common wealth, but in reality, all of us where working for one person’s only dream and project. He was letting us enjoying a tiny part of the benefits, but paying a high price: our soul.

Joining other people projects can be really profitable, but only when the rules are clear, pre-accorded time before starting and one never changes them every hour, pretending it was like that since the beginning.
Written proof and contract is always mandatory, as for foolers, scammers and evil people make profit from the ones that still give a strong meaning to ones own word, while they change this word to whatever their insane mind needs in that precise moment.

Working for yourself, alone, can be not as quick as working in team. But it is always more profitable, sane and better. If you fail, you will be the only one to blame. But if you do success, you will get all the benefits.

For whom I work? What can I do for myself?
I swear by my life and my love of it that I will never live for the sake of another man, nor ask another man to live for mine.