"It seems like in the past our government was just kind of guessing about us,but now they're getting serious..."

There was no "guessing" about it at all on the part of the totalitarians, Med. It started with them back in the days of President Jackson. If you remember from history, he abolished the first central bank. Wilson's administration established the Federal Reserve. Its not a coinsedence that the 16th Amendment (the income tax) and the Federal Reserve were created in the same year ... `1913. FDR completed the job when he outlawed the ownership of gold by U.S. Citizens and created the withholding tax. That took the control of money out of the private hands of the citizens and placed it into the hands of the bankers. Also, as a result, the power brokers in government gained the ability to create the Welfare State, which gave them even greater power over us. The so called War on Drugs has allowed even more of our economic freedom to be eroded with provisions like money laundering laws. What's next? I'd say a cashless society with everything being either an electronic debit or credit. Mark of the Beast time, Med ... no credits? No pin number? Too bad ... you don't eat.

Vi

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Broke is temporary ... poor is a state of mind.