Gonzalo Lira, Accused of Shilling for Putin, Arrested in Ukraine

[RE]

I remember back in the day when you said one of the best preps could be a storage locker full of pint bottles of liquor, specifically for barter. That idea has aged like fine wine.

A factoid you may be aware of but if not will appreciate.

The reason for Prohibition wasn't due to the sweet Christian Temperance ladies.  Dirt farmers couldn't make any money off the grain they grew in the midwest because the railroads took all the profit in shipping costs.  The volume was too large for them to bring it to market using wagons.  By distilling it into liquor themselves they could bring the liquor into town in wagons and undersell the big distillers.  Thus came the "Revenooers" and taxation on liquor and expensive licenses to distill alcohol.  This kept farmers perpetually poor without a cash crop.

Just recently the SCOTUS struck down the law against home distilling, so you can now legally start your own moonshine operation as a prep. 

RE

[Surly1]

A factoid you may be aware of but if not will appreciate.

The reason for Prohibition wasn't due to the sweet Christian Temperance ladies.  Dirt farmers couldn't make any money off the grain they grew in the midwest because the railroads took all the profit in shipping costs.  The volume was too large for them to bring it to market using wagons.  By distilling it into liquor themselves they could bring the liquor into town in wagons and undersell the big distillers.  Thus came the "Revenooers" and taxation on liquor and expensive licenses to distill alcohol.  This kept farmers perpetually poor without a cash crop.

I was not aware of this as a factor for prohibition, but I recently learned something related, which I also did not know. Even though I grew up in Western Pennsylvania, the origins of the so-called "whiskey rebellion" were sort of glossed over and elided. A friend who lives in SW PA explained to me that the economic model you described is exactly the reason for the whiskey rebellion, which caused George Washington to call out troops to quell it. Washington called up the state militias from Virginia, Pennsylvania, Maryland, and New Jersey, which ultimately amounted to close to 13,000 troops, to put down the rebellion. The farmers couldn't make any money under the laws as written, and sure as hell didn't want to pay the tax. Interestingly, the tax was repealed11 years later. It proved impossible to collect.

[RE]

Interestingly, the tax was repealed11 years later. It proved impossible to collect.

What was impossible to do in the 18th century with GW was possible with the creation of the Internal Revenue Service in the 19th, which had its beginning just prior to the War of Northern Aggression in 1862.  The Federal Goobermint simply did not have a big enough bureaucracy in the era of Washington to do enforcement.   Said office was necessary to raise the money to fund the Union Army of the Industrialists of the north.  This enabled them to get backing from the European bankers and give the "Greenback" value.  You will recall the 2nd Bank of the US had been "killed" by Jackson prior to the Civil War and there waas no central bank again until Da Fed in 1913.  The power of taxation gave the northern banksters credit with the Rothschilds.  This of course is why the southerners hated the "Revenooers", who were agents of the northern banks.

The Civil War was the victory of the banks and the rich over the poor, not the victory of freedom over slavery.  We all became slaves at its conclusion.

RE