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 »  Home  »  Opinions  »  JAVNO Column: Freedom, Food and Private Property - Nenad N. Bach
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JAVNO Column: Freedom, Food and Private Property - Nenad N. Bach
By Nenad N. Bach | Published  12/7/2007 | Opinions , Editorials | Unrated
ONE DOESN'T EXCLUDE THE OTHER - JEDNO NE ISKLJUČUJE DRUGO


 
JEDNO NE ISKLJUČUJE DRUGO

Sloboda, hrana i privatno vlasništvo

Možda mislite kako ste vlasnik, ali zapravo niste.



PRIVATNO VLASNIŠTVO NE POSTOJI
 
Da, to je istina. Što vi to točno posjedujete? Nešto posebno? Kuću, stan, tvornicu, novac u banci? Avion? Ne zapravo. Možda mislite kako ste vlasnik, ali zapravo niste.
 
Dakle ovako: Kupite kuću koja postane vaš dom, podignete kredit za nju, pa ako ste sretni na 15 godina, mada većina ljudi uzme onaj na 30 godina jer je manji teret na mjesečni budžet. Onda, kada zađete u šezdesete kredit je konačno otplaćen i tada je kuća vaša? Ne, nije. Da je vaša, tada ne bi trebali plaćati porez državi. A te cijene ovise o tome koliko toga što 'posjedujete' žele drugi. Ako je vaše 'vlasništvo' dovoljno popularno, onda se porez može popeti i do sume jedne godišnje plaće. Jedan od razloga zbog kojih se ljudi sele iz New Yorka u Floridu nije klima, već činjenica da više ne mogu priuštiti život u svojoj rodnoj kući. U najmanju ruku je tužno kako društvo tretira svoje starije građane. Jednostavno ih treba preseliti da naprave prostora za novu radnu snagu koja će se također naći u toj situaciji kada dođe vrijeme. Gotovo kao izbjeglice.

Ako imate novac u banci i ništa ne činite sa njim pojest će ga ili inflacija ili sama banka. Na sve što zaradite morate dati dio vladi. U suštini ništa se bitno nije promijenilo još od doba feudalizma.
 
U komunizmu, u kojem sam ja rođen, 'učili' (čitaj- prali mozak) su nas kako vlasništvo nije dobro i kako sve treba biti 'kolektivno'. Ta doktrina zapravo nije imala veze sa onim što su govorili Marx i Engles, a ukoliko ste čitali Hegela i Plehanova, to vam postane još jasnije. Ali vlast je čitala ono što je htjela pročitati, jednako kako neki ljudi čitaju Bibliju pa se proglase Božjim poslanicima koji će nas odvesti u 'svijetlu budućnost'. Ok. Komunizam je potpuno zakazao i to ne samo po pitanju privatnog vlasništva, već i po pitanju ljudskih prava, religijske slobode, pranja mozga kako je jedna partija bolja od dvije... lista je beskonačna, bolje da se odmah zaustavim.
 
Sada dolazimo do kapitalizma, a on je od posjedovanja privatnog vlasništva napravio svoju perjanicu ali znate što? Kvragu, ne posjedujete baš ništa. Mislite kako posjedujete tvornicu. Ukoliko državi prestanete plaćati ona vam jednostavno oduzme vaš životni rad. Taj je auto vaš? E nije. Ukoliko ne platite osiguranje, registraciju, godišnji servis ne smijete ga voziti po cesti. A isto osiguranje plaćate bez obzira vozili auto cijelo vrijeme ili samo jedan dan u godini. Ma nemoj? Takvo ulaganje u nešto što je parkirano u vašoj garaži nema smisla. Pardon, to nije 'vaša' garaža. I ona je samo posuđena.
 
Pa dobro, odakle bi novac za ceste, javne usluge itd. trebao dolaziti? To je bar jednostavno. To se zove Fair Tax i dolazi od prodaje. Ja nisam jedini koji razmišlja na ovaj način. Ukoliko želite kupiti auto, kino ulaznicu, sladoled, benzin, struju za novi električni auto... plaćate više, za usluge koje bi nam vlada trebala pružiti. U isto vrijeme mora se dobro pratiti na što točno vlast troši novce. Zlostavljanje je očito ali ništa se ne čini kako bi se zaustavila korupcija. A ne govorimo o milijunima ili čak milijardama. Govorim o trilijunima. Zamislite što bi ti trilijuni mogli napraviti za zdravlje i obrazovanje? Što bi taj trilijun mogao napraviti za sve težnje o životu u miru?
 
HRANA
 
Hrana bi trebala ostati u rukama proizvođača, umjetnika. Engleska riječ je Artisanship. Kada sam se prije nekoliko desetljeća doselio u SAD, nisam mogao doći k sebi kada sam shvatio koliko je tamo loša kvaliteta hrane. To je bila jedna od stvari na koje sam se najteže navikao. Ljudi tvrde da se ista stvar dogodi kada se dođe u Njemačku ili u neku drugu zemlju izvan Hrvatske. Dakle, imamo li doista kvalitetnu hranu u Hrvatskoj? Da, imamo. Mnogi moji prijatelji koji su posjetili Hrvatsku govore kako su tada prvi put u životu okusili hranu. Pravu hranu. Krenimo desetljeće u budućnost& Hrvatska ulazi u EU i što se dogodi? Prodaju nam generične krumpire i rajčice. Hrvatsko nacionalno strateško oružje je hrana. Moramo zadržati hranu u rukama ljudi iz agrikulture. Pitajte naše poljoprivrednike što im treba da proizvedu kvalitetu. Hrana je sloboda. Zdrava nacija je bogata nacija. Očekivana dužina života u SAD-u biti će po prvi puta u padu.
 
SLOBODA
 
Biti slobodan nije samo mogućnost glasovanja u demokratskom društvu. Biti slobodan je mogućnost života u okolini po vašem izboru i ne postojanje tereta obveza dugovanja prema drugome. Biti slobodan znači da možete spustiti svoj kofere i odmoriti se. Biti slobodan znači život izvan tokova ako želite, biti nezavisan ako je to vaš izbor ili ovisan ukoliko vam je to želja.
 
Biti slobodan znači imati privatno vlasništvo. Za sad, nije baš dobro. Biti slobodan znači izjaviti čak i  nešto u što ne vjerujete a da zbog toga ne završite na križu. Američka je vlada upravo suspendirala 'habeas corpus', jedno od tkiva slobode. A trenutak u kojem prestajemo zahtijevati da se provjeri svaki glas, s materijalnim dokazom,  prestajemo živjeti u demokratskom društvu. To je upravo ono što se dešava u mojoj i meni dragoj zemlji.
 
U ZAKLJUČKU
 
I gdje nas to  sve vodi? Vodi nas do ropstva. Ako morate stalno raditi da imate ono što je već 'vaše' onda nemate slobodu niti razmišljati niti se opustiti. Toliko debljine u našem društvu, toliko bolesti... zašto? Zbog dnevnog stresa života, loše kvalitete hrane, zbog promoviranja profita a ne zdravlja. Bogata nacija je zdrava nacija. Ovakva konstelacija vlasti ne dopušta prosječnom građaninu da bude slobodan. Sloboda je namijenjena vladajućoj klasi koja obrće svoj novac utabanim stazama. I sloboda nije posjedovanje više smeća nego što vam treba, a koje ionako ne možete platiti, nego imati više vremena za sebe i svoje prijatelje i obitelj, biti kreativan član zajednice. Napraviti zaradu za sebe i svoju obitelj ali ne nauštrb drugih, nego u svrhu poboljšanja društva.
 
Pomirišite kavu, zagrlite svoje dijete, pomozite prijatelju popraviti krov... živite za trenutak, u miru otiđite do vašeg svetog mjesta. Stres je suprotnost prirodi i svetoj energiji s kojom težimo biti povezani.

Razlog zbog kojeg sam odvojio vrijeme za pisanje o ovoj temi, mada sam zauzet u studiju, zato što vjerujem da je moguće izgraditi takvo društvo. Radikalno pozitivna promjena moguća je, a pogotovo u maloj zemlji koja nije kao veliki tanker u punoj brzini kojem treba 30 godina da se okrene za 180 stupnjeva. Hrvatska je bliža brzom gliseru i bliža je toj mogućnosti jer porez na nekretnine nije toliko visok (jer ga ljudi ne bi mogli priuštiti) ali ulaskom u EU stvari bi se mogle promijeniti. Moglo bi doći do nametanja tempa života te da nam pokušaju pritegnuti financijska sedla na naša još uvijek krhka ramena.
 
Prvo, htio bih naglasiti kako bi Hrvatska mogla biti prva zemlja koja bi uvela pravo privatno vlasništvo za svoje građane. Što znači ne postojanje poreza na nekretnine ili prihode. Stranci bi zemlju mogli samo iznajmljivati, a u nikojem slučaju kupiti. Javite mi ako ste bili u mogućnosti kupiti nekretninu u centru Londona. U 'otvorenom' tržištu. Najam ste možda i mogli. Zato nemojmo govoriti floskule o slobodnom tržištu kada ono nikada nije ni postojalo.
 
Ono što bi Hrvatska trebala napraviti je iskoristiti svoju ogromnu bazu znanja od 5-10 milijuna apostola diljem svijeta. Mi koji živimo izvan Hrvatske također smo domoljubi zemlje u kojoj živimo ali velika je razlika u tome što možemo analizirati što je dobro, bolje, loše ili još gore. Isto tako, imamo znanje implementacije i srce koje je potrebno za to.
 
Kako tehnologija sve više napreduje uskoro ćemo biti u mogućnosti napraviti mnogo više stvari uz robotsku pomoć, ljudi bi trebali početi razmišljati o drugačijem društvu i vladi koja bi bila pravednija nego bilo koja do sada, trebali bi razmišljati o kvantnom skoku u beskrajne mogućnosti. Trebali bi biti bolje povezani jedni s drugima te istražiti beskrajan svemir koji nas okružuje.
 
Netko bi trebao reći... ili ne posjeduješ ništa pa si zbog toga slobodan ili posjeduješ pa zbog toga nisi slobodan.
 
A ja to kažem: Sloboda je vrijedna borbe jer Jedno ne isključuje drugo.
 
Nenad N. Bach
 
6. studenog 2007., New York, SAD

 
ONE DOESN'T EXCLUDE THE OTHER

Freedom, Food and Private Property

You think you own something, but you don't.



PRIVATE PROPERTY DOES NOT EXIST YET
 
Yes it's true. What is it that you own? Anything big? A house, an apartment, factory, money in the bank? Airplane?  No you don't. You think you do, but you don't.
 
Here we go: You buy a nice house that becomes your home, get the mortgage for it, and if you are lucky 15 years, but most of the people take 30 years because it is less of a burden on a monthly budget and then, when you are 60 - 65 you've paid your mortgage and it's yours? No it's not. If it was yours, you wouldn't need to pay real estate taxes to the government. And these prices depend on how much the place you "own" is desired by others. If it is popular these taxes can go into an average yearly salary and more. One reason why people move from New York to Florida, is not the weather, but they can not afford to live in the home that they lived all their life. Very sad to say the least of how the society treats its own senior citizens. Just relocate them to make space for the new working force that will carry the same saddle. It is a sort of a refugee treatment.
 
If you have money in the bank and do nothing with that money, either inflation or the bank will eat it. Anything that you earn on interest you have to pay cut to the government. Basically, nothing very important changed since feudalism.
 
In communism where I was born they "teach" you (read brainwash) that private property is not good. Everything needs to be "collective" and nothing private. That doctrine had nothing to do what Marx and Engels said, and if you read Hegel or Plehanov, that would be even more clear, but the government read the script the way they wanted to read, the same way some people read the bible and proclaim themselves God chosen individuals to lead us into a "better future." OK. Communism failed badly and miserably, not just on property issue but on a human rights, freedom to worship, brainwashing that one party is better than two... and the list is endless, don't get me started.
 
Now we move to capitalism, and capitalism has ownership and private property waving on a flag pole and guess what. You can't own a damn thing. You think you own the factory. No you don't because if you stop paying to the government they simply reposes your life and dream investment. You think you own the car? No you don't. If you do not pay insurance, registration, yearly inspection, you can not drive it on the road. And you pay the same insurance if you drive one day a year or everyday of the year. What's with that? That kind of investment sitting in your driveway doesn't make sense. Sorry, it is not "your" driveway. I meant the borrowed one.
 
So where should the money for the roads, public services etc come from? That's easy. It is called Fair Tax and it comes from sales. I am not the only one that thinks this way. If you want to buy the car, movie ticket, ice cream, gasoline, electricity for your new electric car... etc you pay more, for the services that government should provide for us. At the same time a close attention is needed to monitor spending of the government. Abuse is so evident, but nothing is done to stop the corruption. And I am not talking about millions or billions. I am taking about trillions. Imagine what a trillion can do for health and education? What can trillion do to make us live in peace? (That is a one of the next themes - Corruption and how easy is to get rid of it, if you wish)
 
FOOD
 
Food should stay in the artisanship domain. When I moved to the USA a few decades ago, I could not believe the low level quality of food. It was one of the toughest acclimatization. People say the same when they move to Germany or many other countries in the world from Croatia. So, do we really have quality food in Croatia? Yes we do. Most of my friends who visited Croatia said that they tasted food for the first time in their life. The real food. Move forward a decade from now...we join EU and what happens? They sell us their generic potatoes and tomatoes. Croatia's national strategic weapon is food. We must keep production of food in the hands of agricultural artists. Pay attention to our farmers and ask them what they need to produce quality. Food is freedom. A healthy nation is a wealthy nation. Life Expectancy in the USA will be lower for the first time in our history.
 
FREEDOM
 
Freedom is not just the ability to vote in a democratic society. Freedom is the ability to live in the surroundings of your choice and having no burden of owing something to somebody. Being free means that you can drop your bags and relax. Being free means living off the grid if you please, to be independent by choice and co-dependent by desire.
 
Being free means having private property. So far, not so good. Being free means to say what you do not believe and not be crucified for that. Our government just suspended "habeas corpus" , one of the basic principals of freedom fabrics. And the moment we do not ask for paper trace of each and every vote...we do not live in a democratic society anymore. This is exactly what is happening to my beloved country.
 
IN CONCLUSION
 
And where does all of this lead us to? It leads us to being enslaved and not free. If you have to pedal all your life to have what you already "think you have" then you are not free to either think or relax. So much obesity in our society, so many illnesses...why? Because of a daily stress of living, bad quality of foods, promotion of only profit and not health. A wealthy nation is a healthy nation. This constellation of power doesn't allow an average citizen to be free. Freedom is for few of the ruling class shuffling their fortunes in a prescribed manner. And freedom is not having more junk that you do not need and can't afford anyway, but having time for yourself and your friends and family and be a creative contributor to the society. Make a profit for yourself and family but not at the expense of others, rather, improve broader society.
 
Smell the coffee, hug your child, help your friend repair the leaking roof... live in the moment, go in peace to your place of worship. Stress is the opposite direction from nature and divine energy that we long to be connected to.
 
The reason why I took time from my recording schedule to write about this is that I believe that such society is possible. Radical positive change is possible especially in a small country that is not like a huge tanker with full speed and it takes 30 years for 180 degrees turnaround, but are like small speed boats. Croatia is closer to that possibility because real estate tax is not big as of now (because people can not afford), but with the influence of the European Union they might change the pace of life and try to put a saddle on our shoulders.
 
First, I suggest that Croatia could be the first country in the world to create a true private property for their citizens. Which means no real estate tax and no income tax for their citizens. On contrary foreigners could only lease land, never buy. Let me know if you could buy a property in the middle of London? In an "open" market.  Lease maybe. Lease maybe, buy never, so lets not pretend about open market sound bites or empty promises  (floskule na Hrvatskom). Open market does not exist as it never existed so far.
 
What Croatia should take advantage of is an enormous knowledge base in its own 5-10 million disciples all over the world. We who live outside of Croatia are equal patriots for our new country, but the huge difference is that we know both and can analyze what is good, better, bad or worse. And we have knowledge of implementation and a heart to do it.
 
As we progress in technology and will soon be able to make many things with robots, we humans should look into the constellation of society and governing that is different and more fair then anything so far, to make a quantum leap into the endless possibility. We should have much a better connection between each other and explore the endless space around us.
 
So somebody should say... either you own nothing and you are free therefore, or you own something and you are not free.
 
And I say: Freedom is worth fighting for and One Doesn't Exclude the Other.
 
Nenad N. Bach
 
November 6th, 2007 New York, USA


Source of the column in Croatian: nenadbach.javno.info
Source of the column in English: nenadbach.javno.info


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Comments
  • Comment #1 (Posted by Linda)

    This piece is brilliant. It speaks from the heart of many. Bravo Nenad Bach.

    Linda Hurley
     
  • Comment #2 (Posted by HIlda M.Foley)

    Excellent Nenad,
    well thought-out and presented,surely many will agree with you. Especially let us hope that Croatia listens!
     
  • Comment #3 (Posted by Marcello Gusberti)

    These are very good proposal, expecially the one about landlord property, i know England has a similar legislation, so i think this time EU can't say nothing against it, for a change!
    ...and after the last ludicrous acts of Croatian politician, I think the Diaspora Croats really need to take a stance!
     
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