April 26,2013
By: Mark Percario
Mark Percario is a client of Global Wealth Protection who, upon reading some of our blogs, felt compelled to share his interludes with government tyranny. This article is just ONE day in the life of ONE ordinary citizen.
It began this morning. I am an amateur musician, and play as part of a guitar duo at a local restaurant in town. The restaurant purveyor sent sad news this morning that live music would have to be put on hold, at least until the construction in front of their building is complete – possibly a year. My musical partner and I had been playing there regularly (every three weeks) for over a year, but not anymore. Not since the local city decided to tear up the road, sidewalk and parking area in front of a favorite spot of ours and many others. Here is a quote from the email I received this morning –
“They have started construction on our part of Main Street and it’s pretty bad….and going to get worse before it’s gets better. Within a week, we won’t have any parking spaces, patio and sidewalk. This is going to impact our business tremendously and I can only hope for the best.
“Once everything is finished (could take a year) and if we have survived, I hope Dos Guitars will once again play”
“If we have survived” – pretty sobering.
Then it happened again later this morning. I am the owner of a small manufacturing business that produces parts for aviation engines. Consequently, the FAA (Federal Aviation Administration) has an interest in what I do. Later this morning, I received word that since the “Aviation Safety Inspector”, assigned by the FAA to monitor my business made adjustments to the “RBRT” (an FAA acronym for an assessment of risk), supplier audits will no longer be necessary (at least, until the RBRT changes!).
What is so amazing about this, is that supplier audits were ever necessary. You see, the FAA decided at some point in the recent past that companies the FAA monitors could not be trusted to monitor there own suppliers. So, the FAA started doing its own supplier audits. Once a year they ask me to give them the name of a supplier – usually a company that produces raw materials for my products. Then the FAA goes to that supplier and does an “audit”. These days, an “audit” consists of studying paperwork for the purposes of CYA (“Cover Your Ass”) and has nothing to do with actually looking at and or measuring a product.
Recently, while my “Aviation Safety Inspector” was visiting, he mentioned that the last supplier audit of company XYZ indicated that company XYZ was very capable of producing good quality product. Later during his visit, he asked me if there were any troubles with that supplier over the past year, and I replied, “Yes, a recent shipment of parts from company XYZ had to be returned for quality issues, company XYZ is our most problematic supplier”.
Boy, it’s a good thing they were doing those audits!
Later that day, I had another run-in with the government. My wife had to make an appointment at the post office (not our local post office, but one that is 40 minutes away) to apply for a passport for our son. The State Department requires both parents be present to apply for a passport for a minor. In an attempt to be efficient (a government abhorrence) my wife filled out the passport application prior to the appointment (an appointment is required!) at the post office, but this was disallowed: wrong color – blue ink is not acceptable – start over with black ink!!! Not the worst thing, but still,$200 later and we should have a passport (why are these necessary anyway?).
The job at the post office being done, my wife asked me to stop at a shop up the street to get some cold cuts that we can’t get closer to home. Having some extra time, I strolled up to the shop and inquired about some of their offerings. After some discussion, I placed an order and proceeded to browse the beer selection, found an interesting one, and headed for the counter expecting the cold cut order to be ready. Another employee was at the counter. I’m thinking, either my order is very important or there is a problem. There was a problem. This particular shop was a sandwich shop – it had cold cuts, it had a slicer, but because it did not have the “proper” scale it could not sell me cold cuts. They offered to sell me a sandwich, but could not sell cold cuts only. Wow – the shop and I were not allowed to enter into a contract with each other freely because the “State” decreed that a “magical scale” is required for this type of transaction. No cold cuts for me!
I did however fancy the beer enough to purchase it. While cashing out the beer purchase I declined the plastic bag the cashier was preparing (my wife and I decline plastic bags as much as possible) to put the six pack of beer in. This particular six pack had a very unique carrying case made of cardboard that facilitated carrying 6 bottle as once – how ingenious! The cashier said “No, the beer must be in a bag. You could be arrested if you have it on the street unbagged.” Wow, again. Need I say more?
It is now 5:00 pm and hopefully the “everyday tyranny” that began at 10:00 this morning is over. Keep your head down my friends!
Ciao,
Mark Percario
