Why Can't People Manage Their Own Money?

Part of good budgeting is knowing just how much money you will have after the government steals a good portion of it from you. If, for example, you make $30,000 a year in gross terms, you would want to know how much of it you would have left over after taxes so that you could plan a monthly budget. If you are left $24,000 after taxes, which is $2,000 per month, then you would have $660 to spend on rent each month (assuming the 33% rule for housing expenditures). Sensible adults can handle this as long as it does not get much more confusing.

Why can't people do this very well? As usual, blame it on the state.

The fact that there are taxes to begin with, and that they are so numerous and severe, make it very difficult to actually determine net income. Check this website out for ways to do it. Notice how complex it is.


If you look over the steps that the link gives for figuring out your net income, you might notice a lot of talk about the so-called savings apparatuses like Social Security and 401(k). Therein lies another explanation for why people cannot manage their money. The state has given people every reason not to do so. Making compulsory contributions to retirement accounts has taken away the brain work involved in money management and savings. No longer do you have to deliberate over whether you should put money in the bank, buy savings bonds, buy gold, invest in K-Mart, or anything else. The state has made it easy for you, since you are basically a child.

Why has the state made it easy for you? Because it doesn't want you to think things through, do what's in your best interest, and save money in such a way that may NOT benefit the state (buying gold and silver, for example). It would much rather you go along with the 401(k) system (which hasn't worked) or perhaps buy war bonds as people were forced to do during WWII. It should come as no surprise that the state does not want people managing their own money. No, the welfare-warfare psychos would much rather take your money and either waste it or provide a mediocre, over-regulated imitation of the services the private sector would produce. When people take care of their own finances 100%, there is nothing left for the thieves in Washington to take away under the guise of "security." Their only other option is to deliberately steal, as the petty burglar would do, WITHOUT pretending to help you. Politically, this does not work any more.