An Interview with Doug Casey, by Louis James, Editor, International Speculator

[Skype rings. It’s Doug calling. Sounds like he’s got a fistful of papers he’s waving around in agitation.]

L: Hola, Doug — what’s on your mind?

Doug: Well, you know I try not to read much in the popular press. It’s mentally unsanitary. But occasionally, a few things catch my notice. For example, I’ve got an article I tore out of the September 3 Wall Street Journal — it’s been in a stack of papers for a couple of months, and I just uncovered it. I couldn’t decide, when I first tore it out, whether it was simply beneath contempt or worth commenting on. It’s an absolutely shocking indictment of the depth to which the moral and intellectual character of what was once America has descended. The title is How to Turn in Your Neighbor to the IRS. The author’s theme is that the IRS is offering big rewards to people who turn in tax cheats — but there are catches. As though the depravity of denouncing your neighbors to a ruthless, brutal, and predatory government bureaucracy were a good thing, as long as one is careful in going about it.