I was Extorted 1250€ Yesterday!
I was extorted 1250€ yesterday, I had to pay the racket otherwise armed gangsters would come to my door and kidnap me and put me in a cage. Yes I was extorted by the gangsters at the Government Land Bureau as it is called over here.
For those that don't know, I already described my situation in a previous article, my house had some design issues, and the previous owner forgot to register the modifications before selling the house to me, and now I am held liable.
So I had to pay a fine of 500€ plus 750€ engineering costs for an engineer to draw new schematics for my house. (basically just put 2 lines on a map, that anyone can do in a photoshop program, that costs 750€ = what a racket)
So the government engineer came by last week, all paperwork got resolved in the last days, and now I have got my final bill in the mailbox a couple days ago, so I went yesterday to pay it. It's not like I had a choice, I was extorted backed by the threat of violence, the whole thing wasn't even my fault, it was the previous owner's fault, but I guess the government just wanted to get their hands on some quick money.
So I got in contact with the previous owner, and told him the situation, and he felt very sorry so he invited me into his house for a coffee and some chit-chat. Then he proposed to me to refund the 1250€ to me in full, and he did. Yes ladies and gentleman, this guy is a real gentleman, he refunded me all the money that I lost, because he felt too guilty, and his conscience made him to. No courts were needed, just 2 adults voluntarly debating something and resolving a dispute.
He told me that he completely forgot to register the modifications, because he is a retail broker, buying up houses doing some renovations and selling it back for a profit. The house he sold me was the house he lived in, so he forgot to analyze it through his business lawyers. Well I guess sometimes these things slip through, it's really hard to keep up with 10,000 of pages of regulations of the Government.
So I spent 3 hours at his place talking about things, I got to know him pretty well. Earlier we only spoke little about the house, but now he told me some interesting things in his life and how his business is going. We've talked about some house investments, and we got to know eachother pretty well.
It doesn't stop there, I was asking him about the non-aggression principle, and whether he considers the government a moral institution. I was being cautious not to rush into this subject too fast, because he would think that I am some crazy hippy guy, but no, he actually said that he hates the Government very much, and all the taxes he despises it.
To my surprise I have found a voluntarists, I could not believe my ears. He just constantly told me how much he hates taxes and how good would be if they went away. He pays about 60% taxes, and it makes his business very hard to do, so he is now thinking about moving to another country where the estates are cheaper and taxes are lower.
So it was a good thing after all. I haven't lost any money, but I have lost a lot of time and the Government made me angry, but I have found a friend and a voluntarists. So I guess we could call this a success, it almost made my forget that I was extorted.
I cannot believe that anarchists/voluntarists are so widespread, and if you sit down and talk to people I guess most people would admit to it eventually. So it looks like everyone hates the Government and taxes, except the ones who benefit from it.
Original image source: http://www.concealedcarryinsurance.com
I guess I should have reported these criminals to the police... oh wait....
When small gansters rob you, you can call the police, but when the big gangster robs you, there is nobody to call.
So you'd rather be robbed and physically assaulted by a bunch of little gangsters who care only about profit, rather than a government which is trying to make sure everything is safe?
I rather not be robbed at all. I'd rather pay for a bodyguard which would cost way less than the police with all the taxes that are wasted.
Really? What do you base that on? Because of you're going by current rates or something, there is very little demand for bodyguards because the police are patrolling. If there were no police I'd expect the price to go up. And given that people in areas with poor police protection don't already hire bodyguards I'd have to assume the cost is already prohibitive.
I love that you think engineers/architects are the equivalent of children randomly drawing lines anywhere. It really puts your views on government into context.
The law is there for a reason, the only stupid part is that they don't make that inspection part of the selling process so the original owner would be responsible.
Also, anyone sane knows you got lucky with that guy offering to reimburse you. Plenty of people would do that on purpose to save money and make it the next person's problem. Hell, maybe he did and just owned up to it because he got caught!
Well it was nothing of a level of a rocket scientist. He just came, measured the wall lenghts, and drawed a new schematic based on that. I could do the same easily without having an engineering diploma. Of course the government doesn't allow me to do it, so I have to hire a "specialist". What if I have an engineer acquaintance that would have done it for 250€ instead of 750€? Can't do that, only the government appointed one can do it.
It's a racket, where you don't have any choice. Don't you see the conflict of interests here?
Yes I got lucky with the guy reimbursing me, many other people do the same thing who cant afford a lawyer and have no possibility to go through thousands of pages of building regulation, so they get extorted 1000-10,000€ every single day.
And you really think that there are no corrupt bureaucrats that put that money in their pocket or use it as a slush fund? I think you don't know the nature of corrupt officials.
Don't you see the conflict of interest in getting your friends to sign off on safety?