The phrase 'Bleed The Beast' comes from the Fundamentalist Church of the Latter Day Saints (Mormons - or a sub-sect of them); not a group which I have a great deal of affection for, but probably more than most. Anyway, regardless of anything else, they have one thing right. They see the Government (American in their case, but the same applies to British, Argentinian and Zimbabwean, et al), the Banking/Finance/Insuarance industry, the large multi-national corporations and National Utilities as being a big negative factor on the earth. Satanic, even. I wouldn't go that far, merely Demonically Inspired and Deceived by the Evil One. However, they see it as their duty to 'Bleed The Beast', or to take as much from these corporate beasts as possible, and provide them with as little financial sustenance as possible. Try to be 'Tax Negative' (take more from the government than they take from you), try to cost the banks and banking system as much as possible, contribute as little as possible to society (society as a governmental control construct, not society as interactions between equal individuals; that is a good thing), add to the costs of running the machine that is out to destroy us - the very least we can do is make ourselves indigestable rather than pouring sauce over our heads as we leep into the corporate mouth.
How can this be done? Many, many ways. None will stop the evil, none will even be noticed by it, but if enough do it, eventually the system will bleed out. No single raindrop will admit it is responsible for the flood, but still enough rain can devestate an entire country. Be a raindrop against evil!
The basic idea is to do everything in a way that increases the costs of government/banks/companies, and reduces their income. Wasting their time and resources count as well. And it is easy to do, risk-free (mostly) and can be great fun. It also puts more money into your pocket, so why not give it a go? Some ideas of mine (none of which I would ever really do, officer, but in theory you could):
Not pay water rates. It is illegal for the water companies to disconnect a residential address if the property is occuppied. They are also very bad at prosecuting, as so many people don't pay (about 20% of all customers now!) and it costs them loads.
Not pay for a TV licence. Well, get rid of the TV would be better, but if you do want to keep one, don't pay the TV Taz. Easy to avoid, just stop paying and ignore their threatening letters. If a man knocks at the door, don't let him in, don't sign anything, don't give him your name. Get rid of them, save the £140-odd a year fee, do a google search and find the anti-TV Licence support groups, loads out there.
Use their avertising against them. They send out loads of junk mail advertising. Every time you get a reply-paid letter, send it back. Don't fill it in or buy anything of course, but send it back and cost them a stamp. Shop at Tesco, Sainsbury ect? Probably do. Collect loads of their Reward Card application forms (always have a freepost address, these do) and send them off. Take enough (they are normally by the tills) and your weekly shop will cost them more than it does you!
Drop out of the tax game. Need someone to paint your flat, walk your dog, weed your garden? Don't know anyone who will do it? Well, don't look in Yellow Pages and get a tax slave who'll charge you a fortune. Talk to your neighbours, see who they have used. You should get someone who is on the dole/sick who'll do it at a quarter the 'professional' rate, do a better job, and as it is all extra income, they'll earn more out of it than a full-time wage slave, be more grateful, cost you a lot less and no tax income for the government!
Stop buying UK-priced fags and baccy (or wine and Whiskey for that matter). Take a day trip to Belgium (tobacco products) or France (alcohol) - or a holiday at the edges of the EU - Poland, Estonia, Bulgaria, Greece, Roumania, all are very nice to visit. Buy your stuff there, at a third of UK prices, bring it back and hey presto! your little holiday has paid for itself. And the Robber Barons that make up our beloved Government won't see a penny of it (well, not much, they still get a bit through EU trade-offs, but probably only about 5% of what they would have). Check out the links section, travel armed with knowledge of what to do if (more likely, when) stopped by the East German-style morons in uniform who work for HMRC and UKBA. They claim to be looking for smugglers; in fact they are looking to meet targets for how much tobacco they need to take off people; they claim to be guarding our frontiers, in reality they are there to guard the Treasury's income-stream from tobacco. If you can't travel yourself, buy fags from a smuggler. Slightly more expensive but still a lot cheaper than shop prices, and no revenue to the scum in the government.
Subscribe to Martin's Money Tips (http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/). It's free and gives loads of good advice on how to get the cheapest of, well most things really. Not a fiddler's charter (unfortunately) but will still reduce your own personal expenditure on weekly items.
Get rid of 'Identity Theft Insurance' unless it is free. What a rip-off! Average cost is about £70, almost three million people have bought it (nearly all from those helpful, cuddly people at the bank) and what cover do you get? The same as the bank has to provide, free, by law! You're just giving them £70 as a gift. Generous you.
Go the whole Nine Yards (whatever that might mean. Something to do with that homosexual colonial version of rugby where the poor darlings need a crash helmet and thirty-five kilos of Kevlar Body Armour in case a nasty man ties to tackle them?). Stop paying, well, very nearly everything! Road Tax, insurance, mortgage, utility bills, credit cards, loans, direct debits. Even better, stop paying them, then demand money off them if they have the bare-faced cheek (or should that be bear-faced cheek? Do bears in fact have cheeky faces? Or just scary ones? Discuss.) to ask for any further payments, or threaten court action against you. Some people actually make a comfortable living doing just that! Then get all your ccj's and bad credit references removed and start again. Just a matter of knowing what to do and say. Check out the links section for several helpful sites to get you started!
Open a Basic Bank Account (or three). These are free and a right, regardless of credit worthiness. Open it and leave it emplty, no cash in there at all. Costs the bank about £50-70 a year to maintain it, costs you nothing. If a million new accounts were opened, the banks would lose up to £70 million a year. Ten million accounts...well, you get the picture. I know you can't open ten million accounts personally, but raindrops and floods, remember?
That's enough for now, time for bed. Toodles!
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