Any adult in America knows where they were 13 years ago today. 

In the days following the Moslem Atrocity of 9/11, if someone had predicted 13 years hence that instead of having wiped Islamic Terrorism from the face of the earth, we'd still be cowering in fear of its threat, they would have been thought deranged.  Yet we are.

How is this possible? 

Let's ask another question.  In his TTP column this week, Richard Rahn contrasted "aspirational societies" where productive work and success are not punished, with societies consumed by envy.  He sums up America's crisis with one devastating observation:

"The United States used to be an aspirational society, but has increasingly become an envious society."  

How did this happen?

It turns out that these two questions - among the most critical questions we can ask of our country today - have the same answer.

The answer starts with our society's failure to follow the 10^th Commandment of Exodus 20:17 -

What type of tax reform do you want? Simplification of the existing progressive income tax system? A flat tax? A sales tax? A value-added tax?

Tax professionals, economists, elected officials and others heatedly debate the pros and cons of each. However, it is unlikely that real tax reform will occur until the financial crisis gets so bad that most people will agree to radical change.

Most tax reform discussions and debates lead with the premise that any new tax system has to raise roughly as much revenue as the present system. But...why should that be?

Evidence indicates that total government spending is at least twice as high as it should be to maximize job creation, economic growth and the general welfare. Given that, here's how we can fund government spending without individual and corporate income taxes.

Here we go, guys n' gals, diving into the heart of the beast, Washington DC, for our eleventh TTP Rendezvous.

Miko has once again scored us a great deal at the Key Bridge Marriott, with its fabulous location overlooking the Potomac River right at Key Bridge (named after Francis Scott Key who penned the Star-Spangled Banner).  A short walk across it and you're into the shops and watering holes of Georgetown.

We'll be there at the most beautiful time of year, when the weather is at its best and the fall colors are in full array.

Our focus will be on solutions - how our country and us personally can get out of the mess Zero has dug us into.

Which is why financial guru Hank Brock, author of  Your Complete Guide to Money Happiness, will be speaking to us again on Protecting your assets and lifestyle from the coming crisis  -- and even profiting from it.

Hank blew us away in Vegas with his detailed practical advice on what really to do - and nobody knows more about it worldwide than Hank.  It'll be worth attending RXI just to talk to him.

For the gun-lovers - and who among TTPers isn't? - we have a special surprise:  my friend Larry Pratt, founder and president of Gun Owners of America, will be joining us.  (Edd Forke is jumping up and down now...)

As Americans, we like to believe the rule of law in our country is respected and fairly applied, and that only those who commit crimes of fraud or violence are punished and imprisoned.

But the reality is often different. It is surprisingly easy for otherwise law-abiding citizens to run afoul of the overwhelming number of federal and state criminal laws. This proliferation is sometimes referred to as "overcriminalization," which affects us all but most profoundly harms our disadvantaged citizens.

How did we get in this situation? Here's how:

Congress creates, on average, more than 50 new criminal laws each year. This has translated into more than 4,500 federal criminal laws spread across 27,000 pages of the United States federal code. (Note: This number does not include the thousands of criminal penalties in federal regulations.)

As a result, the United States is the world's largest jailer - first in the world for total number imprisoned and first among industrialized nations in the rate of incarceration. The United States represents about 5 percent of the world's population but houses about 25 percent of the world's prisoners.

We have paid a heavy price for mass incarceration and could benefit by reversing this trend. We support the following five-step approach to criminal justice reform: