A case of overreach and hubris

How to survive the coming months of Kabinet Robert Jetten I / Rutte VI

If you are subscribed to our bi-weekly newsletter, you will know that most issues are health-related and mostly kept separate from politics. Why? Because there are a few topics you should “never” discuss in public—especially not with colleagues, your employer, customers, or creditors.

But why not? Mostly because, as a society, we have talked ourselves into declaring these subjects taboo in both private and professional spheres—unless…

Of course, we try as often as possible to create content that is informative, educational, and light. However, if you have been following the news about the formation of the new Dutch cabinet (which looks very much like the old one, only worse), you will see that three major political parties are now poised to rule roughshod over our livelihoods, our prosperity, and whatever is left of our liberties and freedoms.

Dare to face reality

Dare to face reality is the title of this newsletter, and what I mean is: dare to face it, dear reader. The politicians and bureaucrats now in charge of our future—our national finances and seemingly even our private finances—are putting forward candidates for under-secretaries and even ministers.

The whole world witnessed the case of Ms. Nathalie van Berkel, a former bureaucrat who lied about her educational credentials (and perhaps—though it would not surprise me—her professional ones as well). This is just one recent example in Dutch national politics. We also had a former four-time prime minister (now Secretary General of NATO) who dodged the draft, left our country’s finances in shambles by stacking up record national debt, and lied repeatedly during his tenure. But what did we as a nation do? A good portion of our fellow citizens (men and women alike) chose to ignore this trend in our political arena and, in October 2025, voted once again for the same political parties that left our country economically and financially ruined.

They ignored the reality that, ever since joining the European Union, measurable real economic growth and monetary stability have declined. Since the introduction of the euro (replacing our former national currency, the Dutch guilder), inflation has only gone up while real disposable income—especially for people in vocational and trade jobs in the private sector—has fallen to an all-time low, comparable to the malaise of the 1970s.

You can ignore reality only up to a certain point—and that point has now been reached, even here at PasioOnline.com. We are fed up with the ever-growing appetite of the parasitic ruling classes in government, their non-governmental henchmen, and the financial (private) sector.

Our national and vitally important non-renewable energy reserves—specifically our gas reserves—are at an all-time low.

On top of that, the EU commissioners, the technocrats in Brussels and in our own country, and the real constituents of the current coalition—the so-called “Planbureaus” (Policy Assessment Agencies) that claim to be politically nonpartisan and “functionally independent” while providing “objective” data for policymaking—along with their private-sector counterparts, the NGOs, are producing rulebooks that change more frequently than a two-year-old soils its diapers. These contain so many new regulations for the coming year that the average private-sector income earner is being robbed of wealth, financial security, and personal freedom at a pace that would fulfill the wet dreams of past totalitarian regimes.

Each year brings more rules, more regulations, less choice in supplements we can buy and consume, higher prices, more adolescents leaving school functionally illiterate, and fewer resources for native citizens.

This year, one of the next targets for the technocrats is to abolish or severely restrict the availability of probiotic supplements. The ruling class has declared that the term “probiotic” suggests a health claim, which would reclassify them as prescription drugs—with corresponding prices and no guarantee of effectiveness or affordability.

Our story and motivation

As entrepreneurs, my wife Yvana and I did not start this business out of love for money or greed, but for purpose: to earn a decent, honest income and perhaps build something we could retire on. I can vouch that many other small business owners feel the same way.

In 2005, when Yvana and I started Pasio Ingredients as a sole proprietorship, we had a plan and a good sense of what people wanted in dietary supplements—or what we could honestly create demand for by developing great, safe, and effective products that benefit society while earning us a fair living.

But last year—and especially since COVID—we have seen a government that clearly does not have the best interests of its citizens at heart. Now it even wants to ban probiotic supplements from being sold directly to consumers—simply because it can, and because it has constituents who believe they know best what we should eat, when we should sleep, how far we can travel, and by what means—all in the name of keeping us “safe and healthy.”

From personal experience, I can tell you that this kind of new, benevolent communism does not work and never will.

Society needs rules to flourish, but those rules (laws and regulations) must be predictable and foreseeable. Right now, our society has neither.

Looking ahead

Personally, I do not see a recovery or return to normalcy anytime soon—no quick path back to prosperity, happiness, and a sense of belonging. But I remain optimistic in the long run. It requires good people in this country and elsewhere to dare face reality and make better decisions this coming March 18th and beyond.

Yvana and I plan to keep informing you—not only about new and better strategies for health, but also about prosperity and other possibilities to thrive, perhaps even by starting a new future elsewhere.

Keep in touch, and in the meantime, take care of your gut and treat it to some probiotics—before the technocrats take them away.