Posted on 03/09/2009 10:16:51 AM PDT by grundle
The beauty of symbols is they can be appropriated for your ends. That's the power of John Galt. There are a lot of fools on the left and right who don't understand the symbol of John Galt. When they hear us at the tea party protests, they go back to the Cliff Notes of Atlas Shrugged and laugh at the idea of creating a Galt's Gulch, where the productive go to escape the confiscation of their labor. They dare us to withdraw our talents. They have the luxury of doing so because they've never had to carry the weight of a small business on their back.
ABC News is writing about some people talking about cutting back on their work to get below $250K. Some professionals, like doctors and others may do so, crimping supply of critical talents. Some business owners may take longer vacations. Those are just news stories, fun but probably not impactful enough.
The real damage is done when those who run small and microbusinesses shut down their companies and layoff their employees to take a more relaxed lifestyle. Being in business is dangerous (bankruptcy is always around the corner), but it is also rewarding. That's a work ethic few people have the stomach for. Once you've built a successful company, you have enough money to live comfortably. Staying in business is a choice - one society needs to reward. Off the top of my head, I can give you 8 names of business owners who sold their business and now live off consulting fees and their capital. They "net" the same amount as when running the business, with a lot less work. I can name another dozen who have layed off in the economy and are only keeping vital employees. That's normal policy in a recession, but understand something - the decision to lay someone is not an easy one. Business owners, especially small business owners, understand that it's real families we are impacting here. Layoffs are about protecting the company, but there is usually room for average and suboptimal performers. When we lay someone off, we have to weigh the health of their family against our own. Most owners are willing to work with less than perfect workers - it's the right thing to do. But when our business is threatened by too many outside forces, charity is a another word for turning off the lights one bulb at a time.
The problem is not just current employment regulations, higher expected taxes, and a soft business climate. Those are irritants, but they can be dealt with. Add those burdens to a culture and a president who look down on wealth creators as evil rich businessman, and you have a real problem.
If you sink $100,000 into your business, that capital is gone. There might be fancy ways to protect it, but few people who start have the time, the knowledge, or the resources to follow those fancy ways. You work hard for three or four years, and you can get to a break-even point. To make back $100,000 - the owner must profit $181,000. Get that? To break even, an owner needs to make $181,000 above and beyond yearly expenses. It depends on your business, but that's not chump change. While you're at it, figure out how much equipment costs. Add in investment in employees. Add in bank loan interest and the loss in income the owner experiences when cash flow is tight.
And keep in mind that 90% of businesses fail in the first four years.
What does that mean? It means that it's tough to make a grow a small business. Most fail. Failure means a loss of personal credit, a loss of retirement, and a loss of lifestyle for years. Failure means your wife may leave you - your children may go without health insurance or even just toys at Christmas. Failure means your health and your body and the time that you sacrificed all were wasted. You should have kept your cushy corporate job, and none of this would have happened.
And what does success look like? Success means a man who has never run a business - a man who has lived off government loans and government subsidies and government salaries, is going to lecture you on what you owe society. That man is our president, Barack Obama, but he's not the only villian here. Standing next to him are the Democrats in Congress - Barney Frank and Chris Dodd and Ted Kennedy and Joe Biden and Nancy Pelosi and Claire McCaskill and Charlie Rangel and all the rest who look at your income and can't wait to redistribute it. They all want to spread the wealth around, but not until they get their taste First, to their friends and campaign donors. Paying them off keeps them in power, and ensures that when they leave, they'll be well taken care of. That's why Terry McAuliffe, Tom Daschle, Franklin Raines, and Jamie Gorelick are all multi-millionaires. Don't know who they are? Look them up, but take your blood pressure medicine first. After paying themselves, the politicians pass on a few bucks to voters (legal and otherwise), who in large part get more in federal benefits than they pay. That's up to what, 40%- heading towards 50%?
If it really were roads and bridges, and quality education - healthcare for the poor and the elderly, it could be stomached. If government at the federal and state level were lean and efficient, managing our money in a way that showed the slightest concern about who created it for them, it would be tolerable.
But it's not. Roads and Bridges and Police and Fireman and even the military are threats they make to justify taking our money and using it to make themselves rich and powerful. Democrat and Republican - they're mostly the same. For every Tom Daschle there's a Trent Lott. For every William Jefferson, there's a Duke Cunningham. For every Jack Abrahamoff, there's a Madoff, a Hsu, or a PMA giving money for favors. And let's not forget the SEIU, ACORN, and their ilk. These are not producers. They are parasites, grown rich on big government.
So what are we to do? I told you what the real producers are doing. The successes who made enough to hold onto their resources? Those folks are buying gold and municipal bonds and cheap land. When those folks sit out in large numbers, it has a big impact on new companies. Those business owners are the John Galts, and they're riding out the economy, waiting for sense and the right time. What do you do when a future Steve Jobs or Bill Gates or Conrad Hilton decide they've worked hard enough, and quit when they're 35 or 40? What do you do when the best doctors all quit their practices to take up golf or go into high paying specialities because OB-GYN insurance is too high, General Practice spends too much time on Medicare Bills, and the only way to pay off student loans is to take cash? What do you do when business owners don't spend time marketing or hiring, but instead just work with a staff of one or two, making enough to get by, but leaving the stress of building behind?
The term, is Epic Fail. That's John Galt.
As for the rest of us - what lessons are being learned? That playing by the rules is for suckers? If I have the ability to pay my mortage, but can refinance my house on Obama's mortgage plan, why not take the free ride? If I can dump off my $1000 a month insurance on to S-Chip (and buy a Mercedes instead), even though I can afford my premium, why shouldn't I? If I can lay myself off from my company and take unemployment (which I've been paying for), all to take a well-deserved vacation, whose to say I'm wrong? I've been to Italy. I know what that's like. Average people go off the tax grid in a fun game called only the stupid pay in full. What about business? If I have debt on my books, why pay it? Why work late every night when I can shut down my business and bankrupt it with no personal liability? I can always start a new one in the future. Two to three years of good cash flow and the banks will lend to the new company, or I can buy someone else's company and get credit on that firm. I know how it works now. Taking personal responsibility is for suckers, right? I'm a victim, too!
Going John Galt isn't some fat cat working less. It's the complete breakdown of trust and ambition in the small business sector. It's the death of employment and creativity. I can add people to my staff this year, or I can head off to Rome for a month. I'm not the one hurting if I'm not working. It's my suppliers, my employees, my vendors, and of course the extra taxes I pay for each transaction. Taxes I actually pay.
Once you make it clear that working for yourself and paying your taxes is for suckers - once you load up government salaries and anti-capitalist working groups with stimulus funds, you've shown that the best bet thing to do is hide your money and lay low until the storm passes. I know folks with funds offshore should they need it. Sure you might get called a traitor for not giving your money to Tim Geithner, but he's a tax cheat himself. Sort of takes the sting out of it.
The detractors don't understand because they don't have the courage to run small business. Going John Galt isn't some Objectivist fantasy. The Tea Parties aren't some Republican Revolution. The real drivers of this country are taking a stand and making sure their voices are heard. The country better hope the politicians hear us. Protesting shows we're still engaged. When we're no longer engaged, there is no economy left to suckle on.
I ask you - who is John Galt?
You guessed it, Sarah Palin.
Here’s a tip -
when you get to a long winded soliloquy, mark it with one of those “sign here” flags and skip it.
After you finish the book (should take just a few sittings without the solis), go back and read those as you feel like it.
Why play by the rules? First, what are The Rules? If its the song they’re playing and demanding we dance to it the answer is obvious. If what we’re talking about is common decency/courtesy/sense, self discipline, self accountability etc. then I can’t see why I should compromise myself for a hand full of $$$.
glad someone else saw that too...
Snicker bump......{:-)
The butler did it.. :)
OOps! Beat me by 28 seconds....{:-)
If it is the first time you have read it....I don't thinks so.
Probably, IMHO, you will have to read it a couple more times to fully understand all the nuances in the "plot" or "plots".
I don’t think Sarah Palin ever ran her own business. She helped out her husband in his part-time commercial fishing business (he was also working for BP).
Thank God someone else is thinking the same thing. My integrity and self-respect is worth more than money. I may be rough around the edges and make a little less, but I can look myself square in the eye every morning and like it.
I was under the impression she helped her husband run his fishing business. That’s more experience than any of the other boneheads.
Atlas Shrugged ping!
The dog dies in the end.
Already left my mark tho...
Post 17
;-)
I hope you enjoy the book!
I love an optimist...J/K, I am also working my way through the book, tried it before in college over 30 years ago but am vowing to complete it this time. I, too, am a fast reader but it is still a lot of book with a lot of philosophy to understand behind it. Here's to success for the both of us.
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