Libertarian ping! Click here to get added or here to be removed or post a message here!
Posted on 06/22/2011 10:18:02 PM PDT by Tolerance Sucks Rocks
I lost my copy of Atlas Shrugged years ago, but as it turns out, I don’t need it anymore. The story is happening in real life. All we need is for the enterpreneurs to start disappearing from the face of the earth.
We had a ton of people on the Texas board go away in mid sentence during the Rapture...
This is similar, because for once going Galt is actually a pretty good ide
I notice it didn't slow down the religion forum.
Excellent article, in every sense. But what really got me were the comments. These were/are the voices of America; Not_Paying, BevGunn, Nate, Rick Johnson, John and countless others.
Thank you, for opening the door, for them to speak. For themselves, and for all of us.
Please Lord, in their names, and in the names of so many others, please give us the strength to right this ship.
Tatt
I ‘Went Galt’ nearly 10 years ago. Smartest move I’ve made to date. Read my tag line :)
My Grandmother burned all four corners with a kitchen match and mailed them back after writing on them in big letters "To Green to Burn!"
Oh, I'd agree that things would fall apart, the only real question is: how long do we have? There are certain infrastructure components that are designed for long life that might go quit awhile - say, hydroelectric generators attached to dams, such as the ones in Venezuela. In the purely hypothetical situation that a stupid and malicious socialist despot took control of such a country and nationalized industry, handing control of these components to cronies who failed to do any maintenance or repair, those still could last awhile. Say, just about a decade. Say, until just about now.
So yeah, you're right, it does all go down in the end. Venezuela isn't necessarily our future...but it isn't necessarily not our future either.
What worries me, Bill, is a complete collapse of confidence in the dollar.
With the economy strangled by regulation to the point we’re no longer an exporting nation, the US would be hard pressed to survive until industry could turn things around.
And it’s all so unnecessary. The US is blessed with an abundance of energy resources that could pretty much turn our economy around on a dime.
Things are unbelievably grim, yet government continues to whistle past the graveyard.
The average American is well aware that the US is in trouble. It’s the ivory towered intellectuals that continue to believe it’s possible to build a castle on a foundation of sand.
I've finished reading and then re-reading Atlas Shrugged for the first time (and I saw "Atlas Shrugged - Part 1" the movie, twice). I'm sorry I didn't find this book during high school. Long ago (perhaps in high school) I'd read bits of analyses of it, and in them Rand's characters seemed abstract and technical, as if they'd been sketched out on graph paper. Seeing the movie first (I say this sheepishly) helped warm me up to reading the book.
It's a very rich book. I'm going through the FR Book Club postings on it, chapter by chapter (thank you VERY much for having posted those threads) and am seeing new things each time.
In this story I am finding role models and heroes (Dagny and Francisco) and also cautionary tales (Eddie Willers, Mitchum, Hunsacker).
I one of the not so wealthy on strike.
One in every 19 Americans is collecting SSI Disability Payments that come out of the Social Security Fund. ONE IN NINETEEN...
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/2650736/posts?page=131#131
I ran a business of my own for nearly twenty years but now that I am 67 and drawing my “bennies” I have landed a job where I work thirty two hours weekly for ten an hour...PLUS commission. I have been doing this for nearly four months and my commission average is growing steadily. If I come in a few minutes late no one says a word. If I need a day off I just tell the boss, I don’t have to ask, I just have to let him know! I spend my time in a private, air conditioned building with a couple of other very congenial people and I use a telephone and a computer to make sales. It looks as if in another month or so I will be averaging over twenty an hour counting commission, maybe twenty five or better. I wouldn’t dream of trying to start another business of my own. Even if I thought there was a potential for much bigger money it just wouldn’t be worth it. Other than my own business this is the only job I have ever had where if it does cross my mind after hours I just smile and shake my head wondering how I got so lucky. I hope the man who was nice enough to hire me makes a ton of money from my efforts because the more he makes the more I make.
It is so wonderful to look forward to going to work every day!
Thanks for the ping!
Where did you come up with that?
For seven generations, the seventh son of a seventh son!
The actual dynamic is that there are individuals, such as myself, that follow the more capable individual.
There is a certain Virtue to be found in Selfishness....
Rand was an atheist, and her having drunk from the poisoned chalice of social Darwinism is apparent in her writing. She needs a big dab of Christian charity in her worldview, and its lack hits one in the eye -- and btw probably cost her a lot of influence with people who aren't coldly indifferent to the life journeys of others. It's a trait she unfortunately shares with Nazis. It showed up in her personal life as well, in social and sexual behavior that was frequently morally unacceptable.
No, I didn't read it that way, but as more of a call for respect for the people who do their jobs the way they're supposed to and really move the work out there, but don't have the big ideas, the high-toned educations (and that includes parental education, which is underweighted), the conceptual framework to make such a large contribution to society as inventing a new product or service that everyone can use, or founding a company, or creating a great new arbitrage play.
Been there...
Done that...
Uploaded it to youtube...
The IRS for all their 3 weeks of effort got two things...
Jack and Shit...
In fact they ended up cutting us a check for additional refund owed us for 370 bucks. Our accountant was so gleeful on beating their asses he took US to dinner and called our IRS contact three times during the meal to gloat (he was well into his cups and downright rude to the man and we enjoyed every minute of it!)
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.