[Publius]

Going Galt by destroying the productive capacity is like killing the host to rid it of the parasite. In fact, Ragnar, in shelling the plant, is the perfect metaphor for what I mean.

On our timeline, our productive capacity has been shipped wholesale to the Third World, and China in particular. We have replaced agriculture, mining and manufacturing with a financial industry that "makes" money by moving pieces of paper from one pile to another, assigning value in fiat currency -- not even paper currency, but electronic bits and bytss -- to those pieces of paper. Our "wealth" is illusory.

The financial industry is in fact the parasite, and it is now most of our economy. And it is killing the host.

When this house of cards collapses, how does one then restart an economy? (This is where I'm trying to get FReepers to think beyond their 401k's.)

[mick]

Yes, of course. Our whole financial system is a parasite.Which is why we had that discussion a few Threads ago about destroying the fed and the credit system by defaulting on debt.

But I don't think our "Wealth" is illusory given our description of "True Wealth". Because if wealth is farm land, timber land, and resources in the ground, and machine tools and computers and factories, it may be diminished but it isn't gone.

So if we think it through to the day after the collapse, we might be able to restart everything with people going back to the farms and mines and factories. Maybe I'm missing something here, but it seems the whole structure of financial wealth ie:401k's,etc. is what is being wiped out because it is based on debt as money.For example, even if GM goes bankrupt the Machine Tools and Dies and Blue Prints remain.

Wouldn't the real wealth remain to be put back to work creating new wealth for our people in what you call "restarting the economy"?