Galt's Gulch

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  • Posted by jimslag 10 years ago
    It is amazing that every pundit has a take on "what the message is". It is just that we are tired of government intrusion into our lives and want it to be curtailed. No more, no less. Stop trying to tell us what we can eat, how much soda we can drink, what type of light bulb or toilet we can buy. Quit trying to indoctrinate our children in liberal ways. Quit trying to interfere with our employer/employee transaction by telling us what we have to pay for work done. Reduce the theft of our wages by a to big to fail government. Reign in the EPA, IRS, Homeland Security, FEC, FCC, Department of Education and others that over regulate our existence. Listen to your constituents instead of lobbyists.
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  • Posted by Zenphamy 10 years ago
    It amazes me that anyone sees more of a 'message' in the midterms than that different faces have been put before the American citizen to effect the same anti-liberty actions and policies that were really begun under Bush 1 and then intensified during the 90's under Bush 2 and then fired up during Obama.

    We are being played. By experts. And we continue to fall for it. That is the real message of the midterms!

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  • Posted by freedomforall 10 years ago
    Serenity covered the issues that matter.

    "People don't like to be meddled with. We tell them what to do, what to think. Don't run, don't walk. We're in their homes and in their heads and we haven't the right. We're meddlesome."

    "What (politicians) say and what takes place ain't ever exactly been similar."

    "Come a day there won’t be room for naughty men like us to slip about at all."

    "A year from now, ten, they'll swing back to the belief that they can make people…better. And I do not hold to that. So no more running."
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    It's up to all of us to stop their meddling now.

    "The future is worth fighting for."

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    • Posted by $ jbrenner 10 years ago
      Is the future worth fighting for anymore? That really is the question regarding shrugging, isn't it?
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      • Posted by Zenphamy 10 years ago
        I don't think 'shrugging' was about fighting. It seemed to me, it was letting the wrong win and destroy themselves, while protecting some ways of living by those that could. For the serenity crew, there was no other means available to them to protect their way of lives. They were pushed to their limits and fought as a few always do.
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        • Posted by $ jbrenner 10 years ago
          Agreed. We need to define what is worth what fighting for, and on what terms. I don't feel any guilt anymore not voting for Republicans as the lesser of two evils. I have given up hope that America can be saved at this point. The debt is just too high, and there are too few who are willing to try to save America.
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          • Posted by $ allosaur 10 years ago
            Comrade citizen, what do you refusenik mean by "the debt is just too high?"

            http://www.usdebtclock.org/

            Oh. Uh, move along. Nothing to see here.
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            • Posted by $ jbrenner 10 years ago
              I mean that my unfair share of the debt is about as much as I ever plan on earning during the rest of my existence.
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              • Posted by ObjectiveAnalyst 10 years ago
                I heard Ben Carson on the radio this morning. I haven't checked his figures, but he said it would take 55 years to pay off the debt at a pace of a billion a day... It will never happen...
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                • Posted by $ jbrenner 10 years ago
                  I had not heard anyone else say it. My rough estimate is that my lifetime share is about 2 million based on what I am earning right now, an interest rate closer to historical norms, the number of people in my family who are dependents, and the number of years until I reach what I expect will be the retirement age when I am expected to retire.
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                  • Posted by ObjectiveAnalyst 10 years ago
                    Makes your head hurt, doesn't it? I give up... we need a tax revolt. I hate to see the nation go bankrupt, but the numbers do not lie. We will never be able to pay this and it isn't the taxpayers fault. Detroit has received the go for their bankruptcy... the largest in history. I fear the Nation will be forced down the same path. What other alternative is there? I know most of the other nations are in the same boat.. what a can of worms... A world wide do-over...
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                    • Posted by Zenphamy 10 years ago
                      As I understand it, our Nation's debt is secured by our word alone as is most of the world's nations' debts. We have the largest military with the most advanced technology and the greatest battle experience of any nation in the world. We have sufficient oil and gas reserves to be energy independent at the drop of a hat. We buy most of the consumer goods and commodities of the world with around with some 5% of the world's population.

                      Put ourselves back on gold, repute all outside debt, kick the UN and all foreign operations except embassies of our soil, and tell the rest of them to go pound sand. We could break China in less than 5 years if we barred manufacturing of our products in their country.

                      Next step, restore this country's individual liberty and rights and look forward.
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                      • Posted by ObjectiveAnalyst 10 years ago
                        Well, it is a plan. That is more than can be said for our Dear leader. Of course it is protectionist and would result in higher prices for domestic products. The upside is there would be jobs to pay for those products. It would likely result in a short term hardship, but may restore long term stability and prosperity...
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                        • Posted by Zenphamy 10 years ago
                          Without a doubt it's protectionary, with intent. As to the higher prices, the question is relative or actual prices, if we're back on a gold standard and manufacturing our own.

                          Can you imagine any other way as long as we remain on fiat money and try to stay tied to everybody else's money systems?
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                    • Posted by $ jbrenner 10 years ago
                      The problem with such a bankruptcy is that all the hard work we have done goes right down with it. I know I am sounding more like Dagny Taggart than John Galt here, but if I'm completely shrugging, I want to convert my investments into something worthwhile in Atlantis first.
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                      • Posted by ObjectiveAnalyst 10 years ago
                        Naturally. We would need to move quickly or make sure our assets are tangible so they might retain value. I do not desire or wish to advocate bankruptcy. I see it as an unfortunate inevitability. The only other alternative is to somehow carry this charade beyond our lifetimes and leave it for posterity to clean up. This has been our predecessors solution, but we never know when the piper will demand payment. Another option is world wide debt forgiveness...unlikely and probably unworkable. China isn't likely to cooperate. If we were a creditor nation instead of a debtor nation would we? Inflating our way out seems unbearable considering the magnitude. If there are other options I sure would like to see them come to pass. We need to discover unobtainium and sell it to the world at exorbitant prices to buy enough time to get out of this.

                        I sure want to hear of another option, but the politicos never really cut anything. So will the world wait centuries while we pile up more red ink? Will somebody in Washington actually make cuts sufficient to hold the wolves off our backs?

                        The fiction of Galt waiting for the collapse and a chance to rebuild seems all to real. :(
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                        • Posted by $ jbrenner 10 years ago
                          Galt didn't wait for the collapse. He actively participated in the collapse as an instigator, something I give him credit for. I am not sure that I could have done that. I am unfortunately too much like Dagny.
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                          • Posted by Maritimus 10 years ago
                            Hi, j,
                            Would you agree that Galt did not "instigate" the collapse? The government did that. Galt and others just refused to put any effort in slowing down the fall. In "failure analysis terminology": root causes were the policies and the prevailing ideology. Would you agree?
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                            • Posted by $ jbrenner 10 years ago
                              No, I would disagree on that. Root cause analysis is actually one thing I do pretty routinely. Witholding the motor would not be considered a root cause, but actively recruiting strikers in key areas would have to be considered a root cause. Many would consider it sabotage. Certainly what Ragnar was doing would have to be considered a root cause as well. Granted, their efforts in ushering the collapse may not be the primary root causes, but without them, the eventual collapse would not have happened in their lifetimes.
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                          • Posted by ObjectiveAnalyst 10 years ago
                            True enough. The waiting was afterwards... for the masses to come to their senses so the rebuilding could commence. I don't believe there will be a Galt. The collapse will occur without any key individual, unless it is a misguided tyrant.
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                            • Posted by $ jbrenner 10 years ago
                              There are plenty enough misguided tyrants. Chavez and Maduro in Venezuela, for instance. A country that was semi-respectable 25 years ago is now in complete ruin - so sad.
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  • Posted by Herb7734 10 years ago
    Never mind all the pundits. If anyone doesn't think that the election was a repudiation of Obama and all his supporters, is blindfolded and wearing cotton in the ears. Hopefully, rather than the GOP acting like they want everyone to love them, they stick to their guns and use the repudiation without fear they'll win in '16 as well. If not, they'll get what cowards deserve.
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  • Posted by ObjectiveAnalyst 10 years ago
    Eat, drink, and be merry, for tomorrow we die ...
    I want to be optimistic. Really I do, but I will not hold my breath waiting. And, in the mean, I intend to do all I can to live without their shackles. They ruined this nation's liberty and ran up the debt. Let them restore it and pay for it.
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    • Posted by Maritimus 10 years ago
      Hi, OA,
      I am deeply sorry to say it, but the nation ruined itself. They elected the early progressives ... and FDR ... and LBJ ... and OB. (Please note that OB is diametrically opposite of OA.) I see no law in natural reality which says that Americans cannot be forced to live at the living standard of, say, Bangladeshis. Perhaps after a reign of terror that converts to ash and fumes all families with net worth of $20K and up (in today currency values). Similar things have happened before in this world.
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      • Posted by ObjectiveAnalyst 10 years ago
        Hello Maritimus,
        There are many of us that did not vote those statist progressives in. The biggest tragedy is that we cannot extricate ourselves from the conditions they forced upon us. The greatest injustice will be when we are forced to suffer the consequences that may end as you have suggested.
        Respectfully,
        O.A.
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        • Posted by Maritimus 10 years ago
          Hello O.A.,
          Another injustice, in my view, is the deliberate keeping in ignorance the majority of the voters. Why do you think all tyrannies ban many books? Why did the founders place the freedom of speech and the freedom of press so high? Few things infuriate me as much as seeing all this "political correctness" imposed at universities. Adults who cannot stand being told in the face that they are wrong. How I despise them!
          Equally respectfully,
          Maritimus
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          • Posted by ObjectiveAnalyst 10 years ago
            Good morning Maritimus,
            Indeed. Today we see how the MSM has been corrupted by these same staist, progressives and keep most of us in the dark. The lack of coverage so far by most, of Professor Gruber's comments regarding the stupidity and ignorance of the electorate and its advantage for passing O'care is a timely example. Another is the intimidation and conviction of Dinesh D'Souza. It is clear that others on the "right" side of this administration would not have been treated so.
            Regards,
            O.A.
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  • Posted by Temlakos 10 years ago
    It contains a warning about the meaning of the minimum-wage referenda that also passed--in three of the same States that will now send Republicans to the Senate.
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