Personally, I have been on Social Security a few years, which I never wanted to be, but I didn't have a job, although I have been trying to get one. I am not proud of it; but then I think, a lot of these young tax-payers voted for Obama and the welfare state, so they have kind of asked for it. Still, it is not the way I want to live, and I am still trying to get a job and support myself and pay my own rent.

I always thought that the purpose of philosophy was to help us each to make the best choices for our lives. In short, philosophy NEEDS TO ACTUALLY WORK IN PRACTICE. Objectivism isn’t just another religion to be blindly obeyed. We each have to make up our own minds, and should

I am so hoping for the day the student replies with, "I am John Galt!"

Excellent!

Many days it is extremely difficult. Owning to the repugnant behavior exhibited by so many teenagers today. Added to the ridiculous policies pushed down from on high by administration. The one shining light is that I do get through to some few. I have my Geometry students reading AS as an additional assignment for extra credit. The administration is unaware of the assignment but they do require that I offer opportunities for students to get extra credit outside of my normal curriculum.

The ridiculous thing that I do to earn the extra credit is I ask 1 simple question. If they can answer it they get the full credit if not nothing. MY question is, "Who is John Galt?"

Perhaps that is one of the better choices, if you can survive in today's school system.

I have chosen to work from the inside and hope to save some few of the next generation. By working as a school teacher.

The reality seems to be that with wholesale looting and mooching going on all around us, it seems to me that proclaiming a moral pedestal is to either willfully ignore reality or an excuse for one's inertia, as opposed to moral conviction. I posed a narrowly defined question, yet almost no one is willing to answer it directly. The question was meant to be uncomfortable; it was meant to burst the bubble that we are in here. I don't know, term2, if your answer is correct or not, good or bad, but, in my opinion, it is realistic. Out of our self-blown bubble, and I commend you! For years now, I have watched this group repeat the same lines; they've become talking points. And slipping further away from a think tank that it was meant to be (or I thought that it was). Moral choices and moral strength comes from hard choices, where neither outcome is perfect. The Kobayashi Maru was a cheat (of course I loved the movie). Sophie's choice was more realistic. That is the discussion that I was hopping to spark.

You are right that its difficult to do accurately. I just add up all the inflation of my accumulated wealth, income taxes, wealth taxes, property taxes, sales taxes, excise taxes, fuel taxes and license fees that I have to pay, and use that as the amount I will willingly take back in medicare costs, EBT (if I can get it), welfare (if I can get it). Thats not strictly accurate, but its good enough for me. I do get a certain amount of benefit from the roads, so that one might be considered a wash.

As to unemplyment insurance, its paid by my company under duress, so I think the company should put that on their ledger. But they dont. If If can get a benefit from it, I would take it and count it against the amount stolen from me.

I think the government is so far ahead in the theft of my wealth, I hardly need to even keep close track. I will just take what I can get.

My position is this, Im over 60, childless and own my property outright. I own the road I live on, which means I pay for and install the frequent repair materials, I am self employed. That recipe cooks up to paying taxes for schools I never use, road repair, ( both in property taxes and fuel taxes) not to mention because Im self employed 15% of gross wages goes to SS that upon retirement will pay me back roughly $800 a month less than the average "refugee" that just got here. I earn under $50,000, last year, after about $4000 in deductions, I still wrote a check for over $700 to the bandits without a gun. Add to that health care premiums of $400+ because I must purchase on the open market as an individual, and I still get up at 4 A.M. and go to work when I could simply fake some injury, or tell the govt. Dr. I`m an alcoholic, or addict and take my seat on the gravy train. I do not for the simple reasons I have no problems passing a mirror, or sleeping, I know and that is enough.

Gulchers are always welcome. Titusville is about 45-50 minutes north of Melbourne. I live about halfway between, but work in Melbourne.

I know we touched bases in the past, but never met. My father-in-law that lived in New Smyrna Beach passed away and the family sold the property so I haven't been to the area in a while. However, my brother just got a place near Titusville so if I ever get down that way can I send you a shout to see if anything interesting is on the calendar? The Faire and Gulch meetup both sound interesting as does what you are doing at the college (if you give tours to retired programmers, lol).

In my opinion, taking SS or unemployment money is not mooching or looting. We have paid (or was stolen from us) roughly three times more that we will ever get back. And we didn't have any choices in this formula. Yes, the entire process is criminal, but if you are forced to pay three times more for a dinner than it's worth, that is not a reason for you to not eat it at all (though you may not much enjoy it). But since my attempts to force a discussion along the Socratic method is not succeeding, let me offer an alternative - should a person accept (or remain in) a government job? I don't think that there is any controversy that most of what government employees do is either wasteful and inefficient (mooching) or outright hurts the economy, as in enforcing crippling regulations (looting). Yet, the person in question diligently puts in the time and effort, often to the detriment of the productive part of the society.

Yes, I believe that too - the system will collapse. It is illogical and unsustainable. But the species will not die off - we lived under various conditions, from cannibalism to monarchy. The species will go on, just that it is a shame to have evolved so much and to now voluntarily throw it all away. A shame.

In a rational world, the moochers and the looters would have been drowned outright. But we are so far outside of the boundaries of rationality, that I believe different laws of physics have to be applied. We are in a world that is standing on its head, with all values reversed. To pretend otherwise is insanity. Yes, Kira lived and breathed as a free person for a moment, but died shortly afterwards. "We The Living" is a stronger and more realistic work for me than "Atlas"; there was no magical escape, just reality. So, is the choice to take one's last free breath and perish (along with your family), or to dissolve oneself among the moochers until the system collapses?

Yes, that would be very fair. How does one determine it? Pretty much impossible, isn't it?. When you think about it, every government employee is at least 90% moocher, while many are outright looters. What about hard working, conscientious people employed by private enterprises that spend 40 hrs/wk wasting resources to fulfill the government looters' requirements? How does one get that back?

As in one of the many pronouns that must be used in California?

Pinocchio could not be a "real boy". He would have to be a translignin (as in having changed from wood).

First thing would have been to identify Pinocchio's gender, so that a proper pronoun would be used.

Can you say: Ignore a complaining baby, (brat) until their behavior changes?

As a "seasoned citizen" I suppose I am technically now a moocher by some persons' rationale, though I worked for over 40 years to get here. I spent 20 years in the military, dutifully paid my Social Security and Medicare tab, and socked away enough in a well-balanced 401K plan that I am in the upper 10% of earners.

I've used my fiscal well being to help others, mainly family and friends, and have provided unpaid technical advice to various aerospace and other people with technical questions. Being relatively healthy, I've been a full time caregiver for my wife, and even helped on occasion with appointments and such for her ex-husband, who has serious medical issues.

The question I have for the Gulch is whether or not a former producer should be lumped in with the others who we call moochers, because the programs that benefit us are now lumped in with all the other social programs under the heading of "entitlements?" I'm not at all resentful or angry when people point out how relatively well off senior citizens who are now not producing are compared to a younger group saddled with outrageous student loan debt and high medical expenses. I'd like to find a way to help those younger producers gain the sense of security that they will be as well cared for when they "age out" of the production system.

There are many Americans voluntarily signing up for slavery, moreso now than ever. Perhaps they need to watch the movie Pinocchio more closely. They are all turning into donkeys.

If Pinocchio were made now, somehow it would be termed as racist.

the financial collapse is coming...when?..i do not know...but this is the 4th Fed...the other three caused a financial collapse of the system back when 90% of the population lived on a farm...this time 90% would not know how to survive beyond 3 days...it is coming...not if...but when...under the Obama administration, they came within 48 hours of shutting down all the ATMs and banks in the country...we came that close to it 10 years ago....read Timothy Geithner's book (1st sec of treasury under Obama)….

Of course, I agree that it is looted from all of us. just like social security.

Plus penalties and interest?

I tried to rationalize mooching when I was much younger, not that I thought it was morally correct, I just wanted to get back some of the money that is being drained from me and free government grants seemed to provide such a method. I did research it and found grants to discover why garbage men are tired at the end of the day ($300K), the couple who had written the report stated that it was very physical work without many benefits such as air conditioning, heating in winter. I thought; 'I'm clever enough to have written that and it wouldn't have taken me six months to write the report'! Although I did flirt with the idea and tried to justify it mainly to myself I never did indulge.
Understanding the drive for 90% of the people to be involved in collectivism I still think it would be absurdly easy to participate in the program as a political leader or power broker. I would rather be broke and trying to get by on my productive work while preventing as much theft from me as is possible.
Still, it is tempting to think of someone like the Clintons who have never produced anything, provided no services and are worth over $100M.