It's frustrating to see what is happening not only in the current AZ state government but at the federal level. The Leftists now want to harness AI because they believe that is the only way they can hold on to power. The bureaucrats say they are the ones running the country. I could only hope and pray that an asteroid will fall on DC without them knowing about it, then Boom!
Right now I live to do my own repairs on my home, go to firearms training once a month, and become proficient in that. I need to start buying more ammo soon. Maybe there will be a collapse or something.

I'm still at work smiling as I watch them make the decisions.

Soon I'll just be gone.

I agree that a total collapse is unlikely.
The Deep State is certain to have planned for such an opportunity and will use force as needed.
Tourism will be a long term casualty, however.
The encouraged collapse of the middle class will destroy much of the tourist business.
Free travel by serfs is not desired by the Deep State masters.
imo, the only peaceful chance for a return to individual liberty is a wide-spread
consumer strike that does cause a collapse in spite of the Deep State's plans.

I don't think a total collapse is going to happen, and if it does it won't be an Atlas Shrugged type of collapse.

1. Lots of innovative companies still around (Tesla, Apple, private space exploration companies are examples).

2. Global competition across political jurisdictions. (Example, medical tourism.)

3. Artificial intelligence helping to make innovation much cheaper and faster.

4. Millions of competent individuals available for hire in the gig economy.

5. Growing political backlash against socialism and "wokeism".

6. Individuals and companies moving to less restrictive political jurisdictions (example, from California to Texas and Florida).

A near-total collapse may occur for other reasons, but probably not because of too many competent people withholding their services.

January 6th was my last day. I am currently shrugging. I have more control over my day to day activities. Like growing food. Prepping. Doing side jobs for cash. Bartering. Eating MUCH healthier. Actually WALKING in the morning. Which I hope to morph into hiking as the pounds drop off. Life is pretty good. I even found time to explore new endeavors. All while “earning” the minimum. There are other ways besides a bank account to become “rich”.
I have everything I NEED. A lot of what I WANTED would have led me down the path of servitude. When you look at the overly financed lives we lead, realize that this way of living is an anomaly in human history. It’s really only been the last 100 years. The powers that be want everyone on their own little mortgaged postage stamp. Then they have control. Of your money, time, your very life.
Sanity is the future of wealth.

This is why I have moved to being a school teacher. I can hide within the system and exert minimum effort. When I encounter the occasional student who isn't blinded by the system I attempt to open their eyes. Otherwise I am just marking time while earning a living within the system.

After 20 years working for a University, I decided to retire. When I told the staff I said "I'm not retiring... I'm Shrugging". Only 1 person understood. No support, no recognition, not even a cup of coffee in the morning. Then I was invited to a meeting for a new project that wasn't even in my department. THEY DIDN'T EVEN ASK IF I WOULD HELP....

So in January... I walked away.

Watchimg the growing chaos as those who chant equity and government control slide unhindered into key positions, I want to think it can be turned around, but I know that it's my responsibility, mine alone, to prepare for the worst scenario I can imagine. As a writer who dabbles in science fiction, I tend to research more than write, and my research is finding too many new ways to kill this semi-free country of ours, not to mention the rest of the world. Galting in Grey these days.

I once had a doctor who delivered a baby for a young couple and brought in a lawyer to have the mother sign a release for adoption of the baby. The nurses alerted me. I bounced in and threw out the doctor and the lawyer chastising them for daring to let a woman who has been medicated sign a legal document for anything in less than 12 hours. I cautioned the nurses not to let them back in until I checked the patient's chart. The doctor called me the 'B' word and I threw it right back to him! We were classmates in high school!

Thanks for posting.

I had forgotten that portion - thanks for the reminder!

Read what happens right there in
Atlas Shrugged. Or watch the current nightly news. Or check out the path Venezuela has been on. The left thinks only of their ideology and ignores the results of their programs.

Several decades ago I was a successful entrepreneur. I employed several hundred people and provided valuable services to grateful customers. I was continually harassed by government bureaucrats working at the behest of competitors who wanted to get rid of me. I fought back. Then I remembered John Galt. I shrugged.

For the past decade I play music for a living. I cashed in all my chips, sold anything the government might wish to steal from me and decided to enjoy life. I am amused by those still fighting against world stupidity. Rand was right. Let it all burn down. Only after a total collapse will it be safe to reemerge and go back to work.

I’m reminded of the passage from W.B. Yeats’ prescient poem, The Second Coming: "The best lack all conviction, while the worst
Are full of passionate intensity."

Inflation upon inflation = economic/financial repression. So right.

What he doesn't say is that the economic powers WANT this to collapse the system. Why? Because they want to force a new elitist system in its place. It happened in Russia 100 years ago and they want it to happen here as well. They think that with modern IT they can control things in a way which wasn't possible 100 years ago. How little they understand the human spirit!

Just as bad money drives out good money, the untalented drive out the talented.

When the competent "opt out" or go on strike: All described in "Atlas Shrugged" over 60 years ago. Isn't that why this is called "Galt's Gulch"?

Wish you had been there when my firstborn was on her way. The doctor was drunk, but he gave me so much scopolamine, I was hallucinating. I still have no memory except for bad dreams. It's a wonder she lived because what they gave me almost completely removed her sucking reflex. Took her a week to get it back.

Good for you. If they can't pass a background check, they shouldn't be allowed to work in a hospital. (Former Director of Medical Records). I have experienced catching a doctor drunk who was about to operate on a lady. I had the nurses throw him in a shower and when he sobered up, I promised him I would do a write up for the Chief of Staff. (He didn't like me after that!...like I cared). I called in another surgeon to do the lady's surgery and he did a fine job.

I have seen this happening over many years, many of the worlds best (in every sector) have moved on, retired, disappeared, etc and their replacements SUCKED!

“ The drivers of the Competent Opting Out are obvious yet difficult to quantify. Those retiring, burning out and opting out will deny they're leaving for these reasons because it's not politic to be so honest and direct. They will offer time-honored dodges such as "pursue other opportunities" or "family obligations."

I wasn’t shy about my reasons. Masking and a steadily creeping woke ideology from the corporate office are why I left. I told my boss that too. I said I’m leaving now on good terms because in 5 years as this corporate ideology continues to degrade you’ll be told to throw me out by HR because I’m a “terrorist”.

I like the point C.H. Smith (OfTwoMinds blog) makes in this article, that now, in business, competence is in direct competition with "the ideologically pure."

That is a line that could have been taken directly out of Galt's Speech in AS. The valuation of false, woke/"equity" ideals now apparent especially in advertising is creating backlash after backlash that just shows practical, profit-oriented judgment is increasingly missing, (Practical, profit-oriented judgment is just another term for "competence.")

i am going for a new job at the place i work
was told 8 people are going for 8

a hospital system
5 failed the background check....

It's incredible! The idiots are now running the world! low class, stupid people who can't even learn the technics of the jobs they are hired for distress me the most.

i am finding much wisdom from John Dutton from Yellowtone (not that TV shows as such are a great source of wisdom)

we as a society are breeding a collection of whiners and loosers, training them to be the next generation of the survivors as they are the ones now successful in our current society