"I Got It!"
in this sense, he is objectivist...
SOURCE URL: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JNmMdau8uHk
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I realized something after becoming a father. I remembered growing up going to church. In a protestant church (probably like any other) we were told that we're born sinners, weak and unpure. Nothing could be further from the truth. We are born pure, our true spirits shining. We just get f*cked up via this society we've created, shitty parents, etc. Look at this kid. That's a pure person. I have spent a lot of time around kids with autism. Imagine that for a second...coming down with an ailment by the time you're this boy's age that affects you neurologically. I watched many kids struggle and work like mad, age 2 or 3, to break through the haze. Seeing that woke me up, and gave me clarity on the human condition.
Sounds like this boy's mind is strong. He's got a real fighting chance.
Sometimes I get to wondering if my strength can hold up until the next election and then you post this little spitfire who was a "born to overcome" type.
If I had seen this three years ago on an Ayn Rand board, I would have thought "wait what does this have to do with being angry, scared, and depressed and turning everything into politics."
Seriously, I love new medical technologies, and I esp love little kids benefit ting and showing such determination.
Or try to pour a ton of steal. I've never done that, but I imagine the same principle applies.
If you were it would go something like this: "Here is more propaganda that Obamacare works. That kid won't be able to pay for followup treatment b/c poor monetary policy will raise prices of everything except for whatever that kid's parents happen to do for a living. Everything's going to the devil, and it's all part of a scheme to benefit those who look/act different from me. Why do you think some jet contrails last longer than others, hey? We'll I see through it! I'm close to being a genius like Roark, Hank, or Dagny. I could provide millions of dollars of value if it weren't for having to fill out 940s, 941, W-3, W-2s, RoHS complaince certs, etc. Those things are all a conspiracy to reduce us to a bronze age existence. I keep telling people how utterly foolish they are and to wake up you stupid morons, but inexplicably I never got promoted, found new clients, or built any wealth. When my employer selected me for early retirement, I decided just to go Galt and live off Social Security, some VA benefits, and Medicare as soon as I'm eligible. Now I'll just stay home and watch our impending doom on cable news. I simply can't go on producing for Moochers who decadently want some gov't program to provide for them. All my amazing productive capacity is going to waste b/c I refuse to feed the Obama machine!"
What would a hard-core Democratic Freedom Caucus high-tech Pollyanna say?
Thanks for indulging my linguistic curiosity.
http://www.galtsgulchonline.com/posts/a6...
I'm glad you're not upset about the first part with the omitted word. I stand by the second part, though. That's how we come off, IMHO-- people with problems getting along, angry, scared, confused, and the taking the self-righteous tack that we're actually misunderstood geniuses who would provide untold value for humankind if it weren't for having to deal with gov't regulations. I find sanctimony about NOT accomplishing things very annoying. I like hearing about people who overcome the problems and do accomplish something.
When db and I galted, it was about accomplishing things. We realized more and more of our time was eaten up by the lack of freedoms I talk about in here and write in our novels. Leaving allows us to accomplish important work we had less time before to focus on. Eventually, we decided the value of that potential work was too important. Do not assume that those who engage in "brain drain" stop their production. check your premise
To me the point of that was how bad bad could get if taken to an extreme. Extreme liberty would lead to an inexhaustible energy source. Extreme socialism would lead to everyone falling over one another to grab other people's stuff and focusing their efforts on sob stories and political machinations instead of making goods/services.
"What if policies did not hamstring producers...is it possible not only they would produce more but benefit thousands/millions in the process?"
Yes. 1% extra GDP growth a year works out to several times the production after 100 years. That's just tangible production growth. The overall benefit of liberty is priceless.
"We realized more and more of our time was eaten up by the lack of freedoms I talk about in here and write in our novels. Leaving allows us to accomplish important work we had less time before to focus on."
I hope you write an article or book on this topic. I'm interested in how lack of freedom was causing a problem and how physically moving helped. I love stories about people moving to try something new, i.e. the story of America and all the sci-fi with similar themes.
"We decided the value of that potential work was too important. Do not assume that those who engage in "brain drain" stop their production. check your premise"
Even if moving meant retirement, that's your right. You're not a deserter for not wanting to make something and sell it.
The check your premise thing means almost nothing. Arguments can be unsound because a) false premises or b) logical errors. Either one will take you to wrong conclusions. In this case, the issue is defining "brain drain", "Galting", and so on. At one point I thought you said Galting was abandoning your dreams, or maybe it was abandoning seeking your dreams within the US. Here you say "brain drain" does *not* mean stopping all production. These words need definitions.
In the book the Gulch residents were clearly producing stuff but out of reach of the taxing authorities.
Here is a small example of what I am talking about. In 2000, 406 companies went public. After the passage of Sarbanes Oxley, those numbers just plummeted. In 2000 (as a sample year) the US had more companies go public than any other country. Why shouldn't we? Now we are not on top. Here is a paper that I cite for numbers. I do not agree at all with their premise, as bigger companies absorbing startups in the long run are not good for economy as it is proven startups are the 95% of all net new jobs in the US.
http://fisher.osu.edu/supplements/10/120...
Last year 222 companies went public, however their earnings are less than a third per company than in 2000.
Finally, I suppose we are of an age to consider early retirement, but that was not our choice. We chose to focus on writing books. As a team we write fiction novels. Db is currently also working on a second non-fiction book about growth economics.
You give a few good examples of Galting, but I still don't know what it means. That's fine, but nothing I say about it has any meaning since I don't know what it is.
Regarding Sarbanes Oxley, I know little about it apart from what was mentioned in some general business books I've read (Execution: The Discipline of Getting Things Done, and one other book I can't recall, maybe it was Unintended Consequences). My uninformed guess is that the law made public incorporation less favorable, and that's pushing businesses to be owned by private equity rather than public. If this guess is right, I do not know if this is good or bad.
Regarding 2000, that was the peak the of the tech boom. VCs were funding companies that had no profits, sometimes companies that didn't have real sales if you discounted mutual advertising sales between Internet companies. It's not fair to compare the tech boom to this run-of-the-mill expansion cycle. Maybe with better policies, we could be in a major expansion, something akin to 2000 but sustainable.
I agree with the general idea we should be looking for ways to increase liberty, innovation, and just letting people do their own thing in general. Things could be a lot better. I'm not sure on the claims that number of IPO is a figure of merit. I agree we want more startups which are good at innovation AND more mature businesses which are good consistency. We want more people solving each other's problems.
That's great that you're writing books. Calling that "galting", in my confused understanding of the term, sounds like an insult. You're just doing a job you want to do, trying something and seeing if it works. I call that life. Maybe "Galting" is what I call life.