Ready to go Galt in L.A.
I’ve been privileged to know and work with Rick Newcombe, the president of Creators Syndicate, for a decade. Creators has distributed my newspaper column since 1999. Newcombe is a visionary and a tireless entrepreneur with a dedicated staff.
And Los Angeles is driving them away.
In a column for the Wall Street Journal, Newcombe lambastes the city’s arbitrary and capricious tax rules. The intro:
If New Yorkers fantasize that doing business here in Los Angeles would be less of a headache, forget about it. This city is fast becoming a job-killing machine. It’s no accident the unemployment rate is a frightening 11.4% and climbing.
I never could have imagined that, after living here for more than three decades, I would be filing a lawsuit against my beloved Los Angeles and making plans for my company, Creators Syndicate, to move elsewhere.
But we have no choice. The city’s bureaucrats rival Stalin’s apparatchiks in issuing decrees, rescinding them, and then punishing citizens for having followed them in the first place.
Read about the whole nightmare here.
Like so many businesses in L.A. (and California, for that matter), Creators is ready to go Galt. Just another example of how the City of Angels has become the City of the Damned.
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I hear earthquake rumblings under the San Andres fault…Sometimes, blessings aren’t evident at first glance. Get out of there while the gettings good and don’t turn around to look.
when the worker bees leave, who will support the lazy and unproductive? in california to be sure it will be another social program.
People in government never seem to learn. People CAN MOVE! Taxes, laws, edicts, fees, etc. have consequences. And the people in power better be glad people can move. It is a safety valve. Once we can no longer move from places like NY & CA, violence becomes a much more enticing option.
I also just heard about the San Andres issue, and it needs to be taken seriously. Time to get out! And, Misscheryl, your saying, “don’t turn around to look” is very appropriate! LA is definitely the modern Sodom and Gomorrah. Sadly, the whole country will start to look like LA, if the liberals aren’t defeated and run out of DC very very soon!
Unlike Europe, which the left wants to emulate. There is no escaping the taxes and regulation over there. The beauty of the United States is that you can choose the best economic climate for your business, but not for long if the Dems continue their grab for power. Then we’ll be just like the Europeans, with nowhere to go.
Why is it a surprise that a city with much of the population from banana republics behaves like a banana republic?
If California would just open up their off-shore drilling, which WOULD NOT hurt the environment, and stop giving illegal aliens welfare, healthcare, education, etc. etc., the state would be solvent in no time. Of course, that will never happen because they are all libs out there and therefore insane.
Please pass along to Mr. Newcombe that he’s welcome in Texas, Michelle.
For anyone who would care to go Galt in a real way…
STARVETHEBEAST.NET is one way to go about that.
Why Immigrants In Los Angeles (AND THEIR U.S.-BORN CHILDREN) Can’t Read
By Edwin S. Rubenstein
September 25, 2004
la_literacy.htm
If you were told that more than half of the adult inhabitants of the 17th largest economy in the world couldn’t read, you would probably think it was a less developed country like Pakistan or Nigeria.
Well, think again. The place is in the good old US of A.: Los Angeles.
A new study by the United Way of Los Angeles finds that 53 percent of the city’s adult population – 3.8 million people – are functionally illiterate. [United Way, Literacy@Work: The L.A. Workforce Literacy Project, September 2004.]
The percentage soars to 84 percent in heavily Hispanic south L.A., dropping to 44 percent in the greater San Fernando Valley…
What you are seeing in Los Angeles is the inevitable consequence of a city whose demographics are now overwhelmingly Third World.
All of our classical notions of a free republic founded on the rule of law collapse and turn to dust when confronted with those kinds of demographics.
Remember: Demographics are not the most important thing – Demographics are the ONLY thing.
The people who make the babies make the future.
And, as things now stand, Los Angeles [and Chicago and Detroit and East St Louis and Compton] are our future.
I regularly shop outside of Crook County Illinois and refuse to shop inside the city limits unless absolutely necessary. I dislike hurting local businesses, but it’s the only way I can directly contribute to breaking the cycle of political corruption.
As long as he is careful not to take his employees with him, this works. Every time Californians move to another state, they take their craziness with them.
Newcombe might be a visionary, and he clearly is a capitalist: let him hire other capitalists, and not pollute their democracy by bringing a bunch of jack-boot liberals with him.
In the long life God has blessed me with our country has changed to where it is unrecognizable. Where it is now going is even worse. In ’42 as third graders we bought 10 cent savings stamps so when we had a book of $18.75 we could then trade them in for a $25.00 war bond. It was for the survival of our great nation. Few now remember what it’s like to wonder if we would end up speaking Japanese or German. Work hard and get ahead in this land of opportunity was our motto. Now it’s steal what you can, get on welfare and the victim card. I’m _______(fill in space) and oppressed. Let’s unite and stop the bickering among conservatives and live our values and work together to restore this land of ours. Education is a key, read a book like Mark Levine that helps folks better understand conservative values and history.
Just wait until the little-known Cap & Tax provision prohibiting you from selling your house until it’s been brought up to the new Green Code. Can’t afford to upgrade? Tough – you’re stuck right where you are. Now, get back to work, slave.
***
Deja Vu all over again. The Hughes Company used to build the AMRAAM radar guided air to air missile in California. Doing business got more expensive all the time–lots of environmental fines for problems that didn’t exist in other states. Higher taxes, union problems, etc. Each missile cost about $100,000–the Massachusetts based competitor’s missile was about $80,000 as I remember.
***
Hughes moved their production facility to Tucson, Az.–about 20 years ago. The cost of each missile dropped to about $67,000 each–a lot more missiles were sold.
***
Kalifornia lost a few thousand high paying jobs–and a lot of tax money. When the high tax policies have driven out the taxpayers only the ILLEGAL ALIENS, WELFARE RECIPIENTS, AND GANG MEMBERS WILL BE LEFT. How much will they pay in taxes?
***
John Bibb
***
Let’s work hard so that it is not the taxpayers of other states that pick up the tab for California’s welfare checks.
Fast becoming??? No, it’s already there. Big businesses probably stay in LA because the costs of moving outweigh the costs of remaining here, at least for now, but don’t expect them to expand here. The city has been unfreindly to small and mid size business for years driving many of them out the city.
Also, for all the fees it requires to operate here, many businesses conveniently do not pay and L.A. has a poor record in collecting. In fact our illustious mayor, for the second time, has issued an “amnesty” for businesses delinquent in fee payments offereing to wipe the slate for payment of a fraction of the $42 million overdue to the city in fees.
And don’t even think of doing business with the city if you operate a small or mid size business. The city is so notorious in delaying payment, its actually bankrupted businesses waiting for the city to pay for goods and services.
let “celebrity” have it! They won’t mind spending their cash as long as it’s for a good cause. Ask Angelina and Bradley, Madonna. I’m sure they are more than willing to help…oh wait…
The answer is not to raise more revenue, but to cut expenditures.
The former will motivate the revenue providers to up and leave. The latter will motivate the expenditure users to up and leave.
Yep, the latter is better.
nail.head.
Win or lose he needs to move.There will never be any change in California.The illegals are in to deep now.
Galt, Iowa
Galt, California (ironic)
Galt, Ontario (corporate taxes maybe lower up there)
Galt, Illinois
Galt, Missouri
……
Oklahoma will welcome him too….
Michelle, tell Rick Newcombe that there’s lots of office space in Oklahoma City.
We’ll appreciate the fact that he hires people, instead of appreciating the fact that he’s rich and, thus, can pay more taxes to support socialism.
He’d like Oklahoma. Heck, he probably knows half the people already here.
Heh! Like that slave sentence.
Tack on government health-care and we go from slave to livestock!
He’s welcomed in New Jers… oh, nevermind.
Godspeed, Mr. Newcombe.
City of the Bedeviled.
http://hotair.com/archives/2009/07/10/the-lock-up-your-opponents-bills-of-2009/#comment-2414312
errr ummm never believed the fema camp conspriacy theory but….
nervously eyeing the exits….
That gave me chills.
Speak for yourself. We already have several cities on the “most congested” list, and it’s only getting worse with all of the jobs moving here. All of these new people are ruining our quality of life, not to mention that half of them are liberals fleeing the results of their own policies – which they now want to impose on us. Message to Californians and other liberals: You’ll hate it here! Go somewhere else!
On July 10th, 2009 at 11:04 am, Misscheryl said:
let “celebrity” have it! They won’t mind spending their cash as long as it’s for a good cause. Ask Angelina and Bradley, Madonna. I’m sure they are more than willing to help…oh wait…
Not sure about Madonna, but Angelina and Brad are certainly more than willing to help. Check out the Make It Right website:
http://www.makeitrightnola.org/mir_SUB.php?section=mir&page=main
Now tell us Misscheryl, what have you ever done to help out?
Do not go gently into that good night (mare)…
Resist.
Will the last conservative to leave california please turn out the lights??
The native liberals are too lazy to. Thanks.
Relocate to South Carolina. It’s a great place!
I am thinking about calling a family conference to discuss the possiblity of all of us moving to a better place. We are in Minnesota. There are not many of us left in the family. Parents are gone and most of my husband’s relatives also have died. My siblings are moonbats (except for one Rush Limbaugh loving brother who I would hate to leave.) We have two daughters and three grandsons who could all be re-located. Unfortunately, our one son-in-law voted for Obama, has a huge family here, and would never move! I have given this a lot of thought. We can’t move without the rest of the family. My husband and I are in our 60′s and we need to be here for them. To move without them would be selfish.
les – why would I help LA? I’m sure “celibrity” is more than happy to help perpetuate the cesspool that LA is. Me – not so much.
Utah welcomes him also. Our formerly small town has been inundated with well to do Californians escaping this exact thing. You would think people would learn down there….
From the link above.
old goat. TOOELE???
Now now, as long as they’re willing to fork over their DNC membership card and Prius at the border and purchase an F-150 we’ll make exceptions.
txvet2, you must be in Houston or San Antonio to lambast the great state of Texas in such a way. While life isn’t perfect in the Dallas-Fort Worth area, it ain’t too bad. Met a couple of teachers from California at the 4th TEA party that were moving here. Granted some libs will continue to move to Texas, however I have a feeling a lot more conservatives are looking to make the move, and I welcome every one of them to Texas.
On July 10th, 2009 at 11:35 am, Misscheryl said:
les – why would I help LA? I’m sure “celibrity” is more than happy to help perpetuate the cesspool that LA is. Me – not so much.
Misscheryl, I guess you take everything very literally. You’re quick to wrongly imply that celebrities or at least Angelina and Brad, don’t do anything to “help”. So exLA, which you say you so loath (but care enough about celebrities to post over 50 comments on threads about Michael Jackson), what have you ever done to help humanity?
My hunch is not much, and as the saying goes, people in glass houses…..
If you like California in 2009, you will love the USA in 2040. The Demographics and projected Demographics are the same. Go to NumbersUSA here , and fax your congressmen to stop illegal immigration and the 2009 Amnesty. Its free.
any PRODUCTIVE WORKING people are welcome in missouri. kansas city is known as the eastern most western city, while st louis is the westernmost eastern city. kansas city has a lot more mexican labor, and missouri is not a right to work state, but we do have relatively low taxes and st louis has washington university (a top 10 university and medical research facility) and kansas city has stowers institute and the hall facility at ku med center. pfyzer, monsanto, and sigma aldrich make their home here. the statistics one reads about st louis being a high crime area are very misleading, because st louis city is the crime area, but st louis county which is 4 times as large as the city has a very low crime rate. come on down if you produce, stay in the blue states if you want to live off the others who work.
Good point, Nessman. What have you done?
cheapseat: missouri is not a right to work state… come on down…
No thanks.
les, for the record, I’m a total literal thinker. To a fault I fear. I didn’t imply that at all…and I’m getting ready to say something that will leave no room for implication – what.so.ever!
I do not know where you got the “hunch” that I “feel” as though I owe anything, let alone some explanation for anything I do or say about LA, “celebrity,” Michael Jackson, Greenpeace, Obama et al. I owe you zip and I will not be bullied by your liberal attitude. You can take your “hunch” and do you know what with it! mmmmmkay?
emphasis MINE! I am done with you!
Oh, he’s okay, Misscheryl. He’s just vying for another Silver Sow award until Mr. Carlson finally builds him some walls around his desk. (Every real newsroom has walls, after all.)
I am curious. Is there a way to go back and read individual poster’s comments over time? Or do we have to go to archives and just pick a thread? At LGF (that I used to visit occasionally) they had a way to go to a poster’s name and pull up everything they have said since they joined the blog. Can we do that here? I haven’t been able to figure out how.
Good for you – you didn’t play into his hands.
les’ kind of talk is so manipulative….still lots of naive conservatives out there.
My husband and I have been trapped in California for thirty-plus years. We’re both conservatives, and consistently vote against the incredibly stupid ideas the libs in positions of power come up with. Not that it does any good.
We’d like to leave next year when we retire. Are there any states that would welcome a pair of conservative retirees, who can be counted on to resist the libs who are also fleeing this hellhole otherwise known as California? Or has its reputation made us persona non grata through no fault of our own? I’ve been dying to leave almost since I got here.
I am constantly floored by the grinding hypocrisy of the collectivists.
The story of THE ONE, pretended father of us all, allowing his own family to live in abject poverty is a great lesson.
Ha! Excellent!!! You go!
If we’re playing this, babiesgrandma would like to play the part of JENNIFER.
Well, speaking for myself (who else?), and echoing the “Texas means ‘friend’” note from history, you would be most welcome in Texas. Some of our cities DO suffer from congested traffic, but we are building roads, too.
I thought that was Les Nessman…
What about Florida? Don’t they need some intelligent voters, and votes to dilute the snowbird vote??
I am a casualty of the War on Prosperity. I work in So Cal and was laid off this week.
Absolutely, but in that case we would need a picture, you know, to be sure we’re honoring the original.
Yeah, his farm reports make it pretty obvious. You know, lots of manure.
gippergirl, hope you find work real soon…
What part? I work in Irvine, near John Wayne. What biz are you in? My company may have some openings, believe it or not. Or main office is at the El Toro Y.
Or = Our
(And I’m a writer….)
WHen you penalize success you get less of it.
When you subsidize failure you get more of it.
Duh.
I am in no position to leave, but my advice to everyone who can is to flee the failed state of Cantaffordya. This state is going to have to go through some serious suffering before someone like a Reagan can get into a position to turn things around. First thing I hope happens is the section 8 dries up. The section 8 here is out of control and since the housing bust a bunch of people who should not have gotten a house loan to begin with and of course lost their houses are now shacked up in my neighborhood in section 8 apartments. They all look angry and have the you owe me something scowl while they are out walking their pit bull dogs. Start with the section 8 so that we can clean up my neighborhood, then go down the list.
Rick, when you run a business, you are married to that endeavour. Not to any certain location or state which you may at any time reside.
To ensure a happy successful business, always be prepared to move. There are still a few states left which are more friendly than the one you are in. Move and enjoy the fruits of your labor.
You deserve it.
Not the apparatchiks.
As I have said more than once…open up the off-shore drilling out there and get rid of the perks for illegals and the problem is solved. Of course, that makes way too much sense. I pray that liberal lunacy can stay contained in a few states. The virus seems to be spreading.
Sorry to hear that. I’ll say a prayer for you.
Route 66 goes both ways. You can be one of those “Returning Okies” fleeing CA looking for work.
sonofdy — we’re on the other side of SLC in Wasatch County. Tooele does have the same problem though.
Somebody else mentioned some caveats — if you are conservative, aren’t wanting to bring California values with you, and don’t like unions, Utah welcomes you. (-:
sonofdy — we’re on the other side of SLC in Wasatch County. Tooele does have the same problem though.
Somebody else mentioned some caveats — if you are conservative, aren’t wanting to bring California values with you, and don’t like unions, Utah welcomes you. (-:
frontierguy: This state is going to have to go through some serious suffering before someone like a Reagan can get into a position to turn things around.
See my post above: The people who make the babies make the future.
Given current demographics, “a Reagan” will NEVER AGAIN be able to win at the game of demos kratia in the state of Kalifornia.
Duly elected officials in Kalifornia’s future will bear a much stronger resemblance to Hugo Chavez, the Castro brothers, and Robert Mugabe.
Demographics are not the most important thing: Demographics are the ONLY thing.
Your political conclusion is based on the erroneous assumption that Latinos are genetically programmed to be statist liberals. That is how we got into this mess in the first place. If it weren’t for the blacks and Latinos who turned out to vote for Obama last November, gay marriage would now be law. It works on other issues too. But we will miss the opportunity if we write them off as genetically-programmed mental defectives. California was very conservative even with the very large Mexican-American population that existed before these illegals arrived.
The 3rd world latinos moving into America are mostly Catholics who tend skew heavily to pro-family and used to be self-supporting in Mexico. What has happened is that BOTH wings of the United Establishment Party have abandoned ground operations opting instead for the political expediency of cutting deals with La Raza (slave traders) and the Chambers of Commerce (slave owners). The American system is not interested in what they want and so gives them no palatable choices. Mexicans don’t want La Raza, the United Establishment Party does.
If we can get the borders under control again, we might be able to sort out the mess and give the illegals here a different path other than the horrendous “13 1/2 year pathway to citizenship” (permanent underclass status for Mexicans). But we need to let THEM choose their representatives and then we need to ENGAGE with them just as we have with every other immigrant population.
All of us, liberals, conservatives and most everyone, seem to have given up on common sense and trying to do what is right even if it is difficult. Most of our current problems could be solved if we as individuals took responsibility stop making knee-jerk decisions without thinking.
Step one is to break up the one-party system and get the right people into the discussion.
No incumbents after 2020.
Go Sarah!!!
correction: No incumbents after
20202010.PP, I named 20 incumbents in Congress for you recently.
I asked you to name the ones who you would predict would not be re-elected.
You never responded.
Tell us how many…by name…incumbents you predict will be knocked off in 2010, please.
Pasadena Phil: Your political conclusion is based on the erroneous assumption that Latinos are genetically programmed to be statist liberals.
Aboriginal Hispanics, with average IQs no higher than about 80, will NEVER vote to live in a free republic.
Anglo-Saxon ideals, such as “the rule of law”, are simply not in their blood – indeed, given that you need an IQ of about 90 just to support basic literacy, MOST of them are incapable of even understanding the idea of the “the rule of law” in the first place [given that MOST of them are incapable of learning to read].
This is your future under Kalifornian demographics:
New Labor Leaders Take a Page From History
By Nathaniel Popper
Published April 23, 2009, issue of May 01, 2009
forward.com
If you want to see the movers and shakers behind the tumult in today’s labor movement, the place to be is Stephen Lerner and Marilyn Sneiderman’s modest home in Washington after sunset concludes Judaism’s holiest day of the year…
Last October, those partaking in the potluck collection of bagels, blintzes and a giant challah included Andy Stern, president of one of the nation’s largest union, the Service Employees International Union…
“It seemed like every other person there was a senior leader in the labor movement,” said a somewhat awed Jacob Feinspan, the young Jews United for Justice leader, who attended the 2008 event…
A major turning point came when the AFL-CIO, the largest federation of national unions, decided to open up the Organizing Institute, which was designed to provide college graduates a direct entry point into unions so that they would not have to first pass through the rank and file. The institute was founded in 1989 by a young Jew from Kentucky, Richard Bensinger, who had been recruited into the union movement by Richard Rothstein, a Jewish labor organizer and activist at one of the garment unions…
But there is a potential downside: Stern and others in the new generation of union leadership have been criticized by more traditional union leaders for giving union jobs to people who did not get their start in the working class. The generation of college-educated leaders have also been involved in a number of recent fights that have divided the labor movement (see sidebar). Paul Buhle, a labor historian at Brown University, said that in the current era, when unions are largely trying to organize black and Latino populations, the presence of so many educated Jewish leaders can be an “embarrassing detail”…
ACORN’s “Muscle for Money” does the bidding of SEIU
Kevin Mooney
July 7, 2009
sfexaminer.com
Corporate and political officials who defy workplace and community organizers risk being made objects of scorn by bright red-clad protestors in public and private, courtesy of an activist union and its close allies in the nation’s most controversial liberal non-profit advocacy group…
**********
There is no place in these kinds of demographics for traditional Anglo-Saxon notions of a free republic prospering under the rule of law.
IT WILL NEVER HAPPEN.
And by “never” I mean “not from now until the end of time”.
NEVER.
Mexicans have been going Galt long before going Galt was cool.
Beat up the producers, and they will choose to leave.
I absolutely, without equivocation, repudiate that post.
The ideals of American liberty do not belong to one ethnic group, any more than they they derived from one ethnic group.
I agree, Rags. Just look at the founders and the immigrants of old who came here seeking freedom and new lives. They worked hard and were the backbone of this country. The only problem is that many of the “immigrants” of today are either illegal, or want to kill us.
“We are endowed by our Creator with certain unalienable rights…”
Just look at those who are struggling to exercise their God-given rights in Iran, China, etc. Godless men are trying to keep them down, but they yearn to breathe free…
Godless men and women are trying to keep us down here in the U.S. also, but they won’t succeed. I have read the Book and I know who wins.
Amen.
You folks are fools if you believe this Dubya-ist nonsense about “All people yearn for freedom.”
MOST people in the world are too stupid to understand the difference between freedom and tyranny.
And of the minority of people in the world who are smart enough to know the difference, MOST of them want to visit some sort of tyranny upon their neighbors.
The flourishing of enough men of sufficiently high intellect and sufficiently strong moral fiber to support a free republic based on the rule of law is so very rare in human history that you can count the number of instances of it on your fingers [maybe even on the fingers of only one hand].
The kinds of people we are importing into this country today will NEVER vote for limited government and the rule of law.
They will ALWAYS vote for some sort of bolshevist-fascist tyranny.
Always and forever.
Demographics are not the most important thing.
DEMOGRAPHICS ARE THE ONLY THING.
I disagree on the “godless” comments. I am not a christian and pretty much anti-religion. However, I am just as firm in my fight for liberty, freedom and responsibility as any religious person. Don’t knock us agnostics, or even athiests. We might be your best ally.
It was not my intention to disparage you or any other non-believer. Just stating my opinion. Nothing more.
Not a problem. I have my opinions, too.
And very well expressed, I might add. We may not agree on religion, but we have a lot of other things in common. That is what I like about this blog. Lots of variety, but one theme…we are all politically conservative. (except for lgm, of course!)
Heh! Right you are!
And, yes, we have VERY MUCH in common.
Dude, how did GWB get involved in this discussion?
Why do you think we have so many illegal aliens, as well as legal immigrants, to this country? Many have risked and given their lives just to come to our shores. If we were as oppressive as what they left behind, they sure as heck wouldn’t be trying so hard to get here.
And the ones I’ve known were not ignorant about what it was they were dying to get here to find…or give their children.
I suspect I have a lot more in common with legal immigrants who come here for all the right reasons than certain (ahem…) posters.
I grew up in L.A. This is horrifying. They are going to lose even more jobs. They shouldn’t be treating businesses this way.
Actually there is a call to Go Galt on July 30th nationwide.
Those wishing to make a statement on what would happen when the productive members of society go on strike as in Atlas Shrugged are encouraged to “Call in Conservative” on July 30th”
On that day people that choose to participate(some won’t be able to) in this one day protest are encouraged not to work and/or not to buy a thing.
What good will this do? Depends on how many do it, but more of these protests for longer periods are probably on the horizon with the current administration driving us into the socialism abyss!
Hear, hear. Merely being born in this country doesn’t necessarily mean one really loves or appreciates it. Just means one was blessed.
Those who fight to get here know what they’re fighting for. That’s why I’m fully supportive of immigration. Aliens trying to take a shortcut, not so much, although I understand why they would.
I have been in LA for only the last 4 years. I can honestly say I hardly have the history here to comment on what the economic climate was like in the past. In my opinion at the rate this state is going the only people that will be left in California in 20 years will be the extreme wealthy and the illegals. No one else will be willing (nor financially able) to take the beating to stay.
Lucius, you are right, my optimism was too much of fantasy. The illegal Mexicans who come here work so hard to make this place exactly like their home. It is home, but with checks that they don’t get in Mexico. I was listening to the Roger Hedgecock show one morning. He was talking about the many problems the illegal alien population was causing in the state. A guy called in and said, I have 6 children and I am not here legally, but they are. My children are your future leaders and I am teaching them to be loyal to the homeland first (Mexico). I thought maybe it was a trick call to get people riled up, but I am not 100% sure. Either way, it will be a hard, grim demise for the California dream. The LA mayor is a proven La Raza and Mecha member. These radicals achieving the governorship is not far behind. I mean, something is weird when the President of Mexico always stops for a “meeting” with the LA mayor everytime after seeing the US President. Goodbye California, it was nice knowing ya.
The worst part of all: this liberal “utopia” will drive itself into such a state of disrepair, that Obambi will probably “spread the money around” from the red states where a work ethic still exists.
As a small businessman, I am always looking for ways to help my clients achieve a better result for a reasonable cost. However, if this progressive thoughtlessness and associated action continues very much longer, I will switch my efforts to finding ways to take advantage of government goodies and provide a lesser or even non-existant service. If played right, I can probably keep my business functioning for years without producing a damn thing. My hope, of course, is that I can bring down the progressive leadership that is destroying the United States of America. I recognize that I am but a small part of a much needed movement to return America to its constitutional foundation, – but if enough of us “small parts’ get together, we can make real change happen and restore real hope for our future, our children’s future, and for future generations.
I continue to be amazed at the stupidity of the leftists/statists/progressives that they actually believe they can tax and otherwise attack the people and businesses who work without repercussions. So long as there is someplace for those people and companies to go to avoid these capricious attacks, the leftists/statists/progressives will be the losers just as we see with Newcombe and his Creators Syndicate.
Unfortunately, Galt’s utopian solution won’t work in this world. Who has the wherewithal to buy thousands of acres of land in the Rockies, that happens to have an unmapped valley where one can live anonymously and comfortably while waiting for the world to self-destruct? The looters are not regional, they’re national and even global. After awhile, all the states will fall in line with the Californias and the New Yorks because States Rights has been bred out of the culture. It’s now a fight to “get their share of the pie,” instead of fighting the true evil in this land; from calling for “spreading the wealth,” to calling the profit motive, “evil”. God help us.
Context is everything. When the book was written, that was very much possible. Today, we would have to do it differently, probably by hiding in plain sight. Remember, even in the book, Galts people worked in the outer world, just not in their previous capacities.
I agree with your assessment that things are moving in the direction you indicated all over the place, but that doesn’t mean every state and locality will follow suit in lockstep. We may yet prevail, even in this environment.
Sorry, but I don’t share your optimism.
Another evil that needs to be fought is what I call the “greed of benevolence”. Have you noticed how “benevolent” our government has become? Does anyone consider that the people in power are really doling out benevolence with other people’s money? It’s as if the government expropriated the Church’s responsibility to benevolence. Why is that? Power is one reason, but in a democratic society, one can’t get elected if one’s ideas aren’t embraced by the constituency. In other words, the people in power are mere reflections of its constituency. The American populace is being bought by the lie that you can have your cake and eat it too; that there’s a chicken in every pot; that one can have a free lunch on someone else’s dime. This is the great evil of our time, but no one seems to be listening.