Check out Dr. Helen’s blog. Evidently she coined the term “Going Galt” in a post last fall, and it’s picked up a lot of press, including a recent column by Michelle Malkin at Townhall.com entitled “Going Galt”: America’s Wealth Producers vs. Wealth Redistributors.
I have not read a lot of her blog, but the first page was full of common sense posts. I’ll have to read through her archives sometime to see her thoughts on various topics, but at first glance it looks to be an interesting read with some creative thoughts.
The “Going John Galt” post starts with: Do you ever wonder after dealing with all that is going on with the economy and the upcoming election if it’s getting to be time to “go John Galt.” For those of you who have never read Ayn Rand’s Atlas Shrugged, the basic theme is that John Galt and his allies take actions that include withdrawing their talents, ‘stopping the motor of the world’, and leading the ‘strikers’ (those who refuse to be exploited) against the ‘looters’ (the exploiters, backed by the government).
Dr. Helen goes on to ask “what are some ways to “go John Galt” (legally, of course)–that is, should productive people cut back on what they need, make less money, and take it easy so that the government is starved for funds, or is there some other way of making a statement?”
I like the premise, but the idea won’t work. It won’t work because the government doesn’t actually need our taxes anymore because our currency is fiat money. There’s no backing or any link to a standard, so they will simply print more. Or borrow more. So the government will never be “starved for funds”.
“Going Galt” would work only in the original sense that Ayn Rand envisioned – that the producers of the world stop producing, therefore causing the economy to collapse. If enough do that, the economy would indeed collapse, because regardless of how the majority of people think, there are relatively few people who actively create the wealth of the world. And it ain’t government.
gk
Filed under: Economy, Political Tagged: | Ayn Rand, common sense, Dr. Helen, Going Galt, government spending
