Who Is John Galt?

There have been some rumblings in the blogosphere about "going Galt" -- a reference to Ayn Rand's seminal work on libertarianism. For those unfamiliar with the tome, we highly recommend a reading of it. The best would be to set aside a weekend in order to read it all the way through in as short a time possible.

The expression, of course, refers to the phenomenon of productive people dropping out of the rat race and going "off the grid" and leaving the parasites to fend for themselves. At the time of Rand's writing, the "movers and shakers" were considered to be those at the top of the economic food chain. In the intervening half-century, however, things have changed. And not for the better.

Back in '92, Ross Perot pointed out that the differential between the highest- and lowest-paid workers in any industry hovers around 250 to 300. In other industrialized countries (e.g. Germany and Japan), the differential is one-tenth that.

Added to the mix is the fact that we no longer live in a capitalistic society. What we labor under in this country is -- to borrow a phrase from the esteemed Vox Day is "corporatism". And the real movers and shakers are not the wheeling-and-dealing corporate parasites at the top of the economic food chain, but the front-line workers who produce the products and provide the services that power our economic engine.

We've detected a growing sentiment among these real workers to "go Galt" and stop supporting this corrupt system. Fortunately, they are not stupid enough to support the socialist "solutions" being foisted upon us all by the Lunatic Left. Raising the Minimum Wage doesn't really help when the government keeps inflating the money supply and sapping one's buying power. And the big wigs giving themselves huge raises and bonuses further undermines any real solution.

Let's face it: the only real solution is going to be when He whose right it is to rule this world returns. Until then, we're stuck with half-measures. One of which will be "going Galt".

It was only recently that we came upon this little gem that does a good job of explaining how the real economy works (versus how the "economists" want you to think it works). All that's necessary is for all the little John Galts to start dealing in the "grey market" and the red and pink markets just might collapse under their own weight. And good riddance to bad rubbish.

Let Them Try Doing It

One constant thorn in the eye of freedom-loving people is the penchant -- nay, obsession -- of the cretins in government to promulgate rules that all the rest of us have to live by. In some cases, it borders on the bizarre. In too many cases, it goes beyond that.

There was a joke floating around in the days before the Internet about a farmer who had been advised by some idiot bureaucrat (apologies for the redundancy) about a stream that flowed through the rancher's property. The idiot bureaucrat (apologies again) informed the rancher that although his cattle would be allowed to drink from the stream, they would not be allowed to relieve themselves in it.

Speaking to the local cattlemen's association, the rancher remarked, "I pretty much understand that rule. And I'm pretty sure you do, too. But I'm having the Devil's own time trying to explain it to those cows."

Comes now word that a rancher out in Horse Springs has been notified by TPTB that instead of branding cattle the old-fashioned way, he must now begin attaching tags with micro-chips to the animals.

Of course, the idiot bureaucrat (apologies again) works in some windowless room in Washington and has most likely never been within a quarter-mile of a live cow in his/her life. And knows nothing about ranching. How typical.

We'll forgo the usual repetition of the rancher's rant against the idiot bureaucrats (apologies again) in Washington for the nonce.

In the spirit of culpae poenae par esto, we have come up with a solution that should put the kibosh on this sort of foolishness. Permanently. To wit:

Every time some idiot bureaucrat (apologies again) comes up with another one of these hare-brained schemes, they'll have to actually travel to where the work has to be done and do it themselves for a month.

One month of trying to tag cattle with micro-chips should be enough to do it.

And just think of all the fun things that they've come up with for the rest of us to do. The possibilities for entertainment are endless.

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The Rise And Fall Of The Workplace Jerk

Very interesting article over at the Wall Street Journal about the decline of jerks in the workplace.

Unfortunately, what's left out is how jerks got into the workplace in the first instance, as well as who the real jerks are.

Apparently, their decline is attributable to the fact that "first-class nitwits make mouth-watering targets for human resource officers with layoff quotas". But wasn't their rise equally so attributable? If it weren't for the collectivists in "human resources"* and their "I'm OK; you're OK" crap, the jerks would never be there in the first place. It's only because everyone else was forced to put up with them that they lasted as long as they have.

(*Remember when it was called "Personnel" and they actually contributed to the something worthwhile to the company? Nowadays, the "human resources" people are the walking embodiment of Pournelle's Iron Law of Bureaucracy (q.v.).)

Mr. Chips and The Old Sarge could tell a lot about weirdos, whiners, control freaks, et al in the workplace. Worst of all, no one had the guts to rehabilitate or remove the offenders. Maybe the sour economy is doing what people refused to do. Then again, maybe not. Too many workplace jerks are too well connected.