System Collapse (Warning: Unpleasant reading)

Depending on who you believe, if California was an independent state, it would have either the seventh, eighth or tenth largest economy in the world. Any way you cut it, the nation's most populated state (almost 37 million people@2006) represents better than 10% of the country's total population with a $1.8 trillion economy and tends to act as an early precursor to national trends in economics. Now that the State's Controller has announced a delay for tax refunds for 30 days starting February 1, 2009 for Personal Income Tax and Business Entity taxpayers I can't help but be reminded of an eerie set of postings I saw last year (about a secret closed door meeting by the House of Representatives held last March (only the fourth such meeting held in 176 years in this country)) that heralded the government's collapse in February of 2009, following a financial implosion that was predicted to begin in September of '08.

(Yeah, you might think some of the YouTube videos are over-the-top but they're food for thought, IMO.)

"Huh?" you're thinking. "What does this have to do with recruiting?"
Everything, my friend. Everything.

Now you all may think I'm nuts to bring this up (well, Jerry, maybe not you) but I have to tell you, I'm asking myself, doesn't the failure of a governmental body to pay its citizens back a "trusted" amount of money constitute a government's collapse? I think it does. I'm beginning (actually, this isn't true - I've been thinking about this for some time) to seriously question the framework of what all of us are facing here.

What do YOU think is going on?

“A patriot must always be ready to defend his country against his government.” ~ Edward Abbey (American Writer whose works, set primarily in the southwestern United States, reflect an uncompromising environmentalist philosophy. 1927-1989)

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Permalink Reply by Donato Diorio on February 8, 2009 at 11:22pm

Atlas Shrugged was not a "how to" book on capitalism. It is full of "straw men" that are built up, easy to hate, in order to build a story with passion, to show the concept of an ideal man. This man really cannot live in a society as we have it today. The one concept that I believe and share is that:

"No one should live for the sake of another man, nor ask another man to live for the sake of him. " (I am paraphrasing from memory). In addition, the concept that no one has the right to one iota of another man's life was strong in her 2 major works.

Everything in the book was meant to drill this point in. People who only read the book, but never read the non-fiction work by Ayn Rand, are simply lighting fires to the straw men that she built...on both sides of the debate.

Maybe Greenspan got mesmerized by the amazing writing and forgot that the core message of the book was a personal one, not societal.

What would happen if a society was formed on a remove island, and the only book they had was Atlas Shrugged? That would make a great Star Trek episode!

Martin H.Snyder said:

John Galt is the protagonist star of a book featuring the ravings of a moral cretin whose influence (esp. in the form of one Alan Greenspan) has led us to exactly where we are today. Just sayin.......

Jim Durbin said:
Maureen. Who is John Galt?

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Permalink Reply by Martin H.Snyder on February 9, 2009 at 12:07am

Can't pretend to be a literary critic and lord knows enough has been written about her and her books. I just find it the height of absurdity to imagine that the notion of civilized life is compatible with her philosophy. We all depend, to some degree or another, on the efforts of others, both alive and passed on, to create our world.

" No man is an island, entire of itself..." - John Donne

I think that includes stud businessmen, straw or otherwise.

Donato Diorio said:

Atlas Shrugged was not a "how to" book on capitalism. It is full of "straw men" that are built up, easy to hate, in order to build a story with passion, to show the concept of an ideal man. This man really cannot live in a society as we have it today. The one concept that I believe and share is that:

"No one should live for the sake of another man, nor ask another man to live for the sake of him. " (I am paraphrasing from memory). In addition, the concept that no one has the right to one iota of another man's life was strong in her 2 major works.

Everything in the book was meant to drill this point in. People who only read the book, but never read the non-fiction work by Ayn Rand, are simply lighting fires to the straw men that she built...on both sides of the debate.

Maybe Greenspan got mesmerized by the amazing writing and forgot that the core message of the book was a personal one, not societal.

What would happen if a society was formed on a remove island, and the only book they had was Atlas Shrugged? That would make a great Star Trek episode!

Martin H.Snyder said:
John Galt is the protagonist star of a book featuring the ravings of a moral cretin whose influence (esp. in the form of one Alan Greenspan) has led us to exactly where we are today. Just sayin.......

Jim Durbin said:
Maureen. Who is John Galt?