John Galt is a Crybaby and So Are You (Richard Eskow)

[swag]

http://www.ourfuture.org/node/71402

. . .

Galt claimed that he and his fellow "super-geniuses" were "the motor of the world," but today's "producers" aren't the "motor" of anything, much less the world economy. They're its flat tires, its dead weight, the hitchhiker in its passenger seat who grabs the wheel and crashes the car whenever the driver isn't looking.

"This is the mind on strike," said John Galt. It must be. His arguments lack intellectual coherence. Coherence requires critical thinking and a command at the facts, two valuable social functions that are often performed by "parasites of the subsidized classroom."

Brigitte Bardot once said that the most powerful erogenous zone of all is the mind. That's one place where you guys are still virgins. But it's never too late to change that. A lot of people would be happy to provide you with a list of reading materials that can explain how low taxes and under-regulation destroy people and societies. In fact, you can start with today's newspaper.

PS: If you can read this, thank a parasite.

[Warpy]

1. Nobody would miss John Galt. Ever.

The people who run the businesses would continue to do so but without his legalized embezzlement acting as a drain on company resources.

However, if labor sits down and refuses to work, the whole world stops dead in its tracks. The lower the pay scale, the bigger the monkey wrench thrown into the works.

[DCKit]

2. The point is THAT John Galt was a producer, a job creator, an economic engine.

Those who would style themselves after that John Galt today are the ones he was rebelling against - the takers, the users, the leaches who live off what others produce - those who make nothing but money from the effort of others. Toomy and the architects of 'The Fountainhead'.

Seriously, it's a good question to ask the Randians - "What do you produce?"

Mitt (R)-money, Newt and Ricky would have one hell of a time answering that question. Other than yard work, maid service, security and drivers (none if which us regular folk can afford), they create no jobs with any hope of upward mobility.

[Lydia Leftcoast]

3. Here's a thought experiment

One day, some space aliens come along and zap all the banksters into their space ships to experiment on. They are returned the next day, and only their secretaries notice that they've been gone. (They rarely see their families anyway.)

The next day, the space aliens come again and zap all the low-wage workers into their space ships. Chaos ensues. No one cleans the offices or the rich people's houses, there is no daycare, no restaurants or coffee shops can open, few retail establishments can be staffed, there's no one to take care of the patients in the nursing homes.

It would be like what happened on some plantations after the Civil War when slaves got up and left. The white owners and their families were helpless, because they were accustomed to having dozens of slaves to do all the work, including the cooking, cleaning, childcare, and farming.

The John Galts of this world would be equally helpless if all the low-wage workers disappeared.