I took a while for me to get this whole “Going Galt” phenomenon that everyone on the right is talking about these days, being as I’m liberal, an altruist, and thus a bit slow on the uptake. Thank goodness for highly productive fellows like Alan Standford, however, I think I’m getting the general idea.
BANGALORE (Reuters) – The U.S. Internal Revenue Service has asked a judge to let it to continue to seek unpaid back taxes from Allen Stanford, the billionaire Texan accused of an $8 billion fraud by U.S. regulators, court documents show.
Stanford and his wife Susan owe the U.S. government $226.6 million in unpaid federal income taxes between 1999 and 2003, the IRS said in a filing with a federal court in Dallas on March 13.
Stanford’s tax debt could inflate even more as he hasn’t filed his income tax return for 2007, the IRS said.
I guess he went Galt years ago and never told anyone about it. Now that’s slick. See, going Galt doesn’t mean you have to fall off the face of the earth (or the “Grid” as I believe folks more sophisticated than I like to say). That would be too easy. No, it means pretending to be a productive member of society even as you stick it to the man (and, okay, a few non-productive losers, too) by really doing the exact opposite. And above all, don’t pay your taxes. Because, after all, you never really earned anything, so why bother? Hell, it’s not like you’re some damned Cadillac driving welfare cheat or government Nanny state bureaucrat, if you cheat folks out of billions of dollars while also depriving the government of hundreds of millions of smackeroos (simoleons?). You’re just doing your part to keep the parasites in our society from sucking off your supersized and enormously productive tit. By not doing any real work yourself while still making money hand over foot by taking ot out fo the hands of gullible idiot investors who likely refuse to do real work to earn their keep, you’re just doing your part to cull the herd, so to speak. Why make a big deal about “Going Galt” and “disappearing” when you can practice Rand’s philosophy in plain sight without anyone the wiser?
At last, a concrete example of Ayn Rand’s philosophy in action even I, a poor dumb altruist who thinks we ought to take care of the less fortunate people in our society without any expectation of a reward (I know, what a maroon I was to think that made any sense) can understand. Thank you Alan Stanford. I just wish I’d understood the point of Atlas Shrugged years ago, like you did. And Dick Cheney, too, of course.
On Tuesday, Cheney, serving in his role as president of the Senate, appeared in the chamber for a photo session. A chance meeting with Sen. Patrick J. Leahy (Vt.), the ranking Democrat on the Judiciary Committee, became an argument about Cheney’s ties to Halliburton Co., an international energy services corporation, and President Bush’s judicial nominees. The exchange ended when Cheney offered some crass advice.
“Fuck yourself,” said the man who is a heartbeat from the presidency.
Now I finally understand the former Vice President’s succinct criticism of that leftist leech, Senator Pat Leahy. Cheney was just making the point that it was Leahy’s own fault of he wasn’t smart enough or ruthless enough to steal an election, and then use that opportunity to use the federal government to feed his own greed (and that of his other very productive friends on Wall Street, in the Defense Industry, and senior executives of global energy corporations like Exxon Mobil, to name but a few). In fact, if I were one of the numerous folks who talk about “Going Galt” all the time (which, let’s face it, is somewhat of an obscure reference to so many of the losers in our society like — well, like me, for example) I’d stop talking about this Galt guy altogether. Just be brave enough to stand up to President Obama and his plan to raise taxes on mutilate and ruin “the hardest workers” and the “most productive individuals in Society.” People like this guy whose productivity is so overwhelming because it doesn’t even produce anything other than —gasp — literally tons of greenhouse gases!. Just stop all this rigamarole and foofarah about the philosophical ramblings of a repressed and depressed dead white female writer whose best known for her turgid prose and the cult-like devotion of her followers, and simply say to him what the most powerful Vice President in our history, “Big Time” Dick, told that fop Leahy when questioned about his mighty efforts to put Rand’s philosophy to work for him. To repeat, just say to whomever you believe is trying to slightly increase your taxes destroy of your lifestyle of success the following:
Fuck You!
Let’s face it, uttering that one short phrase will be a lot easier than trying to explain the “virtue of selfishness” or that “Greed is Good” to some dumb slob who just lost his or her job, home and/or health care benefits thanks in large part to the highly productive efforts of hardworking geniuses like these guys. And knowing all you old (and some new) Rand fans as I do, I’m sure it will make you feel much better, too.
I don’t think it’s linked in this diary, but The Democratic Strategist recently wrote about the “going Galt” phenomenon as well.
http://www.thedemocraticstrategist.org/strategist/2009/03/rand_and_conservatives_a_remin.php
Anyone who is wealthy and has the courage to “Going Galt” can always renounce their U.S. Citizenship and go live somewhere else. “Going Galt” just renounce and go live in some other country, if you like.
AIG bonuses make me mad, if the UAW is redoing its Contract how come AIG executives aren’t doing the same.
As I said over the weekend…
And nobody does self-delusion quite like the GOP.
l actually had to do a little research to get it.
imo, all the randians seem to have missed the inherent irony here, as they’re really more akin to Henry Galt, the main character in Garet Garrett’s 1922 novel The Driver…blinded by the intense wealth and power he leads as a result, the general population and government turn against him, ultimately destroying him… whom many claim was rand’s inspiration for john. (wiki ref)
not that the RATpublicans, need any help; since they’re self-distructing at a rapidly accelerating pace. california RATs are now issuing “fatwas” to punish state Republican legislators deemed too moderate on tax issues….how medieval of them, eh…seems the left coast is always a bit ahead of the curve, but it eventually spreads.
popcorn time
Let them go. Please, please, don’t show up tomorrow or the next day, or the next.
Show your spine, oh Capital! We’ve been waiting for you to go. Adieu. Adios, etc. Enjoy eating your money and pooping it out your precious, precious assholes.
Please? For those of us who are left, who are willing contribute during hard times and understand duty, have the capacity to give something a higher priority than our own rectums and can see that we have to work together to fix big problems and learn within our means; the meek: we’ll gladly inherit the Earth.
http://ecopreneurist.com/2008/05/14/venture-capital-meets-slow-money-at-investors-circle-conference/