Stop looking for economic reasons.

They aren't there.

Work, savings, investment; uphill human effort in a Universe filled with cold gradients. Where is the incentive to run uphill? The universe provides the incentive, with its harsh rules.

So, what happens when the tribe shows up and tries to finesse the rules, via force? Well, a handful of tribal leaders argue that if they show up at the point of a gun and take $1 from someone who worked, saved, and invested-- either, by taxing them today, or by committing to tax them in the future by using their credit-- and then take that same $1 and simply give it to a connected political crony, that somehow 'stimulates' something that they refer to as 'The Economy.'

Lather, rinse, repeat. $1 becomes $1T.

And for some reason -- largely Schadenfreude -- most of the tribe believes it.

There is no economic reason in taking a dollar from point A and simply displacing it to point B in the economies, at the point of a gun. It is simply an attempt to shed risk from some onto others, in such a manner that those who are able to manage risk have no incentive to continue to do so, and at the same time, those who have no ability to manage risk have no incentive to modify their behavior.

It is pure tribal insanity, and we are knee deep in its throes.

America can take all the time necessary to finally figure this out, it isn't going to alter the end result.

Capitalism Version 2012 and the endgame in Atlas Shrugged

She's been dead for 30 years, there is no Atlantis, there is no John Galt. But, there is the ending of Atlas Shrugged, and the 'state capitalism/capitalism with a Chinese flavor' of Thomas Friedman's article, "Capitalism Version 2012." seemed to come right out of those pages.

After Galt's 'long speech,' there is a panic by the political power elites. Dagny tells them to 'give up.' But they are still struggling to scheme to hang on to their gig.

Quote:

"Oh, you theoretical intellectuals!" said Mr. Thompson with exasperation. "What are you all gaping at? It's simple. Whoever he is, he's a man of action. Besides, he's got a pressure group: he's cornered all the men of brains. He knows what to do. We'll find him and he'll tell us. He'll tell us what to do. He'll make things work. He'll pull us out of the hole."

"Us, Mr. Thompson?"

"Sure. Never mind your theories. We'll make a deal with him."

"With him?"

"Sure. Oh, we'll have to compromise, we'll have to make a few concessions to big business, and the welfare boys won't like it, but what the hell!!--do you know any other way out?"

"But his ideas---"

"Who cares about ideas?"

"Mr. Thompson," said Mouch, choking, "I...I'm afraid he's man who's not open to a deal."

"There's no such thing," said Mr. Thomspon.

They, too, have concluded that 'capitalism' is the way to go, but it must be a 'state capitalism', in service to the state. (Aka, how we are supposed to fund paternalistic megalomania in this once free nation and a handful of pet Soc. grad school theories. Not going to ever happen in a nation whose kids are devouring "The Hunger Games..." while lefties are waving off their parents from Ayn Rand, as if this was 1969...)

Then there follow some public broadcasts where these masters of the political universe make all kinds of unilateral appeals/assertions about what John Galt is going to do/must do, etc., none of which is true in the least; he and his are just waiting for these folks to just fail in plain sight, as they must.

Then Dagny suggests they 'Start lifting taxes and removing controls' and they of course protest that they can do no such thing. Well, OK. Take all the time it takes to figure this one out…

They eventually find Galt, and have a discussion about what to do, and it is clear they can't do even the simplest thing that he suggests; his purpose in suggesting these things is to identify to them that he understands they can do none of what he believes needs to be done. They then accuse him of concerning himself with 'politics' because these emperor wannabees only want him to address the 'economics.'

They want to maintain power and their own irrational politics, and they want him and his to somehow make all that slop work for them.

We’re not here…yet, but the irrationality of what they want eventually leads to the spectacle of them literally torturing him with the demand that he become the economic dictator of the nation, charged with making their nonsense work for them.

Quote:

"Get this straight," said Dr. Ferris, addressing him for the first time. "We want you to take full power over the economy of the country. We want you to become a dictator. We want you to rule. Understand? We want you to give orders and to figure out the right orders to give. What we want, we mean to get. Speeches, logic, arguments or passive obedience won't save you now. We want ideas-- or else. We won't let you out of here until you tell us the exact measures you'll take to save our system.. Then we'll have you tell it to the country over the radio."

Then, in Rand’s romantic novel, they torture Galt with some screwy abomination of a device, it fails, they can't fix it, and Galt tells them how to fix it, and then ... laughs at them, because he knows they are finished. And finally, they know it.

That was some wishful thinking; those tracks on the table top of history are the fingernail marks from some folks clinging to the gig until their fingers bleed…

So...the politicians wanted to 'hand the decisions over to John Galt to run the country' ... sort of. But not really. They wanted to keep their political power and irrational whims, but force him and his to somehow make all their irrational slop work for them.

Exactly like modern politics. ("Capitalism won!") Only there is no singular ‘John Galt’ to conveniently put on a rack and no singular ‘Atlantis’ in what was at most a romantic wave off from half a century ago.

There are just millions of Americans hiding in plain sight while all this tribal elite slop fails on its own, as it only can and must and will and clearly is, in plain sight.