jpellone, plz see my response to DeanStriker above. You are exactly right! I witnessed a microcosm of this scenario during and following a specific national emergency to which I responded.

WOW! You are reading my mind! I am currently deliberating a response to JPELLONE regarding the outcome of a hypothetical distribution of $300k. I have a first hand professional observation/experience that makes his/her point perfectly. However, even though I have not taken an oath nor does my information identify any parties involved, that the specific instance was on a national level, I FEAR pursuing the thread as my moniker here is not anonymous enough. If a 'power that be' were interested enough, they could place me at that event, not to mention IP addresses and all that. So am I paranoid? Or aware and realistic?

LOL, I just went there to check, and alas, none!

"We will not comply" - you are one of the 2%, as am I. The fear, though, is always in our minds. Doubt that can ever be overcome!

Being a top-level resister, I see that fear everywhere. The fear is that just one small misstep can bring on a ton of troubles from our Rulers. Why else would we see 98% voting either of the two big-party candidates offering up only more socialistic Force?

It surely keeps the slaves in line!

If I ever get to 100 comments here I suppose I'll be able to give you that Thumbs Up!

Here's a real day of school education we'll never see. Pack a bunch of kids on a plane. Fly them into a remote city where they have no contacts. Bus them into the busiest parts of the business district. Give them each $100 for petty expenses, and tell them to walk at least a mile, study the activity, spot at least half a dozen opportunities, choose one, then invest that $100 and multiply it as much as they can by the end of the day.

One kid might see a parked SUV with a 'for sale' sign, and spend the $100 on cabs, cheap cellphone and internet cafe time to find a buyer, and end the day with $2000.

Another kid might find a promising busker, buy him coffee and a meal, and have him signed up to a record publisher and come away with a spotter's fee of $3500.

Another kid could see a scrap metal truck, and get inspired to build a website to create an efficient way to categorise each type of scrap, and efficiently reach buyers willing to pay 3 times as much as the smelters, and sell the site for $40k.

But don't even talk about doing stuff like this. We don't want kids to develop independent enterprising capability now, do we? :P

Your perspective warrants a good deal of discussion which I am willing to pursue. However, I use the word ‘perspective’ because there seems to be a good deal of confusion of what Net Neutrality entails, including by me. While I ‘check my notes’ to reinforce my position, I can make one concise statement… amid the confusion I DO NOT TRUST THE CURRENT ADMINISTRATION TO SPEARHEAD THIS LEGISLATION. I will probably not have much confidence in another administration to legislate the internet either. But I KNOW I do not trust this one.

Let's suppose that the government DID take all Americans money and gave each family $300,000.00, it would only take a short period of time before the same people were poor again. The ones that became wealthy, would soon be wealthy again.

I'm sure that some of the poor would become wealthy because they may have the drive but not the opportunity but I also think that it would be a very low percentage.

I'm intrigued that you would see Net Neutrality as such a threat. To me, it is a basic principle for promoting business competition.
When you dial a phone number, you expect equal quality of service irrespective of which business you call. When you mail a parcel, you expect it to be handled the same regardless of whether you're sending it to IBM or Microsoft.

Without Net Neutrality, it is possible for one business to pay to slow down the internet traffic of its business rivals, and even block new entrants from coming into the industry, rather than competing on the more honest playing field of product performance, value for money, quality and timeliness of service and overall product enjoyment.

In Atlas Shrugged, if there had been a non-neutral net, then Orren Boyle could have used it to choke Rearden Steel out of the market, by spamming all his potential customers, by hijacking all his search query terms, by making the reardensteel.com website so slow as to be unreachable. Hank Rearden would not have even been able to reach Dagny Taggart to offer his goods.

Another protection Net Neutrality gives is to people who hold unpopular opinions. And that includes us here in the Gulch.

Give up Net Neutrality, and watch the looters come out and play. James Taggart will be partying like never before!

20 plus years working in the health field only to be replaced by two young new grads. 10 years ago I got paid moving expenses, sign on bonuses and six months rent paid, now you can not find a job anywhere. So I started my business from my own Gulch!

A person with a green card is a foreign national who is a permanent resident. He or she can change jobs whenever they wish. A green card is not tied to an employer. It is the foreign employees brought in on a temporary worker visa (not a green card) whose visa is tied to their employer, who must pay to sent them home at the end of their job or if the employer lays them off or fires them. The foreign workers brought in this way will take an entry level tech job for entry level pay ($50,000 to $75,000 per year) whereas the American college graduates need to make more than that in order to pay down their college loans.

We cans compete with Chinese mid level job pay. Why hire an American when the same skill is available from China or other far eastern country

The only way it's possible to enforce most of those discrimination laws would be to adopt the German unemployment system (where every decision not to hire someone is subject to review at a government hearing). I expect most libertarians would say that cure is worse than the disease, but it does work if you want it badly enough.

I almost addressed the FEAR factor in my last reply. We walked a fine line getting our boys through public high school, encouraging their intelligence, creativity and individualism vs the schools tow the line or face suspension/expulsion. [side note: we offered to home school them but they are self-described social animals and opted for public school]
My observation of the past two decades of public education is that parents and children perceive ‘the school’ and the government as ultimate authorities, and concede to their policies, as I said, under threat of suspension/expulsion/this will go in your file for life. Thus the generational fear factor is born and perpetuated, by design… and you can extrapolate that out.
Fortunately for our boys, they had us and a handful of teachers who appreciated and encouraged the afore mentioned intelligence, creativity and individualism.
So, as mentioned in my previous reply, we endeavor to undermine that indoctrination of fear, and to empower youth and adults in our own sphere of influence, which eventually will be cumulative and exponential.

WE WILL NOT COMPLY!!!

There is a lot of truth in this article. Having said that, there really is a problem with a shortage of skilled workers in IT and in the skilled manual trades. In the IT world, I have a son who heads the IT department of a large electric utility. He has a lot of trouble finding entry-level programmers/code writers with engineering and/or accounting knowledge. Those who apply are expecting an entry salary of close to $100,000 per year, whereas the entry jobs pay about $75,000 per year. Those willing to take $75,000 per year may know how to write code, but they have no understanding of engineering or accounting and can't spell very well.

In the skilled manual trades -- stone masons, brick masons, cement masons, framing carpenters, finish carpenters, cabinetmakers, boilermakers, welders, steel riggers, electricians, plumbers, plasterers, glazers, excavators (not ditch diggers), graders capable of providing finish grading to match designed contours, surveyors, auto mechanics, pipefitters, toolmakers, machinists, etc. -- there are few trained in these skills available for the jobs. These jobs require not just manual skill but the geometric and trigonometric ability to do the required calculations to set up the work.

We need trade schools. Those are far and few between. We have kids coming out of high school who can barely read and print (they don't learn to write any more) and who can't spell and calculate. They have sort of an understanding of the theory of math, but can't multiply, add, subtract, and divide in their heads without resort to a calculator -- and don't understand how to do it on paper. We have kids coming out of colleges with BA, BS, MA, and MS degrees with their heads filled with esoteric knowledge that is good to have, but without the practical skills needed for the work environment and with unrealistic job expectations.

I have trouble agreeing with this. I am a software architect. At company after company we have had trouble finding enough suitably skilled software engineers. BTW, this is in the heart of Silicon Valley where one can barely throw a stone without hitting a software engineer or someone that purports to be one.

Interesting that none of us defended the administrations position that the economy is roaring back. Did you get any replies on the article site?

“We need churches of capitalism where people can go on Sunday and get their spirits fired up with encouragement, words of wisdom, stories of success, skills workshops, support for the downtrodden to get back up.”

Where do I sign up! Oh ya, I did. On Galt’s Gulch. It’s a start.
I fully agree that spirit has been [purposefully] crushed, in largest part by government interference with education as well as the economy. UncommonSense touches on mentoring above. My husband and I are endeavoring to empower youth and adults in our own sphere of influence, which eventually will be cumulative and exponential.

Though: “We have every reason to expect a whole new economic renaissance! New technologies such as 3D printing and the growing Internet of Things are a huge tidal wave of prosperity about to break…”

Is under very, very serious threat by Net Neutrality!

Uh, "lack of spirit" or plain old FEAR?+

As would I also move, but to where? This whole planet is "governed"!

I note your paste, and thank you. I posted my comment on the source because of my problems over it, and as there was nothing but the link here, that seemed the proper choice.

Time for a new batch of corporate sponsored universities to get the skilled employees they need. I almost went to General Motors Institute in the mid 70s but they were not particularly looking for Electrical Engineer/Computer Engineer types back then.

Many who get useless degrees can be better employed as tradesmen Today, many college degrees are not more valuable than high school diplomas. Want a good paying job? Become an electrician, a plumber, a mechanic. Why being a tradesman is looked down upon is beyond me. Before the "prestige" associated with a degree, tradesmen were respected for their skills. They still are, but only when you need them after 9 pm. I know several rich tradesmen. One in particular, started as a plumber, opened a plumbing supply store. Became quite rich and his great grandchildren are benefitting from his "career."

Silicon Valley hires only foreign workers that are young. We have a surplus of experienced techs but the software world has incipient age discrimination. Gee, isn't that 'illegal?' Yet, you'll not find our so-called Justice Department taking on that issue.

My solution?
ENTREPRENEURIAL EVANGELISM on a mass scale.

We need churches of capitalism where people can go on Sunday and get their spirits fired up with encouragement, words of wisdom, stories of success, skills workshops, support for the downtrodden to get back up.

I see the problem in America and Europe as a lack of spirit. People have allowed their confidence to be crushed. Most McJob slaves could triplet their hourly revenue by starting up their own business, but for most, the McJob's demands leave them dazed and exhausted at the end of each week. They all feel alone, isolated, unsupported. But each has within them more than enough intelligence, power and creativity to succeed. If they had the right support, and enough regular examples of people rising from the same ranks into success, many would rise up themselves, and transform the economy.

We have every reason to expect a whole new economic renaissance! New technologies such as 3D printing and the growing Internet of Things are a huge tidal wave of prosperity about to break. Surf's up folks. Grab your boards and paddle out!!