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Ask HN: What motivates you to keep working despite government bailouts/theft

4 points by dare2d4l ↗ HN
US is 65 trillion dollars in debt (and I am not a baby boomer who mortgaged our great country away), and just spent 3 trillions. The older generations are gonna want us to work extra hard to pay off their debt, or the government is gonna inflate our money away. Why should I work so hard, slaving day and night on my project, when they're just gonna steal the end values?

That's what I want to know. What motivates you guys to keep working? Because I'm on the verge of giving up (I've got 15 years of living expenses saved up, so I can either spend it on the startup, or just live a quiet life)

I feel like John Galt and just want to say 'I will stop the motor of the world', and walk away. What keeps you guys going?

3 comments

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wehriam
John Galt is a fictional character. He lives in an oversimplified world where the virtue of selfishness outweighs the rest of humanity's concerns.

You (and anyone you know who you might move to Colorado or whatever) don't have the capacity to stop the motor of the world. And if you live in the United States today, you are among the least tethered, in economic terms, of any person who has ever lived.

The sad reality is that we're all in this together. It's part of the social contract. Government pays for roads and public schools and national defense. If you've never taken advantage of these services and civilization has been built on your back, clearly you've been wronged. Otherwise, grow up. The world is bigger than you.

I suggest you find something you like to do and learn to contribute. And stop quoting Ayn Rand, it makes you sound like an idiot.

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noonespecial
We each have as much power to stop the motor as we have to fix it. When it comes right down to it, politicians have surprisingly little say in how things turn out.

They can make up dollars till the cows come home to revalue the wealth they think they have, but they can't make any more of it. We can.

Given the choice to go hide in Colorado or actually try to fix this crap, I'm picking the latter. I liked Atlas Shrugged, but it was, in the end, 1500 pages of "I'm taking my ball and going home".