Uncle Rich

Objectivist philosophy is a great help in identifying rational and irrational behaviour and in making independent decisions. But is there any advice about dealing with irrational people in power? Suppose you are in the following situation: Your boss is ruining the company. The company owner (or a "higher" boss) will not listen to you. He might even support your boss, maybe for political reasons or whatever. You already decided to quit as soon as possible, say, in 6 months. You would enjoy quitting today, but the bills have to be paid. The question is: Which job attitude would be moral during these next 6 months? Fight for your company, try to produce as much as possible? You will be fired. You are not Dagny Taggart, it's not Taggart Transcontinental and you just cannot afford getting fired. Help your boss ruining the company faster? That will get you a good letter of reference! Or just keep up a "nice guy" image while doing as little as possible for the company, but more for you? That can be a productive time for you, at least, but it feels a little bit like stealing the time your boss is paying for. But he is wasting it anyway, so is there any issue?

In my country household deficits and national debt still keep rising and rising. Politicians talk about "reforms" every day but nobody with brains would believe their nonsense. The terrorist attacks of September 11 caused a greater acceptance of police state methods even in Germany. Bank account and e-mail sniffing and interrogations of your neighbors are examples. Germans don't have a problem with terrorism, but the media tells us so. Welfare benefits also have been reduced after September 11. But not bureaucracy, public "insurance" costs and tax. When you demand liberalization, "reformers" just cut down your benefits and buy a bigger gun. The ideal government victim is the employee, the even more ideal victim is the mortgage-paying employee, because he can be taxed to death and often will work himself to death just to keep up the illusion of owning an own house which belongs to the bank which belongs to or has their boys in the government. Governments do not really want you to be self-employed or unemployed. So these both styles of living are subject to increasing control, risk and pressure. Making believable that you are in need of benefits has become harder in Germany and also in Great Britain to reduce freeloading. But at the cost of more bureaucrats that now sniff in bank accounts and ask neighbours about your personal situation. At the same time more bureaucratic laws are introduced to control private life and the business sector as a sacrifice for the "fight against terrorism" - where there is no terrorism in Germany. In reality those laws only help tax-collectors and benefit-recollectors. So at the moment the welfare state is in a situation where it realizes that mooching-by-distributing becomes harder. Instead of giving up and leaving people on their own they resort to guns. Because they "feel" that they "have to" make people good if they don't sacrifice theirself for their "humanitarian" system voluntarily. That's the philosophy of the "welfare" system. Please tell me where Galt's Gulch is or where we can build it. Kindest regards, Uncle Rich

I agree with this and let me tell you why. Thinking about "what would happen if everybody else did this" is a typical Kantian attitude. Why should you sacrifice yourself just to keep an immoral born-dead system artificially alive? I am living in Germany. My country is far more socialised than the US. The worst thing to do here is to accept a job with a low wage as an employee. Because if you do, a very high percentage of your working time would be stolen from you by government "insurances". For public healthcare you pay ~13% +/- 2% of your salary depending on which public health fund you choose. However all of them have to provide exactly the same healthcare benefits and differ only in efficiency. Old-age pension insurance is 19,5% of your salary. The money is first mooched by the bureaucracy of the "old-age pension insurance", then the rest of it is paid to today's pensioners. You don't know what you might get out of it in the future. Unemployment insurance takes another 6,5%. Same re-distribution system as the old-age pension "insurance". Now they have taken away from you 39% already. Suppose you don't pay individual tax because you only earn the untaxable minimum of ~8000 EUR / year. Then you pay 19% "value added tax" for nearly everything you buy. As housing rents are not subject to VAT yet I assume that you pay half of your 8000 EUR for consumption, so I assume you pay 9,5% of those 61% for "value added tax", so they have taken from you ~45% of your earnings. So as an employee you usually work for the system half of your time if you earn that less money that you do not have to pay tax. If you have a very high income (48500 EUR+ / year) you can avoid some of the "insurance" at the price of an increased tax. If you are self-employed the situation is different. You can get private healthcare for ~ 60 EUR / month (if you are young and healthy) and that's it. Healthcare is only an obligation for employees. Additionally you will need ~ 100 EUR / month for tax and legal advice as German laws are very, very complicated. You might cash in many government subsidies if your business is in the right sector. The downside of being self-employed is that if you violate complicated tax laws or one of all those "fair competition" laws you can often only hope for mercy. Also many people are artificially prevented from getting self-employed because you need an allowance for many kinds of business that is usually not granted, e.g. as a craftsman. As a receiver of welfare social workers help you to fill out the forms, in fact you only have to appear to be "believable in need". They pay ~350 EUR / month + housing costs. You receive free healthcare and free legal advice. You don't need tax advice. Additionally the government even pays your court cases against the government. The case might take years while you are still in the need of benefits. Sometimes receivers of welfare are "unofficially" self-employed (e.g. as craftsmen) and enjoy the freedom not to have to explain how they make their living to tax authorities. As bank accounts are controlled more and taking money would be illegal because of their welfare status, they will resort to barter: I repair your car while you paint my living room. I invite you to a skiing holiday in my government-paid flat in the alps in the winter while I visit you in yours at the coast in the summer. I might exchange self-grown potatoes against healthcare, etc. So if you want to be "self-employed" without all the government hassle it often seems very practical to "officially" become welfare-receiver. Everybody is happy, no questions, no envy. Depending on your situtation it may be illegal but there are lawyers who will figure out your situation and give you the right suggestions. You might enjoy to write a novel or a computer program. Or become a part-time-farmer just for growing your own healthy food. Or even a doctor taking care for "illegal" immigrants in exchange for free lunch at the restaurant belonging to their only "legal" family member. Use the system where possible, because it is already there. I just would be unhappy if you would become a dull bum drinking alcohol, smoking marihuana or taking other drugs and watching TV all day. Welfare often supports this behaviour, but it is also possible to create something good (for you) if you live on welfare. Kindest regards, Uncle Rich

@Mimpy: You are right, there is much more about Germany than Kant and the Holocaust! Germans still enjoy great economic wealth because they are able to produce it and work hard for it. Most common people are still freedom-loving and can only shake their heads about the European bureaucracy while still trying to pursue for happiness wherever possible. A big problem is that people feel that they are not allowed to be proud of their achievements. Many Germans do not have a good self-esteem. I think that one of the causes of a bad German self-esteem might be the belief in the unforgivable guilt of the holocaust. Suppose you had to learn at school that you are collectively unforgivably guilty because of history. Many people accept that accusation, but deep inside their subconsciousness they still know that they are not guilty for what their great-grandparents did. I am anxious about this to result in a subconscious hatred that might break out some time. About Kant: in secondary school you have to study Kant, if you like it or not. You cannot really avoid it. You either have to take courses in protestant or catholic religion or philosophy, and both courses include studies of Kant. Kant is not doubted, but presented as the greatest philosopher. "Existence exists" is dismissed as "pre-critic". It is taught that science can only explain how things are, but cannot tell us how life might be or ought to be. Only the "categorical imperative" can tell us how life ought to be. If you question that, even your parents and everybody else will either tell you to not take it seriously or they might tell you that you did not understand. There are no objectivists who can save children at school. If you think, your only option is wondering about what's wrong with you until you discover that you exist. And the chance to discover your own existence in a philosophically profound way is not so large in Germany. All students in my "protestant religion" class had to learn Kants "categorical imperative" by rote and recite it to the teacher. When I ask students at my university today (they come from all over the country) whether they still remember the "categorical imperative" from school, many of them are still able to recite it at once. They are out of school for some years already. I don't need to tell you that university students often become important leaders in society, especially in the public sector and in politics. That is the dark part of Germany, but Germany is a small country somewhere in Europe. Now I am just anxious about what this mixture of Kant, guilt for the holocaust and other religious or mystic philosophies (e.g. Nietzsche) might do to the world when such ideas become the official doctrine of the European Union. Kindest regards, Uncle Rich

Hello, I'm new to this forum and I really enjoy it! Just by searching I can find so many answers to life's unanswered questions. I'm a student from Germany. I discovered objectivism three months ago. I read "Atlas Shrugged", now I enjoy the "Fountainhead" even more. Also I read "Objectivism: the philosophy of Ayn Rand" and "Philosophy: Who needs it" at the moment. Yeah, we need it. Badly! In my country Kant is supposed to be the greatest philosopher. Surprise, surprise, he's from Germany. The town where he lived now is in Poland, but it was German at his time and Kant was German, not polish. Another explanation for the admiration of Kant might be that even young Germans still feel guilty for the holocaust. Children are taught at school that they are guilty for the holocaust. Well, not personally at all, but collectively guilty as a German. The holocaust is also often referred to as "the German's unforgivable crime against humanity". German laws forbid to doubt or play down the holocaust. You can go to jail for five years for the crime of "sedition" if you doubt or play down the holocaust. Just to make it clear: I don't doubt the holocaust. It is a historical fact and I think it was the worst illness that mankind has ever seen. But even I still have to be careful. They might prosecute me for "sedition" if I told people ob objectivism and including that I might have to tell people that they are not guilty for the holocaust. Many things might be considered "play down of the holocaust" by over-dutiful judges... So if Germans read this, feel offended or might want to call the police: I just want to discuss whether the feeling of guilt for the holocaust might be one of the reasons why Germans feel so at home with Kant. Objectivism is nearly completely unknown in Germany. I don't even know a single person that has ever heard of objectivism. "Atlas Shrugged" has Amazon.com rank #3.809. The original version on Amazon.de ranks at position #31.911. The German translation at #254.995. Now just imagine what Kant as the greatest philosopher and the unforgivable guilt for the holocaust do to the Germans. Germany was unable to conquer Europe during World War II, but now it is considered the main driving force of the European Union. Is the Kantian philosophy a ticking bomb in any German head, from childhood on? I think: "Objectivism: Germans need it most!" What do you think? Kindest regards, Uncle Rich