Did you get your entire understanding of economics from an Ayn Rand novel?
That's what it was reminding me of. (The USSR comparison should have given it away, but I can be slow that way.) Complete with the farmers going all "John Galt". Of course, what Rand forgot was that there's not going to be pitchforks at the granary. Like, what, folks are just going to let that land lie fallow? Like there isn't going to be some other steel company glad to have the competition out of the way? (re: Atlas Shrugged) Some folks like to fantasize that the world will miss them when they take their ball and go home. Some will later discover that the world is cruelly indifferent to them.
You have to realize that there is decent amount of people who lived through the collapse of USSR on HN, so just because someone mentions USSR in the context that is upsetting to someone with left leanings does not mean that it's without merit.
Yeah, USSR references betray one's age more than anything. When socialism comes up today, left-leaning people reference the Nordics, and right-leaning people reference Venezuela.
That's what it was reminding me of. (The USSR comparison should have given it away, but I can be slow that way.) Complete with the farmers going all "John Galt". Of course, what Rand forgot was that there's not going to be pitchforks at the granary. Like, what, folks are just going to let that land lie fallow? Like there isn't going to be some other steel company glad to have the competition out of the way? (re: Atlas Shrugged) Some folks like to fantasize that the world will miss them when they take their ball and go home. Some will later discover that the world is cruelly indifferent to them.