ribit,
re: "and having regular folks just lay down their tools and go home is a more realistic threat than the rich folks quitting."
While "regular folks" are definitely doing that, I question your statement that it is a more realistic threat than rich people quitting. After all, the super-wealthy are laying down their tools and going home as well.
Just look at California- where rich people are leaving in droves - and you've got your proof. They aren't ALL taking up business in Texas. Many are just deciding that they've had enough and closing shop.
There's another aspect to "Atlas Shrugging" that you didn't address - which is that the ramifications of rich people quitting are dramatic. In nearly all cases, rich people (the term is used loosely to include successful small business owners even though I recognize that "rich" and "successful" are very different things) are the job creators. When they throw in the towel, they cost the country not only the fruits (and taxes) of their own labor, but also of their workforce. In the brave new global economy that's been foisted upon us, jobs lost do NOT just reappear elsewhere in the country. They tend to appear in some other country - where where governments are more accommodating.
So, even though I see your point, I don't agree with you that the more realistic threat is that regular folks decide to shrug. And I think greater damage by far comes from the super wealthy give up. Most "regular folks" ride on their coat-tails, after all.
Congratulations on retiring at 57. I hope I'm similarly able to retire before much longer - though it'll be to my farm... where I'll undoubtedly end up working harder than ever for a whole lot less compensation. (And I'll love every minute of it, btw.)
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