Walking Away

Here comes Johnny and he'll tell you a story
Hand me down my walkin' shoes
Here comes Johnny with the power and the glory
Backbeat the talkin' blues
--Dire Straits

In Ayn Rand's classic Atlas Shrugged, protagonist John Galt and producers like him decide to leave the system rather than continuing to operate in oppressive authoritarian environments full of regulations and other restrictions.

As authoritarianism continues to escalate under current political regimes, workers in many industries (e.g., here, here, here) are emulating Galt. They are walking away from workplaces governed by rules, mandates, and ultimatums that they find distasteful.

What happens to an economy if enough workers hit the Galtean silk? Rand crafts a fictional scenario. 

Bluff in a game of chicken? Temporary or permanent? We may soon find out, as a real life, large scale version of the Galtean walk is playing out before our very eyes.