[whodathunkit]

Your post is very insightful mick.
Some of these questions will be addressed in later chapters, I'm sure. That is Rands writing style, pose the problem in several different settings then propose the solution with a long dialogue that tries to address all aspects of the problem and solution.

I have always found troubling in AR solution to world wide collectivism. Going Galt by destroying the productive capacity is like killing the host to rid it of the parasite.

As Rand says, "you need to check your premises". In one of my posts above I mentioned that in order for the looters to loot, the pie must exist and it must be accessible. Take away either or both of these conditions and the looters will cease to exist.
Is wealth only able to exist in a halflife? Why are you assuming that the destruction of the factory means that wealth cannot be created? The factory does not by itself produce wealth, the minds of men who design , build and operate the factory do.

Growing up I remember hearing people say that everyone can't be rich, that simply isn't the way that the world works. If I ask them now if they would have thought that everyone would have a color tv in their house and a car (or several) in the driveway, they appear stunned realizing that according to their previous assumptions, today everyone is rich. I mention this because it is our perception which can change with time and circumstances and can alter how we view wealth.

[mick]

Why are you assuming that the destruction of the factory means that wealth cannot be created? The factory does not by itself produce wealth, the minds of men who design , build and operate the factory do.

Quite true, thunkit. But keeping with our definition of wealth, which I assume you agree with, I must disagree with you as a practical matter. Wealth in an advanced industrial society depends on past creations of wealth. The car depends on the machine tools. The machine tools depend on the dies and fixtures. The dies and fixtures depend on the blue prints.

One of my first lessons as a machinist apprentice was to learn that the LATHE is the only machine tool that can replace itself. And this machine we call a Lathe was invented first before evrything else. In one degree or another every machine tool is based on a lathe. This is not theoretical. It is a concrete reality. You start burning down factories, breaking up tools and shelling steel plants into oblivion and you may reach a tipping point that will make creation of a Motor Car, for example, almost impossible. At least in a time frame that matters to people. The physical destruction of wealth at some point will return our civilization to a pre-industrial status.

Sure, everything ultimately depends on the Mind of Man. But is was a long slow slog up from the mud flats and wooden hammers.