‘I’m just quitting’: A scene right out of ‘Atlas Shrugged’ in Birmingham

David McElroy ^ | July 20th, 2011 | David McElroy

[FreedomPoster]

If it had been a scene in “Atlas Shrugged,” the guy would have disappeared into the secrecy of Colorado with a shadowy figure who we would later learn to be John Galt. In real life, the story will probably be more complex. But I wonder how long it’s going to be before businesspeople really do start walking away and deciding it’s not worth doing business in America today. Or it it already happening and we just don’t know it?

The man you see in the picture at the right is named Ronnie Bryant. He operates coal mines in Alabama. I’d never heard of him until this morning, but after what I saw and heard from him, I’d say he’s a bit like a southern version of Ellis Wyatt from Ayn Rand’s novel. What I saw made an impression on me.

[FreedomPoster]

Stossel, Beck, someone needs to go chase this guy down and do an interview and get this some exposure. There are a lot of Ronnie Bryants out there right now.

[tomkat]

re your link [http://www.davidmcelroy.org/?p=1586]: "Error establishing a database connection"

(using FF5)

[Paladin2]

He’s obviously a racist for trying to shaft the economy and Husein.

[FreedomPoster]

Ping; worth the read for sure.

justsaynomore - Herman ought to consider visiting with this guy.

[tomkat]

damn, never fails .. works ok now .. lol

[FreedomPoster]

Dang, I think this is going viral and may have crashed his server.

Here is the cached page at Google

[FreedomPoster]

Don’t feel bad, it wouldn’t load for me for a minute, either.

[Paladin2]

The internets/pipes DO make one logically insane.

Repeating a click can result in totally different results. There are millions of reasons why. Pavlov was right.

[camerongood210]

It's all a part of the plan.

[tomkat]

woof !

[MrB]

Another documentary of the Agenda:
http://agendadocumentary.com

[Baynative]

"My name’s Ronnie Bryant, and I’m a mine operator. I’ve been issued a [state] permit in the recent past for [waste water] discharge, and after standing in this room today listening to the comments being made by the people…. [pause] Nearly every day without fail — I have a different perspective — men stream to these [mining] operations looking for work in Walker County. They can’t pay their mortgage. They can’t pay their car note. They can’t feed their families. They don’t have health insurance. And as I stand here today, I just … you know … what’s the use? I got a permit to open up an underground coal mine that would employ probably 125 people. They’d be paid wages from $50,000 to $150,000 a year. We would consume probably $50 million to $60 million in consumables a year, putting more men to work. And my only idea today is to go home. What’s the use? I don’t know. I mean, I see these guys — I see them with tears in their eyes — looking for work. And if there’s so much opposition to these guys making a living, I feel like there’s no need in me putting out the effort to provide work for them. So as I stood against the wall here today, basically what I’ve decided is not to open the mine. I’m just quitting. Thank you."

[sam_paine]

My name’s Ronnie Bryant, and I’m a mine operator. I’ve been issued a [state] permit in the recent past for [waste water] discharge, and after standing in this room today listening to the comments being made by the people…. [pause] Nearly every day without fail — I have a different perspective — men stream to these [mining] operations looking for work in Walker County. They can’t pay their mortgage. They can’t pay their car note. They can’t feed their families. They don’t have health insurance. And as I stand here today, I just … you know … what’s the use? I got a permit to open up an underground coal mine that would employ probably 125 people. They’d be paid wages from $50,000 to $150,000 a year. We would consume probably $50 million to $60 million in consumables a year, putting more men to work. And my only idea today is to go home. What’s the use? I don’t know. I mean, I see these guys — I see them with tears in their eyes — looking for work. And if there’s so much opposition to these guys making a living, I feel like there’s no need in me putting out the effort to provide work for them. So as I stood against the wall here today, basically what I’ve decided is not to open the mine. I’m just quitting. Thank you.

[ConservaTexan]

Who is John Galt Ronnie Bryant?

[tomkat]

An excellent piece of reporting, worth persevering to get to it .. ‘Comments’ section is very telling as well.

[sam_paine]

Again! Doublecross! =)

[mmanager]

Problem is that probably a lot of the people at the meeting don’t even live in the area. Coal production is growing in the U.S. as the export markets are the future. Our utilities will be going up 30-50% while developing countries will enjoy cheap power.

Been in this business for 34 years and the small operator is being squeezed out by regulations. If they can’t pass on these regulatory costs to the utility they have to eat them which equals costs that cannot compete.

[Baynative]

#12

[yldstrk]

And the administration wonders why

[warsaw44]

ping