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Western Pennsylvania has more MRI machines than all of Canada. So how many MRI machines and technicians are "needed" once Medicare/Medicaid collapses under its own weight?

As much of the money is drained out of the lucrative FIRE economy (finance, insurance and real estate), then the "need" for lawyers will greatly diminish. Once the State is undeniably insolvent, then the number of paid positions for attorneys will drop.

If the State's mismanagement results in the destruction of the dollar's purchasing power--a distinct possibility--then the entire notion of "paid work" becomes meaningless.

Thus the "guarantees" which we currently expect may vanish: that a professional degree will "guarantee" high earnings and wealth, that "paid work" will result in purchasing power, and so on.

We can distill the following work/skill points from the "application of principles":

1. Entitlements are doomed, so focus on enterprise.

2. You can invest capital or labor (time) or both, but you must invest something if you want a return. Enterprise requires putting capital/labor at risk for potential return. This is called "putting capital to work."

3. There are no guarantees in life, only opportunities.

4. To get something, first you have to give something. This is reciprocity.

5. Gaining control of all four types of capital (natural, built, social and internal) diversifies your income/value streams and lowers risk.

6. The key skills are: the ability to learn ("learning how to learn") and the ability to foster reciprocity/social capital--the ability to work productively with others.

7. Own/control your own means of production: your own tools, knowledge and networks of reciprocity/exchange.

8. The market for skills will fluctuate just like the market for anything else. The "answer" to "what's the most valuable skill?" will change. Flexibility and "owning" multiple skills are key assets.

9. The FEW resources (food, energy, water) will always be in demand, though they can be in oversupply in specific times and places.

10. Feedback is your friend. If there's no local market for your skill or product, then either move to a new market or adapt by learning new skills/making other products.

11. The mundane task of human life will always need to be done: childcare, caring for the elderly, "eyes on the street" security, cleaning up/disposing of rubbish, etc. Trade "up" by performing these tasks and bartering/trading for tools or higher-level skills.

12. Scarce skills and tool/skill combinations (welding kit and knowing how to weld, biotechnical lab skills, etc.) will always be in demand, though they can be in oversupply in specific times and places.

13. Use ESSA, AADD and OODA to assess your skills, assets, interests and the market/need for your capital/labor, and then act in your own behalf.

14. Plan your actions and complete your plans. If the plan doesn't work, adjust, adapt, modify. If you reach a dead-end, move to a new enterprise. Seek advice and mentors to help make your assessments and plans. Do more of what's working and less of what's not working.

15. Unpaid work can yield enormous benefits: new skills, new networks/social capital, better health, new purpose/meaning.

16. The new model is hybrid work: a flexible, adaptive mix of paid and unpaid work, menial labor, mentoring, "fun" work (playing music, habitat restoration, fishing, putting on plays, etc.), learning, teaching, trading/reciprocating, contributing, finding new purpose and meaning in a variety of skills and work.

17. Working productively with others is a skill. Being able to organize work to the benefit of all involved (management, leadership) is a high-level skill even in democratized, self-organizing groups. Somebody still needs to organize the clean-up, etc.

18. Focus on creating value (some activity, service or good which can be exchanged for other services/good you need/want) and creating surplus capital (saving money, trading labor for tools, etc.) which can be "invested" in new enterprises.

19. Personal integrity is an asset no one can ever