When did we lose our nuts?

In a squirrels sense.
You see squirrels work hard planning and storing for their survival. They go from tree to tree locating their sustenance, utilizing their natural resources to benefit their survival.
We on the other hand have made it illegal to take nuts from this tree or that tree. When we do find legal nuts, we are taxed on our storage facility, which negates the efforts of 3 full nut finding days. So in our wisdom we decide to manufacture nuts by planting more legal trees. The zoning laws prevent the trees from growing to their full nut producing height, as it may obstruct the view of the spotted owl. So in an effort to survive, the nut tree barons relocate to the yard next door where there are less stringent rules, with more squirrels who will work for fewer nuts. These nuts are then shipped back to us, but since gov't has to get a piece they put a tariff on the nuts from next door which makes trade back and forth uneven. Of course there are a few squirrels that refuse to buy from next door due to pride in their homegrown nuts.

Unfortunately the neighbor's nuts are everywhere at a reasonable price, so we must buy them to survive. Our trees do not produce enough nuts anymore, and the few squirrels working hard to preserve their nuts have to share with the squirrels who haven't worked quite as hard. Not to mention the squirrels that made it across the street without getting run over. They collect nuts from the ground because our squirrels are too proud. These nuts on the ground are still good, just a little over ripe, but are still transported back across the street where there are fewer nut trees for the squirrels there.
After years of trade regulations, and allowing lazy squirrels to purchase trees they didn't work for, the Fox shows up. He HOPES he can CHANGE the effects of years of nut hording. He orders more nuts to be given to the nut distributors, even thou these nuts do not exist. We find that there aren't any more trees to produce nuts in our yard so we manufacture synthetic nuts which we trade to our neighbors knowing they are worth nothing. The Fox views this as good policy hoping the regular hard working squirrels don't recognize what he has done.
Soon we can not survive without nuts from the Fox. We have to stand in lines to receive our ration of nuts, but only get 1/4 of the nut we worked for, while other squirrels receive 1/2 a nut for doing nothing. Meanwhile the fox is collecting squirrels that have worked hard and who are aware of his game. He takes them home to eat, to keep them from opening the eyes of the other squirrels.

So when did we lose our nuts?

We lost our nuts when we quit being self reliant, and started believing the government should be responsible for our well being. We lost our nuts when we let special interest groups slow down industry in an effort to save a planet which is not under attack. We lost our nuts when we tied our own hands in industry while other nations picked up where we left off.
We lost our nuts when we allowed individuals decide what is best for the rest of us without questioning their motives. We lost our nuts when gov't became the #1 employer, so now we pay for their retirement packages that exceed their working wages. We lost our nuts when we allowed them to vote themselves into this prosperity on our dollars.

Let's get the Fox out of our yard, fertilize our trees and put squirrels back to work collecting the nuts that belong to us.