Karl, thanks for the great site, and for standing by your convictions. Yes, it is time to stop feeding the beast.
I pulled the plug a few years back myself. I was a "big science" guy that landed juicy government contracts, only to have the upper brass push the losers onto my projects (since they had to dump them somewhere). When I complained once about dumping two people into a task that could easily be done *better* by one person, the response I got was "But this way the government pays for two". I knew right then and there that I was going to quit.
While the government has no problems with defrauding the people, I have a conscience, and felt guilty about defrauding the government... shortly thereafter I cashed in all the chips and left the casino. This fraud BS is taking place in both government and business.
Now everyday is a weekend day, and I love it.
And the government that decides to reward nothing gets exactly that in return. Oh the irony!