Please remember to fear G-d.

Emperors and empires pass, but One remains.

There's someone who never read Atlas Shrugged.

This is what I have BEEN saying!

They are bailing out children if they are putting $500 into a savings account for them when they are born…

I have reread Atlas Shrugged and it looks like the the current Administration is using the book. They think they can write an new end. Read the book and replace the names with real ones. Replace Mr. Thompson with Pres Obama. I could not stop from bustin a gut the only problem is that we are the punch line.

twinespc, Ann Rand may have been confused. Her confusion must have helped in understanding how these people think. She seems like a prophet, it's no wonder you will have to wait 2 months to get one of 17 copies of Atlas Shrugged for or small town library. The only other book that has as many copies is A Harry Potter book (I also loved the Harry Potter books)

On the 45th anniversary of Ronald Reagan's famous "A Time for Choosing" speech, here's a short version with some spliced-in modern day liberals: http://optoons.blogspot.com/2009/10/1964-ronald-r...

Yes, we are living Atlas Shrugged. Apparently Hannah has taken the role of Dagny Taggart…………

Enjoy waiting 12 months for a root canal and 2 years for an MRI, if you're lucky. And based on your comments I'd bet you're one unlucky inbred swine which is why you need the govt to wipe your sorry ass for you.

Scott,
I'll comment. You are flat wrong.
Large banks took TARP funds, and used them to purchase smaller banks that were solvent with good balance sheets. Once rolled into the larger organizations, what was there? A larger orginization that was further weakened. Evidently you do not savvy that 2+2 must always = 4. Not 7 or 9.

Look what Obama has done; printed and spent in excess of ONE TRILLION DOLLARS. Where was it dispensed? To entities that used UNION workers. It is the trickle down effect that has not trickled down.

Do you understand that business credit is shut off? Small business is dead in its tracks. Meanwhile, Goldman Sachs and JP Morgan continue to pay billions in bonuses to the very people who created this mess. Speaking of creating this mess, look at the root cause: The Community Reinvestment Act, GSE's: Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae, funded by Barney Frank. THAT, is the root cause of Global Financial Collapse. Goldman Sachs bundled that junk paper, sold it overseas, and in the immortal words of the Reverned Jerimiah Wright, "Americas Chickens are coming home to roost………….!"

Without the government guiding the banks into bad loans the banks would have been sound and TARP would not have been approved.
If we had no tarp or bailouts we would have broken up many of the mismanaged banks and the two bankrupt auto companies. Our goverment screwed it up so bad they would rather close down Saturn than sell it.

Scott, All TARP has done is posponed some of the results of the previous Government intervention.

The free market will fix these problems if the Government would quit trying to micromanage the economy.

I read this today by Mark Sanford. http://www.newsweek.com/id/219001 I know he is not popular with many people for cheating on his wife and this article does sound hypocritical, but I know that forgivness is the premise of my Christianity. I didn't realize it was written by him until I read some of the comments, which were scathing. Anyways it spoke of Ayn Rand as I feel about her and how I persieve her through my Christian faith.

A side note, I think Newsweek probably put this in to let their minions feast on him…

"The free market will fix these problems if the Government would quit trying to micromanage the economy. "

Oh yeah. you mean like they did during the Great Depression?

check, point, match.

I agree with Veronique in the feeling of living in out the novel 'Atlas Shrugged' and I must add '1984', with all of the disappearing videos and articles on the internet. Thank you Anita!

The parallel between today's government policies (progressive Democrat or progressive Republican) and the government policies described in Ayn Rand's novel, Atlas Shrugged, are striking and thus very scary. The redistribution of wealth for the sake of the needy, while appealing to the emotion of compassion that most Americans feel, has never worked in history. The story in Atlas Shrugged clearly describes that the emotional argument that the needy are better served by big government fails because 1) government largess is inefficient, 2) redistribution policies increase bureaucratic corruption, and 3) the human vices of lazyness and greed are encouraged. This dynamic requires ever larger quantities of redistribution until, finally, the most productive people in an economy go on strike. Atlas Shrugged, like 1984 and Animal Farm, is a fictional story. However, these stories are thought experiments that examine the logical conclusions of ideas and government ideology when played out on a fictional stage. Attacking the author in no way diminishes the the thought experiment. I'm still looking for a logical argument that shows how central government planning by fallible bureaucrats will not lead to the loss of individual freedom and prosperity.

The economic policies of the Obama administration and many leaders of the democratic party seem to forget an essential point:

Wealth can be created.

Americans harvest natural resources (food, lumber, oil, coal, etc). In other words, we can dig up wealth. Furthermore, we create wealth in more environmentally friendly ways than anyone else on this planet. We also have an excellent higher education system in business and the sciences that creates intellectual wealth. Everyone benefits when these types of wealth are created. Redistribution of wealth discourages the production of wealth by those capable of creating wealth in the first place.

The whole argument for many progressive policies seems to hing on the need to help those who are less fortunate. However, as the story of John Galt and the Century Motor Company illustrates, there is always someone more needy. The argument to help those less fortunate, without qualifiers, is fatally flawed when taken to its logical conclusion. Only with qualification, help individuals to obtain basic necessities (food clothing, shelter) who are unable to help themselves and no further help, can be applied across society without fatal consequences. Individuals helping needy individuals preserves the compassion and empathy that Americans feel without destroying our individual freedoms.

It wasn't government micromanagement that got us out of the Great Depression. It was World War II.

Checkmate.

How odd to state that she has no fans outside the US. Not only is it factually incorrect but the number of fans an individual accumulates says nothing about whether their ideas or statements are correct.

I suspect your intention is to make certain that people are dissuaded from reading her themselves; for their own good, lest her arguments hit their liberty loving mark.

The novel this post references is Atlas Shrugged. It is considered the Second Declaration of Independence.

Here's how she describes her philosophy, Objectivism:

My philosophy, in essence, is the concept of man as a heroic being, with his own happiness as the moral purpose of his life, with productive achievement as his noblest activity, and reason as his only absolute.

Aynrand.com or .org will get you where you need to go.

Rand's works are over rated, badly written, read by and extolled by pseudo intellectual children ( no matter what their physical age may be ), whose suggestions are patently ridiculous and unworkable in real life.

How can you "see", when you have not only blinkers on, but two pounds of gauze, plactic eye covers, and rolls of tape to keep out the sight of reality ?

Would that be the same Great Depression where Herbert "not so laissez faire" intervened into the banking system to exacerbate the problem? Would it also be the same Great Depression where FDR among many other things payed farmers taxpayer subsidies to plow over their crops to prop up the prices? How about all of FDR's taxpayer subsidized "public works" projects, i.e. stimulus projects, that failed to turn around the economy. How about the fact that FDR confiscated people's gold? Please educate yourself. We got out of the Great Depression despite the government, and WW2 for that matter, not because of it.

If you want to see what happens when the market is allowed to function you should read about the forgotten depression of 1920-1921 where Warren Harding ignored his interventionist Sec. of Commerce, Herbert "not so laissez faire" Hoover to be exact, and the depression was ended quickly and everyone could go back to work.

The novel this post references is Atlas Shrugged. It is considered the Second Declaration of Independence.

Here's how she describes her philosophy, Objectivism:

My philosophy, in essence, is the concept of man as a heroic being, with his own happiness as the moral purpose of his life, with productive achievement as his noblest activity, and reason as his only absolute.

Aynrand.com or .org will get you where you need to go.

I agree with you about '1984'. It's hard to believe how surreal it seemed so many years ago in college. Now that it is here, we need someone to break the spell that has blinded people.

The only "blind" person here is you.

Yes, there are many errors in your posted. I heartily suggest that you educate yourself, now, since obviously, whatever schools you attended failed you, or perhaps you didn't pay attention.

You have no idea how anything, let alone banks and the free market is supposed to work and your abject lack of accurate historical knowledge is appalling.

The "lower the qualifications for loans so more low income people can get homes" rul actually started from the Clinton Admin.

Scott,
I challenge you to read this article.
http://www.businessinsider.com/henry-blodget-how-...

It was Geitner, who bailed out Wall Street, not Bush. Geitner was the head of the New York Fed, and in charge of safeguarding his cronies.

false.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Depression#Cau...

so there?
You dare end a diatribe with so there?

Good Lord boy, the last time I heard "so there", I was about four years old, sitting in a sand box and the boy I'd just whipped said : "so there, na-na-na-na-na", as he took his toys and went home.

If "so there" is the best you Liberal Fascist Militants can come up with, I'm a gonna go sit in a bar and play video poker………….

BUSH released the TARP funds. he could have just "let them fail" as you say.

so here you are, arguing that geitner working under bush era regulations made bush release tarp funds, after you argued that obama is to blame.

get a grip, man.

The 0bama administration is attempting to implement their own version of Directive 10-289.

"… (Directive 10-289) will give security (safety) to the people. Security – that is what the people want"
– Eugene Larson, Atlas Shrugged

A false sense of security does not equal liberty.
Time to go Galt.

It does feel like we are living in a Ayn Rand novel.

The pathetic state official Obama and his minions, weaklings and self proclaimed intellectuals that never earned an honest dollar in their entire miserable existance, proclaiming that the motive force of man and all his achievements and all the earned property of his industry, represent nothing more than booty for extortion by the state in the name of social justice……but, justice for who?

By what moral authority does Obama( or Barney Frank, or Nancy Pelosi, et.al.) justify the theft of resources from those who have earned it? What moral claim do have they on my existance?

Wherever Socialism has been tried it has collapsed under its own weight. Initiative dries up, industriousness gives way to apathy , and inovation dies. Name one great advance in the human condition that resulted from 70 years of Marxism in the USSR?

which was expanded upon drastically, rather than undone, under 8 years of Bush(6 of which conservatives controlled congress)

so what does that tell us arizona?

i addressed every concern of yours, point by point explaining why you were wrong headed (all of which had *nothing* to do with this thread). and all you have to come back at me with is a critique of my closing two words.

between that and your gay slur from earlier, this is all very telling.

very telling indeed.

"And American didn't pull out of it until after WW II."

Precisely. America didn't pull out of the Depression until 1946 when the private sector was allowed to grow again.

It's a common misconception that WW2 got us out of the Depression, but if you just think about it for a second it makes no sense. During the war it was true that everyone went back to work, but they mostly went back to work for the government and many wage and price controls went into effect. If this is a recipe for economic growth then the Soviet Union would have been a flourishing paradise.

Also, most people were working to produce tools of war which were mostly destroyed. How anyone can think destruction of capital causes economic growth is beyond me. If it were true then we could just endlessly build battleships and sink them in the middle of the Pacific and we would all be rich. It's a fallacy. It's the same underlying fallacy behind Cash for Clunkers. It's a net destruction of wealth.

Your reading comprehension skills are nonexistent !

Did President Bush take over GM? NOPE ! And that is talked about in the beginning of the very first sentence of this thread;s article. That's just for starters !

You are the one who has a very real problem! Get someone to read and explain the articles and posts here, prior to you ever posting again. All you're doing is making a complete fool of yourself. LOL

Oh yes and go get some help for you BDS problem.

It was Carter who began the push for subprime lo9ans and expanded under Bill Clinton.

Facts………………………………..FACTS……………….learn some !

yours is the best post yet!

"never earned an honest dollar"

you mean: professor of constitutional law? you do like the constitution right? civil rights litigation and neighborhood economic development? you do like civil rights upheld do you not?

"By what moral authority does Obama( or Barney Frank, or Nancy Pelosi, et.al.) justify the theft of resources from those who have earned it?"

it's called a democracy, and strictly follows the constitution.

"Wherever Socialism has been tried it has collapsed under its own weight"

the US military is socialized. as is their health care, the VA. as is your police and fire departments.

good lord you're flippin' nuts!

Maybe now that you're older you'll be better able to grasp her ideas. Like this one:

America’s founding ideal was the principle of individual rights. Nothing more—and nothing less. The rest—everything that America achieved, everything she became, everything “noble and just,” and heroic, and great, and unprecedented in human history—was the logical consequence of fidelity to that one principle. The first consequence was the principle of political freedom, i.e., an individual’s freedom from physical compulsion, coercion or interference by the government. The next was the economic implementation of political freedom: the system of capitalism.

from “A Preview,” The Ayn Rand Letter, I, 24, 5 and the Ayn Rand Lexicon (http://aynrandlexicon.com/)

i'll take that as a tacit admission that you were wrong and bush indeed did release the tarp monies,refusing to just "let them fail"

I'm a whole LOT older, now, than when I first tried to read the unreadable Rand and she's know that she's even worse, than I first suspected, as a teen.

Her crazy views and positions are no more workable than Communism is.

Objectionism is tripe; tripe coached in some high fallutin words, which the gullible fall for.

Scott, scott, scott.
Nothing could be further from the truth. Who passed the TARP Legislation? Nancy Pelosi. Remember back a year ago, to her famous televised vote, where it was voted down, then she had to scramble for a second vote? Nancy Pelosi and HER CON-gress passed the TARP Legislation.

The novel we are living is the one I read ten years ago called A Distant Crossing. The storyline was based on an economic meltdown, and what happens to the rest of us after the "smart guys" in government screw up. Well worth checking out.

That's not an accurate argument.

Oh goody, silly word games, spin, and lies. LOL

Good do some research on the matter, kid; you will then be educated…………maybe.

"never earned an honest dollar in their entire miserable existance"

civil rights attourney and constitutional law professor seem like noble careers to me.

"By what moral authority does Obama( or Barney Frank, or Nancy Pelosi, et.al.) justify the theft of resources from those who have earned it? What moral claim do have they on my existance?"

democracy, as outlined by the Constitution of the United States of America

"Wherever Socialism has been tried it has collapsed"

the US military is socialised, as is their healthcare- the VA. as is your fire and police depts, and your schools. if you live in America, that is.

The idea that rights are inherent isn't limited to Deists. Natural rights exist because on the nature of mankind, no matter how you believe that mankind came to be.

For what its worth, I believe Ayn was wrong on religion. Perhaps it has been a negative force throughout history, but that aside, her logic is based on a flawed premise – that there is no scientific evidence for the existence of a creator. There *is* evidence today that suggests just that. It doesn't prove it, but it is highly suggestive. Stating that there isn't enough proof to believe in God is one thing, flatly denying that a God *could* exist, simply because you don't believe it is faith, which in Ayn's own words, is anti-reason.

Just get out of the way? Sounds like a divider to me, surely you can't be a liberal because they are all-accepting and loving of everyone's differences. Obviously you liberals will never accept anyone who doesn't agree with you…which is pretty much the whole country. And how come liberal policies are so drastic? Can you please answer that? How come you want government to own your life and control everything you do? Why do you want that?

0 is leaning a lot on capitalist tax dollars. Is there a serious movement to go John Galt?

One would be hard-put to find more ad hominem attacks, unsubstantiated assertions, emotionalism, and factual errors than among those who criticize Ayn Rand.

the executive branch must sign a bill in to law. bush had veto power. he did not veto.

i feel like i am talking to a 3rd grader. but here you go:

http://www.votesmart.org/resource_govt101_02.php

I generally don't attempt to change people's minds about her but I gave in to temptation this time. Didn't you love seeing her full blown stamp on this post!

I've stuck a few hyperlinks in for interested readers as well: http://www.aynrand.org/site/PageServer?pagename=i... and http://aynrandlexicon.com

JWN, nobody will rebut your point in a calm, reasonable manner. You write the truth. Well done!

my one lone voice of dissension constitutes a "blog squad"?

you must really like comfortable echo chambers like this,where your views are never challenged and you can all get together and talk about how horrible the people you disagree with are.

[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by mpproducer, Robert C. Griffin. Robert C. Griffin said: We Are Living in an Ayn Rand Novel http://bit.ly/128F1f #tcot [...]

Don't forget "The Fountainhead" for insight into the corruption of media. Ellsworth Toohey=Rahm Emanuel.

"Redistribution of wealth discourages the production of wealth by those capable of creating wealth in the first place. "

"Redistribution of wealth" provides for a standing army to protect your nation, rules to protect your wealth accumulated in that nation, and a police force to enforce those rules protecting your wealth.

Organized religion has been corrupted by the mystics of the spirit that are little different from the mystics of the muscle. Most religious leaders in this country say that one should render unto Caesar that which is Caesar's instead of saying one should put a bullet in Caesar's head. The truly moral thing to do which truly honors God is to protect the rights granted to you by God and kill Caesar. Find a religion that advocates that.

Further, I think the compairson of Hannah Giles to Dagny Taggart is totally misplaced. Dagny refused to see the system for what is was for most of her life and actively worked to perserve. Giles is more like Ragnar Danniskold just without the pirate ship.

Don't forget what a knock-down job the suddenly-socialist Japanese government did to Japan's once thriving economy. Oh yeah, that government intervention caused the Lost Decade. How many failures do socialists require before they get it? Insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results. The United States was a brilliant move to do something different, which brought positive results until the crazy socialists interrupted it.

scott, Bush had his initial Stimulus package that cut checks to Americans, which was several hundred million dollars. The second stimulus, the 787 billion dollar stimulus, was released by Obama, but was endorsed by Bushie. Not his finest hour, but the man to release the funds was Ben Bernanke, the scum of the Earth in my opinion. He was writing checks and was not telling anyone where the money was going. Lets also not forget the TARP bill had enough votes to override Bushs veto, because alot of repubs signed on. Not their finest hour. The Dems had the Senate and House, and a veto-proof majority. Have fun.

America’s founding ideal was the principle of individual rights. Nothing more—and nothing less. The rest—everything that America achieved, everything she became, everything “noble and just,” and heroic, and great, and unprecedented in human history—was the logical consequence of fidelity to that one principle. The first consequence was the principle of political freedom, i.e., an individual’s freedom from physical compulsion, coercion or interference by the government. The next was the economic implementation of political freedom: the system of capitalism.

from “A Preview,” The Ayn Rand Letter, I, 24, 5 and the Ayn Rand Lexicon (http://aynrandlexicon.com/)

"more government control?"

control over what exactly? how is the big bad government ruining your life exactly? do tell.

Ayn Rand didn't advocate for businessmen to strike, however. She showed in Atlas Shrugged that without a proper defense of the principle of individual rights, rights will not be protected. She gave us that proper defense.

She advocated "a society built on the moral principle of individual rights—a society that upholds private property, free markets, and the rule of objective law—in short, a society of laissez-faire capitalism." (From the Ayn Rand Center for Individual rights "what we stand for" statement: http://www.aynrand.org/site/PageServer?pagename=a...

The statists have always made sure it was culturally taboo to discuss politics in polite society. Businessmen need to understand Ayn Rand now more than ever.

youre probably the "artsy" type.

what is unworkable? please take a fraction of your life to enlighten us oh masterful mind. try not to skip a real answer with another attempt at smarmy intellectual humor.

We keep hearing the spurious arguement that had there been no bailout, things would be much worse. These fictitious speculations have nothing to do with common sense considering that unemployment continues to be in freefall, that we are in the longest recorded recession, that the government has failed to disclose disbursement of TARP monies, (so much for transparency), and that all of the leading prognosticaors are in agreement that things will be getting worse before they get better.

Additionally, it is extremely shortsighted to claim that we are better off with the "stimulus" without acknowledging that the trillions that are being spent, the trillions for unfuned mandates for everything the government has created, (Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, Medicare, Social Security, etc. etc.) and the trillions more that the government wants to burden us with, can only be paid for by future generations of unborn taxpayers who receive nothing but the bill for these ruinous policies of unlimited and unrestrained spending.

We are being truly betrayed by our governmental leaders, who are placing our future generations into involuntary servitude and slavery with no end in sight.

What's unworkable? How about everyone doing whatever YOU and her other sycophants consider to be "good jobs" going on strike and running away? That's patently ridiculous and completely unworkable; for starters!

What would that prove? What would it do to this nation ? What would it do FOR thosed people who did do that?

Can you answer those questions, reasonably/logically, without using pure fiction ( ATLAS SHRUGGED ) as a jumping off point?

Let's all pick a work of fiction and then try to live in reality as though fiction was really reality, is what you are proposing. LOL

Scott: Don’t confuse Republicans with conservatives, especially Bush. Yes, Bush released TARP funds, and he (&^(*^% well shouldn’t have. Why do you think the TEA Party Movement has no patience for him?

The rest of you: Yes, I see your candidates for John Galt, Dagny Taggart, and even Ragnar Danneskjold. Now I’ll tell you the villains I most fear: Robert Stadler and Floyd Ferris, originators of Project X. What is the Project X analog? Getting shut out of hospitals, perhaps?

Where her fans reside is beside the point. The point is she called it perfectly. The producers will act rationally and withhold their services in due time. Others will wonder why they aren't "doing the public duty" and we will all fall down…no one to place posies this time.

amazing. does anyone here think he is serious or pulling our legs? "going on strike and running away"…refusing to be robbed and being productive elsewhere…wow

So far I haven't read any refutation of her concepts. Just ad hominem. How droll.

So, where is the "Atlas Shrugged" movie? Mired in development hell because it's far too big a story for one movie. Where is "The Fountainhead" remake? Non existent. Where is "Anthem"?

Everybody complains about the culture being owned by the left. Soooo where are the talented screen writers, directors, producers and most importantly money men who can make such a movie? Gone Galt, perhaps?

I've read enough of Rand to know what I'm talking about; unlike her drooling, pathetic sycophants.

I find it very interesting that every piece I read lately about Ayn Rand or her philosophy draws numerous and virulent attackers. Not only the comments, but the ratings. Methinks there is an organized, paid campaign to diminish her work and philosophy. Sure she was not a gifted writer, no one disputes that. But inevitably the negative comments are all the same. She was a lesbian, adulterer, god-hating, mentally unstable blah blah blah. Her ideas are unworkable blah blah blah. Rarely does one find an intelligible critique that does not involve ah hominem attacks.

How odd to state that she has no fans outside the US.

On the contrary, that is exactly the caliber of what passes for “criticism” of Ayn Rand’s ideas these days. See “1redcent”’s comments for more of the same (though with just a bit more seething added in for spice).

Patently ridiculous and unworkable in real life? Sounds more like Karl Marx.

Great name. The "money" speech is one of my favorites.

The US military is socialized. as is their health care (the VA). as is our fire departments, police departments, and school system. OH SCARY!

If you don’t see the essential difference between the U.S. military and health care, you aren’t qualified to be discussing Rand or socialism… or any matters pertaining to the nature of government.

Yes. There is.

Marxism doesn't work either, yet many still want to try to impose it on the USA. Sort of like Randian sycophants.

That is why I closed my buisness this month. It was no longer worth working 60-80hours a week so Obama/Bush and their thieving friends steal all of my money/work at the point of a gun. As long as the company paid you what you agreed to you are owed nothing. I now will only work enough to get what I need. I have seen other people do the same. I can bitch and moan, like you, that I don't get paid enough and the fatcat thieven CEO's make too much. Well you can go please yourself also.

Scott,

I must take issue with your comment "large banks are needed to provide money to large corporations." This is patently false. Large corporations raise most of their debt money through bond/note issues. Why pay overhead to a bank when you can write your own paper for much less than they charge, especially if you have an AAA or AA rating?

Excellent post. I feel like I am walking through her version of the world in Atlas Shrugged.

Ayn Rand didn't advocate for businessmen to strike. She showed in Atlas Shrugged that without a proper defense of the principle of individual rights, rights will not be protected. She provides that proper defense in Atlas.

She advocated "a society built on the moral principle of individual rights—a society that upholds private property, free markets, and the rule of objective law—in short, a society of laissez-faire capitalism." (From the Ayn Rand Center for Individual rights "what we stand for" statement: http://www.aynrand.org/site/PageServer?pagename=a...

The statists have always made sure it was culturally taboo to discuss politics in polite society. Businessmen need to understand Ayn Rand now more than ever.

No fans outside US? sad, pathetic….
http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2009/10/19/...

you didn't answer my question, you just diverted

It's all they have. When confronted they just squawk teh Narrative and hope it distracts people and no one goes and looks up and finds the wiretapping wasn't, habeus corpus doesn't apply to lawful or unlawful combatants, and similar. Or more accurately, the ones who created teh Narrative hope no one will look things up. Parrots like "scott" here squawk without much thought.

You use the words, but I do not think it means what you think it means.

Keep squawking, parrot.

I think Anthem is one that needs to be looked at. When the reinvention of the light bulb causes the gubmint to declare the rights of candle makers… well you know where that is going.

Insults are the best way to make an argument! You won!

[...] We Are Living in an Ayn Rand Novel – You know I always wanted to pretend I was an architect. [...]

"One man, one unelected government official, not even a Cabinet member confirmed by the Senate, has the power cut the pay of executives in private businesses by 50 percent or 90 percent in the banks the government now “owns.”

The banks did not have to take government money. Remember that. This happens only in banks that are on the government dole.

I repeat. These banks did not have to take government money. And this is not happening to banks that decided not to take government money.

"Marx was a lousy writer and those who swallow his garbage, as whole cloth, are benighted at best"

Yet his legacy killed, what, 80,000,000, 120,000,000 people?

How many have Objectivists murdered?

[not that I am one, btw]

Rand comes at the problem of statism by providing a moral foundation for individual liberty. Few had attempted that with any intellectual rigor and she deserves credit for that. Her moral defense of capitalism is inspirational, which is why she has so many deteractors on the left and the right: it's hard to compete (intellectually) with the emotional pull of her arguments. But I think her philosophy of freedom is incomplete; not wrong, just lacking an empirical foundation. I would love to see someone marry her moral vision to F.A. Hayek's profound insights into the mechanics and phenomena of individual liberty.

I just finished reading Atlas Shrugged for the first time. I am glad to see I am not the only one drawing parallels.

While Ayn Rand was perhaps an Atheist, I do not believe in Atlas Shrugged that she is denying the existence of God. Instead, I believe she takes on the mystical aspect of religion. I witness deeply religious people arguing over things God said or did (the Bible is full of contradictions) without ONCE considering that the Bible is not the word of God, but the word of those that purport to be representatives of God. God didn't write the Bible, men did. I believe it is that aspect that Ayn Rand has issues with; not God Himself, but the corrupt organizations that have sprung up in His names.

Religion is about faith; it is not about blind obedience. John Galt might well be the only truly religious person in the book. After all, man was created in God's image and I don't believe God ever intended man to blindly follow; that would be the antitheses of what God is.

Really?

Have you ever stopped to ask why whenever a Socialist-leaning government takes over in this country, the economic engine grinds to a halt?

Socialism has a single flaw; it removes the individual's incentive to work. We are quick to point the finger at Keynesian economics as the problem, but we are only half right. Keynesian economics is a good theory, but in practice it doesn't work because of the above-mentioned flaw.

So while we may not be on strike, we producers will weather the storm. Perhaps we are choosing right now to be "less productive" since any increase in productivity is simply stolen by the government.

I suspect many producers are doing this, and thus following the starting steps of Ayn Rand's premise, without even realizing it.

Food for thought.

Your last paragraph is something that I have taken to heart over the past 8-9 months. Whenever in company I get that objection "You shouldn't talk politics with friends," I immediately fire back with "That's precisely what the politicians are depending on — our refusal to debate their incompetence!"

You'd be amazed how many lightbulbs go on…

I wasn't suggesting that the workforce works for nothing – still get their salaries. The key here is to deny the govt as much as possible while exposing govt greed and corruption.

If there is another market meltdown, the govt can do little – they've wasted it all on wealth redistritribution, unworkable stimuli and bailouts. If they attempt it, they will trigger secession and the breakup of the US. Only read Atlas Shrugged after we escaped NY to Galt Valley (aka Texas).

The book is indeed a scary prophecy and resonated because of my experience in Zambia in the 70s and 80s. We avoided production of anything price controlled (to avoid loss) which in turn created the shortages of essentials. All the nationalized industries were hopelessly incompetent to the point of ridiculous where the state owned electric company shut of the power to the state owned smelter for non-payment of bills in the middle of a copper smelt. Needless to say, the smelter was destroyed in the process and an entire town went to hell. Zambia is now a free market democracy with food in plentiful supply.

I could go on but thats why Atlas Shrugged is an excellent story that clearly communicates the consequences of socialism and statism. Ayn Rand saw her parents ruined by communism and hence her obsession with objectivism.

Do you have kids?

Who cares? Bush sold us down the river. We know that.

Obama could have said "wait a minute; the right thing to do here is let the bad banks fail so we can pick up the pieces and rebuild". Did he do that? No.

They're all corrupt. When will you liberals realize that?!?

Actually, it is.

The Fed's number one goal is not to control inflation, but in fact to stoke it. Inflation reduces the value of past dollars, meaning less productivity is needed to pay off the debts previously incurred.

Read Ron Paul's book "End the Fed" — it's not perfect, but it does clearly articulate WHY the Fed was created, and it's not for the reasons everyone thinks…

Umm, you are incorrectly assuming that Socialists actually want to fix the problem…

Ironically, it was these wage controls that gave us employer-paid healthcare. It was the private sector's way around wage controls — they simply gave people benefits while still paying them wages within the government's boundaries.

Agreed.

Scott, read the book. It's a tough read, but it is fiction which makes it easier. At the very least, you'll understand why capitalists think the way they do. Even a committed liberal should understand their avowed enemy.

Francisco, you hit the intellectual nail right on its philosophical head.

Good work!

I'll say it loud and say it proud:

America TORTURES

America does what it has to do, when the pond scum of planet Earth assemble to do it harm. Americans have always done what they must. They've rareley engaged in gratuitous cruelty, as a nation.

When was Barry 0 ever a law professor?

While some of this is true (I am not here to defend Bush domestic/financial policies, believe me.), it still doesn't make the current actions of the Obama 787bn stimulus package (which focuses on short-term fixes without organic job growth) and the expansion of TARP funds and the actions with GM and Chrysler the correct things to do.

You read. You do not comprehend. Therein lies your biggest problem.

Veronique, don't forget politicians stoked the demand for housing by loosening mortgage eligibility rules and directing Fannie and Freddie to securitize them to get them off the bank’s books.

Well, at least you get it; unlike the uber Randians posting here.

yaaaaaaaaaaaaaawn.

LOL

Because Obama and his closest friends, allies, and mentors were/are Commies, or at least rabid Marxists and 1984 was really a thinly veiled treatment of Communism/the USSR of 1948, that book now screams out at us.

Should ObamaCare be shoved down our throats, I know, personally, many doctors and specialists who will either cut way back or just leave/retire. Since they aren't young, have savings, they can do that; however, most people can't do the same.

Socialism doesn't work; on that we agree.

Are some people and companies cutting back to starve the beast ; now? Perhaps, but given the lack of health of our economy, it's hard to tell and one shouldn't assumje something is happening; especially when many other forces are in play. .

Waiting for the "Anti Dog Eat Dog" and "fairness" laws. Sadly, it seems that Ryan was the political Nostradamus of the 20th century.

sorry? do you have anything to refute here?

Ayn Rand was a Darwinist! Give me a break!

Now we know what Whittiker Chambers meant when he described Atlas Shrugged thusly:

"From almost any page of Atlas Shrugged, a voice can be heard, from painful necessity, commanding: "To a gas chamber — go!" "

Flix,
I would rather be friends with an strident athiest who supports freedom and capitalism then a religious believer that supports socialism to be our "brothers keeper" which would destroy our freedom and prosperity. How about you?

Huckabee-Palin 2012!

[...] Phone Installed for You to Call Him (video) Veronique de Rugy, Big Government: We Are Living in an Ayn Rand Novel Ztower: President Obama, perhaps intent on driving his “ratings” to the cellar, consults [...]

Then why do we have recessions, unemployment, depressions, hunger, homeless, sick, etc etc etc. Corporations are not for the benefit of the people or the Community. They are only here to extract the maximum profit from their plusvalue operations and do nothing to eliminate the human detritus they leave behind. They do not pay taxes. They do not fight the wars, although they do instigate them and profit from them. Right now, the tope five corporations that receive contracts from the federal government are all defense related; in other words, all they do is foster the imperial killing business so that the other corporations mayh then come in, together with Evangelivcals who should be shot in the battlefield. One more point, reposting to the one that said about God. Throughout history there have been many Gods, and all of them collapse into the dust bin of history. This tells you that there is no God and that if God is associated with Corporations then we definitely are living in a Fascist Sate.

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