Atlas Shrugged Is Coming True

Just because it APPEARS that the crisis Rand described has occured does not mean that her theory of how it arrived or the cure thereof has any validity. Just about any thing someone has predicted to occur has occured eventually in one form or another but does not prove a causal action or validate action to prevent it.

Ayn Rand was right as soon as she wrote it. Government destroys. Plato philosphy has suppressed mankind. She is probably the most clear thinking human to reach out to civilization. Obama should read Ayn Rand and put down the FDR bullshit.

We must take care of those who are unable or unwilling to take care of themselves. This care ought to be the function of gov. in the form of a social safety net.

Rand would say the opposite. Every one for them self and damn the consequences.

I

Is there something wrong with laissez-faire capitalism? It lets anyone enter the business and start making money if they want to. She was for individual rights, no government control, and working for your own self and sake.
If there is, please teach me.

There is one response to the original article:

"cybercitizen Says:

January 17th, 2009 at 12:52 am
In the days of feudalism and Kings, before Democracy and the unions and wealth redistribution, workweeks were far longer and life was nastier, more brutish, and shorter. Remember the French Revolution? Remember the novels of Charles Dickens? Remember the labor conditions in the Third World? How can anyone forget!

There always will be excesses that need correction, but don’t throw out the Democracy baby out with the tax bath water. Scandinavia is doing just fine and is very happy despite all their taxes. The French would not trade their health care system for ours–no way. The Canadians love the fact that their college students do not go deeply into debt to pay for college."

Having lived (as in working there, having my own apartment etc and paying these "rediculous" taxes) in these parts of the world it's hard for me to find "American ending up like Europe" such a terrible and dreadful event. I would rather go back to Denmark then continue searching for a dead end job here where it might be a few years before I can think about having health insurance.

I wish I had Health Insurance when I got a concusion last week, I ened up leaving the Doctor with no x-rays or cat scans because I couldn't afford it, I got dropped from my insurance because i'm no longer in college which also can't afford because I can't find a steady job.

We're making small steps in the right direction I believe. At least I hope.

When dealing with 2 evils go with the one you haven't tried before.

The best thing about you Ayn Randians is that you truly represent the future of the GOP. And it is a bleak one.

Timothy McVay was a reactionary, anti-government terrorist. Ayn Rand, and you, her lackey Critic, are reactionary, anti-government propagandists. I'm quite certain you are on a government watch list now! Welcome to the club!

Can anyone provide clear explanations why you disagree with Ayn Rand?

GOT LEGS??? This story does voted it up although I find it very boring, some must like it so........Up it go's.................

Anrchst said it with pitch perfect clarity: "What do you expect from capitalism? It's like shooting a hole in the bottom of your boat and being confused as to why it sinks."
However, what are we to do? I've concluded I'm a "Privitarian"--total freedom for me and all my own sane and graceful acts, and very careful regulation for all others...

Atlas Shrugged is the only book I ever started reading that I subsequently threw away is absolute disgust. This article is wrong on so many levels that I simply don't have the time or desire to respond to all of them.

However there is one critical point that must be made. This crisis was not created by the US government, it was created by corporate America (the people Rand loves) and the government is responding BECAUSE the principles she espouse in her book have failed. The problem was/is that Rand and many of her ilk love the "system" of capitalism. Unfortunately "systems" are comprised of people and people can be stupid, greedy, inept and criminal in their actions. When that happens the "system" fails like we are currently witnessing.

Our founding fathers were brilliant men who acknowledged the fundamental premise that power and money will eventually corrupt anyone. Consequently, they set up a system of checks and balances that sought to manage negative human behavior. Capitalism has no checks and balances other than the market which is supposed to weed out the poor performers from the good ones. Yeah, I'm laughing too. I'm sure Rand would have been shocked to see corporate America riddled with waste, inefficiency and ineptness, outsourcing, polluting, begging for handouts in the form of tax breaks and subsidies and essentially raping the very people they rely on to make them financially viable. Government does contribute to this by bailing out the bad players, but under the circumstances what choice do they have other than a deep depression that would make the 30's look like a party by comparison.

In summary American Capitalism has shown an almost unfailing capacity to shoot itself in the foot while claiming that everyone else pulled the trigger. Left to their own devices like Ann Rand wanted would in all likelyhood result in even greater financial chaos than we are witnessing today.

It is also worth noting that all those currently in power and responsible for the current disaster are strident Rand followers of the Chicago School of economics.

Anyone who thinks the WSJ is liberal is brain dead.

I started reading Atlas Shrugged a few years ago, but then I found something to do...

I'm pretty sure "Atlas Shrugged" is in the public domain, if you want to read it.

All of the buzz words that are thrown around here and on other forums will soon be overused and obsolete. It will come down to altruism vs. self interest. That battle will be fought. Perhaps the country will splt.
And it is true...as was posted here by Ricky 84. This is SUCH a big issue. I was talking about Rand's sudden popularity comeback a couple of years back.
It's SELFISH MADE EASY. It absolves people from guilt for not showing up for his fellow man/woman.

What do you expect from capitalism. It's like shooting a hole in the bottom of your boat and being confused as to why it sinks.

It seems almost too easy sometimes.

This has been in the works for a long time. Class Gaps are starting to run from Poverty to Rich to Super Rich. Big Business and Big Government have Contributed to the mess. With the middle class virtually wiped out now. The Salad Days are over, welcome to the working class.

Sometimes the currect.com community completely fails to provide a stimulating discussion of an article posted. I think this is a perfect example of such a situation.

What was Rand's political orientation before her rugged individualism? Wasn't she sort of accused of being a leftie and went to the opposite pole?

neocongo, You will repeat what Saladin has to say because your head is empty and you have nothing intelligent to say!

neocongo, I would like you to expand on that statement " It's people like you, Critic, who are responsible for people like Timothy McVay. Thanks!"

That's like me saying its people like you neocongo that has caused the economic crisis all around the world.

I think you better come up with a better analogy and at the same time check your premise.

By the way I would still like you to explain that statement. That is if you can where you make sense!

Next, they saw a city of 550,000 men, women and children, and in an instant the city vanished; shadows remained where the men were gone, a firestorm raged, burning pimps and infants and an old statue of a happy Buddha and mice and dogs and old men and lovers; and a mushroom cloud arose above it all. This was a world created by the cruelest of all gods, Realpolitik.

"This is Discord," said Apollo, disturbed, laying down his lute.

Harry Truman, a servant of Realpolitik, wearing the face of Oliver Hardy, looked upon his work and saw that it was good. But beside him, Albert Einstein, a servant of that most elusive and gnomic of gods, Truth, burst into tears, the familiar tears of Stanley Laurel facing the consequences of his own karma. For a brief instant, Truman was troubled, but then he remembered the eternal words: "Now look what you made me do," he said.

And that was the third Vision.

Now they saw trains, many trains, all of them running on time, and the trains criss-crossed Europe and ran 24 hours a day, and they all came to a few destinations that were alike. There, the human cargo was stamped, catalogued, processed, executed with gas, tabulated, recorded, stamped again, cremated and disposed.

"This is Bureaucracy," said Dionysius, and he smashed his wine jug in anger; beside him, his lynx glared balefully.

And then they saw the man who had ordered this, Adolf Hitler, wearing still the mask of Oliver Hardy, and he turned to a certain rich man, Baron Rothschild, wearing the mask of Stanley Laurel, and they knew this was the world created by the god Hegel and the angel Thesis was meeting the demon Antithesis. Then Hitler spoke the eternal words: "Now look what you made me do," he said.

And that was the fourth Vision.

They did then look further and, lo, high as they were they saw the founding of a great republic and proclamations hailing new gods named Due Process and Equal Rights for All. And they saw many in high places in the republic form a separate cult and worship Mammon and Power. And the Republic became an Empire, and soon Due Process and Equal Rights for All were not worshipped, and even Mammon and Power were given only lip-service, for the true god of all was now the impotent What Can I Do and his dull brother What We Did Yesterday and his ugly and vicious sister Get Them Before They Get Us.

"This is Aftermath," said Hera, and her bosom shook with tears for the fate of the children of that nation.

And they saw many bombings, many riots, many rooftop snipers, many Molotov cocktails. And they saw the capital city in ruins, and the leader, wearing the face of Stanley Laurel, taken prisoner amid the rubble of his palace. And they saw the chief of the revolutionaries look about at the rubble and the streets full of corpses, and they heard him sigh, and then he spoke the eternal words: "Now look what you made me do," he said.

lol no way in our victims society today are people ready to be libertarian. That would work if you live hippie style out on some farm growing your own food and spending your days weaving your own clothes. The majority of people today are as addicted to governments tit as if it was oxygen. However expecting big business to be self regulating and leaving the economy in the hands of market forces is about as likely to work as communism did. Is it too much to ask for to get a happy medium of minimum government meddling while protecting the rights and safety of our citizens?

The "liberal" Wall Street Journal? Wow, that is a new one. Their editorial staff was still blaming all of Bush's problems on Bill Clinton during the 7th year of Bush's presidency. As to Libertarians, if someone says they have found a simple solution to governing 300 million people, it is the SPEAKER who is simple. The way that Rand described the various sectors of the economy coming together is if compelled by some irresistable force was laughable then and continues to amuse readers to this day. As a comedy, it has been a total success! Unfortunately, we grown-ups have to live in the REAL world. Fortunately, at least at this point, we look to be putting some grown ups back in charge of at least one of our three branches of government.

cztheday

this is why atlas shruggs... what if all the ones who actually DO all the work, and actually MAKE the wealth of the people, being the proletariates, commons, or whatever you call 'them' US... all of us... simply stop doing our 'part'. a slave revolt!

also: liberal? why can't people stop saying unintelegent things like that. it's the US and THEM mentallity that sets up whole systems that allows things like this to happen... like newspeak and the sapif-whorf hypothesis.

I had something to say but Saladin said it perfectly so I will just repeat it.

Atlas Shrugged isn't coming true.

Ayn Rand has never and will never be right about damn near anything.

It's only Libertarians that still think otherwise.

Only a complete fucking tool could look at the mess we're in and not realize that it was directly caused by corporatization of our government and deregulation of basic fundamental market rules. Only someone who took one class on economics and American history and dropped out of both could think that Libertarianism makes sense.

Never mind that deregulation and our corporate crony state caused the greatest depression in our history and the next depression we're about to walk into, clearly we should stick to their "conservative" ways.

Our political system being linked to the soviet union is very amusing. Yes at times it seems that we are creating our own downward spiral but than again is not everything headed in a downward spiral? Laws and bills do create more problems while trying to solve old ones and it seems that very soon there will be limited control as result of too many reform bills and things issued. Very interesting article and the book looks fascinating.

Silly person that I am my feelings on government were summed up by a science fiction writer 50 years ago. He envisioned an entire planet under one government. The mandate of this government wasn't to do good; merely to refrain from doing harm. The less done, the better. The major function of the head of this planet was to root out unnecessary activity and to abolish the position and all of those subordinate to it.

I like the idea.

Atlas Shrugged isn't coming true.

Ayn Rand has never and will never be right about damn near anything.

It's only Libertarians that still think otherwise.

Only a complete fucking tool could look at the mess we're in and not realize that it was directly caused by corporatization of our government and deregulation of basic fundamental market rules. Only someone who took one class on economics and American history and dropped out of both could think that Libertarianism makes sense.

Never mind that deregulation and our corporate crony state caused the greatest depression in our history and the next depression we're about to walk into, clearly we should stick to their "conservative" ways.

The Wall Street Journal is anything but liberal, and Ayn Rand is the inspiration of Libertarians.

I disagree with her message, but she is a great messenger and tells a wonderful story.

Can I agree with the problem without agreeing to Rand's so called solutions?

Yes, the downward spiral and disgusting parallels to addiction would summarize the U.S. government's behavior quite well. The only silver lining is the bad guys are leaving a trail and inviting their own demise.

The tiger yawned.