Saturday, January 24, 2009

Life Imitates Fiction



I just started reading the Fountainhead again on inspiration from the painting my niece Rachel gave me for Christmas. I'll have to wrap it up quick so that I can give AS another go!

'Atlas Shrugged': From Fiction to Fact in 52 Years
Many of us who know Rand's work have noticed that with each passing week, and with each successive bailout plan and economic-stimulus scheme out of Washington, our current politicians are committing the very acts of economic lunacy that "Atlas Shrugged" parodied in 1957...

Politicians invariably respond to crises -- that in most cases they themselves created -- by spawning new government programs, laws and regulations. These, in turn, generate more havoc and poverty, which inspires the politicians to create more programs . . . and the downward spiral repeats itself until the productive sectors of the economy collapse under the collective weight of taxes and other burdens imposed in the name of fairness, equality and do-goodism...

The current economic strategy is right out of "Atlas Shrugged": The more incompetent you are in business, the more handouts the politicians will bestow on you.
I was a little disappointed to see that in the last paragraph of this article, Moore makes a reference to the subjectivist David Kelley, who himself has had some pretty nasty things to say about Rand. I have no idea why people call him an advocate of her ideas.

UPDATE: Oooh. A video interview.


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