FReeper Book Club: Atlas Shrugged, The Exploiters and the Exploited

A Publius Essay | 28 February 2009 | Publius

[rlmorel]

Just so!

[whodathunkit]

the current date displayed on a large calendar mounted on a skyscraper?

All the above posts were interesting. One additional thought about the calendar-

It's significant that the calendar is mounted on the skyscraper, a product of mans effort. In a way, it's being claimed by the looters. Analogous to planting a flag on a mountain peak.

[Still Thinking]

Excellent! I hadn’t thought of that.

[MtnClimber]

I am glad only one chapter per week. Got busy at work and now in catch up mode re-reading AS!

[gracie1]

I’ve been thinking about your response about shrugging. Like you, I believe AS is not to be taken literally, but is an illustration of ideas. When you see the markets collapsing as they have been, you have to think why. When you see the price of hard commodities like gold and silver rising, you know what is happening. The traders are moving their money to something solid and tangible. I’m not an expert on economics, but I know you don’t chase good money after bad. A few of those guys on the trading floors have probably read AS, and they are reacting.

So we all have to look at our individual situation an evaluate what is the appropriate action.

[Ramius]

Mister Publius! Please add me to your ping list for the book club. I’m all caught up on the threads and am just a little ahead in the book.

Great discussion happening.

[ChinaGotTheGoodsOnClinton]

Forms of government explained…

This video explains:

Why what most of us are taught about right and leftist
governments is wrong

Why libs honestly think that to be too conservative is to be leaning towards Nazism and why this is not correct

Why most long lasting government s were Republics

What the Founding Fathers said about Democracies vs. Republics

Why 0Bama is trying to get us in an Oligarchy

http://www.wimp.com/thegovernment

[Clinging Bitterly]

When the Union Pacific lost its route through the Oregon Cascades due to a mountain-slide during a blizzard, it had crews on the line as soon as weather permitted, stabilizing the mountain. Then it moved an army of workers and hopper cars into the area until the line was rebuilt, all the while rerouting traffic around the problem by sending freight as far away as Salt Lake City. Contrast this with the Atlantic Southern’s attitude when a mere 1200 feet of track is torn up in a collision.

I'm playing catch up because I had some things going on when the reading began, and I'm going through these threads as I progress.

But I had to stop and comment about "the slide" because of my personal involvement in the rebuilding project. It was a huge undertaking and many contractors had crews working 24/7 at the site for the better part of a year in all kinds of weather. It was so big a project it actually had a significant positive impact on the heavy construction segment of the Northwest's economy, delaying the effect of the current recession here, adding millions to the gross sales in 2008 for several major businesses in Oregon and Washington. Indeed, work goes on in that project to this day, reshaping and stabilizing the mountainside to prevent a repeat event. In the peak of the work I was sending a truckload of equipment parts to the project every day and was hunting down and ordering extra product from all over the world to maintain the fleet. But it was almost the only work my guys and I had for the first half of 2008.

[Publius]

Bless you for fixing that line and getting it back into service. It's the Pacific Northwest's lifeline to the south -- thanks to the old SP's abandonment of the I-5 route through Medford.

You guys made the fictional Atlantic Southern look like a bunch of amateurs.

[Clinging Bitterly]

Well it was a whole bunch of people. There were over 150 pieces of construction machinery with operators and helpers for all shifts, mechanics to do maintenance and repairs, truckers (and trains) hauling material in & out, folks such as myself and my crew who kept them furnished with needed parts and supplies, bookkeepers keeping track of the money and payments, and even bankers providing operating cash. Satellite and cel phone companies, restaurants, motels, RV rental companies, equipment rental companies, local governments, Forest Service and BLM, and countless others all operating above and beyond their normal routines to provide for smooth and uninterrupted operation of the rebuilding project.

Seems like a lot to spend most of a year cleaning up half a mile of track, but it had the side of a mountain on it. And every time a swath was cut through the debris, more would fall in from uphill to fill the gap, and that continued until the whole landslide, close to a square mile, was hauled away. Then terraces had to be cut and retaining walls built, and replacement soil and vegetation put in place before the next wet season began in earnest.

And in all that nobody was seriously hurt, one pickup truck was wrecked, and one small unoccupied utility vehicle was crushed by a falling boulder during a blasting operation. Good fun for the crew on site though, since both wrecked rigs were the personal rides for the owner of the main contractor, they got to yuk it up over those events without guilt.

[r-q-tek86]

Part I, Chapter VIII: The John Galt Line