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Atlas Shrugged's Timeless Moral: Profit-Making Is Virtue, Not Vice
IBD Editorials ^
| July 20, 2010
| YARON BROOK
Posted on 07/20/2010 4:34:16 PM PDT by Kaslin
In the years leading up to 2008—09's financial meltdown, government control over mortgages, interest rates and America's banking system was at an all-time high.
And yet when crisis struck, free enterprise took the blame.
The cure, therefore, was to give government even wider powers. Washington can now bail out any company, fire CEOs, override contracts and print billions of dollars to "stimulate" the economy — all in the name of the public interest. The result? Our deficits and debt continue to mount, and there's a real possibility of a future like Greece's.
This is the state of our world today. It's remarkably similar to the state of the world in Ayn Rand's "Atlas Shrugged," a mystery story about a future America whose economy is disintegrating and whose government is accumulating power faster than anyone thought possible. This parallel is a big reason a record 500,000 people bought "Atlas Shrugged" last year.
So what can we learn from a book that foresaw in 1957 what few believed possible in 2007? We can learn a lesson the heroes of the novel learn: the cause of the government's greater, destructive control of business. And we can learn how to oppose it.
Many of the heroes in "Atlas Shrugged" are the kind of men and women who built, and continue to build, America into the economic power that it is — inventors such as Edison, industrialists in the mold of Rockefeller and Carnegie, business visionaries reminiscent of Bill Gates and Steve Jobs.
In logic and justice, the heroes of "Atlas Shrugged" should be admired and appreciated for their efforts; instead, they're demonized and shackled.
(Excerpt) Read more at investors.com ...
TOPICS: Business/Economy; Culture/Society; Editorial
KEYWORDS:
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1
posted on
07/20/2010 4:34:19 PM PDT
by
Kaslin
To: Kaslin
Blessed be the traders for they shall build a world worth inheriting.
2
posted on
07/20/2010 4:37:35 PM PDT
by
GonzoGOP
(There are millions of paranoid people in the world and they are all out to get me.)
To: Kaslin
It's more than a virtue. It's how we reward people for creating jobs. More profits mean more jobs. Less profits means fewer jobs. No profits means no jobs.
ML/NJ
3
posted on
07/20/2010 4:46:21 PM PDT
by
ml/nj
To: Kaslin
Atlas Shrugged's Timeless Moral: Profit-Making Is Virtue, Not Vice...Uh, well, the problem was solved centuries before Rand took it up. St. Thomas, for one, has a bit to say about economics.
It's like saying "Gilligan's Island's Timeless Moral is Getting Off The Island." (When we all know the timeless moral of Gilligan's Island is that any red-blooded man would take Ginger or Maryanne.
4
posted on
07/20/2010 4:47:55 PM PDT
by
the invisib1e hand
(Lying, socialist thieves. Any questions?)
To: GonzoGOP
Blessed be the traders for they shall build a world worth inheriting.No, they won't. Builders build.
5
posted on
07/20/2010 4:48:48 PM PDT
by
the invisib1e hand
(Lying, socialist thieves. Any questions?)
To: Kaslin
I will post my reply as soon as I find out who this John Galt is.
6
posted on
07/20/2010 4:49:23 PM PDT
by
BipolarBob
(Even the earth is bipolar.)
7
posted on
07/20/2010 4:54:02 PM PDT
by
VegasCowboy
("...he wore his gun outside his pants, for all the honest world to feel.")
To: Kaslin
FReeper Book Club: Introduction to Atlas ShruggedPart I, Chapter I: The ThemePart I, Chapter II: The ChainPart I, Chapter III: The Top and the BottomPart I, Chapter IV: The Immovable MoversPart I, Chapter V: The Climax of the d’AnconiasPart I, Chapter VI: The Non-CommercialPart I, Chapter VII: The Exploiters and the ExploitedPart I, Chapter VIII: The John Galt LinePart I, Chapter IX: The Sacred and the ProfanePart I, Chapter X: Wyatt’s TorchPart II, Chapter I: The Man Who Belonged on EarthPart II, Chapter II: The Aristocracy of PullPart II, Chapter III: White BlackmailPart II, Chapter IV: The Sanction of the VictimPart II, Chapter V: Account OverdrawnPart II, Chapter VI: Miracle MetalPart II, Chapter VII: The Moratorium on BrainsPart II, Chapter VIII: By Our LovePart II, Chapter IX: The Face Without Pain or Fear or GuiltPart II, Chapter X: The Sign of the DollarPart III, Chapter I: AtlantisPart III, Chapter II: The Utopia of GreedPart III, Chapter III: Anti-GreedPart III, Chapter IV: Anti-LifePart III, Chapter V: Their Brothers’ KeepersPart III, Chapter VI: The Concerto of DeliverancePart III, Chapter VII: “This is John Galt Speaking”Part III, Chapter VIII: The EgoistPart III, Chapter IX: The GeneratorPart III, Chapter X: In the Name of the Best Within UsCoda: Ten Years AfterAfterword and Suggested Reading
8
posted on
07/20/2010 4:54:11 PM PDT
by
RingerSIX
To: the invisib1e hand
No, they won't. Builders build.
Have you read Atlas Shrugged? More specifically have you carefully read the John Gault speech? Gault makes clear that the trader is the basis of all. The builder trades his labor for money. You trade the builder money for a home. Unfettered trading is the key to successful society. When a trade is not mutually agreed to due to threat of force (looter) or pity (moocher) the society falls apart.
9
posted on
07/20/2010 4:54:35 PM PDT
by
GonzoGOP
(There are millions of paranoid people in the world and they are all out to get me.)
To: the invisib1e hand
Uh, well, the problem was solved centuries before Rand took it up.Uh, in what way was "the problem solved?" Define the problem and then the solution, if you can.
10
posted on
07/20/2010 4:57:56 PM PDT
by
Misterioso
(The truth is not for all men, but only for those who seek it. -- Ayn Rand)
To: BipolarBob
11
posted on
07/20/2010 4:59:27 PM PDT
by
Misterioso
(The truth is not for all men, but only for those who seek it. -- Ayn Rand)
To: GonzoGOP
Have you read post #4? Rand didn’t invent these ideas, and isn’t worthy of religious devotion. In fact, it’s common sense.
12
posted on
07/20/2010 4:59:59 PM PDT
by
the invisib1e hand
(Lying, socialist thieves. Any questions?)
To: the invisib1e hand
No, they won't. Builders build. Not without financing, they won't.
13
posted on
07/20/2010 5:01:23 PM PDT
by
Misterioso
(The truth is not for all men, but only for those who seek it. -- Ayn Rand)
To: Kaslin
Francisco’s ‘Money’ Speech from Atlas Shrugged:
http://www.working-minds.com/money.htm
(I don’t know the first thing about this website, but apparently they got permission to post this segment of the book in its entirety)
14
posted on
07/20/2010 5:01:30 PM PDT
by
Carlucci
(This is what happens when you play 'American Idol' with the Presidency.)
To: Kaslin
You need to put an “Objectivist Caucus” tag on the title, owing to the religious fervor Rand stirs up in her disciples.
15
posted on
07/20/2010 5:02:13 PM PDT
by
the invisib1e hand
(Lying, socialist thieves. Any questions?)
To: the invisib1e hand
16
posted on
07/20/2010 5:03:19 PM PDT
by
GonzoGOP
(There are millions of paranoid people in the world and they are all out to get me.)
To: musicman
17
posted on
07/20/2010 5:03:35 PM PDT
by
musicman
(Until I see the REAL Long Form Vault BC, he's just "PRES__ENT" Obama = Without "ID")
To: BipolarBob
I will post my reply as soon as I find out who this John Galt is.
__________________________
And where have all these people gone ?
To: the invisib1e hand
Have you read post #4? Rand didn’t invent these ideas, and isn’t worthy of religious devotion. In fact, it’s common sense.
Not religious devotion, just an Idea I agree with. My point was that in AS the productive person is defined as a trader, and since this is a thread about Atlas Shrugged I used her terminology.
19
posted on
07/20/2010 5:11:12 PM PDT
by
GonzoGOP
(There are millions of paranoid people in the world and they are all out to get me.)
To: GonzoGOP
Not religious devotion, just an Idea I agree with. My point was that in AS the productive person is defined as a trader, and since this is a thread about Atlas Shrugged I used her terminology. Gotcha. In my world, "trader" means something quite specific. And they aren't building a better world, unless your idea of a better world is a McMansion in the outskirts of Greenwich.
20
posted on
07/20/2010 5:13:54 PM PDT
by
the invisib1e hand
(Lying, socialist thieves. Any questions?)
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