(Untitled)

[stepp_sensei]

The U.S. government has escalated its traditional interference in the economy. (Some) business leaders are upset. Upset enough to promote Ayn Rand's novel Atlas Shrugged. There is allegedly a movement for productive members of society to protest the government's escalation by "going Galt

Comments

[snackpants]

The left still feels that all money we 'get' is actually owned by the government, and what we take home is what the government allows us to keep. Just listening to the socialist dogma being preached regarding taxation on income makes my skin crawl... I told Katie_Jar to read Anthem. I have always been a fan of Rand.

[iskender]

Well, actually, that's a problem of currency in general; it's only worth the amount that central authorities are willing to recognize, and that's going to be the case whether you're using trading scrip in a capitalist system dominated by a few firms, or if you've got a national bank.

As far as all your talk of skin crawling, I think it's a far sight less disgusting than, say, aristocracy. Why do you think Thomas Jefferson supported progressive taxation? And so did that notorious Marxist, Teddy Roosevelt.

Not that anything you said was a response to the original post, of course.

[stepp_sensei]

Which leftist voices are claiming that all income is owned by the government? I haven't yet read that

[checkm8]

How is the government taking toxic assets under their wing and making them the masses problem any better than the government syphoning profits. Guess what, the government syphons profits through tax, and it's ok because it goes to the general good of running the government

[iskender]

And here we're on to the truth that makes the Randians' heads spin (and not only theirs): that Barack Obama, elected with the express approval of the banking system and the corporate media, with a credit card man as his running mate, is not the reincarnation of Che Guevara, Josef Stalin, or Huey Newton, but is actually just another ally of the moneyed elite. After all, he's president. And likewise, his bailout is not some covert attempt to impose communism on the United States or some effort to help the American people help themselves. They are, indeed, just bailouts. It's class war, of the sort that Americans never notice: the sort that punishes the weak at the benefit of the strong, the polar opposite of Ayn Rand's turgid fantasies.

[stepp_sensei]

The difference between Atlas Shrugged and what is allegedly happening in today's economy is a matter of context.

In Atlas Shrugged, the businesses are doing just fine all by themselves. If Rand's government had been Libertarian, the industrialists would've been delighted and kept right on making piles of money and revolutionizing technology. But Rand's government stepped in to interfere with success, to transfer wealth from the producers to the consumers. (With the explicit assumption that consumption is inherently bad. This doesn't exactly square with readers' understanding of where the industrialists got their piles of money

Extremism

[stepp_sensei]

I did not approve of former-President Bush unilaterally expanding the powers of the Presidency. I didn't approve of many of his administration's actions even when Congress supported them. If everyone in D.C. thinks it's a good idea to torture anyone we dislike, it's time to throw out the government, not to reassess my own opposition to torture.

President Obama and his administration are doing some things I also do not like. (For example, his continued use of "State Secrets" to block investigation of Bush's possible misdeeds.) However, I expect that you and I will disagree on what constitutes "extremism." There is a very big difference between ignoring law / international treaties and legally enacting policy with which you disagree.

Oh how I wish those fucking morons would Go Galt.

[moth2theflame]

If they really think society can't function without them, I'm all for testing that theory. Hey, I'd be happy to try running a bank or a car company. Anyone think I can do worse than these clowns did? If nothing else, I'd pay myself a lot less. As De Gaulle said, "The cemeteries of the world are full of indispensable men."

You might enjoy this post by Alex Knapp, who made the astute observation that two of the biggest dingbats spearheading the Go Galt "movement" - Glenn Reynolds and his wife - both have taxpayer-funded jobs. From which, oddly enough, they haven't yet resigned.

Last week I started working on my own LJ post about this idiocy. Thanks for the reminder that I need to finish it. ;-)

Re: Oh how I wish those fucking morons would Go Galt.

[iskender]

Must return to Blogspot too.

[efathefinger]

I guess I need to read this just to feel the context. I read one of the books in high school, wiki say The Fountainhead, but its been so long its hard to remember what I took away from it.

But you know the answer, most books rant about straw men so as to bring their obvious conclusion into sharp focus.

And AIG was a very very profitable company. When you accept a lot of risk, chances are good you will make profit in the short run. I'm pretty sure that GM's financial services division was making a boat load more cash than the rest of the company until the cards fell.

But I always remind people that you need only look at your local DMV office to discover the truth about goverment. It does nothing well.

[stepp_sensei]

I believe The Fountainhead is the more optimistic of Rand's big two novels. The hero, Roarke, is able to eventually triumph within society, using our system of justice...and the ignorance of his opponents.

On the other hand, Atlas Shrugged requires global collapse for the heroes to make their point and eventually get what they want. Which is, essentially, the freedom to do whatever they want -- "Get the hell out of our way