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<DIV>I think this says it all:</DIV>
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<DIV>"But as recently as 1991, a<BR>survey by the Library of Congress and the Book of the Month Club found<BR>that readers rated "Atlas" as the second-most influential book in their<BR>lives, <STRONG>behind only the Bible</STRONG>."</DIV></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE><BR><BR>--- On <B>Mon, 2/16/09, Robin Migalla <I><rmigalla@earthlink.net></I></B> wrote:<BR></DIV></DIV>
<BLOCKQUOTE style="PADDING-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; BORDER-LEFT: rgb(16,16,255) 2px solid">From: Robin Migalla <rmigalla@earthlink.net><BR>Subject: [CitizensTruth] FW: Atlas Shrugged: From Fiction to Fact<BR>To: "'citizenstruth@six.pairlist.net'" <citizenstruth@six.pairlist.net><BR>Date: Monday, February 16, 2009, 3:16 PM<BR><BR><PRE>Hi Folks,
I recently read "Atlas Shrugged" for the first time, and the whole
time I
was reading it had the thought that it really was rather prophetic. Well
apparently someone from the Wall Street Journal had the same thought...
'Atlas Shrugged': From Fiction to Fact in 52 Years
By STEPHEN MOORE
<http://online.wsj.com/search/search_center.html?KEYWORDS=STEPHEN+MOORE&
ARTICLESEARCHQUERY_PARSER=bylineAND>
Some years ago when I worked at the libertarian Cato Institute, we used
to label any new hire who had not yet read "Atlas Shrugged" a
"virgin."
Being conversant in Ayn Rand's classic novel about the economic carnage
caused by big government run amok was practically a job requirement. If
only "Atlas" were required reading for every member of Congress and
political appointee in the Obama administration. I'm confident that
we'd
get out of the current financial mess a lot faster.
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, when this
1,000-page novel was first published and became an instant hit.
Rand, who had come to America from Soviet Russia with striking insights
into totalitarianism and the destructiveness of socialism, was already a
celebrity. The left, naturally, hated her. But as recently as 1991, a
survey by the Library of Congress and the Book of the Month Club found
that readers rated "Atlas" as the second-most influential book in
their
lives, behind only the Bible.
For the uninitiated, the moral of the story is simply this: 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.
In the book, these relentless wealth redistributionists and their
programs are disparaged as "the looters and their laws." Every new
act
of government futility and stupidity carries with it a
benevolent-sounding title. These include the "Anti-Greed Act" to
redistribute income (sounds like Charlie Rangel's promises soak-the-rich
tax bill) and the "Equalization of Opportunity Act" to prevent people
from starting more than one business (to give other people a chance). My
personal favorite, the "Anti Dog-Eat-Dog Act," aims to restrict
cut-throat competition between firms and thus slow the wave of business
bankruptcies. Why didn't Hank Paulson think of that?
These acts and edicts sound farcical, yes, but no more so than the
actual events in Washington, circa 2008. We already have been served up
the $700 billion "Emergency Economic Stabilization Act" and the
"Auto
Industry Financing and Restructuring Act." Now that Barack Obama is in
town, he will soon sign into law with great urgency the "American
Recovery and Reinvestment Plan." This latest Hail Mary pass will
increase the federal budget (which has already expanded by $1.5 trillion
in eight years under George Bush) by an additional $1 trillion -- in
roughly his first 100 days in office.
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. That's the justification for the $2 trillion of subsidies
doled out already to keep afloat distressed insurance companies, banks,
Wall Street investment houses, and auto companies -- while standing next
in line for their share of the booty are real-estate developers, the
steel industry, chemical companies, airlines, ethanol producers,
construction firms and even catfish farmers. With each successive
bailout to "calm the markets," another trillion of national wealth is
subsequently lost. Yet, as "Atlas" grimly foretold, we now treat the
incompetent who wreck their companies as victims, while those
resourceful business owners who manage to make a profit are portrayed as
recipients of illegitimate "windfalls."
When Rand was writing in the 1950s, one of the pillars of American
industrial might was the railroads. In her novel the railroad owner,
Dagny Taggart, an enterprising industrialist, has a FedEx-like vision
for expansion and first-rate service by rail. But she is continuously
badgered, cajoled, taxed, ruled and regulated -- always in the public
interest -- into bankruptcy. Sound far-fetched? On the day I sat down to
write this ode to "Atlas," a Wall Street Journal headline blared:
"Rail
Shippers Ask Congress to Regulate Freight Prices."
In one chapter of the book, an entrepreneur invents a new miracle metal
-- stronger but lighter than steel. The government immediately
appropriates the invention in "the public good." The politicians
demand
that the metal inventor come to Washington and sign over ownership of
his invention or lose everything.
The scene is eerily similar to an event late last year when six bank
presidents were summoned by Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson to
Washington, and then shuttled into a conference room and told, in
effect, that they could not leave until they collectively signed a
document handing over percentages of their future profits to the
government. The Treasury folks insisted that this shakedown, too, was
all in "the public interest."
Ultimately, "Atlas Shrugged" is a celebration of the entrepreneur,
the
risk taker and the cultivator of wealth through human intellect. Critics
dismissed the novel as simple-minded, and even some of Rand's political
admirers complained that she lacked compassion. Yet one pertinent
warning resounds throughout the book: When profits and wealth and
creativity are denigrated in society, they start to disappear -- leaving
everyone the poorer.
One memorable moment in "Atlas" occurs near the very end, when the
economy has been rendered comatose by all the great economic minds in
Washington. Finally, and out of desperation, the politicians come to the
heroic businessman John Galt (who has resisted their assault on
capitalism) and beg him to help them get the economy back on track. The
discussion sounds much like what would happen today:
Galt: "You want me to be Economic Dictator?"
Mr. Thompson: "Yes!"
"And you'll obey any order I give?"
"Implicitly!"
"Then start by abolishing all income taxes."
"Oh no!" screamed Mr. Thompson, leaping to his feet. "We
couldn't do
that . . . How would we pay government employees?"
"Fire your government employees."
"Oh, no!"
Abolishing the income tax. Now that really would be a genuine economic
stimulus. But Mr. Obama and the Democrats in Washington want to do the
opposite: to raise the income tax "for purposes of fairness" as
Barack
Obama puts it.
David Kelley, the president of the Atlas Society, which is dedicated to
promoting Rand's ideas, explains that "the older the book gets, the
more
timely its message." He tells me that there are plans to make "Atlas
Shrugged" into a major motion picture -- it is the only classic novel of
recent decades that was never made into a movie. "We don't need to
make
a movie out of the book," Mr. Kelley jokes. "We are living it right
now."
Mr. Moore is senior economics writer for The Wall Street Journal
editorial page.
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