Posted on 03/24/2009 1:18:16 PM PDT by Red Badger
Sometimes I feel as if God has taken Rand's Atlas Shrugged and turned into into a nonstop running play, using the United States as his grand stage (much as Rand did in her novel).
Listen to Tim Geitner today as he demands the title of economic czar of the nation:
Geithner seeks new powers over financial companies
Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner called on Congress Tuesday to grant him new powers to regulate huge financial companies like insurance giant AIG, whose failure would pose a grave danger to the U.S. financial system and the broader economy.
Specifically, Geithner wants powers similar to those of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, which has authority to seize control of banks, take over their bad assets and sell good ones to competitors...
Now pay attention to Wesley Mouch, economic czar of Atlas Shrugs' America, and listen to him complain as Rand's "elite" discuss taking complete control of the nation's production:
'It's obvious that measures have to be taken. Drastic measures,' said James Taggart, speaking , not to Mr Thompson, but to Wesley Mouch. 'We can't let things go the way they're going much longer.' His voice was belligerent and shaky. ''Don't look at me,' snapped Wesley Mouch. 'I can't help it. I can't help if people refuse to co-operate. I'm tied. I need wider powers.'
'Go ahead, Wesley,' [Thompson] said. 'Go ahead with Number 10-289. You won't have any trouble at all.' …' If you want me to go ahead, you'll have to declare a state of total emergency.' 'I'll declare it any time you are ready.'…'
"The chief difficulty is that I am not sure whether the law actually grants us the power to put into effect certain provisions of Directive Number 10-289. I fear they might be open to challenge.'' "Oh, hell, we've passed so many emergency laws that if you hunt through them, you're sure to dig up something that will cover it."
An explanation of why this is going on, and where it will lead:
The primary motive behind the government’s scheme, which is a vast, seemingly opaque combination of the Ponzi and pyramid models, is not greed, avarice, or even the “quick buck” but rather power. As the pyramid pharaohs and Ponzis fake reality in order to steal from their duped victims, politicians strive to keep reality at bay, that is, to postpone or delay the consequences of their past and current policies. They fake reality by blaming any financial crisis on anyone but themselves, usually on “unfettered“ capitalism .
Their role as “confidence men” is to persuade everyone else of it and to call for an expansion of the scheme, to assume more powers in an attempt to correct a crisis of their own making, literally with their fingers crossed. (“I need wider powers!” demanded Wesley Mouch in Ayn Rand’s prophetic novel, Atlas Shrugged.)
So is Geithner a real-life Wesley Mouch? And is Obama really nothing more than Bernie Madoff, running the biggest Ponzi scheme in world history, one destined to destroy our wealth in one fell swoop?
Remember, in Rand's novel, the United States slips into chaos and anarchy due to the "Mouch Mentality". Are we destined for the same inglorius end?
posted by The JerseyNut | 12:12 PM
It’s true for non-Christians too. One day she told her husband she was going to have an affair with one of their friends and there was nothing he could do about it, right in front of their friends. In the words of a GOP politician, she was a major league A__hole.
Uh, no: that would mean Clinton is Hank Reardon. Not in this world!
She’s Hank Reardon’s wife....................
It was obvious that Obama didn't have a clue. When asked about the effect it will have on charities, he responded that it won't affect rich people at all since they have plenty to give.
IIRC, he doesn't give very much at all, and he's rich. Why should others be different?
BBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBingo!
My question to you would be, “Who is John Galt?”
We’ve got plenty of Wesley Mouch characters and Geithner seems to be a good fit, but I’m looking for John Galt.
I highly recommend it. It had been about ten years since I read it last, and going through it again these last few months has made the hair on the back of my neck stand up. It's as if Obama & Co. are using the Taggart/Boyle/Mouch playbook as a guide. The "Directives" passed by the fictional government are eerily similar to the legislation bandied about today (and passed at breakneck speed without so much as a debate or citizen input). I'm telling you, Atlas Shrugged is nearly prophetic. Or maybe we're just doomed to repeat history.
I agree with what you said. I am reading it for the first time. But it is striking that with the author’s atheism, there are no characters that portray the salt and light of a Christian. The bad guys are atheists, and the good guys are atheists, and not one is a shining light in a dark world.
It is a bit unnerving.
The problem with Galts Gulch is that it's a fictional place. In my personal opinion it will always be a goal, not an attainment.
With that in mind, I suggest that we look within ourselves and, through our own choices and actions, demonstrate that if the Gulch were attainable we would be admitted.
That’s true that was poor conduct on her part.
On the other hand Ayn Rand never claimed that I was guilty from birth for some supposed “crime” of a distant ancestor.
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