"At first I was happy to be learning how to read. It seemed exciting and magical, but then I read this: 'Atlas Shrugged,' by Ayn Rand. I read every last word of this garbage, and because of this piece of ----, I am never reading again!"
Posted on 01/09/2009 8:33:57 AM PST by reaganaut1
[T]he moral of ["Atlas Shrugged"] 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 [you get].
(Excerpt) Read more at online.wsj.com ...
PING!
She was a screen writer in Hollywood when Reagan became President OF THE SCREEN GUILD. They became friends and he learned what Communism really was and the steps that lead to it, from her.
She didn't overlook the imperfections of Capitalism - read her "Capitalism: the Unknown Ideal."
Too late.
It already has.
"At first I was happy to be learning how to read. It seemed exciting and magical, but then I read this: 'Atlas Shrugged,' by Ayn Rand. I read every last word of this garbage, and because of this piece of ----, I am never reading again!"
Wow... Did you forget a sarcasm tag?
“Abolishing all income taxes may be tried... schools and affordable hospitals will disappear, as will well-maintained highways and railroads. Public infrastructure will collapse, e.g. energy supplies. Contagious diseases will spread like wildfire. The rich and ultrarich will withdraw into extremely guarded gated communities with private police to protect them.”
Funny, Texas doesn’t have income taxes and we get along just fine.
There's always a new generation that is totally ignorant of past failures. For a liberal, history started at breakfast this morning............
“BTW, Atlas Shrugged should be mandatory reading in grade school.”
Too early. You have to be at least 25 to realize that it is only barely fiction.
“The right to buy weapons is the right to be free.” - A.E. van Vogt
Popper was a vehement anti-Totalitarian. And yet, here you are saying we just need to do Totalitarianism “better” and “for our own good”.
Her book discusses the ‘benefits’ ordered by the government. Employers forced to pay for things that cost far more than the company can afford.
It is decades in the making.
Wow... You started out leaning Leftward and just fell off the planet with that idiotic remark.
Thanks, I appreciate your description of the way you perceive things (no irony). I do not know if the killers of Fortuyn and van Gogh got much coverage in the U.S., but the murderer of Fortuyn was a delusional eco-warrior (a sad case of a psychiatrically tortured soul), not a Muslim; and the one who killed van Gogh was, although Islamic indeed, equally disturbed. Compare them to various sad minds who operated in the U.S., like Sirhan Sirhan, or Timothy McVeigh... anyway, not a sign of any well-hidden inimical Islamist conspiracy in sight in the two Dutch murder cases.
That is not to say that Holland does not have its problems. Many foreigners have to become acculturated within a few years and that is not easy. The fact that we did have a lousy secretary for Immigration in the years past did not make anything better. Furthermore, a chilling untertow of xenophobia has taken hold of Holland; and this causes insecure foreigners to retreat in their houses and live in their own tiny world (satellite dishes pointed at Turkey, Morocco, and so on). Finally, perhaps hardest of all: it is difficult to reconcile cultural differences that pertain to the way people form friendships, partnerships, marry... no easy thing.
The problem with the Dutch right is that it falls time and time into the trap of populism, and works with easy clarion calls which happen to be factually wrong almost all of the time. It’s like saying that one in three marriages ends in divorce... which only is true if you leave out the number of newly formed bonds in a given year. You try to present the populists with bare facts, and they turn a blind eye.
But there is no Islamic conspiracy going on at all; and be sure that the first Morocco-born mayor of Rotterdam (installed a week ago) obeys our Constitution first and foremost, and does not suffer fools gladly.
Hope this helps a bit in terms of clarifying, A13.
It was supposed to've come out last May -
Angelina J. was to be Dagny T.
But I believe she also 'owns' the movie rights - and I don't believe the left wanted such a movie to come out pre-election. Too many people might have woken up.
Now the election is over - let's see if it gets made...or is deliberately being tied up to keep it from seeing the light of day.
I'm sure her daddy would like to see it made. Hmmm - maybe he could play "Hank."
Right now, NBC says it's plans to air it this year as a mini-series. Mini-series is really the only way it could be done - far too long for a movie.
Maybe coming out this year will be the best as, if done faithfully, people watching it will equate the characters and actions with what is going on in this country now = and this upcoming administration. (Hopefully, "the One" has never read Rand or Atlas or he would forbid it to be aired.)
Friend:
This is definitely not your forum. The viewpoint you advocate may be roughly consistent with the kind of conservatism practiced in Britain or the Continent, but definitely not what an American would consider conservative/pro-freedom/pro-individual rights. I lived in Germany for four years, and traveled through Europe quite a bit (though I never made it to Holland). Forgive me for saying so, but from where I stood, from what I read, and based on my conversations with many folks, Europe is a dying entity (partially mediated by the powerful European tendency to seek the solution to all social problems through more government regulation/intervention).
It isn’t simply the demographic tsunami headed in your direction. It is a given fact that, unless things change radically, the native population of Holland will be a minority by mid-century, and the Muslim population will have reached near-majority status. Psychologically, that will mean that those who subscribe to the famous Dutch orientation towards tolerance and mutual respect will come to be ruled by a segment of the population who take pride in considering themselves “not Dutch”, and who wallow in their divinely-sanctioned intolerance and xenophobia.
Yes, it is true that Holland (and France, and Germany, and Spain) have lower rates of violent crime than the United States. However, those rates are increasing (especially hate crimes against homosexuals), and much of that crime is now carried out by “youths” from the social group who will one day rule your country. Yes, your rates of violent crimes are lower than ours, but we have not yet experienced the slaughter of a filmmaker for “insulting Islam” (i.e., van Gogh); the exile of an elected politician, and the threatened beheading of another politician, for that same “offense” (Ayaan Hirsi Ali and Geert Wilders, respectively); nor the spectacle of so-called “No-Go Areas” in large urban centers, where gang-rapes of non-veiled girls and women is a fact of life. All this is the reality of modern, “civilized” Europe.
I suggest that you examine more carefully what “social engineering” has wrought in your country and on your continent. The soothing, dulcet tones emanating from your national media are designed specifically to hide the truth from you, i.e., a form of “social engineering” meant to calm the fears of the populace in the face of the ugly reality. This form of social engineering, carried out with the active participation of your government, is mean to prevent any active resistance to the demographic changes affecting your nation.
I suggest that you don’t know your own country as well as you think you do. If you don’t believe me, read Hirsi Ali’s book, “Infidel”; or Bruce Bawer’s book, “While Europe Slept”.
Godspeed to you.
I agree. I read all of his works, by the way. I hope to come back to it tomorrow, have to leave here (where the PC is) now.
Thanks for posting. I can stand criticism if it’s fair.
If the white population of the Netherlands is overwhelmed by Muslim immigration and higher Muslim fertility, all of those positive qualities will disappear.
Bump
So, what would you do to prevent an external threat if the United States military didn’t exist?
One of my HUGEST pet peaves about Euroweenie Socialists is their claim of superiority for spending more on social programs than on the military.
They would not be able to do this without the knowledge of the protection of the US Military.
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