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Sales of “Atlas Shrugged” Soar in the Face of Economic Crisis
ARC ^ | February 23, 2009 | Yaron Brook

Posted on 02/28/2009 9:42:38 AM PST by AJMCQ

Washington, D.C., February 23, 2009--Sales of Ayn Rand’s “Atlas Shrugged” have almost tripled over the first seven weeks of this year compared with sales for the same period in 2008. This continues a strong trend after bookstore sales reached an all-time annual high in 2008 of about 200,000 copies sold.

“Americans are flocking to buy and read ‘Atlas Shrugged’ because there are uncanny similarities between the plot-line of the book and the events of our day” said Yaron Brook, Executive Director at the Ayn Rand Center for Individual Rights. “Americans are rightfully concerned about the economic crisis and government’s increasing intervention and attempts to control the economy. Ayn Rand understood and identified the deeper causes of the crisis we’re facing, and she offered, in ‘Atlas Shrugged,’ a principled and practical solution consistent with American values."


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Government; News/Current Events; Politics/Elections
KEYWORDS: 111th; atlasshrugged; aynrand; bho44; clowardpriven; economy; first100days
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An eerily prophetic novel.
1 posted on 02/28/2009 9:42:39 AM PST by AJMCQ
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To: AJMCQ

rand escaped the soviet union and she knew her commies.

i like her 1960’s essays formerly titled “the new left; the anti-industrial revolution” now reissued as:

http://www.amazon.com/Return-Primitive-Anti-Industrial-Revolution/dp/0452011841/ref=sr_1_25?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1235843060&sr=1-25


2 posted on 02/28/2009 9:45:50 AM PST by ken21 (the only thing we have to fear is fdr deja vu.)
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To: ken21

The sales of Atlas Shrugged are not soaring because of economic crisis, but rather because of a political crisis.


3 posted on 02/28/2009 9:48:07 AM PST by Oldexpat
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To: AJMCQ

I read this 20 years ago. At that time I had a business doing about 4 million a year.

Since then I decided to shut it down and now I work by myself.

Her solutions are not too practical, but I decided to stop helping to perpetuate the problems.


4 posted on 02/28/2009 9:49:21 AM PST by Dan(9698)
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To: Oldexpat

these essays are about politics.

i don’t like either title.

the first essays are about the berkeley free speech movement and the new left.

these and their ilk are now in control of our government.


5 posted on 02/28/2009 9:51:26 AM PST by ken21 (the only thing we have to fear is fdr deja vu.)
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To: AJMCQ

I never read this in college. I figured I should know what everyone is talking about. I bought the audio version to listen to on my long trips, several times a week.

I left the corporate world eight years ago and started my one man show. I am doing fine, and recently hit a gross income level that I left behind.

The funny thing is that listening to this book frustrates the hell out of me because I hear the old board meetings and internal politics that I left behind. I find myself screaming at the ipod. Not good.


6 posted on 02/28/2009 9:52:33 AM PST by Vermont Lt (Ein Volk, Ein Riech, Ein Ein.)
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To: Dan(9698)
but I decided to stop helping to perpetuate the problems.

Nice to meet you, Mr. Galt.

L

7 posted on 02/28/2009 9:53:24 AM PST by Lurker (The avalanche has begun. The pebbles no longer have a vote.)
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To: Dan(9698)
"Her solutions are not too practical, but I decided to stop helping to perpetuate the problems."

Her solutions in Atlas Shrugged were a literary tool used to drive home a point.

I don't think she wanted people to literally disappear into Galt's Gulch, but I am sure she would approve of doing everything you can to deny the looters your hard earned money!

8 posted on 02/28/2009 9:55:16 AM PST by Mad Dawgg ("`Eddies,' said Ford, `in the space-time continuum.' `Ah,' nodded Arthur, `is he? Is he?'")
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To: Oldexpat
The sales of Atlas Shrugged are not soaring because of economic crisis, but rather because of a political crisis.

Or they could be soaring because it's cheaper than toilet paper.

9 posted on 02/28/2009 9:58:05 AM PST by Moonman62 (The issue of whether cheap labor makes America great should have been settled by the Civil War.)
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To: AJMCQ
“Americans are flocking to buy and read ‘Atlas Shrugged’ because there are uncanny similarities between the plot-line of the book and the events of our day” said Yaron Brook, Executive Director at the Ayn Rand Center for Individual Rights.

Or, considering how Randians operate, he could be lying through his teeth for his own personal gain.

10 posted on 02/28/2009 9:59:25 AM PST by Moonman62 (The issue of whether cheap labor makes America great should have been settled by the Civil War.)
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To: AJMCQ

The Fountainhead is a good read as well, it’s scary how the gradual socialist takeover of all facets of life detailed in the book mirror’s what is happening today. Individualism, success, and determination are reviled and mediocrity is championed.


11 posted on 02/28/2009 10:02:20 AM PST by apillar
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To: apillar

Absolutely. I like the Fountainhead a lot.

Mediocracy is championed and some weird sense of “fairness” has replaced the concept of justice.

If her books give people the gumption to take a stand and say no, this is a great thing.


12 posted on 02/28/2009 10:09:39 AM PST by Knitting A Conundrum (Beware, world! I haz camera!)
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To: AJMCQ

Alan Greenspan purportedly is an Ayn Rand fan, odd as that sounds in light of recent evens.

... but, then again, he blew up the economy, just as surely as Roark blew up his architecture, and is sending us all to Galt’s Gulch.

Is there a thesis here?


13 posted on 02/28/2009 10:16:55 AM PST by RegulatorCountry
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To: Knitting A Conundrum
Mediocracy is championed and some weird sense of “fairness” has replaced the concept of justice.

On at least 2 occasions in interviews, Obama agreed that lowering the capital gains tax will increase government revenues, but raising the tax would be "more fair."

Mark

14 posted on 02/28/2009 10:19:34 AM PST by MarkL (Do I really look like a guy with a plan?)
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To: AJMCQ
In addition to Atlas Shrugged, I recommend Shirer's The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich.

I am doing a reread and am about half way through volume one.

Many of the things promised by Obama (and Michelle) stand in shocking parallel to what happened before and after 1933.

15 posted on 02/28/2009 10:22:40 AM PST by SonOfDarkSkies
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To: AJMCQ

IMHO, I think The Fountainhead said it all. I thought Atlas Shrugged was a little tedious.


16 posted on 02/28/2009 10:27:26 AM PST by Spok
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To: SonOfDarkSkies

Thanks for reminding me of that book. I haven’t read the Rise and Fall since forever...probably the 70s.


17 posted on 02/28/2009 10:28:45 AM PST by Knitting A Conundrum (Beware, world! I haz camera!)
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To: stylecouncilor

Ping


18 posted on 02/28/2009 10:32:57 AM PST by windcliff
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To: AJMCQ

I went into McDonalds with Atlas today and we did a double shrug as we listened to the busy din of spanish voices laughing and carrying on as they worked. Meanwhile we watch our co-workers drop like flies all around us.


19 posted on 02/28/2009 10:37:37 AM PST by kinghorse (Apes in underwater cave grottos are laughing at us.)
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To: Knitting A Conundrum
When I started it again last week, I thought it would be only faintly applicable to our times since Obumbler is certainly no Hitler.

But I forgot how much of a machine quickly develop around Hitler that did so much of the heavy lifting for the 3rd Reich.

In the present situation, Obama needs no Office of Propaganda because the MSM performed perfectly without needing to be told what to do. And Obama's "Truth Squads" and others apparently doing the same, attacking enemies of Obama without any instructions from home office.

Frightening stuff!

20 posted on 02/28/2009 10:38:16 AM PST by SonOfDarkSkies
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