Replies

1 posted on 06/27/2009 7:38:16 AM PDT by Publius

2 posted on 06/27/2009 7:38:47 AM PDT by Hoodat (For the weapons of our warfare are mighty in God for pulling down strongholds.)

To: ADemocratNoMore; Aggie Mama; alarm rider; alexander_busek; AlligatorEyes; AmericanGirlRising; ...

3 posted on 06/27/2009 7:39:22 AM PDT by Publius (Gresham's Law: Bad victims drive good victims out of the market.)

To: Publius; Billthedrill

Thanks for the analysis and insight.

Always appreciated here.

6 posted on 06/27/2009 9:25:26 AM PDT by Sundog (I hope Michelle Obama isn't going to be punished with a baby.)

Not to take the thread off in another direction but in searching for an AS quote the other day, I came across a book that if not the direct precursor to AS certainly added its influence. It's The Driver by Garet Garrett, published in 1922. It is available electronically via a Google Books search.

I found it to be very readable, as timely now as is Atlas Shrugged, and a key character is ... Henry M. Galt!

8 posted on 06/27/2009 9:51:54 AM PDT by NonValueAdded ("I've conquered my goddam willpower." Don Marquis)

What is it about September 2nd?

ML/NJ

12 posted on 06/27/2009 11:22:42 AM PDT by ml/nj

Les’see:

To the first and second questions, James Taggart is running out of things to destroy. A man unaware of the nature of John Galt’s plan would believe that he won. He wrecked Hank Rearden’s greatest successes, in his business and in his personal life. He has just destroyed D’Anconia Copper. The other railroads are collapsing under the burden of James Taggart’s schemes.

The story begins with James Taggart as the envious brat among Dagny, Francisco, and Eddie Willers. Francisco makes a fool of him with the speedboat and Dagny and Eddie ignore him. In a monarchy, James would be the acknowledged leader by virtue of his birthright. In a meritocracy, James is the bottom rung of the children's hierarchy. It made me wonder how the Taggart family could raise two children of such disparate abilities and attitudes. It was New York, therefore Mrs. Taggart was secretly banging the proto Eliot Spitzer. That's my story and I'm sticking to it.

James never had to destroy Eddie Willers because Eddie wasn't a threat to his ego. He attacked his own sister through the theft of Rearden Metal. A blow to Rearden was a blow to Dagny. His friends will steal everything Francisco has. Now what can he do? Destroying little people has no meaning for him. He considers them insignificant. They were never more than objects to be used in his schemes.

The beggar serves several purposes. He is the antithesis of Franciso’s money speech. Francisco praised money as a tool to enable trade between men of minds and men of labor. He said that the value of money was not in the gold it represented but in its ability to allow men to establish an objective value and trade to each others’ benefit. James gives a hundred dollar bill to a bum, similar to perhaps a few thousand dollars today. Neither man even acknowledges the gift. They have nothing to offer each other. As a consequence, the money is meaningless.

Now James is confronted with the effects of his public speeches about the evil of money and his hypocritical actions in accumulating it. He is now profoundly wealthy. But his wealth came by destroying people like Wyatt, Rearden, and D’Anconia. Who now is worthy of destruction? James convinced the world that money had no value, making sure to acquire it on the sly. His schemes have concluded. He convinced everyone that money has no value. His own money has no value. He doesn't care. He realizes that he was destroying men for the sake of destroying them, not for personal gain.

Cheryl identifies him. James Taggart is a killer for the sake of killing. That fogbound alley, a staple of monsters and murders in the days of black and white films, is the place where the killer reveals his true identity when he destroys people who lived by trust. The headlight is the light shone by the men who pursue the killer, whether townspeople with torches or police in patrol cars, when they finally realize what they are fighting. Rand's cinematic background shows through.

29 posted on 06/27/2009 6:53:27 PM PDT by sig226 (Real power is not the ability to destroy an enemy. It is the willingness to do it.)

To: Publius; Billthedrill

In his autobiography, Eddie Rickenbacker relates an incident that happened to he and his wife in post WW1 Germany.

Mr. Rickenbacker and his wife were staying in a hotel in Germany. Rickenbacker tipped, if I remember correctly, the hotel maid and bellhop. Both maid and bellhop, according to Rickenbacker, treated the tips with something approaching disdain. But, Rickenbacker was chastised by his wife for being so overly generous.

Later, Rickenbacker did some checking and figuring, and realized he’d hardly given the two anything in the way of a tip, due to post war inflation and that he’d incorrectly figured the rate of exchange. So, Mr. Rickenbacker went back and tipped appropriately.

My thoughts on this Mr. Rickenbacker and the tipping incident have always been twofold: 1. He went back and did the right thing. But: 2. The pair should have accepted the original tip gracefully and not acted in such a snide manner.

I’ve often thought of the above when Ayn has the bum receive charity. Jim gives the money because he can, and the bum accepts the money, without even thanks, because he expects it.

It’s quite obvious society in AS has reached the point where those that have expect to support those who don’t. That bums like those pictured in this chapter have reached the point where living off of other people is a normal part of life.

Sorry I’m late to this again. Another trip out of town, this time to see the future in-laws.

42 posted on 06/28/2009 8:26:08 AM PDT by stylin_geek (Greed and envy is used by our political class to exploit the rich and poor.)

The bum who accepts Jim Taggart’s largesse, a one hundred dollar bill, does so contemptuously – and he doesn’t even know Jim! What does this act say on the part of both men about New York and American society at this juncture?

This screams "Katrina" to me. People reacted to the $2000 debit cards the same way.

57 posted on 06/28/2009 12:03:09 PM PDT by denydenydeny ("I'm sure this goes against everything you've been taught, but right and wrong do exist"-Dr House)

65 posted on 06/28/2009 8:43:19 PM PDT by Taggart_D

I am still following this as well

86 posted on 06/30/2009 7:41:41 PM PDT by Charlespg

91 posted on 08/14/2009 5:35:59 PM PDT by r-q-tek86 ("A building has integrity just like a man. And just as seldom." - Ayn Rand)

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