Posted on 12/13/2009 1:02:29 PM PST by rface
CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. — Ayn Rand is back. In the wake of the 2008 financial crisis, the long-dead novelist and philosopher has become prophet and a scapegoat. Liberals blame her for the economic collapse, citing the influence of her most famous acolyte, Alan Greenspan. Conservatives hail her as a visionary who saw it all coming. Love her or hate her, Rand's ideas have become fundamental to how Americans understand capitalism.
The liberal case against Rand rests on her relationship with Alan Greenspan, the long-term head of the Federal Reserve Bank. In his youth, Greenspan was part of "The Collective," a small group of students who gathered around Rand in the 1950s and 1960s in New York City. A regular visitor to Rand's Saturday night salon, he read the first drafts of Rand's most famous novel, "Atlas Shrugged," as they came off her typewriter. He quickly mastered the fundamentals of Objectivism, her individualistic philosophy. Rand taught that reality is objective, reason rules supreme, selfishness is a virtue, and laissez-faire capitalism is the only moral and practical social system.
In a series of articles written for Rand's Objectivist Newsletter, Greenspan applied these ideas to current politics. .......
[ snip ]
The record-breaking sales of Rand's books in the last year suggest her influence may be just beginning. Many readers are turning to Rand to understand our past - but she may be a better guide to our future.
(Excerpt) Read more at mcclatchydc.com ...
Unemployed hooker!!!
Directive 10-289 will be along shortly.
She was neither. She was a keen student of human behavior and, bolstered by her experiences and observations of Soviet Russia, was capable of extrapolating what would happen in American society if too many of the grifters came into being and seized too much power. A prescient observation but not a prognostication.
“....Greenspan was part of “The Collective,” a small group of students who gathered around Rand in the 1950s and 1960s”
Oh, are ones early associates now an issue?
For anyone on the Right, yes.
For anyone on the Left, no.
Get with the program.
Well it does look like Greenspan was a fairly conservative economist. Maybe some Rand rubbed off on him even though I would quite disagree with Rand on a spiritual plane. Not everything of worth can be measured in dollars and cents.
“Oh, are ones early associates now an issue?”
Early? Greenspan was the truest acolyte of Rand. He ran the Fed up until a few years ago.
Later, he broke down and sobbed in front of Congress that his “freedom” ideas about how self-interested financiers who invent money and other stuff they openly call “toxic” will morally police themselves for the better good.
He has no human insight, though Rand did. He just has the lawless bug. Sometimes I think he is mildly autistic.
If Greenspan was a Rand follower and supporter...where in the world did he develop his Liberal Globalist ideas....and ever ended up marrying the uber-liberal Andrea Mitchell?
And hack writer.
Rand seems to think you can hide in a closet until the bondage of the US is over. The book did not address the globalist effect on that "waiting period".
I'm sure the responsibility for the economic situation would be directed towards Galt’s group.
I totally agree.....Ayan Rand figured out the economic and kinda figured out the creative motives of humanity but missed the self evident spiritual elements of humanity.....in my humble opinion....
Neither. Ayn Rand was a witch.
Attempts to construct a morally sane world out of nothing but humanistic “will tend to” principles invariably fail.
To be a witch (or wizard) you have to have a spiritual side.
Was she an atheist? It has always been hard for me to get beyond that.
Sheesh. Prophet? Put things in perspective. She was an exceptionally bright woman with above average writing skills who saw some things (the nature of liberals) with blinding clarity and saw other things through a glass very darkly.
IMHO, she should be required reading for every 16-18 year old. But so too should be the Bible; and as between the two, Paul, Solomon and the author of Job (to pick a few) would kick her butt any day of the week (’cept Sunday) as intellectuals, writers, or thinkers.
I think what Rand was getting at is that government is a parasite and the productive members of society are the host. As long as the parasite grows at the same rate as the host, or a little more the two can exist together. Prior to Bush, government was increasing around 8 percent per year and the economy was increasing around 3.5 percent per year. Death of the host was going to occur, but probably not until 2030. However, now the host is contracting and the government is growing at 10 percent or more per annum. This means that the host, the productive economy, will die within the next few years, if not sooner.
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