3 ms·

I don’t quite understand Rand’s relevance in this current crisis. Where is the connection? All I can see are contradictions to what is actually happening.

• chops 18y ago
  In Atlas Shrugged, she presented a world on the brink of full-on economic collapse as a result of increasing governmental controls and favors, while the politicians and the people kept blaming the problem on the supposed "free market" and ultra-rich industrialists. While there are many people who suggest that the current recession is the result of the free market, Rand's supporters (of which I am), suggest that the recession is the result of governmental controls and intervention in the economy, and that our form of government hasn't gotten even remotely close to Laissez Faire, at least not for over a century. The short and skinny is that many see the events of Atlas Shrugged playing out in real life. Of course, no one's really going to read this, since the link is dead.
  • roc 18y ago
    Which governmental controls encouraged the chain of over-leverage and defrauded investors? Because, from where I'm sitting, I'm not seeing where the government encouraged or rewarded self-destructive behavior.
    • jam 18y ago
      http://www.usgovernmentspending.com/downchart_gs.php?year=1880_2010&view=1&expand=&units=p&fy=fy10&chart=F0-total&stack=1&size=m&title=US%20Government%20Spending%20As%20Percent%20Of%20GDP&state=US&col=c http://www.usgovernmentspending.com/downchart_gs.php?year=18...
      • pohl 18y ago
        Regulation and spending are orthogonal concepts. Your link does nothing to address the question.
        • jam 18y ago
          Spending per GDP is the best actual metric I can come up with for visualizing the "size" or "power" of government in society. There's no 1:1 relationship with regulation, but the two are surely correlated. In Rand's writing, government spending is equally detrimental to society - but you are correct that spending itself was not in question.