A working man doesn't have time to waste reading the 1000+ pages of Atlas Shrugged, a weak uninspiring story line, single dimension characters, and a story told so slow it is painful to read. Reading the book would make the production line seem exciting though.
Though I'm opposed to the degree of individualism that Rand idealizes in those books, I did find them inspirational.
100% agree. The Fountainhead caught the Anarcho-capitalist spirit quite well, whereas Atlas shrugged was for me...well vapid. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- And yeah of course Ryan would be a villain in Atlas Shrugged, he`s a fucking politician man!
The first objection I had to Rand's views, and this is not her fault, was that they were written before the "Silent Spring era" and so didn't account for negative externalities and the implications of crowding. To illustrate, based on what we know about other miracle technologies today, if Rearden metal existed its manufacture would probably be highly toxic. If no one compelled the manufacturer of that metal to contain his byproducts, why would he purchase the services of, say, a brave and entrepreneurial waste disposal company, when strictly speaking he neither needs nor wants those services?
Ricter and I agree 2 days in a row. govt has a few purposes.. some being... 1. provide police and defense of the public. 2. As part of protecting the public... arguably the govt proper role is to make sure "price" serves the function of allocating resources. If the cost of proper disposal is not in the price then society can not properly allocate resources. hence fukishima... and someday... san onofre. The cost of disposal is not in the cost per hour of nuclear power and other energy so we get nuclear power cheaper than it should be. If nuclear power were properly priced... we might build plants in the middle of nowhere or not at all.