Rand, Ayn. Atlas Shrugged. New York: Random House. 1957.
The events in Chapters nine and ten of Ayn Rand's Atlas Shrugged have much in common with the real world events of recent history.
In Chapter 9, characters Dagny and Reardon find a car company which has been deserted. The Twentieth Century Motor Company factory is deserted. Everyone who was employed or who benefited from the factory has been made to suffer. The United States' government bailed out General Motors and other car companies to make sure people stayed in their jobs. Had they not done so, the real-world car companies would have found themselves in the position of the fictitious Twentieth Century.
Likewise, Dagny's brother James doesn't so much believe that money is evil so much as he believes that money is not a natural extension of human reason. Jim's means of making money is through connections and manipulation, not through creativity and intelligence. Therefore, characters like Orren Boyle and James Taggart represent the antithesis of what d'Anconia was trying to say about money.
Galt's Gulch and a strike of the mind is possible? Do we choose not to believe it or the philosophy because we might not be one of them or do we truly not believe in top down economics?
Rand, Ayn. Atlas Shrugged. New York: Signet, 1985. Print.
Capitalists of the orld Unite! You Have Everything to Gain -- profit, individual excellence, and personal appeal!
In her fictional work of philosophy entitled Atlas Shrugged, one of Ayn Rand's central characters, Francisco d'Anconia, expresses outrage at the expressed ideal that "money is the root of all evil." He argues instead that money is the root of all human advancement and gain. Money provides motivation for humans to rise above the level of beasts and create unique works of human production and the imagination. Money is an objective standard of valuation, unlike airy systems of merit that are open to bias. It is for this reason, d'Anconia ominously says, why the systems of money evaluation and money production is one of the first things that are attacked by invaders, when attempting to destroy a country.
As if to say scientific achievement and technological advancement work together with agriculture and mining to produce. Each complements and supports the other with Integrity watching over all. There was a speech given by Ayn Rand about the New York Stock Exchange about money from Atlas Shrugged?
Durante, Diane. "Integrity Protecting the Works of Man." < http://www.forgottendelights.com/NYCsculpture/salute/SalutesApril.htm#Integrity > April 2011.
Johnson, A. "Reviewing the Pediment of the NYSE." Reyte on Publishing. 2010.
"New York Stock Exchange." NYX.com. NYSE Euronext. Web. 5 Nov. 2011.
Morality is a much debated philosophical idea, wherein the arguments range from ethical egoism being the perfect sample of moral ethics to altruism being the perfect -- and otherwise opposite -- viewpoint. Both ideas have strong followings, and ethical egoism along is broadened to even more branches within philosophical studies. There is still much reconciliation to be done between the various problems of philosophical thought and ethical egoism or lack thereof.
Blackburn, Simon. The Oxford Dictionary of Philosophy. Oxford: Oxford UP, 1994. Print.
Hume, David. A Treatise of Human Nature,. London: J.M. Dent & Sons, 1911. Print.
Jefferson, Thomas. "Letter from Jefferson to Thomas Law." The Founding Faith Archive. 13 June 1814. Web. 20 Apr. 2011. .
Rand, Ayn, and Leonard Peikoff. Atlas Shrugged. New York, NY: Signet, 2007. Print.
Stone, D.A. (2002). Policy paradox: The art of political decision making. New York: Norton.
Payser, a (May 13, 2010).Mosque madness at Ground Zero.