A Book Review

I just finished reading a book that was started in the 1940’s and completed in the 1950’s; it’s called Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand, a Russian immigrant. The interesting thing about the book is that even though it was written with 1940’s knowledge, Ms Rand wrote it because of the path she saw the United States taking at that time, that path is the same one we are on right now.
The book starts off in the midst of an industrial revolution for the country. Industrialists are making advances in their areas of expertise by leaps and bounds with no interference from the Government. Around the same time a new Government administration enters into power, one that believes in fairness, fairness as long as it keeps them in power. As the Government aligns themselves with artists, philosophers and politicians with a socialist attitude the regulations to promote fairness start to be passed. It begins with, as Ayn Rand called it, a no dog eat dog doctrine, from there it spreads to regulations on production.
The Industrial Revolution occurred between 1850 and 1870. The effects of the Industrial Revolution continued through the Roaring 20’s. This all came to an end with the Great Depression which started in the late 1920’s. To end the Great Depression President Franklin D. Roosevelt introduced the New Deal. This was to be Government intervention to end the Depression. It didn’t end the Depression, it began the oppression of American industry and the American working class.
In Atlas Shrugged the increase of regulations was strangling free enterprise. In response industrialist start retiring or simply walking away from their life’s work. All inspired by one man who refused to sell his minds work at the price of his soul and morals.
In America we are at this stage, only it’s not walking away from their life’s work, instead businesses are moving off shore, moving to places where labor is cheap and profits are high. Ayn Rand wrote of men of industry with high morals, unfortunately today not all men have high morals, at the same time they are not misguided idealists that are willing to sacrifice their own survival and prosperity for the leeches of society, those that are willing to take from the working class without ever putting in an honest days work themselves.
In Atlas Shrugged the Government policy of fairness goes to the point where jobs may be had without qualifications and without threat of firing, profits are limited to promote equality between competing companies and Nationalization of industries is the ultimate goal. This leads to complete failure in industry caused by unqualified personnel and the failure of one industry after another. Qualified workers start walking off the job and disappearing into the wilderness to fend for themselves and the great minds of the industrialists just disappear altogether.
America today is not to that point but are we headed that way? Did a Russian emigrant in the 1940s actually see the direction we were headed for? Are the events going on now in Greece a preview of what could happen here in America? As I personally see it we are at the stage where the Government is encroaching on industry and not allowing the boom and bust cycle to work. The recent bailout of the banking, auto and mortgage industries only allowed those that are corrupt and mismanaged to survive while smaller entrepreneurs were pulled under. While allowing big industries to fail may have caused another Depression bailing them out has allowed corruption to continue and the current recession to continue. The boom and bust theory of industry would have allowed those that should not survive to fail opening the doors to those that can survive, instead we are just propping up what will eventually fail and putting America as a whole deeper in debt.
I highly recommend reading Atlas Shrugged, it is a long read at just over 1000 pages with some very long winded speeches in its pages, but all told it is very enlightening.