• • • Christmas and the failure of greed 
St. Louis Post-Dispatch Atheism  Ayn Rand Institute  Atlas Shrugged  Capitalism  Egoism  Leonard Peikoff  Response to Leonard Peikoff’s “Why Christmas Should Be More Commercial.”It should go without saying — but we will say it anyway — that despite its intellectual veneer, Mr. Peikoff's view is so much reindeer poop. But let us extend the hand of mercy: This year, of all years, must be a tough one for the adherents of Ms. Rand. For those who have mislaid their copies of "Atlas Shrugged," Ayn Rand (1905-1982) was a Russian-born novelist and screenwriter who devoted her life to what the economist John Kenneth Galbraith called "one of man's oldest exercises in moral philosophy: the search for a superior moral justification for selfishness." Ms. Rand rejected religion. She rejected philanthropy. She rejected almost everything but laissez faire capitalism and what she called "rational selfishness."     Share on Facebook

• BB&T took federal rescue money at Treasury’s urging 
George Hohmann, Charleston Daily Mail (WV) Atlas Shrugged  Capitalism  Within the past two years, BB&T has made contributions from its charitable foundation to West Virginia University ($1.75 million), Marshall University ($1 million), Wheeling Jesuit University ($700,000) and the University of Charleston ($350,000). Most of the money involves an agreement by the schools to at least review the free market principles set forth in Rand's book, "Atlas Shrugged."     Share on Facebook

• • Why Greenspan should have read Marx 
Jeet Heer, National Post (Toronto) Capitalism  Alan Greenspan, it's worth recalling, enjoyed his early manhood during this golden age (he was 19 years old in 1945). Indoctrinated by ideologues like Rand and Friedman, Greenspan thought that the economic prosperity of the period was the product of the free market, rather than the mixed economy. So Greenspan spent his life working to undermine (usually very successfully) the regulatory infrastructure that moderate social democrats had so carefully built. That was the root of the "flaw" in his thinking that he now has to come to terms with, as must we all.     Share on Facebook

• • What Marx could have learned from Greenspan 
Peter Foster, National Post (Toronto) Capitalism  Elsewhere on this page, Jeet Heer presents a one-dimensional picture of Mr. Greenspan on the way to the usual semantic slipperiness, ad hominem attacks, logical leaps and historical misrepresentation that are the stock-in-trade of the Zombie Left. Apparently, Mr. Greenspan's main problem was to have been indoctrinated by the likes of Ayn Rand, who is written off as a "self-made philosopher" (presumably as opposed to the unthinking production-line variety) [...]. It might be noted, however, that Ms. Rand's heirs have persistently poured scorn on Mr. Greenspan for selling out, and given his role in creating the most recent bubble with artificially low interest rates, they might be right.     Share on Facebook

• • Capitalism works just fine ... 
Glenn Woiceshyn, National Post (Toronto) Capitalism  Letter to the editor.Had Jeet Heer actually studied Ayn Rand he would know that she would have condemned Alan Greenspan for abandoning the fundamental principles of capitalism.     Share on Facebook

• • Is it art? 
John Lanchester, London Review of Books Capitalism  One of the hottest philosophical topics on the internet is Ayn Rand. Her ‘objectivist’ philosophy, positivistic and materialistic and focused on the need to get society out of the way of the genius so that he can get on with his geniusness, is popular with a broad spectrum of alienated semi-young men tapping away at computer screens and dreaming of world domination. Complicating the picture is the fact that she was also the main intellectual influence on her close friend and protégé Alan Greenspan, author of the recent monetary boom we were all enjoying so much until it destroyed the world economy. The only thing which isn’t ridiculous about Rand and her ‘objectivism’ is the number of people who take her seriously. It would be a good time for someone to publish a work of fiction or make a movie going into Rand’s ideas and duffing them up a bit – for instance, imagining what it would look like if a society with no laws were turned over to the free will of self-denominated geniuses. Well, someone has done that, except it isn’t a book or movie, it’s a video game. BioShock, which came out in 2007, was conceived by Ken Levine and developed by 2K Boston/2K Australia, and is set in an alternative-reality version of 1960.     Share on Facebook

• • The Fountainhead by Ayn Rand 
Brittany H., Teen Ink Magazine The Fountainhead  Whether the reader yearns for an end to traditional architecture, like Roark, or just a path to independence, The Fountainhead is a must-read. Rand’s philosophies are applicable to every person and every profession.     Share on Facebook

• Philosophers at work, and hoping for it 
Carlin Romano, Philadelphia Inquirer Report on the annual meeting of the American Philosophical Association (APA), Eastern Division.In recent years, the APA has helped [inspire passion] by displaying greater openness to diverse philosophical traditions. This year's program offered sessions sponsored by the Association of Chinese Philosophers in America, Concerned Philosophers for Peace, the Ayn Rand Society, and many more.     Share on Facebook

• • Biz buzz 
Diane Lively Yost, Morgan County Citizen (GA) Atlas Shrugged  Capitalism  Don’t look now but there’s the famous industrialist John Galt sittin’ at the bar! Shasta! We must be in Ayn Rand’s Laisse Faire Mountaintop Utopia owned by fictional financier Midas Mulligan! Hey! Mr. Galt! Why so glum? What do you mean all the business folks, artists, scientists, inventors, doctors and smarty-pants who hide out here from government interference are flat-smackin’ broke? Wow! It’s last call for the free-for-all! It appears poor Mr. Mulligan’s mountaintop hideaway fund was caught up in looter-moocher Bernard Madoff’s worldwide $50 billion Ponzi scheme! Momma break out the white lighten’ and welcome Mr. Galt to the real world!     Share on Facebook

• • A conservative-libertarian booklist for Spectator readers 
Hunter Baker, American Spectator Atlas Shrugged  Capitalism  Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand -- I can't resist putting Chambers and Rand together, especially since Chambers was the instrument William F. Buckley used to read Rand out of the conservative movement. As a Christian, I find Rand's work antithetical to my own sensibilities, but I have to admit its power. Besides, this is a conservative-libertarian list and she can't be left off. On the other hand, as literature, it cannot rank with the greats. I still remember the moment when John Galt grabs a microphone to speak to the nation . . . and one hundred pages later is wrapping it up!     Share on Facebook

• Indelible India! 
Raju Peddada, Swans The Fountainhead  Our host, our dear maternal uncle here in Kukatpally, is a character identical to Howard Roark of The Fountainhead by Ayn Rand. He and his family together are anachronisms in the 21st century, righteous to a fault in an age where "get rich at any cost" is the modus operandi.     Share on Facebook

• • The capitalist fiction of Garet Garrett 
Bruce Ramsey, Mises.org Daily Article Atlas Shrugged  Capitalism  Garrett's first real novel, The Driver, is the one libertarians tend to know about, because of the argument that Justin Raimondo made in Reclaiming the American Right (1993). Raimondo supposed that Ayn Rand had lifted her protagonist's name "Galt" and the "Who is John Galt?" device from The Driver. I don't know whether she did or didn't. Raimondo may be right, though Garrett does not use the "who is" device in the same way that Rand does. Both The Driver and Atlas Shrugged have to do with running railroads during an economic depression, and both suggest pro-capitalist ways in which the country might get out of the depression. But in plot, character, tone, and theme they are very different.     Share on Facebook

• 2008 in review 
Charley Shaw, Legal Ledger (Saint Paul, MN) Atlas Shrugged  Revenue Commissioner Ward Einess’s cat Taggart is named after a character in an Ayn Rand novel.     Share on Facebook

• • The Feiglin revolution 
Ron Pressler, Haaretz The Fountainhead  [Moshe] Feiglin identifies very strongly with the messages embedded in Rand's book "The Fountainhead": "There are six billion people in the world, and out of them only a small fraction that doesn't put any stock in reality, who believe reality can be changed," he says. "Apparently, I belong to this group. I feel that I am the bearer of some kind of great truth. I envision the nation as if it had four wheels and was perched on a huge platform, and I'm trying to pull it to me with a rope. Pull too quickly and the rope will break. Pull too slowly and it won't move."     Share on Facebook

• Did Bush bail out bankers with billions for bonuses? 
Bob Kendall, Political Cortex Capitalism  It is essential that the central bank should maintain stability. Sadly, this didn't happen with Alan Greenspan at the helm of the U.S. banking system, guided by his tragic free market philosophy. Greenspan's viewpoint was inspired by cult heroine Ayn Rand.     Share on Facebook

• The Richmond.com Top Five 
Richmond.com (VA) Atlas Shrugged  “The Top Five ways to get rid of unwanted houseguests.”Saint John Bosco, patron saint of editors: [....] Make them participate in my annual reading, aloud, of the unabridged version of “Atlas Shrugged.”     Share on Facebook

• • Hair today, gone tomorrow 
Joseph Rago, Wall Street Journal OpinionJournal The modern mustache often implies, or is interpreted as, evidence of dishonesty and untrustworthiness. Fake mustaches, for instance, are frequently used in disguises. "A man wears a mustache because there's something he wants to conceal, a spiritual defect," wrote Ayn Rand, more philosophically.     Share on Facebook

• Capitalism short circuits our moral hard-wiring 
Gary Olson, Common Dreams Altruism  Egoism  From doctrines of original sin and Ayn Rand to Alan Greenspan and David Brooks, certain intrepretations of human nature have functioned to override empathic responses. In the words of famed primate scientist Frans B.M. de Waal "You need to indoctrinate empathy out of people in order to arrive at extreme capitalist positions."     Share on Facebook

• Getting to know: Kyle Wellwood 
Mark Malinowski, The Hockey News The Fountainhead  Profile of the NHL hockey player.Last Book Read: "The Fountainhead by Ayn Rand."     Share on Facebook

• Contours of crisis 
Shimshon Bichler and Jonathan Nitzan, Dollars & Sense Capitalism  Prices of homes started to soar in 1997/8. According to the pundits, the blaze was fuelled by three key actors. The first was Fed Chairman and Ayn Rand acolyte Alan Greenspan, who lowered interest rates in the belief that “human nature” would limit risk taking.     Share on Facebook