• • Greenspan had it right long ago 
Keith Steele, Wall Street Journal Capitalism: The Unknown Ideal  Capitalism  Letter to the editor.Stephen Moore's Jan. 9 piece on "Atlas Shrugged" and the subsequent letters (Jan. 28) remind me of an article written by Alan Greenspan for Ayn Rand's periodical The Objectivist. The article also appeared in her book entitled "Capitalism: The Unknown Ideal." In his article "Gold and Economic Freedom," Mr. Greenspan gives a short history of the gold standard and the Federal Reserve, along the way making a case for the gold standard. Two interesting quotes toward the end of the article are: "The law of supply and demand are not to be conned. As the supply of money (claims) increases relative to the supply of tangible assets in the economy, prices must eventually rise" and "The financial policy of the welfare state requires that there be no way for the owners of wealth to protect themselves." I suppose Mr. Greenspan forgot that he wrote that article.     Share on Facebook

• • • “Atlas Shrugged” - Ayn Rand 
Omar Ricardo Aquije, The Post-Star (Glens Falls, NY) Atlas Shrugged  The Fountainhead  Rand has the gift of writing with power and telling a story that can keep readers engaged to the end. Her characters are explained in great depth; you know exactly how they will feel, and you will love some of them and hate others. Then there’s Rand’s philosophy, Objectivism, which is told through certain characters in the book. Rand describes her philosophy as “the concept of man as a heroic being, with his own happiness as the moral purpose of his life, with productive achievement as his noblest activity, and reason as his only absolute.” It’s a philosophy that has made her a controversial figure, but also an influential thinker. Every politician should read this book. Anyone who likes to be given reasons to think should pick up “Atlas Shrugged.”     Share on Facebook

• • • Natural law, purpose, and spiritual evolution 
Robert D. Crane, The American Muslim Atheism  Atlas Shrugged  The Fountainhead  Egoism  Yesterday evening, on January 29th, 2009, natural law was the subject of a panel at the University of Maryland [...]. The title of this month’s panel was “Natural Law: The Role of Science and Religion,” at which I gave a short presentation entitled simply “Truth and Justice.” The other two panelists were Imad ad Dean Ahmad, who is a professional astronomer and founder of the Libertarian think-tank, Minaret of Freedom, and Professor Fatima Jackson of the University of Maryland. Since all three of us agreed on essentially everything and were all Muslims, I insisted beforehand that the [the organizer] invite a leading theoretician who could rebut everything we said. Sure enough, he invited Edward Hudgins, who earned a doctorate in philosophy from Catholic University and is the Executive Director of the ultra-libertarian, ultra-secularist Atlas Society. This is commonly known as the “Center of Objectivism,” which is the philosophy originated by Ayn Rand in her two very influential books of a quarter century ago, Atlas Shrugged and The Fountainhead.     Share on Facebook

• • Keep your spark ignited 
Timothy Webster, The Star (Johannesburg) Atlas Shrugged  Writer Ayn Rand said: "In the name of the best within you, do not sacrifice this world to those who are its worst. In the name of the values that keep you alive, do not let your vision of man be distorted by the ugly, the cowardly, the mindless in those who have never achieved his title. Do not lose your knowledge that man's proper estate is an upright posture, an intransigent mind and a step that travels unlimited roads. Do not let your fire go out, spark by irreplaceable spark, in the hopeless swamps of the approximate, the not-quite, the not-yet, the not-at-all. Do not let the hero in your soul perish, in lonely frustration for the life you deserved, but have never been able to reach." Let Obama's inauguration simply remind you that you are one of these great souls and then recommit yourself to your goals and your dreams.     Share on Facebook

• • Economic & financial markets forecast 2009: Collapsing global financial system Ponzi scheme 
Ty Andros, Market Oracle Atlas Shrugged  Capitalism  Let's take a look at the words of Ayn Rand, as this is where we have arrived TODAY: "You cannot legislate the poor into freedom by legislating the wealthy out of freedom. What one person receives without working for, another person must work for without receiving. The government cannot give to anybody anything that the government does not first take from somebody else. When half of the people get the idea that they do not have to work because the other half is going to take care of them, and when the other half gets the idea that it does no good to work because somebody else is going to get what they work for, that my dear friend, is about the end of any nation. You cannot multiply wealth by dividing it."     Share on Facebook

• BB&T CEO: ‘Religious belief’ in affordable housing, ‘misregulation’ caused financial crisis 
Julia A. Seymour , Business & Media Institute Ayn Rand Institute  Capitalism  Despite what the news media keep saying, capitalism and deregulation were not the causes of the financial meltdown. Instead, BB&T CEO John Allison pointed the finger at government creations like the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) and Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the two government-sponsored enterprises that failed last year. Allison was giving a lecture in Washington, D.C. Jan. 29 for the Ayn Rand Center for Individual Rights.     Share on Facebook

• Allison: BB&T grabbing customers from rivals to boost loans 
Jessica Holzer, CNN Money Ayn Rand Institute  Capitalism  [In a speech in Washington, John] Allison, who just stepped down as BB&T's chief executive at the end of last year, [...] argued the government, not the private sector, is to blame for the financial crisis. He gave the speech at an event organized by the Ayn Rand Center for Individual Rights.     Share on Facebook

• • Surviving and thriving at Rearden Commerce 
Jim Kerstetter, CNET News Atlas Shrugged  Interview with Rearden Commerce CEO Patrick Grady.[Q:] When exactly did you change the name of the company from Gazoo (to Talaris and finally Rearden Commerce) and why? [A:] I always intended to call the company Rearden Commerce once we had established proof of the platform and the business model. The name Rearden Commerce was inspired by the literary character, Hank Rearden, in the book Atlas Shrugged. Rearden worked for nearly 10 years to create a new kind of alloy that was far superior to steel. Rearden Metal was lighter, stronger, and cheaper than steel, revolutionizing not only the steel and railroad industries but served as a core enabler for the industrial economy.     Share on Facebook

• ‘Watchmen’ director Zack Snyder launches new website 
Adam B. Vary, Entertainment Weekly The Fountainhead  The site includes a section called The Lounge, where [Cruel and Unusual Films] -- which includes company co-president Deborah Synder (who's also Zack's wife), and producer Wesley Coller -- list what they're watching (the anime film Appleseed), reading (Ayn Rand's The Fountainhead) and listening to (Allison Crow's "Hallelujah").     Share on Facebook

• 7 timeless web memes 
Stacey Higginbotham, GigaOm Open. Open. Open! On the web everything must be open. How open? Depends on who you’re talking to. With opinions ranging from those that advocate free software to those who use openness as a public relations stunt to those that shun it entirely, the meme will likely continue as the web’s version of Objectivism vs. Socialism.     Share on Facebook

• Democrats elevate Limbaugh, Palin 
Chris Matthews, Hardball (MSNBC) Video  (Reference begins at 6:30.)

[Matthews:] I respect a lot of libertarian philosophy. It's, at least in ideal terms, the Ayn Rand stuff, it's — I love the idea it's romantic. If everybody could live on themselves, and take care of themselves, if that could work. It doesn't. Fine. But why do people who say they're individualists, cowboys, out there all alone, refer to themselves as "dittoheads"? Why would you take pride in being a ditto of what Rush Limbaugh says?     Share on Facebook

• • Bar Delux in Hollywood 
Jessica Gelt, Los Angeles Times The Fountainhead  Bar Delux -- a newcomer to Hollywood's sin-soaked Cahuenga Corridor -- is the kind of place Howard Roark from Ayn Rand's "The Fountainhead" might have hung out, if Roark were a 21-year-old girl from Fresno and partial to vodka and Red Bull. [....] There is [...] a heart-stopping lipstick-red ladies lounge upstairs. If Rand is right that "man's ego is the fountainhead of human progress," it is also the motor for humanity's march through Bar Delux's doors.     Share on Facebook

• • Our other national shamelessness: Needless job layoffs 
Lee Stranahan, Huffington Post Atlas Shrugged  Capitalism  Some of these [people ordering layoffs] and their defenders may see their actions as a sort of noble selfishness ripped from the pages of a bloated Ayn Rand paperback. The self delusion has proven too dangerous to our country to let stand. The American businessman on display lately isn't John Galt from Atlas Shrugged; he's Gollum from The Lord Of The Rings - so focused on his precious shiny baubles, $87,000 office makeovers and quarterly dividends that he's lost his sense, soul and mind. Small wonder that this orgy of business selfishness made even Alan Greenspan shrug and say 'brothers, you asked for it.'     Share on Facebook

• More Davos ‘globaloney’ 
Peter Foster, National Post (Toronto) Atlas Shrugged  [Davos World Economic Forum] founder Klaus Schwab, a Rolodex socialist in the mould of former UN poobah Maurice Strong, can, like a villain from Atlas Shrugged, only berate greed and call for “better” regulation and “improved” institutions and more pulling together.     Share on Facebook

• Trojan horse 
Tevi Troy, Weekly Standard All of these short-term benefits [of the stimulus package], once granted, will be hard for any Congress, of any party, up to and likely including an Objectivist-controlled body, to take away.     Share on Facebook

• Berger bill would strip Berry of authority 
William F. West, The Daily Dispatch (Henderson, NC) Atlas Shrugged  During the Henderson-Vance County Chamber of Commerce’s gathering, [state Labor Com­missioner Cherie] Berry, a Republican, advised the audience to read the novel “Atlas Shrugged” by the late pro-free market philosopher Ayn Rand.     Share on Facebook

• For GOP, a case of misshapen identity 
Manuel Roig-Franzia, Washington Post The Fountainhead  [At a meeting of the Republican National Committee] Ron Kaufman -- a committeeman who was tight with Daddy Bush -- tries to sell a couple of fellow members on the virtues of Ayn Rand's "The Fountainhead."     Share on Facebook

• AVQ&A: Sacred cows 
The Onion A.V. Club The genius spirit that sparked the first nine or so seasons of The Simpsons, which trusted its audience to keep up with its well-deep culture references ("The Ayn Rand School For Tots"), knew how to craft brilliant sight gags[...] and still made audiences care about the family at the show's heart.     Share on Facebook

• When in Disgrace (Haply I Think on Thee) 
Gwen Orel, Back Stage Theater review.[Actor Patrick] Vaill's bright surfer-dude aspect suggests a boy who would read Ayn Rand, not buy poison on the Internet, not that that's remotely plausible.     Share on Facebook

• Vindication comes to Harry Reid 
Dennis Myers, Pahrump Valley Times (NV) [Alan Greenspan is] something of a loon, a disciple of exotic figures like Joseph Schumpeter and Ayn Rand.     Share on Facebook