January 21, 2015

Atlas Flunked: Galt Goes Broke


On the internet I run into a lot of Ayn Rand supporters and they're kinda like the hardcore laissez faire capitalists of society. Their motto? Read Atlas Shrugged, full of wisdom! Of course it's just a shameless defense for self righteous profit seekers who try to sell you a kind of snake oil since they want to make you believe that an unrestricted free market will somehow magically creates a prosperous society. They hardly seem to realize that their actions have consequences for others, you can't be hyper individualists on a finite planet with billions of people...
Rand supporters are the entrepreneurs that seek the optimum playing field so that they as individuals can profit. Rand's shortsighted, selfish philosophy helps in that regard. What I find so hilarious is that they actually made movies of Ayn Rand's books and they did very poorly. For 3 movies they had a combined budget of $35 million and in the box office they acquired a revenue of $8.8 million. Which resulted in a loss of $26 million. Bad investment for sure! So with some sarcasm I can proclaim: 'Atlas Flunked!'