Ayn Rand's Literature of Capitalism

Ugly’s been on the path of discovering Ayn Rand and he posted this article from the NY Times this weekend.

I’ve been a fan of Ayn Rand for many years after receiving a copy of Atlas Shrugged from my old boss Bob. He was the owner of the local 7-11 where I worked the Saturday overnight shift and soon discovered that he was quite the entrepreneur. He knew that I was working two jobs and going to school full-time to help my family make ends meet. I guess I made an impression on him because I actually cared about my menial job and always made sure that a fresh pot of coffee was on and that the store was clean and orderly.

When I graduated and gave notice that I was leaving to move to New Mexico and start my first engineering job, he gave me a copy of Atlas Shrugged. I remember what he wrote on the inside cover, “Tom, this book had a big impact on my life, I hope it does yours.”

I spent the next two months devouring that book and not fully grasping everything right away. I do now.

Thank you Bob.

Update

I wrote this post 12 years ago and since then I’ve done a lot of growing up. I’ve come to find that Ayn Rand’s brand of capitalism is bad for people and the environment. She had this notion that you have to be selfish to help yourself and in turn that would help other people. This ‘pull yourself up by the bootstraps" and “rugged individualism” is just an idealized notion.

I think about Greenspan, who was a follower of Ayn Rand and then he lowered interest rates which led to the RE market crash in 2007 / 2008. Where was his convictions? I look at the Tea Party politicians who are turning out to be nothing more than grifters and racists. I look at Climate Change and see how these Capitalists call it a hoax intended to mess with their ‘God Given’ profits.

Who is John Galt? Indeed.

We are all John Galt.