The Dangerous Way We View Money

Since the movies are about doing what’s best for business, I wonder why they keep making them when they keep loosing money.

Despite both Atlas Shrugged: One and Two flopping at the box office(See here), Atlas productions has announced that they’re moving on a third one. These movies, based on Ayn Rand’s novel of the same name, promote a Laissez-faire style of government and both rational and ethical egoism. Egoism being a philosophy that all morality should be based on people doing what’s in their own best interest; That each individual should not be concerned with the needs of their fellow man, but instead we should peruse our own happiness. Rand believed that government intrusion is one of the greatest threats to true freedom. Now I disagree with Ayn Rand on some of her philosophies, but what’s troubling is how her philosophies and beliefs are used today.

The Tea Party certainly loves Ayn Rand. Do you think they know she supported Gay Marriage and ended up on Medicare.

She has become sort of a poster child for some conservatives and libertarians, the tea party in particular. They seem to support her even though she was an atheist, and openly believed that the government should not infringe on individual rights including gay marriage (See here).

But lately I have seen these ideals taken to an extreme. There is an attitude of ‘take what you can and give nothing back’ going around. A viewpoint stating that there is nothing wrong with giving the short end of the stick to the middle class because it’s their own fault for not being part of the wealthy. And not only that, they also assert that the rich are somehow a persecuted group trying only to hold the country together. I’m not the only one to point out that Ayn Rand’s philosophy seems to make the wealthy and most powerful people somehow into helpless victims of the rest of us (see here). The fact of the matter is more and more young people seem to have the feeling that if you aren’t rich then that’s your own fault. If you didn’t play the stock market or make money by flipping houses then you deserve what you get. It reminds me of a famous scene from Glengarry Glen Ross

Warning Very Strong Language.

 

When people see that scene they seem to have the reaction of “Man I want to be THAT guy!” More and more people have gotten the idea that ‘if you can’t make the bottom line, then what good are you?’ Now don’t get me wrong, people should be expected to do their job, and success should only be achieved by those who worked hard to get it. But people should not be expected to jump into a cutthroat business world just to put food on the table. The middle class is being told that we can’t just work till we are retirement age and expect to live off our pensions anymore. We’re being told that we HAVE to learn to new ways to make enough money to hope and pray that we can someday retire. Helanie Olen wrote a very interesting book about the subject (see here).

I remember talking to someone about the way AIG had used their bailout money to give themselves bonuses (see here) and someone responded with a shrug, then they said “You’d do the same thing if you were one of them.” A common attitude amongst people. But I have to ask, when did this become an acceptable response to bad behavior? There are so many phrases that go along with this ideal. “Don’t hate the player hate the game.” “All’s fair in love, war and business.” “That’s the name of the game son.” We, the middle class, have somehow been convinced that our bosses should be allowed to treat us terribly because we chose to be a working sap instead of one of the wealthy.

Thanks to all your hard work, sales are up 50% and I can take a huge bonus. What about you? Oh you’ll still get minimum wage. It’s your own fault you know.

I have several key problems with this new ideology as I hear it.

Calling all people who accept government aid moochers is one of them. While some people will always take advantage of the commons, most people raise above the financial situation they were born into. We don’t know what circumstances led to them being on some form of welfare so it isn’t our place to judge. The fact is nobody wants a government program unless they need it themselves. Even Ayn Rand used Government assistance when she got older (see here).

Also I don’t agree with the notion that ‘if the free market is completely unregulated then business will thrive’. The fact is that we need some regulation to keep things from getting out of hand. A business cannot care for it’s employees or other businesses. It can only pursue more money. Even if that means shipping jobs overseas or crushing a small family owned business. There is a very old and very true phrase. Absolute power, corrupts absolutely. Whenever any group either the government or big business get too powerful and goes unchecked, then they will voraciously pursue their own interests to the detriment of the people.

And lastly I don’t believe that people should pursue nothing more than their own wants and needs. All people should actively seek out happiness but as a society we should look out for one another. I believe in Capitalism, but we as a race, need to want to look out for our fellow man. That’s what a society is. If you don’t care about anyone else and don’t want to be bothered with taxes or government interference, then there are plenty of developing nations with almost no government, where you won’t be bothered…. ever. Even Rand supported donating to charities. But people seem to be even more self centered now.  Here is a perfect illustration of helping yourself and others.

But there is one key problem to this new mindset: Everyone can’t be rich. We are told that we have to learn to be wealthy. Well they’re forgetting one simple fact. There’s a finite amount of money in our system. Now some people will be wealthier than others and that’s fair. But we can’t all be wealthy. Some people will have to be middle class and there is nothing wrong with that. The average person only wants a few things out of life.

To participate in activities they enjoy

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

To have meaningful relationships

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

To do work that they are proud of

 

 

 

 

And provide a good future for their children(assuming they have some)

Most people don’t have getting rich on their life goals list. They just want to live a good life. So it makes me sad whenever I hear about the middle class being diminished, and instead of getting angry so many of us are just going along with it. Should we go after our own self-interests? Absolutely. Don’t we also have a responsibility to improve try community? I believe so, how about you.

Thanks for reading.

Related articles

• Ayn Rand USA: In 20 Years Corporate Profits Are Up 4X and Their Taxes Have Fallen by 50% — Meanwhile the Workers’ Payroll Tax Has Doubled (alternet.org)
• Ayn Rand & Paul Ryan: The Ultimate Idealists, and Hypocrites (medicaresupplementshop.com)
• What Ayn Rand got right and wrong (michaelochurch.wordpress.com)