Splinters

This story nearly had me puking up my multi-cheerios this morning.  Sales flying high for Atlas Shrugged, Ayn Rand's turgid, soul-less, thousand page paen to greed, selfishness and inhumanity which presents itself as a novel. And why? Because of the world economic crisis of course which....erm......

Let's be clear here, we are  living through the biggest financial catastrophe of the last half century, the blame for which lies,  utterly and unequivocally, with the insane scorched-earth neo-liberal deregulatory experiment of the past three decades, an experiment carried out by the followers of Rand herself. Okay, maybe not direct followers - I'm sure even Keith Joseph and Milton Friedman themselves couldn't  bring it in themselves to actually read  her tedious shit-screed - but certainly people  adhering to her broad philosophy, and living out her sick fantasy. There is distinctly less logic to those finding inspiration in Atlas Shrugged today than there would have been to turn to Mein Kampf during the darkest days of the Second World War.

In Atlas Shrugged the heroic and ingenious rich of the world are so overburdened with taxes and regulations - the poor darlings - that they go on "strike", and bring an ungrateful world to its knees, until the disgusting lower classes finally come grovelling back to their ever-so-clever overlords,  and the rich and powerful finally throw off the dreaded  shackles of, er, having to pay any taxes at all, ever whatsoever[ sorry, no "spolier alert" there,  I've just saved you several months of your life you would never have got back.]  

In real life, this "liberation" occured in the 80s and 90s, when taxes for the rich were slashed, and the dreaded socialistic hand of regulation for banking systems was broken. Well, that's all worked out very well hasn't it? Who is the modern exemplar of the  great men that Randy wet her knickers over, these thrusting Titans who would soar if only the scummy Lilliputians were swatted away? Fred Goodwin, that's who.

So if any deluded soul  tells you that they're finding inspiration in Ayn in these dark times, they are to be pitied really. Do though, be sure to put them out of their misery.