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Atlas Shrugged movie

Will you go see the Atlas Shrugged movie?

  • Total voters
    37
Lachean said:
The system she described and desired was capitalism. How is capitalism (as opposed to when government interferes in the market causing unintended consequences) dysfunctional and not feasible?
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And pure capitalism would be truly dysfunctional, and not feasible.
 
Lachean said:
The system she described and desired was capitalism. How is capitalism (as opposed to when government interferes in the market causing unintended consequences) dysfunctional and not feasible?
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Unregulated capitalism quickly leads to oppressive monopolies, a wide range of rich and poor, and abuse of the workers by their employed mega corporations. Capitalism is good only when properly regulated.
 
ronpaulvoter said:
And you call yourself a libertarian? I think you should reconsider.
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Randians are a blight on libertarianism. Valuing liberty is one thing, valuing selfishness is another thing altogether.
 
ronpaulvoter said:
And you call yourself a libertarian? I think you should reconsider.

Listen to the Neal Boortz show, or go to Boortz.com for comments.

Atlas Shrugged is the greatest novel of all time. It is also the greatest selling novel of all time.
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hardly.

List of best-selling books - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

A Tale of Two Citie,s Charles Dickens, English, 1859, over 200 million
The Lord of the Rings, J. R. R. Tolkien, English, 1954–1955, 150 million
The Hobbit, J. R. R. Tolkien, English, 1937, over 100 million
红楼梦 (Dream of the Red Chamber), Cao Xueqin, Chinese, 1759-1791, over 100 million
And Then There Were None, Agatha Christie, English, 1939, 100 million

Atlas Shrugged FAQ
According to a press release from the Ayn Rand Institute, over 7 million copies had been sold by the US publishers as of January 2010, with sales in 2009 along being over 500,000 copies
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Your Star said:
And pure capitalism would be truly dysfunctional, and not feasible.
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There's no such thing as pure capitalism; it is an ideal that doesn't exist in reality. Any capitalist system requires government support to sustain it.
 
digsbe said:
Yes, which is sad. The system she described and desired would be truly dysfunctional and not feasible (which I also believe about Right wing American Conservatism).
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true, but what do you expect from a dysfunctional bitch?
 
digsbe said:
Unregulated capitalism quickly leads to oppressive monopolies, a wide range of rich and poor, and abuse of the workers by their employed mega corporations. Capitalism is good only when properly regulated.
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No monopoly has ever existed without the help of governments, free trade does not cause monopolies governments do. But I do invite you to cite an example from history that supports your argument.

Income inequality is not inherently a bad thing, and what do you mean by "abuse of the workers?" For example?
 
Lachean said:
How would "pure capitalism" be truly dysfunctional and not feasible? To whom?
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Read digs post.

It would be terrible for everyone except the few people running cooperations. Workers would be exploited, products would have no basis for quality, it would be terrible.
 
StillBallin75 said:
There's no such thing as pure capitalism; it is an ideal that doesn't exist in reality. Any capitalist system requires government support to sustain it.
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The only way governments sustain a capitalistic economy are by enforcing property rights, contracts, having law courts, and military/police.
 
Your Star said:
Read digs post.

It would be terrible for everyone except the few people running cooperations. Workers would be exploited, products would have no basis for quality, it would be terrible.
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Considering there has never been a truly "pure capitalism" in existence, how would you know this? My understanding of economics suggests that free markets would punish bad employers and poor quality producers.

People find other jobs, and don't buy crap. Companies without employees or customers aren't long for this world.

There was a time where discrimination and workplace safety laws had a place, that time has passed.
 
Lachean said:
People freely trading and employing, without tax, restriction, or violation of rights or property.
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And where would the government get the revenue stream to fund the institutions that enforce those property rights, the entire legal system, and the military?
 
Lachean said:
No monopoly has ever existed without the help of governments, free trade does not cause monopolies governments do. But I do invite you to cite an example from history that supports your argument.

Income inequality is not inherently a bad thing, and what do you mean by "abuse of the workers?" For example?
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Can you site an example? The government has enacted anti-monopoly laws to ensure that we have true freedom and not unrestrained capitalism. Under such a system the largest corporation could buy out competition and be the only supplier. The US has anti-monopoly laws to protect competition and prevent monopolies. AT&T was once a massive telecommunications monopoly that was split up due to US monopoly laws.
 
ronpaulvoter said:
Atlas Shrugged is the greatest novel of all time. It is also the greatest selling novel of all time.
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It's not even one of the Top 100 Best-selling books of all time...

List of best-selling books - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

And I just counted all the novels and it doesn't appear. Perhaps it's the greatest selling novel of all time amongst members of the Libertarian Party.

Ooh! Ooh! Just found it. It was the 10th best-selling novel in the United States in 1957.

1957

1. By Love Possessed by James Gould Cozzens
2. Peyton Place by Grace Metalious
3. Compulsion by Meyer Levin
4. Rally 'Round the Flag, Boys! by Max Shulman
5. Blue Camellia by Frances Parkinson Keyes
6. Eloise in Paris by Kay Thompson
7. The Scapegoat by Daphne du Maurier
8. On the Beach by Nevil Shute
9. Below the Salt by Thomas B. Costain
10. Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand
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StillBallin75 said:
And where would the government get the revenue stream to fund the institutions that enforce those property rights, the entire legal system, and the military?
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Police, military and law courts do not cost much. A VERY small national sales tax would more than cover for this.
 
Lachean: I think we're all interested in your take on how there would be no monopolies with a minimalist government. Saying that "no monopoly has existed without gov't support" is not the same as saying that monopolies wouldn't exist in the absence of government. My personal opinion is that anti-trust laws are there for a pretty damn good reason.
 
StillBallin75 said:
Lachean: I think we're all interested in your take on how there would be no monopolies with a minimalist government. Saying that "no monopoly has existed without gov't support" is not the same as saying that monopolies wouldn't exist in the absence of government. My personal opinion is that anti-trust laws are there for a pretty damn good reason.
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In otherwords, I have an antidinosaur stick. How do I know? Well do you see a dinosaur?
 
digsbe said:
Can you site an example?
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An example of what?

digsbe said:
The government has enacted anti-monopoly laws to ensure that we have true freedom and not unrestrained capitalism. Under such a system the largest corporation could buy out competition and be the only supplier. The US has anti-monopoly laws to protect competition and prevent monopolies. AT&T was once a massive telecommunications monopoly that was split up due to US monopoly laws.
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I asked for an example of a monopoly that wasn't brought into being with government help, Google "de jure monopoly" because AT&T prior to 1984 was a perfect example of legal monopoly.
 
Lachean said:
Considering there has never been a truly "pure capitalism" in existence, how would you know this? My understanding of economics suggests that free markets would punish bad employers and poor quality producers.

People find other jobs, and don't buy crap. Companies without employees or customers aren't long for this world.

There was a time where discrimination and workplace safety laws had a place, that time has passed.
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Just look at America before the great depression, the mistreating of employees, child labor, paying of employees in "company money" instead of federal money. No outside agencies to determine the quality of products, and make sure they are safe. It would be terrible, pure capitalism doesn't work, just like pure socialism, doesn't work, a mixture of both is needed for a country to run successfully.
 
StillBallin75 said:
Lachean: I think we're all interested in your take on how there would be no monopolies with a minimalist government. Saying that "no monopoly has existed without gov't support" is not the same as saying that monopolies wouldn't exist in the absence of government.
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I agree

StillBallin75 said:
My personal opinion is that anti-trust laws are there for a pretty damn good reason.
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I know the reasons, I disagree that they are good.
 
Your Star said:
Just look at America before the great depression, the mistreating of employees, child labor, paying of employees in "company money" instead of federal money. No outside agencies to determine the quality of products, and make sure they are safe. It would be terrible, pure capitalism doesn't work, just like pure socialism, doesn't work, a mixture of both is needed for a country to run successfully.
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Yep. While in a pure capitalistic society, in theory everyone has rights. In practicality, a person only has the rights they can practically use. Because of that and the inherent problems of differences in practical power, people effectively end up without much in the way of rights.
 
Your Star said:
Just look at America before the great depression, the mistreating of employees, child labor, paying of employees in "company money" instead of federal money.
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You're talking about the age of the robber barons. The problem with that argument is that it supports my case, because those who got away with such actions used the government to defend themselves from their workers.

The workers movement to adopt the use of government was the reaction. I say you cannot fight an evil by adopting it.

Your Star said:
No outside agencies to determine the quality of products, and make sure they are safe.
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Don't get me started on the Food and Drug Admin.

Your Star said:
It would be terrible, pure capitalism doesn't work, just like pure socialism, doesn't work, a mixture of both is needed for a country to run successfully.
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Pure capitalism works just fine, pure socialism cannot work. The problem is you think the inequalities created by pure capitalism are inherently bad; I don't.
 
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