http://www.lawyerjourno.com/2010/08/ground-zero-mosque-cordova-mosque.html
On Wed, Aug 25, 2010 at 12:06 AM, dick thompson <[email protected]>wrote: > b > > -------- Original Message -------- Subject: Atlas Shrugged, then and now > - the Cliff Notes Date: Tue, 24 Aug 2010 13:42:48 -0400 From: M. Johnson > <[email protected]> <[email protected]> Reply-To: > [email protected] To: [email protected] > > > *Atlas Shrugged, then and now - the Cliff Notes > *By: Scott S. Powell > OpEd Contributor > August 22, 2010 > > According to a Library of Congress survey, Atlas Shrugged, published in > 1957, may be second to the Bible as the most influential book read in > America. It is required reading in management training at BB&T, the 12th > largest bank in the U.S. and one that resisted taking TARP bailout funds. > > Since President Obama took office, Atlas Shrugged has been making a > renaissance with rising sales and library waiting lists, partly because it > explains our current economic woes more straightforwardly than most of what > we hear from today’s experts. > > What happened in Rand’s narrative is coming to pass today, with the public > sector growing in scope and power over the private sector. Then, just as > now, an anti-business administration reviled private industry, capitalizing > on crisis to expand and redirect investment within and between sectors of > the economysetting quotas, prices and compensation. > > Businesses responded by retrenchingceasing to invest, innovate and > expand. Whole industries contracted, closed down, or moved offshore; much > like the U.S. gas and oil drilling industry is doing today. Then, just as > now, management became frustrated and discouraged, reluctant to create jobs > in an environment of excessive government meddling. > > A record $2 trillion now sits on corporate balance sheets waiting to be > invested amidst reasonably cheap assets prices. What holds back investment > is uncertainty and lack of confidence stemming from an overbearing and > free-spending government. > > Businessmen and investors would never attempt spending and borrowing their > way back to prosperity. In terms of job creation, the Obama stimulus plan > has been worse than a failure. Its attendant debt has ratcheted up systemic > risk inviting a currency crisis and bond market collapsefrom which recovery > might be impossible. > > Recently, Obama took credit for a .2% drop in the nation’s unemployment > rate to 9.5% and the creation of 71,000 private sector jobs, claiming his > policies were working. In fact, much of that meager job creation was in the > socialized automotive sector. > > The supposed decrease in unemployment resulted from 611,000 Americans > giving up on finding work, dropping off the official rolls of the > unemployed. Official unemployment statistics mask the underlying truth of a > private sector economy that is failing to create jobs. > > In fact, when all those who have given up looking for work are accounted > for since the recession began, the real unemployment rate may be closer to > 18 percent, almost double the official numbers. > > While the private sector shed nearly 8 million jobs in the last > two-and-a-half years, the federal government increased its payroll by > 240,000 jobs. So, the private sector that is the primary source of national > wealth has been shrinking, while supporting a growing public sector that > generally produces nothing. > > That burden is made greater by the fact that government workers have > incomes 30% higher and benefits 50% more costly on average than those > received by equivalent private-sector workers. > > This shift of wealth from the productive private to the unproductive public > sector is more sticky today than it was in Atlas Shrugged because government > has now become a union shop, with pay having little to do with performance. > > Unionized government cannot be downsized easily and its employees have > effectively become the country’s most powerful entitlement special-interest > group. Thus, government-run schools controlled by the teachers unions can > fail decade after decade without consequence or substantive reform. > > The government takeover of the healthcare industryaka “Obamacare”was a > high priority not because it was good for the majority of Americans, but > because the ruling elite want to expand unionization, entitlement and > dependency. > > The media is enamored with scandal and the latest class war nuance, such as > raising taxes on the richnow those making over $200,000 annually. But they > ignore one of the biggest stories of our time: Obama’s drive to shift > wealth and power from the productive private sector to the non-productive > public sector. > > Rand calls this appropriation of wealth by the government nothing less than > *looting*. For her, the primary source of social good is in ingenuity and > hard work that produces wealth in the form of invention and technological > breakthrough. Crony capitalism and forced redistribution of wealth by > faceless government bureaucrats is anything but virtuous. > > Rand warns us that government policies that engender entitlement and cause > business owners to shrug and withhold their capital are detrimental to the > economy. What compounds this problem today is that by enlarging dependence > on an out-of-control profligate government we are setting ourselves up for a > greater crisis than the last one. > > Fortunately, the catalyst for course correction is around the corner. > Ironically, Obama can be thanked for making this mid-term election an > overdue referendum on liberalism. Average Americans are now more informed > and engaged than they have been in generations, and they are highly > motivated to vote. > > The most credible and successful candidates, whether incumbents or new > entries, are likely to be those resolutely committed to deficit and debt > reduction and getting government out of the way of private sector job > creation, the essence of Ayn Rand. > > *Scott S. Powell is a director at RemingtonRand and Alpha Quest LLC and a > visiting fellow at Stanford University's Hoover Institution. > > *Read more at the Washington Examiner: > http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/columns/OpEd-Contributor/Scott-S-Power-Atlas-Shrugged-then-and-now---the-Cliff-Notes-101258174.html#ixzz0xXvnFMsy > > http://bit.ly/cBSF6P > -- > Thanks for being part of "PoliticalForum" at Google Groups. > For options & help see http://groups.google.com/group/PoliticalForum > > * Visit our other community at http://www.PoliticalForum.com/ > * It's active and moderated. Register and vote in our polls. > * Read the latest breaking news, and more. > > -- > Thanks for being part of "PoliticalForum" at Google Groups. > For options & help see http://groups.google.com/group/PoliticalForum > > * Visit our other community at http://www.PoliticalForum.com/ > * It's active and moderated. Register and vote in our polls. > * Read the latest breaking news, and more. > -- Thanks for being part of "PoliticalForum" at Google Groups. For options & help see http://groups.google.com/group/PoliticalForum * Visit our other community at http://www.PoliticalForum.com/ * It's active and moderated. Register and vote in our polls. * Read the latest breaking news, and more.
