New Reality

There was an interesting WSJ article entitled "Atlas Shrugged: From Fiction to Fact in 52 Years."

For anyone who has not read this fiction by Ann Rand in 1957, it outlines her belief that any government intervention into the economy is wrong. In her fictitious novel she shows how government intervention during a time of economic sluggishness sends the economy into a tailspin. Many of the stories in Rand's novel resemble what is happening today in the United States. In short, those in power have bought into her fiction.

"Objectivism has become, via indirect routes, the dominant ethos of the world today."

The elite* have decided to tolerate the existence of the "the Moochers and Looters" - within limits. "The self-identifying conservative Republicans who make up the base of the Republican party stand a world apart from the rest of America..."

* those with less than $2.25 billion in liquid assets need not apply.

Unemployment will now be 12.5% for the next generation. Thereafter, it will rise to 25%. There is a large surplus of people and a shortage of things for them to do - little employment outside of soldiering the endless war. Oh, and the debt will grow because the rich refuse to pay their full share of the taxes. Warren Buffett, the third-richest man in the world, has criticized the US tax system for allowing him to pay a lower rate than his secretary.