Every day the way events are unfolding I get chills thinking about a novel I read many years ago. With this new taxation of Wall Street and the impending exodus of employees and talent from American banks. Did anyone else notice that all our banks were down 10% on Friday; JPM, BAC, C, GS, MS. With all the Euro banks up 10%; CS, UBS, DB - because of the expected influx of the most talented and highest paid bankers and traders to them. The AIG mess where the right people are being 'bribed' to stay with the ship in air pockets under water after it has sunk with retention pay, and are now being scrutinized and chastized for accepting the bribe. OK, we'll have college kids figuring out how to unwind these complicated derivative structured products and protect OUR $80billion investment. NO foreign kids though, they have already been told only American citizens need apply to ANY U.S. bank that took TARP. American banks have had to find spots overseas to honor contracts offered to non-US citizen graduates from our universities.
Ayn Rand prophetically envisioned this in her 'fiction' novel 50 years ago. Its an amazing and 'must' read if you never have. Think I saw someone on ET mention WSJ article in Jan. Here is a small synopsis with a link to a great analogy relating it to today's America from January's WSJ below. Events since Jan. make it even eerier.
The main crux of the book surrounds the decision of the "men of the mind" to go on strike, refusing to contribute their inventions, art, business leadership, scientific research, or new ideas of any kind to the rest of the world. Each man of ability eventually reasons (or is convinced) that society hampers him with unnecessary, burdensome regulations and undervalues his contributions to the world, confiscating the profits and sullying the reputation he has rightfully earned. The peaceful cohesiveness of the world begins to disintegrate as each of these men of ability slowly disappears and society loses those individuals whose mental effort allows it to continue functioning. The strikers believe that they are crucial to a society that exploits them, denying them freedom or failing to acknowledge their right to self-interest, and the gradual collapse of civilization is triggered by their strike. This is not to say that they believed that giving the creators their due would cost civilization. Rather, the strikers believe that the current irrational altruist/collectivist culture impeded them and therefore the rest of society as well.
Link:
WSJ Article about Atlas Shrugged
Ayn Rand prophetically envisioned this in her 'fiction' novel 50 years ago. Its an amazing and 'must' read if you never have. Think I saw someone on ET mention WSJ article in Jan. Here is a small synopsis with a link to a great analogy relating it to today's America from January's WSJ below. Events since Jan. make it even eerier.
The main crux of the book surrounds the decision of the "men of the mind" to go on strike, refusing to contribute their inventions, art, business leadership, scientific research, or new ideas of any kind to the rest of the world. Each man of ability eventually reasons (or is convinced) that society hampers him with unnecessary, burdensome regulations and undervalues his contributions to the world, confiscating the profits and sullying the reputation he has rightfully earned. The peaceful cohesiveness of the world begins to disintegrate as each of these men of ability slowly disappears and society loses those individuals whose mental effort allows it to continue functioning. The strikers believe that they are crucial to a society that exploits them, denying them freedom or failing to acknowledge their right to self-interest, and the gradual collapse of civilization is triggered by their strike. This is not to say that they believed that giving the creators their due would cost civilization. Rather, the strikers believe that the current irrational altruist/collectivist culture impeded them and therefore the rest of society as well.
Link:
WSJ Article about Atlas Shrugged
