Atlas Wanked: From Fiction to Fraud in 52 Years | Crooks and Liars

Atlas Wanked: From Fiction to Fraud in 52 Years Crooks and Liars:

"But what's especially amusing is that the economic wreckage we see before us today is in fact the handiwork of the Randian dimwits who've become endemic to conservative economics.

"Exhibit A: Longtime Fed Chairman Alan Greenspan, who was a Big Randian from back in the day.

"Of course, Greenspan now admits this approach may not have worked out so well. Especially the bit about letting the true economic geniuses/captains of industry have their unfettered way. In fact, it all turned out to be a big fat fraud, didn't it?

"Greenspan wasn't alone, of course. George W. Bush's entire approach to governance, especially in the economic sector, was fundamentally Randian: Bush never met a tax cut for the wealthy or deregulation scheme he didn't chase like a fox after a chicken. Even the Democrats who succumbed to the 'era of profound irresponsibility' did so because they were harkening to the siren song of the right-wing Randians.

"Watching Randians at work trying to convince themselves of their essential rightness in the face of the global wreckage pile of evidence to the contrary would be funny were the consequences of their historical muckup not so devastating and so far-reaching for so many of the ordinary schlubs for whom the Randians have at best a guarded contempt. It all reminds me of a bit of wisdom my granddaddy passed along to me: 'Watch out for ideologues. Ideas are more important to them than people.'"

I have this filed under "Contrarian Economics," and sadly, the Randian, absolutist free market theory backers are still manning the ramparts to maintain the mantle of respectable economic thought. So, in spite of the wreckage around us, Capitalism with a mandate for social justice is still contrarian.

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