Given the portrayal of an anarchist utopia (Galt’s Gulch) in Ayn Rand’s Atlas Shrugged–given the unavoidable conclusion of anarchy given the pro-individual, pro-rights, anti-state views Rand shared with libertarians–it is a bit mystifying why so many Objectivists despise anarchy. Okay, granted, Rand hated it, so many Objectivists feel compelled not to question it–but why would Rand be so hostile to it? Her own novel portrays anarchy positively.
[Gray’s Anatomy: Selected Writings • By John Gray • Allen Lane, 2009 • vii + 481 pages]
This anthology of John Gray’s work over the past thirty years enables us to answer a question that has puzzled many people. What went wrong with John Gray?
[Create Your Own Economy: The Path to Prosperity in a Disordered World • By Tyler Cowen • Dutton, 2009 • viii + 259 pages]
Tyler Cowen has written an unusual book. From the title, one expects a book that addresses the current economic crisis and prescribes a remedy for it. Instead, Cowen concentrates on the traits and virtues of autistic people. If Cowen wants to write on this topic, why does he lead the reader to think he will discuss something else?
Marketers love to entice potential consumers to try their product by adding an endless string of qualifiers. We have all heard commercials wherein the widget is claimed to be the “number one all metal, blue colored, American made, union produced, hand crafted, widget sold in the greater Anytown, USA area!”
It looks like this marketing strategy is going to be used against them. If you define the market narrowly enough, you are bound to find a “monopoly.” That is just what the Obama Justice Department is planning to do to the genetically modified seed market.
Paul Starr, a senior adviser to the Clinton health care reform effort, wrote:
In 1918, the Soviet Union became the first country to promise universal “cradle-to-grave” healthcare coverage, to be accomplished through the complete socialization of medicine. The “right to health” became a “constitutional right” of Soviet citizens.
The proclaimed advantages of this system were that it would “reduce costs” and eliminate the “waste” that stemmed from “unnecessary duplication and parallelism” — i.e., competition.
