Government "help" to business is just as disastrous as government persecution... the only way a government can be of service to national prosperity is by keeping its hands off.The governments hands were kept off, and look what happened. This shortened 60 minutes piece on hard working Americans 401k losses was the result of Ayn Rand’s “government can be of service to national prosperity is by keeping its hands off” approach.
This fluff piece in the Milwaukee Jounrnal Senitinal highlighted Ryan’s support of the Wall Street bailout but never mentioned how he thumbed his nose at the auto workers in his own district who are now unemployed. A blue collar bailout? Are you kidding. Not in the world of Ayn Randers.
What happened to the peoples 401k’s in the 60 Minutes video clip would have happened to their privatized Social Security accounts. Ryan has no problem watching people own their own monetary losses. But then, no one ever said they were guaranteed a return on their investment.He also brings a deep philosophical attachment to market capitalism and "supply-side" economics - a world view shaped by such icons of individualism and free enterprise as Ayn Rand, Milton Friedman and Friedrich Hayek.
"The reason I got involved in public service, by and large, if I had to credit one thinker, one person, it would be Ayn Rand," Ryan said at a D.C. gathering four years ago honoring the author of "Atlas Shrugged" and "The Fountainhead."
At the Rand celebration he spoke at in 2005, Ryan invoked the central theme of Rand's writings when he told his audience that, "Almost every fight we are is a fight that usually comes down to . . . involved in here on Capitol Hill one conflict - individualism versus collectivism." In that struggle, Ryan argued that shifting Social Security (which he called a "collectivist system") toward personal investment accounts was not only good policy, but would change the political landscape, according to a recording of the event made by its host, The Atlas Society.
"If we actually accomplish this goal of personalizing Social Security, think of what we will accomplish. Every worker, every laborer in America will not only be a laborer but a capitalist. They will be an owner of society. that many more people in America who are not going to listen to the likes of Dick Gephardt and Nancy Pelosi, Ted Kennedy, the collectivist, class-warfare-breathing demagogues," said Ryan.
Ryan following Ayn Rand theories to define the government's role within the economy actually shows how parochial his own version of convoluted conservatism really is. He's collectivist when it comes to wealth and individualist when it comes to everybody else.
ReplyDeleteIn a world of "Ayn Randers", there would be an actual free market, i.e. NO government controls and taxes. Now, tell me just how far from that world are we? There are hundreds of thousands, perhaps millions, of pages of regulations in America today, and high taxes as well. That ain't no free market, even remotely. It is the government controls that have been the entire problem with the economy, and it is only freedom that allows men to use their minds and pursue their lives and happiness and thus thrive. I mean, damn, doesn't anyone learn from history? Check out the Soviet Union for examples of what government controls do.
ReplyDeleteThat's the big difference between myself and 'Ayn Randers.' I see a free market as being a level and safe field with foul posts and umpires for all the players to compete in. They apparently want to blame the ump because they lost and call their foul ball a home run.
ReplyDeleteThe Soviet Union? You mean where farmers huddled around uranium to stay warm? Oh, those government controls.
I hear "It's the government controls that are the problem" line all the time. Think about it just a few seconds.
ReplyDeleteWhat brought down Wall Street were unregulated products:
"The chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission, a longtime proponent of deregulation, acknowledged on Friday that failures in a voluntary supervision program for Wall Street’s largest investment banks had contributed to the global financial crisis."
Didn't you say "Pages and pages of regulation" were the problem?
"The investment banks favored the S.E.C. as their umbrella regulator because that let them avoid regulation of their fast-growing European operations by the European Union. Facing the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression, Mr. Cox has begun in recent weeks to call for greater government involvement in the markets."
All those pages of regulation, ignored!
"Some blame reckless mortgage brokers; others greedy financial institutions; and still others lax regulators."
Looks to me like it was the "freedom that allows men to use their minds and ...thrive" that brought down the global economy. With maybe a hint of greed and no real rules to play by.
Damn, doesn't anyone learn from history or our current history making crisis?