14 de abril de 2011

Recordando a Ayn Rand

Mañana sale en los Estados Unidos la película Atlas Shrugged, Part 1.

A propósito de ello, se ha generado una discusión muy sana en distintos medios de comunicación sobre Ayn Rand, autora del libro, y su legado. En este sentido, Donald Luskin publica hoy en el Wall Street Journal una columna titulada Remembering the Real Ayn Rand (aquí la encuentras).

Destacan los siguientes párrafos:

... When Rand created the character of Wesley Mouch, it's as though she was anticipating Barney Frank (D., Mass). Mouch is the economic czar in "Atlas Shrugged" whose every move weakens the economy, which in turn gives him the excuse to demand broader powers. Mr. Frank steered Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to disaster with mandates for more lending to low-income borrowers. After Fannie and Freddie collapsed under the weight of their subprime mortgage books, Mr. Frank proclaimed last year: "The way to cure that is to give us more authority." Mouch couldn't have said it better himself.

But it's a misreading of "Atlas" to claim that it is simply an antigovernment tract or an uncritical celebration of big business. In fact, the real villain of "Atlas" is a big businessman, railroad CEO James Taggart, whose crony capitalism does more to bring down the economy than all of Mouch's regulations. With Taggart, Rand was anticipating figures like Angelo Mozilo, the CEO of Countrywide Financial, the subprime lender that proved to be a toxic mortgage factory. Like Taggart, Mr. Mozilo engineered government subsidies for his company in the name of noble-sounding virtues like home ownership for all...

... The reality is that in Rand's novel, as in life, self-described capitalists can be the worst enemies of capitalism...

... Rand was not a conservative or a liberal: She was an individualist. "Atlas Shrugged" is, at its heart, a plea for the most fundamental American ideal—the inalienable rights of the individual. On tax day, with our tax dollars going to big government and subsidies for big business, let's remember it's the celebration of individualism that has kept "Atlas Shrugged" among the best-selling novels of all time...


En ocasiones anteriores, hemos subido entradas sobre Ayn. Por las diez razones por las que la debes leer, un editorial sobre el libro Atlas Shrugged y un comentario sobre John Galt.

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