Ayn Rand – Free Market Insanity
Lately, I have come across a few posts and articles regarding Ayn Rand. I have to be honest with you, I had no real clue on who she was and what she stood for. So I did a little research and came across this great interview that Phil Donahue did in 1979. The video is listed below:
The Phil Donahue interview was awesome. What I love about the interview was the interaction between Phil Donahue, the audience and Ayn Rand, which tells you volumes about both individuals and the audience.
What needs to be addressed is Ayn Rand’s madness regarding the free market economy and the role that government plays.
The core concept that the free market economy will regulate itself is utter madness. At this point in the worlds history, I personally cannot believe that this would have to be addressed. The concept that corporations or businesses that behave dishonorably will simply go out of business because the market place will magically change. You have had a number of instances just in the past couple of years, which dictates this is not the case.
Then look at the business model of Walmart. A corporation that makes a vast profit, who pays their employees poverty wages. The fact that employees of Walmart have to live on poverty wages and the corporation making an unfair profit on the backs of their employees, would this not be an example of a corporation / business that would fail under Ayn Rand’s methodology?
What is even more laughable is the concept that Government needs to not regulate industries. On what planet has this ever worked, never mind what country it has ever worked. The concept that government regulations are a bad thing that holds businesses and corporations back is a sick joke.
You need government regulations to protect the population. You cannot believe in some false belief that business leaders will make an honorable decision. Far too many times have corporations and business leaders decided to make money over safety.
Look at this mess just in West Virginia:
Another prime example is Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant.
Although, the plant was hit by a natural disaster, the preventive maintenance and back up systems that should have been done or should have worked, is the real reason for the power plant failure. The reason why this was not addressed before hand, was due to the Japanese societal belief in false honor. Anyone want to sign on now for the free market will now make a market correction. Do you think that market correction will protect the people, animals, environment now or even for the next 100 years.
No government, local or federal is perfect, nor are regulations, but that is a societal issue, not a free market issue. A totally and unencumbered free market will solve those issues because it has been proven time and time again that corporations and businesses will not put the societal good over profit.
I also found some of the other content of the video interesting. If you listen to her, she is not much of a feminist, which is something I was surprised at. The fact that Ayn Rand stated she would not vote for a female President, speaks volumes, especially when you hear the reasons why.
Ayn Rand’s view of the middle east for the time frame of 1979 was extreme for that time. If you listen to what she says, it is prophetic today.
Overall, I do not completely understand why the love affair for Ayn Rand. She has a knowingly failed view of a free market based economy and she is far from a feminist.
