This morning of Facebook in the comment thread of a post by Yaron Brook, I came across a link to a recording of Ayn Rand’s speech titled “Apollo and Dionysus.” I had never listened to this before and it is a wonderful speech and as valid today as it was when she gave it.
In this speech she discusses the apparent dichotomy between reason and emotion. The title of the speech comes from Nietzsche, who uses Apollo to symbolize beauty, order, efficacy, and reason and Dionysus to
Still reading Ayn Rand’s “Capitalism: The Unknown Ideal” and a passage jumped out at me regarding price fixing and anti-trust. Given recent news regarding Apple’s supposed price fixing in e-books, the on going concerns about Obamacare, not to mention such government practices as; rent control, price controls in all manner of agricultural products, this quote jumped out at me.
By what conceivable standard can the policy of price-fixing be a crime, when practiced by businessmen,
I am still reading Ayn Rand’s “Capitalism: The Unknown Ideal” and I came across the following quote. The context is a discussion of anti-trust laws but it applies equally to thinking about government and business.
In the absence of any rational criteria of judgement, people attempted to judge the immensely complex issues of a free market by so superficial a standard as “bigness.” You hear it to this day: “big business,”
Once again Ayn Rand’s “Capitalism: The Unknown Ideal” is the source for today’s quote:
Whenever you buy one product rather than another, you are voting for the success of some manufacturer. And, in this type of voting, every man votes only on those matters which he is qualified to judge: on his own preferences, interests, and needs. No one has the power to decide for others or to substitute his judgement for theirs; no one has the power to appoint himself “the
Yaron Brook appears on alternate weeks on Leonard Peikoff’s podcast. This week he covers questions on:
It seems I can hardly open Ayn Rand’s “Capitalism: The Unknown Ideal” without finding quotes worth sharing. This time it is about the difference between economic and political power:
Now let me define the difference between economic power and political power: economic power is exercised by means of a positive, by offering men a reward, an incentive, a payment, a value; political power is exercised by means of a negative, by the threat of punishment,
I have come to realize in the past year that property rights, especially as the affect real estate, do not really exist any more in this country. With property taxes, you effectively just “rent” your property. Here in Vermont if you are late on paying your property taxes, I forgot the exact amount of time, but it is not much, the town can proceed initiate proceeds for a tax sale. It doesn’t matter how long you have owned the property, you can lose it due to a period of
You would think it should be common sense.
If prices are arbitrarily set too low, more people will want to but the product or service and fewer will want to produce it, and a shortage results. If prices are set arbitrarily too high,more people will want to produce the product or service, but fewer will want to buy it, resulting in a glut.
One only has to reflect on the recent stories from Venezuela where, among other staple goods, there is a shortage of toilet paper. Why? Because the government
Excellent article. Sadly the changes that need to happen to head this off are things that virtually no one from either party wants to actually voice, let along advocate. And frankly most voters would not accept if the politicians did.
No level of taxes can address the phenomenal fiscal imbalance that our country is facing now and into the future. Higher taxes would merely act as a drag on growth, exacerbating the debt and deficit problem. History will not judge the debt-denialists kindly.
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Excellent talk by Don Watkins, co-author of “Free Market Revolution: How Ayn Rand’s Ideas Can End Big Government,” on the virtues of and values created by businessmen.