Ayn Rand

The current "bail-out" suggestions for this country's "Mortgage Disaster" affecting new homeowners purchasing homes they could not afford and lenders who "knew and assisted them" - should me made whole. The Lenders handled these mortgages like "hot potatoes." They packaged these mortgages, into investment vehicles and sold them to unsuspecting investors looking for "just a little more" interest return on their investments.The original lenders walked away with dollars(profits) free and clear of the problem. The new home owners are waiting to be helped by the government assistance in forgiveness of a good part of the debt they could not afford in the beginning. Looping the entire fiasco - the government will take the bite for the original lenders walking away with taxpayers money.

Ayn Rand:
Conscious and individual life, she believed, formed the standard of all values, and "rational selfishness" was a living being's appropriate motive. In addition, Rand advocated laissez-faire capitalism as the only truly moral economic system.

The traditional American values of individualism, self-reliance, self-discipline, and hard work had their roots, in part, in the fact that this country began as a frontier nation where nothing was given and everything had to be created. To be sure, most Americans exhibited a strong sense of community, and they certainly practiced mutual aid. But this was not seen as a substitute for self-responsibility. Independent people helped one another when they could, but everyone was expected to carry his or her own weight. People were not encouraged to believe they enjoyed special “entitlements.”

The Following is one example:
If a man wanted to be a farmer, the fact that his farm could not support itself need not be an impediment: Agricultural subsidies could make his desire attainable. The Man, as a farmer, was allowed the right not to fail in a free market - and became supported by the government for decades.

This concept along with others formed - what Ayn Rand called "Objectivism." There were and are many off shoots - but they have (in my opinion) been led off by followers intentions of becoming the major focus of a concept (the new leader of a concept, if you will.) Objectivism is not Libertarianism - although the followers of the latter, would like you to believe it.

Our Capitalist society - Good and Bad - is at a major crossroad - as a result of Government's willingness and control of the concept of not allowing:

1. Home owners to take a loss on bad judgment
2. Banks, Investors and Other lenders - to get punished for greed
3. The Stock Market to go down from its highs - "The Plunge Protection Team"

Our Government is willing to increase it debt to protect everyone at some level especially those who profit from the markets mostly.


(Some of the above paragraphs were paraphrased from other blog and websites including Answers.com (definitions) Ayn Rand Institute and Nathaniel Branden"Reflections on Self-Responsibility and Libertarianism")