An Economic Hero For Ireland
Ireland needs a hero. Like superficial Superman, the recent economic bailout may have saved the day, but it hasn’t solved any deeper problem. I’ve spent the last few weeks working ‘down south’ and its people are angry, worried and at a loss. Maybe an Irish superhero is required?
News reporters and local bloggers alike have made the call recently for a just such a hero. Unfortunately, the best they could come up with were ancient warriors or their modern comic-book equivalents. Good for escapist daydreaming, bad for fiscal policy.
I have another suggestion.
His name is John Galt.
The hero in a novel called Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand. He brings about the collapse of an already corrupt Western economy by persuading the world’s creative leaders – including inventors, artists and businessmen – to go on strike. He fights against “parasites”, “looters” and “moochers” who demand the benefits of the heroes’ labour.
One writer in The Wall Street Journal put it like this:
“In Atlas Shrugged, Rand tells the story of the U.S. economy crumbling under the weight of crushing government interventions and regulations. Meanwhile, blaming greed and the free market, Washington responds with more controls that only deepen the crisis. Sound familiar?”
Rand’s heroes are interesting. They aren’t crime-fighters or warriors. They are entrepreneurs, engineers and architects. These are skilled professionals who bridge the gap between theory and practice, ideas and action. They have a vision of what they want to create and they bring it to pass. On their own. Without government subsidies; despite government interference.
Ireland needs what the rest of the world needs. (1) Incredible individuals who raise themselves above the herd by their own creativity and resilience. They are the motor of any sustainable and growing economy. (2) Everyone else to get out of their way.
If this hero remains the stuff of fantasy, then it will take more than a Superman to save us.
Love this post.
Amazingly Atlas Shrugged is top of the books I have listed for Christmas (for me).
Thanks Roisin, I hope you enjoy the book. For pure brain-dead entertainment, I’m into Lee Child at the moment. But if you want a book that makes you think and is relevant to the current economic situation, then better go with Ayn Rand. I’d love to hear how you got on with Atlas Shrugged when you get through it. In the meantime, you might like to know that another Rand novel called The Fountainhead staring Gary Cooper is available to watch in YouTube (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZxSSMl8pAE4). Happy Christmas!
Ayn Rand? Really? “Atlas Shrugged” is nothing but the demented ramblings of a delusional ultra-libertarian nursing a fanatical belief in the virtues of capitalist market forces and harbouring a dangerous paranoia towards anything even vaguely hinting at government regulation. Not someone you want to take any economic advice from as her type of thinking is exactly what caused the global economic meltdown in the first place.
Wow Barry, I sense your fury! However, IMHO it is wildly misplaced.
(1) No, the free market did not cause the financial crisis. Intervention in the market, rather than the market economy itself, was the driving factor behind the bust. (2) An ultra-libertarian view is what caused the USA to become the most powerful, prosperous and free country that has ever existed in the history of the world. Sliding from this view is what is causing its decline. Hardly a ‘fanatical belief’ then, especially in light of how anti-libertarian/communist countries have turned out. (3) Ayn Rand’s ‘demented ramblings’ in Atlas Shrugged ranked #1 in the “Fiction and Literature” category at Amazon and #15 in overall sales. Maybe they know something that you don’t. (4) Instead of ‘government regulation’ read ‘interference by politicians’. Do you trust politicians? No. Then why trust government? (5) Rand’s philosophy condemns the activities of bankers in the financial sector, as they are neither productive nor working with real or ‘representative’ money…thanks to government intervention and the introduction of ‘fait’ currency.
There’s a financial crisis because there is not enough of Rand rather than too much.
There is an abundance of disinformation, ignorance and logical fallacies in your comment, Allen, and in all honesty I lack the patience and willpower to debate you on all of those countless flaws. But let’s focus on one: the financial crisis. I really would like to know how you have come to understand that rampant greed, reckless lending, banking malpractices and a corporate culture of short-term gain fuelled by bonus structures – the precise root causes of the financial meltdown – are somehow evidence of too much regulation? Please, do elaborate.
Hi Barry
To answer your question – read the link.
Or if you want more, try:
Did Too Much Regulation Cause Our Economic Problems?
Too much regulation, not too little, caused US economic crisis
Are We Ailing from Too Much Deregulation?
If you don’t want to read these articles, I understand, life is short and clichés come easy. As you say, you ‘lack the patience’. Fair enough!
Personally speaking, my own desire here is to try to penetrate beyond tabloid-level analysis, and to open my mind to alternative ways of looking at the problem.
One quick pointer on the evils of interventionism on which we can both agree. The government intervened to bail out the banks. Why not let them reap what they sowed. ‘Reckless lending’ and ‘banking malpractices’ should have consequences after all.
As for bonuses, I don’t find them any more disgusting than premiership pay-cheques. Should we intervene to ban them too?
Allen, the arguments in the linked articles have all been thoroughly rebutted and proven to be intellectually hollow, misguided, and misrepresentations of reality. For a quick & dirty overview of all that, I suggest you read this Slate article:
http://www.slate.com/id/2202489/
I am always open to alternative ways of looking at things Allen – I am somewhat allergic to dogma, including libertarian dogma. And everyone is entitled to their own point of view and opinion. Just not to their own facts.
Re: bonuses, you seem to be very adept at inappropriate metaphors (I’d love to see a link for your Amazon reference for example, and I’m pretty sure that The Davinci Code sold a helluva lot more copies than Atlas Shrugged – and I think we can agree that Dan Brown is more a talentless hack than a creative mastermind).
Last time I checked premiership footballers didn’t hold the economic fate of billions in their greedy little paws. Bankers do.