ATLAS SHRUGGED: the movie

Last weekend, selected movie theaters across the county began showing the movie, “Atlas Shrugged”.  For those not in the know, the movie is based on the MASTERPIECE written by Ayn Rand, which has been one of the highest selling fiction books of all-time!  She (Ayn Rand) wrote this book in the 1950’s and interjected a lot of her philosophy of man as well as her sentiments/beliefs on the true nature of capitalism.  Unfortunately, this happens to be a topic that is frowned upon these days.  Huge movements of aimless masses currently march in protest at various state capitals throughout the country.  Why?  Well, it basically boils down to the fact that these angry mobs of zero-liability voters are turned inside-out over the idea that they just might have to actually contribute to their own retirement and/or pension plans IF they happen to be a state worker.  In their eyes, they DESERVE the free money, high job stability, several weeks of paid vacation, excellent health/fringe benefits, and insane pension payouts!  In their eyes, they DESERVE these things MORE THAN YOU because they think that state employees (people who work for the government) are in a class of their own.  They have obviously forgotten the fact that as a public sector employee they already share a dramatically increased level of job security.  Compared to the millions of unemployed private sector employees these people are very, very lucky.  It is a crying shame that they have taken this simple fact for granted.  It’s a shame that being gainfully employed just isn’t enough for some people.  They want more!  They want more and they want YOU to pay for it.

The concepts that create the central theme in “Atlas Shrugged” are pretty simple.  Each man (man = generic pronoun for man or woman) has the ability…no, the opportunity to carve out his own destiny.  That each man has the power within himself to be as successful as he wants to be.  That a man’s property belongs solely to him and NOT to the government…or anyone/anything else…period!  Like I said, the idea behind Ayn Rand’s masterpiece is pretty simple and happens to coincide with the traditional ideas that created the “American Dream”.  It’s an obvious overstatement that every single solitary soul living in America today WILL be as successful as he or she wants to be.  Circumstance and opportunity can sometimes skip over a person or two.  We call that “bad luck“…but with that being said, the idea is sound and set upon solid foundation!  In America, we are free to reap the benefits of our hard work!  We are free to exploit our good fortune if we so desire!  In America, we are essentially free to simply be!  Well, we’re supposed to be, anyways.  My, how things have significantly changed in our country over the past 100 years especially when you measure against what the “idea” of America is supposed to…when you measure it against the “American Dream”.

Would you consider it to be tyrannical if a leader of a country gets whatever he/she wants?  During the time of the Kings, the simple philosophy was “what the King wants the King gets“.  If anyone stood in his way then God have mercy on his soul!  I think it’s safe to say that we can agree such a tactic is tyrannical.  Plain and simple.  Now, instead of the example of a King…think of the American government.  Would it be a fair statement…an accurate statement…if I said “what the government wants the government gets“?  Can you think of an instance where this wouldn’t be true here in the U.S.?  We still have eminent domain issues, class warfare (generated by politics), and a lopsided progressive tax policy which punishes one’s success!  Think of the mountains of obstacles standing in your way if you simply want to start your own small business!  Hell, there’s actually a pretty good chance that you won’t be ALLOWED to engage in business activities let alone actually start your own company if you don’t jump through every hoop the government puts in front of you!  I think it would be safe to say that if you sat down and thought about it then you wouldn’t be able to think of very many things IN YOUR OWN LIFE that the government doesn’t have their fingers in.  Is this right?  Is this what the Americans of the 1700’s had in mind when they violently fought for the right to be left alone?  Oh…I would love to sit down and have a conversation, right now, with George Washington, John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, and the likes!  I would love to hear what they would have to say about the state of our union.

Atlas Shrugged is a masterpiece because it reminds us of the simplicity that is the “American way”.  There is a dark side of the book that requires the reader to reason with, too.  The darkness of the book is based on the fact that major industrialists, capitalists, businessmen, and individuals simply give up.  There is no confrontation even remotely similar to the Boston Tea Party in the book.  There is no violent uprising and there certainly aren’t any rallies or protests found in any state capital or public square!  Instead, the heroes of the book initially surrender and give up.  At first, this makes the reader wonder what the heck is going on.  It makes the reader reason with what he/she knows is right compared to what Ayn Rand is writing about.  It makes the reader, perhaps, even deal with a bit of depression!  The major industrialists and entrepreneurs of America are under assault by the federal government by way of legislation that makes it illegal to make “too much profit” (The Equalization of Opportunity Act) or for one person/company to own more than one business (the Anti Dog-Eat-Dog Rule).  The government eventually singles out the entire state of Colorado because (in the book) there is a surplus of success, opportunity, and profits coming from that state.  The way they, the government, sees it is IF they can simply bring the industrialists down…bring the entire state of Colorado down…then the rest of America won’t feel so bad because now everyone will be equal.  The reaction of the industrialists to these tyrannical acts of legislation is to throw their hands up…surrender…quit…and just go away.  They leave eveything behind.  They simply vanish.

Like I said, at first, the reader has to contend with the notion that the heroes of the story are giving up rather than standing up and fighting the good fight.  As the reader progresses through the story, however, he/she becomes aware of the strategy behind their acts of surrender…and it’s genius!

Imagine, just for a second, that the founders/CEO’s of companies like MicroSoft, Apple, Haliburton, Wal-Mart, and Exon-Mobil closed their doors, burned their stores to the ground, fired everyone, and then vanished into thin air.  What would the plausible scenario be IF something like this were to happen?  We all complain about companies like these from time to time…we belly-ache about how big they are or how much money they make…don’t we?  Well, what if they all closed shop tomorrow?  Would the general economic impact be positive or negative?  I don’t think it takes an economist to understand the likely scenario (aftershock) in this hyperbolic situation.

We need to remember WHY these companies are as big and successful as they are!  It’s not because of luck, but rather because of hard work, excellent leadership, and a capitalistic mindset guiding them towards the goal of higher profits and better products.  Why do we want to punish this?  Why have we allowed the government to live so far outside of its means that it feels the only thing left to do is to pile on and punish the successful portion of our society/economy?  This is one of the reasons why “Atlas Shrugged” is one of the most widely published books (fiction) of all time!  It’s because the story in the book speaks to us!  We see these things actually going on around us…right now!  The government is growing more and more tyrannical and the masses are growing more and more dependent.  This, my friends, is NOT right.  This is NOT how it’s supposed to be!  WE ALL KNOW THIS TO BE TRUE!  Yet, we continue to allow things to get worse.  We allow the government to get away with things that make us sick to our stomach because the government has done a successful job making you feel as if there’s really nothing you can do about it.  We have collectively grown into a complacent society that is way too dependent upon “The Man”.  Throughout history, this has never been a successful scenario for the people of such a nation.  NEVER!

Ayn Rand is an unapologetic capitalist and many of the characters in her book, Atlas Shrugged, reflect such a sentiment.  To some, this may feel…or sound…like a bad thing.  It may simply be a mindset (overtly capitalistic) that rubs the wrong way.  These are all “feelings”, however.  Feelings are personal and don’t affect anyone other than you.  Capitalism, in its untarnished and unfettered form, is superior to all other forms of governance or policy.  The reason this is true is because of what capitalism does…at its core!  It makes the individual stronger!  It makes the individual the leader of his/her own life and because of that the individual is a strong entity.  Capitalism focuses on the individual, BUT when individuals become strong they become a strong collective society.  Capitalism tries to nudge…to push…to propel people upward and onward; it tries to bring people up!  The antithesis of capitalism (which is a planned society or some form of socialism) strives to bring people DOWN so they’re all the same.  It’s easier to bring people down into equality compared to bringing them up.  It takes hard work to really allow capitalism to establish roots in a society.  It’s much easier to give power to an elected group of bureacrats in order to make decisions for us.  The easy way is usually NOT the right way.

The American Left (democrats, socialists, progressives, communists, etc…) does NOT want you to read “Atlas Shrugged”.  The American Left does NOT want you to see the movie, either!  Why?  Because they don’t want you to remember!  They don’t want you to be influenced by things that ring true at your core!  Because they don’t want to give up control.  They don’t want to work hard and they certainly don’t want to leave things up to you…the individual.  They don’t want you to see this movie so badly that they made it damn near impossible for the movie to be made!  There are no big-name producers attached to this film; there are no big-name actors involved with the movie; there wasn’t a lot of capital available for the film to be made!  The producers of this movie had a shoestring budget (as far as movies go and compared to the norm) and zero support from Hollywood, yet they still made the movie!  In fact, they did a pretty damn good job, too. 

As a person who sees a lot of movies (really, I see A LOT of movies), I feel like my eye for acknowledging good or bad film making is pretty darn accurate.  I can easily spot when a movie was poorly put together or, on the other hand, masterfully created.  I’m not going as far to say that the movie Atlas Shrugged was masterfully put together, but I am willing to say that it was very well made.  It was actually much better than I thought after I learned that the movie didn’t even have a budget of $10 million!  I can easily say that I was pleasantly surprised with nearly every facet of the film.  Sure, there were things that I think could have been done better and there were parts of the book that I wished they would have implemented better into the movie…but all in all, it was a really good film.  It’s not an action movie so don’t expect to be riddled with excitement and shifting plots or dramatic climax moments. 

I wish they would have spent more time on the dialogue in the movie and made it more like the narrative of the book.  I wish they would have implemented more of Rand’s philosophy into the conversations between characters.  Like I said, however, there are things I would have done differently, but I can’t complain.  I’m very proud of the production team who put the movie together and I truly hope that the movie turns a profit so they’ll feel compelled to make parts 2 and 3.  I hope freedom-loving Americans will get off of their couches and go see this movie in order to support the film maker, but also to send a message that this genre has an interested market.

Who is John Galt?

 

BAR STOOL ECONOMICS: How Our Tax Code Really Works

Suppose that every day, ten men go out for beer and the bill for
all ten comes to $100. If they paid their bill the way we pay our taxes,
it would go something like this: 

The first four men (the poorest) would pay nothing.
The fifth would pay $1.
The sixth would pay $3.
The seventh would pay $7.
The eighth would pay $12.
The ninth would pay $18.
The tenth man (the richest) would pay $59.

So, that’s what they decided to do.

The ten men drank in the bar every day and seemed quite happy with the
arrangement, until one day, the owner threw them a curve. “Since you are
all such good customers,” he said, “I’m going to reduce the cost of your
daily beer by $20.”  Drinks for the ten now cost just $80.

The group still wanted to pay their bill the way we pay our taxes
so the first four men were unaffected. They would still drink for free.
But what about the other six men – the paying customers? How could they
divide the $20 windfall so that everyone would get his ‘fair share?’

They realized that $20 divided by six is $3.33. But if they subtracted that
from everybody’s share, then the fifth man and the sixth man would each end
up being paid to drink his beer. So, the bar owner suggested that it would
be fair to reduce each man’s bill by roughly the same amount, and he
proceeded to work out the amounts each should pay.

And so…

– The fifth man, like the first four, now paid nothing (100% savings).
– The sixth now paid $2 instead of $3 (33%savings).
– The seventh now pay $5 instead of $7 (28%savings).
– The eighth now paid $9 instead of $12 (25% savings).
– The ninth now paid $14 instead of $18 (22% savings).
– The tenth now paid $49 instead of $59 (16% savings).

Each of the six was better off than before. And the first four
continued to drink for free. But once outside the restaurant, the men
began to compare their savings.

“I only got a dollar out of the $20,” declared the sixth man. He
pointed to the tenth man,” but he got $10!”

“Yeah, that’s right,” exclaimed the fifth man. “I only saved a
dollar, too. It’s unfair that he got ten times more than I!”

“That’s true!!” shouted the seventh man. “Why should he get $10
back when I got only two? The wealthy get all the breaks!”

“Wait a minute,” yelled the first four men in unison. “We didn’t
get anything at all. The system exploits the poor!”

So…the nine men surrounded the tenth and beat him up.

The next night the tenth man didn’t show up for drinks, so the nine
sat down and had beers without him. But when it came time to pay the
bill, they discovered something important. They didn’t have enough money
between all of them for even half of the bill!

And that, boys and girls, journalists and college professors, is
how our tax system works. The people who pay the highest taxes get the
most benefit from a tax reduction. Tax them too much, attack them for
being wealthy, and they just may not show up anymore. In fact, they might
start drinking overseas where the atmosphere is somewhat friendlier.

THIS IS WHY WE ABSOLUTELY NEED AN IMPARTIAL TAX CODE!

WE NEED THE “FAIR TAX” THAT CONGRESS IS SITTING ON RIGHT NOW!

___________________________________________

 

For those who understand, no explanation is needed. For those who
do not understand, no explanation is possible.

 

The FAIR TAX ACT: What is it?!

 

 Is there enough motivation in your soul to make a difference in something that you feel is an important issue?  I wonder if many of us would sit back and allow the rocks of life to pummel us without reaction or if we’d stand up against them and find a way to improve the situation?  My best guess is that most of us would do what we could to rectify any situation we were at all uncomfortable with.  I believe this because of what the fabric of America is made of…hard work, relentless efforts, visions of betterment, and the classic American characteristics…innovation and achievement!  We have a long history of standing up to oppressors, fixing what is broken, and making our lives better and more efficient.  From expansionism to the pioneers; from slavery to the equal rights movement; from the Great Depression to the economic boom of the 1990’s, we have always been a nation where common sense prevailed and elbow grease garnered all of our efforts.  With such a rich and envious heritage tied to the lineage of nearly every American family today it is surprising to me that we have allowed ourselves to once again become oppressed by usurpers of power who have made it their career to look out for themselves and line their pockets by conducting “back room deals” far away from the American public and their constituency.  The career politicians we have grown accustomed to have been hitting us where it hurts since the 1940’s, yet rarely is there a voice raised in concern amongst us.  Rarely is there a vociferous moment conducted by the masses that illustrates our frustrations to those whom absolute power has corrupted absolutely.

 

Since the days of Franklin Delanno Roosevelt, we have been told what entitlements we will fund, what laws we will abide by, what bureaucracy we will have to deal with, and what amount of taxes we will have to pay.  In the society that we have allowed to be created right under our noses is dependent upon federal tax revenues, but never have we been asked just how much of our hard-earned monies we would be willing to submit for the better of the country.  Everything in our society is tied to taxes.  Everything includes the embarrassing and failed social security and medicare funds, which are multi-trillion dollar ideas built upon the backs of the American tax payer without his consent.  I wonder how much more responsible our career criminal politicians would be with our money if entitlement programs and tax rates were put to referendum?  It’s a great question, but sadly it’s a question that will have to remain rhetorical.  I doubt very highly that the fat cats we have put in
Washington D.C. would ever relinquish an ounce of power that they didn’t absolutely have to.  We have created this current financial mess out sheer laziness conducted by the average American because we have allowed ourselves to be so easily marketed to due to our reluctance to vote in mass numbers.  Roughly one-third of Americans over the age of 18 vote on a regular basis, which is embarrassing to think of the men and women who gave their lives in order for all of us to have the opportunity to vote in a free and democratic republic.  It is precisely because of this lack of interest that the American citizen is showing that we have become oppressed by the very government we have ignored.  Since the days of FDR’s “Great Society”, the American worker has been burdened with taxes on a federal, state, and local level never before seen in our land.

During the Civil War, Abraham Lincoln endorsed and implemented a roughly 2% income tax in order to fund the war effort.  I don’t believe there are too many Americans who can argue against such a measure because of what was at stake.  Americans have always been willing to open their hearts and wallets in order to help a cause, but what Abraham Lincoln did after the war was over is what made him the type of man who will go down in history as one of our nation’s best leaders of all time.  After the war was completed and after reconstruction efforts were in place, President Lincoln repealed the tax and allowed Americans to contribute on a personal and private basis if they so desired.  This, my fellow American citizen, is exactly what our founding father’s had in mind when they bled for the document currently enshrined in weather-proof glass at the National Archives Building in Washington D.C., the Constitution of the United States of America.  Aside from seeking religious freedoms, it was the oppressive government and laws of England that they were fleeing when the idea of “ America” became a reality.  It was the tax burdens that England forced upon the early colonies that was the straw that broke the camel’s back and sent us over the edge.  It was this issue that our founding father’s made sure was a vital part of the governing document they created in Philadelphia back in 1776.  So why have we turned a full 180 degrees from what was supposed to be to what we are being forced to deal with today?  What happened along the way that allowed the federal government to reach into our pockets and legally withhold a specified percentage of our wages?  How did we as a people so carelessly allow for this to happen when we’re supposed to be the nation who stands up to oppressors and rights that which has been wronged?  How on earth have we allowed an entire political party of modern times to build a platform around how much one group of society is taxed compared to how much another group is taxed?  When and why have we allowed our politicians to build a pulpit to preach their gospel from when everything that they are preaching is contrary to our best interests and the best interests of the Constitution?  Is it not clearly written in that God-inspired document that government oppression by any and all means is strictly forbidden and that states should be (and are expected to be) able to govern themselves?

Many can trace the roots of failed entitlements and the beginnings of taxation oppression back to FDR and his “Great Society” legislation.  It was no accident that his “Great Society” legislations were passed as constitutionally acceptable by the Supreme Court.  Few people actually know that FDR threatened to load the Supreme Court with two additional justices that would tip the balance in favor of his great socialistic ideals.  Due to this pressure from the executive branch, the Supreme Court caved in and granted constitutionality to FDR’s ideas.  From this blunder in American history we have been strapped with the social security and medicare fund, which currently are as close to bankruptcy as MC Hammer was after he wrote “2 Legit 2 Quit”!  Trillions and trillions of dollars have been taken out of the social security and medicare fund in order to pay for politician’s pork that have served no purpose other than to lift the ego of one or two individuals.  The idea of social security and medicare isn’t too bad because it helps Americans get by during times of uncertainty and/or grief (survivor’s benefits), but the fallacy of the “Great Society” is that no American was or has been able to choose for himself whether or not he wanted to take place in this attempt of American socialism.  It was either “pay the social security tax” or “go to jail”.  Simple as that.  What’s American about that?  Today, the “Great Society” has turned us into a fiscal nightmare and all of the money that today’s generation is pouring into these mandatory social funds will not be there for them.  With these massive problems starring us directly in the face there has still been NO solution posited by any of the career politicians we have sent to represent us in our nation’s capital…until today!  The Fair Tax Act (S.25/H.25) is exactly the type of legislation that we need to pass into law if we are to find a way out of the mess that FDR and his grandious visions of socialism have created.  Instead of taxing our businesses into oblivion, forcing our uber-rich citizens to place their wealth in foreign off-shore banks, enabling a massive shadow economy to exist right under our noses, or adding compliance costs of today’s tax code into consideration, the Fair Tax would alleviate these issues, give the money back to the wage earner, and FIX the fiscal problems we currently find ourselves in.  What is the Fair Tax Act, you ask?  Allow me to outline it as best I can!  [go to http://www.fairtax.org for additional information…]