Atlas Slacked Off - or - The Tragedy of the Margins

Atlas Shrugged, being one of the most popular and controversial books of all time, is probably familiar to you.  While I still credit the book as a major turning point in my young life and for fundamentally shifting the way I think about ethics and politics, I no longer wave the Ayn-Rand-was-right-about-everything banner.  Putting the major disagreements aside, I want to focus on yet another epiphany I had in the shower this morning (is there a better place for such a thing?).  The following will be a minor plot spoiler to those entirely unfamiliar with the novel.

The theme of the book is the most productive members of society - the men (and a woman) "of the mind", in Rand's parlance - getting fed up with the parasitic elements of society and going on strike.  This strike usually involves the self-destruction of their huge industrial businesses and their disappearance.  This, it struck me this morning, is where the story departs starkly from reality.  I am not disagreeing with the premise that those who produce wealth should bristle at the thought of it being pilfered from them.  Nor am I suggesting that they should not resist such acts of aggression - by force if necessary.  My qualm is with the literal interpretation of the book.  I see the plot as an abstraction intended to illustrate the morality and the consequences of the producers going on strike.  Unfortunately, the practical effects of government intervention into otherwise peaceful interactions are considerably more subtle.

The most insidious aspect of the strike going on with the producers here in the real world is on the margins.  People should not be expected to shrink away from society all-together when being fed up with taxation and regulation.  Rather, they will for the most part simply let those projects which require too much effort for too little gain (whether because of taxes or regulations) slip away, never to be seen or heard from again.

We should consider here Bastiat's warning against focusing solely on that which can be seen and ignoring that which is hidden.  The medical doctors who retire early, citing increased regulation and the affordable care act as their reason, are quite visible.  Those who decide not to go into medicine or those who simply elect to spend more time on the golf course are the unseen.  The chemist who discovers a potential cure for a rare disease but doesn't pursue it because the potential market just doesn't justify a billion dollars worth of regulatory hurdles is part of the unseen.  So is the dentist who doesn't expand his practice because the additional income moves him to the next tax bracket, netting him a pittance for the trouble.  So is the young couple who let their small business dreams die when they couldn't afford the new minimum wage.

I would argue that the "Brain Drain" is not the physical movement of ability from the borders of an overreaching state, though that certainly happens.  It is rather the creeping apathy of a mind grappling with the inability to be independent and effectual in a static, constrained and centrally planned world.

The little things that we have lost are a crime against humanity.

A View Into Krugman

Paul Krugman recently provided some insight into the influence Isaac Asimov had on him at a young age over at the guardian (yea, they don't capitalize it either).  I will provide only a few snippets.  He begins:

There are certain novels that can shape a teenage boy's life. For some, it's Ayn Rand's Atlas Shrugged; for others it's Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings. As a widely quoted internet meme says, the unrealistic fantasy world portrayed in one of those books can warp a young man's character forever; the other book is about orcs.

Ok, that's a little bit funny, but in reality Atlas Shrugged, one of the most popular and highly acclaimed books in human history, is a tale of a struggle to be free.  Yes, those people who are struggling have made alot of money for themselves, but nonetheless, 16 year-olds the world over are able to see the heroism inherent in a free mind in spite of the class warfare they have been marinated in since kindergarten.  An economist who cannot say a kind word about this novel should raise a few red flags.  Interestingly he links to another guardian page with a single review of the book.  Surprise, surprise, they didn't like it.    

The Foundation itself seems to recapitulate a fair bit of American history, passing through Boss Tweed politics and Robber Baron-style plutocracy

The emphasis here is mine. What serious economist uses the term "Robber Baron"? 

 Yet if the Foundation books are a tale of prophecy fulfilled, it's a very bourgeois version of prophecy.

And "bourgeois"?  Seriously, it appeared twice.  

economics is, after all, largely about greed, while other social sciences have to deal with more complex emotions.

And here we come to the essence of the man who has been very influential in guiding the policies - enforced at gunpoint - which are intended to scientifically and magnanimously guide us to the promised land of wealth, health and prosperity for all.  He sees your quest to maximize your subjective self interest as nothing more honorable or complex than greed, and he doesn't even know you.  What you choose to buy, eat, wear, drive, watch and read - and at what price - are simple matters for the economic scientist of tomorrow. 

Admittedly, I have made nothing here but ad hominem attacks, but in the realm of economics, a field far from the certainty and consensus of the physical sciences, it pays to understand the ideology of the shaman offering you the cure. 

Atlas Shrugged Part II: Atlas Mugged

I first arrived at this title upon seeing Atlas Shrugged Part II in the theater.  I was reeling from the disappointment with several minor points in the film (the corny opening scene, the overuse of under budgeted and unnecessary graphics, the watering-down of the author's hardcore message and particularly, the not-so-handsome depiction of John Galt, the supposed ideal man).  I was prepared to rip the film apart.   I was so disappointed because the book had such a transformative effect on me.  How could they do this to Ayn Rand's fictional masterpiece that explains the moral underpinning of free markets, free minds and free money?!  It was epic, iconic and eerily predictive of so many subsequent conditions of government overreach.  But that's enough bickering; it gets us nowhere.  Besides, I'm sure someone, somewhere who claims to know far more about movies than I do has done plenty of the bickering for me.  I bet there are even people out there who don't like Ayn Rand and saw the film.  I'm sure they'll have a hay day tearing it down.
 
Instead I will focus on the aspect of the film that came across most clearly and was the most accurate representation of the novel's theme:  actions of the state represent force enacted against the citizenry.  This is clearly demonstrated in the government's aggression against Hank Rearden, in my mind the undisputed hero of Part II.  Mr. Rearden committed a crime against the state by selling Rearden Metal to his friend, the coal magnate Ken Danagger, in a quantity contrary to the newly minted "Fair Share Law" which limited the sale of "strategic" goods and included a laundry list of other elixirs sure to save the world economy.  He was hauled before the court to answer for his crimes.  Then he performed what is in my opinion the most courageous act in the entire story.  He stood before the gang of black-robed thieves and told them that he did not recognize their authority to take his metal.  They appealed to the "common good" and to the needs of his fellow men.  They placed themselves in the position as the savior of mankind, and they demanded that he be reasonable and submit to their authority.  But, Hank recognized their obfuscation.  He called them on their bluff and made their threats explicit to all who could hear, "If you think you have the right to use force against me, bring guns." 

Anyone who wishes to hide their aggression behind the veil of love for fellow men requires your consent.  Don't give it. 

The mind is the instrument that holds the world aloft.  Atlas Shrugged is a tale of the mind, weary from being beaten and robbed, going on strike. 

Atlas was mugged, so...




... Atlas Shrugged.