Congress is working on a debt agreement and let’s hope they come up with something thoughtful and substantial very soon. $14 trillion is a lot of money to be in hock and borrowing more to meet obligations seems scary, stupid, and immoral. What will we be leaving our children? A trashed planet and hyperinflation?
There are two sides to every budget equation: income (taxes) and expenditures. Like any business, America will have to try to push both levers by raising taxes and cutting spending. But who and how do you tax and what programs do you cut? The military and healthcare are the biggest cost items in the budget. Getting out of Iraq and Afghanistan seems not only moral, but prudent.
You see Ayn Rand’s name popping up all over the place lately. I read both “The Fountainhead” and “Atlas Shrugged.” I thought the former was terrific; in fact it’s the only book I have ever stayed up all night reading. “Atlas Shrugged,” however, I thought was a tired re-write of “The Fountainhead.” Swap Dagny Taggart for Howard Roark and railroads for architecture, and you’re done.
Today, her name is constantly mentioned by prominent Republican politicians, most notably Rand Paul and Paul Ryan (say those names together 5 times fast), who feel her writing perfectly captures the morality of capitalism.
But what about her feelings on God, religion, and faith? They certainly can’t have it both ways when it comes to Ayn Rand, right? I wonder how they will explain the following to their conservative/evangelical Christian base?
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