Book Report – Atlas Shrugged Yu Wang Atlas Shrugged is a great novel. Ayn Rand presents a lot of ideas; egotism that people live for their own needs, industrialism that government should not disturb the economics and hinder the innovation, and objectivism that reason relies on fact and so on.
There are too many points worthily discussed. At here I want to talk about the counterparty, hero and looters, in the novel which are related to the Tulipomania. In the book there are two kinds of people, Dagny Taggart John Galt and industrialist, who are objectivism, hero of the world, bold and responsible, thinking based on the fact.On the contrary, James Taggart and government are weak, fear to take responsibility, and rely on their judgment not fact. I think there are some common among these people between Atlas Shrugged and Tulipomania. In Atlas Shrugged, the looters like James Taggart are much like the tulip dealers and trader.
At the beginning, Taggart Company needs to repair the railroad. At first James Taggart wants to use the old metal instead of the new more reliable metal. Because he thinks the company had a long relationship with the old metal provider. He does not have rational judgment, just thinking that public is right and no reasoning.
His sister Dagny, however, points out the Rearden’s metal is good choice for the line. She think based on the fact and knowledge that she knows the new metal is reliable and better. She knows the Rearden company’s metal is the best choice, regardless of opinion of government scientific institution who is controlled by politic not scientist. I think a lots of Tulip dealers and traders share common with James Taggart for irrational aspect.
The Tulip dealers are irrational. They crazy traded for tulips just because trading could make money and the price of tulip continued to go up.However they did not know the true value of most tulips. They did not think why the price of tulips bulb go high. They just decided to trade on tulip based judgment and personal affection. Additionally, in Atlas Shrugged, James Taggart is craven.
He does not want to take responsibility. He only wants to get successful through government, an easy to fulfill for him. This is sort of like some of the tulips dealer. Some of the tulip dealers actually are really timid. They went to the tulip market after they saw other people make money.
They could be thinking there is little risk to earn money through this way, or think why I could lose oney. I think the fact that these tulip dealers follow other seemingly successful man is a reflection of their reluctance taking risk. In Atlas Shrugged, the economic is finally melted down after tons of unreasonable government policy. The government distribute the resource depend on needs instead of contribution. This action contributes to the economic collapse.
This model has been proven to fail in factory. The government taking this action does not follow the rule of nature, which eventually cause the chaos of the world. The tulip dealers also did not follow the object of tulips.They did not realize the tulip is just a flower, with no value if no one like it. It is true that some scant bulbs with high value but most bulbs were much overpriced. This apparently unreasonable phenomenon finally cause the market plummet.
I am really impressed that one of idea Rand presented that only some people with intelligent and innovative motive the progress of the world. In the novel, the hero are those public did not realize and appreciate what they did, and why they did so. The other people on the other side are rabbles but they do not realize before John Galt told them.They are meaningless for the progress of world. They just are the passenger of train.
I think it is true that most people cannot be the force to advance the society because they cannot purely think independently or other reason. In the novel, only small number of people can think based on fact, making them to invent ingenious idea and products, find the exceptional way to think. For the most bubble there are always some people can benefit from them. They would detect the opportunities before the bubble and exit before the end of bubble. But the other people are just the opposite. I think this demonstrate the importance of mind.
Normal people are those who cannot think. They cannot achieve with productive and propensity by themselves since they do not have the mind to guide. Beside I think the way of thinking is one of the reasons why some people can benefit from the trade, someone will lose everything. In Atlas Shrugged, the author also state that communist is the hinder for economic. It generates corruption, chaos, and low efficiency. She said people must follow their own needs.
To support this, Rand points out that if people are compelled to place their neighbor needs beyond their own, the society will be in chaos and evil.The man with ability and hard-working will be the loser; they are the people to do more and get less. The factory that John Galt once worked in is the example of communist. This factory finally ended in destroy illustrates that any economic and society cannot be built on sacrifice interest of some people to fulfill the other.
Atlas Shrugged is a great work, inspiring me deeply. It has a lot of important and extraordinary points that worth to be further discussed and thought. I am glad to read this book even though I can only get the dabble idea.
