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A review by ellelovesbook
The Age of Selfishness: Ayn Rand, Morality, and the Financial Crisis by Darryl Cunningham
4.0
Having enjoyed The Fountainhead, Atlas Shrugged, and Anthem, Ayn Rand was one of my favorite authors--until I read this book. In The Fountainhead, I found Howard Roark's character to be endearing and refreshing as he continued to stick to his puritanical ideals of architecture and refusal to succumb to society's stale standards of life. Selfishness, narrow mindedness, and lack of endorsement to society's standards are great a character archetype in a novel. But the philosophy of Rand's novels extended to her personal life too. She believed it was a battle of individualism versus collectivism, and a central government was her nemesis. Rand's coined philosophy of objectivism, putting the individual above all, gathered a cult-like following, including none other than Alan Greenspan, chairman of the Federal Reserve for 19 years (1987 - 2006).
Alan Greenspan and Ayn Rand were close friends for over 30 years, having written books together and co-hosted lectures at the NBI, the institute founded to promote objectivism by one of Rand's followers. In 1966 Greenspan wrote 3 essays for Rand's anthology, in which he equated government regulation with a breakdown of society's morals. In his view, there was no need for the securities and exchange commission, or the food and drug administration. He argued all the regulations which protect the public from business scams are unnecessary, as the damage of a reputation is enough to keep business legitimate. This is the crux of the issue. Greenspan's libertarian ideals and failure to regulate the banking system as the chairman of the Federal Reserve led us straight into the financial crash of 2008.
It is a ruse to believe an unregulated financial system will naturally channel money to its best uses, or that bankers' concern for their reputation will prevent them from partaking in fraudulent business. Free markets don't lead us to personal freedom, but to corporate freedom, which has proven over the past thirty years to pollute the environment, steal from honest people, and oppress the less fortunate.
Besides Rand's ludicrous philosophy of objectivism (which one could make a case was a major impetus to the financial crash of 2008), she was not a good person. Shocking, I know right. Although her philosophy was fervently supported by her cult-like followers, anyone who argued against her ideas was immediately exiled from the group. She also began an affair with one of her students, despite both of them being married, despite her being 25 years his senior. Having developed a business and founded the NBI together, Rand discovered her student Branden was having another affair and refused her proposal to be together, she exiled him from the group, publicly slandered him, and ended all their businesses together. Doesn't sound like a person I'd want to do business with, be friends with, or even admire as a writer or philosopher.
It's worth noting that Greenspan apologized for his ill-advised actions before a 2008 House Committee hearing. In it he said, "I made a mistake in presuming that the self-interests of organizations, specifically of banks and others, were such that they were capable of protecting their own shareholders and their equity in the firms." Too little too late.
Although Rand's books and style of writing are entertaining for fiction, there's no place for her philosophy in reality. Taxation is the price we pay for civilization. Selfishness is not a virtue. Altruism is a noble cause.
Alan Greenspan and Ayn Rand were close friends for over 30 years, having written books together and co-hosted lectures at the NBI, the institute founded to promote objectivism by one of Rand's followers. In 1966 Greenspan wrote 3 essays for Rand's anthology, in which he equated government regulation with a breakdown of society's morals. In his view, there was no need for the securities and exchange commission, or the food and drug administration. He argued all the regulations which protect the public from business scams are unnecessary, as the damage of a reputation is enough to keep business legitimate. This is the crux of the issue. Greenspan's libertarian ideals and failure to regulate the banking system as the chairman of the Federal Reserve led us straight into the financial crash of 2008.
It is a ruse to believe an unregulated financial system will naturally channel money to its best uses, or that bankers' concern for their reputation will prevent them from partaking in fraudulent business. Free markets don't lead us to personal freedom, but to corporate freedom, which has proven over the past thirty years to pollute the environment, steal from honest people, and oppress the less fortunate.
Besides Rand's ludicrous philosophy of objectivism (which one could make a case was a major impetus to the financial crash of 2008), she was not a good person. Shocking, I know right. Although her philosophy was fervently supported by her cult-like followers, anyone who argued against her ideas was immediately exiled from the group. She also began an affair with one of her students, despite both of them being married, despite her being 25 years his senior. Having developed a business and founded the NBI together, Rand discovered her student Branden was having another affair and refused her proposal to be together, she exiled him from the group, publicly slandered him, and ended all their businesses together. Doesn't sound like a person I'd want to do business with, be friends with, or even admire as a writer or philosopher.
It's worth noting that Greenspan apologized for his ill-advised actions before a 2008 House Committee hearing. In it he said, "I made a mistake in presuming that the self-interests of organizations, specifically of banks and others, were such that they were capable of protecting their own shareholders and their equity in the firms." Too little too late.
Although Rand's books and style of writing are entertaining for fiction, there's no place for her philosophy in reality. Taxation is the price we pay for civilization. Selfishness is not a virtue. Altruism is a noble cause.