Has Ayn Rand's time as guru finally passed? Maybe.

[madfloridian]

I love Michael Hiltzik's work, and I ran across this today. Some pieces of good news in the article.

Has Ayn Rand's day as a business guru finally passed?


Ayn Rand, center, with Gary Cooper and Patricia Neal, stars of the ridiculous 1949 adaptation of her book "The Fountainhead." (Warner Bros.)

They handed out the book to their junior executives, told interviewers how reading Rand in their youth had changed their lives, identified with her granite-jawed, confident characters. The pathology extended to Washington, where Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wisc.) was requiring staffers to read "Atlas Shrugged" and talking about how her philosophy of uncompromising individualism was what got him interested in politics. "Ayn Rand did a fantastic job of explaining the morality of capitalism, the morality of individualism, and this, to me, is what matters most," he said in a 2009 campaign video.

They all found something encouraging in Rand's notion that looking out for No. 1 was the best way to serve society, and were perhaps comforted by her depiction of a world made up of makers (themselves) and takers (everyone else). If they needed a justification for ruthlessly cutting payroll and subverting government regulation, there it was.

....That time may have passed. Ryan started playing down his love for Ayn Rand back in 2010. And last month, Aetna CEO Mark Bertolini cited a very different book when he announced that his company was raising its minimum wage to $16 an hour as of this April. The change, affecting 5,700 employees, comes to an average raise of 11%, and for some workers as much as 33%.

......There may be several reasons for what seems to be the decline of Ayn Rand as a business beacon. One is that she hasn't proved to be a very useful guide. The most prominent Randian in corporate America, Sears Holdings Chairman Edward Lampert, seems well on the way to running that once-dominant retailer into oblivion. (See accompanying chart.)

Tell me about it. I bought a Kenmore Dishwasher this year to replace the one I had 30 years before it got a broken latch..no parts available. It took 4 home repair visits and replacing vital parts to even get it to work.

Rand's me-first philosophy, moreover, simply doesn't serve very well when income inequality is on the front burner--indeed, when the issue even is being cited by conservative Republican politicians on the stump. As the economy strengthens and corporate profits remain strong, the essential defensiveness of Ayn Rand's worldview doesn't seem as necessary as it used to be.

[onehandle]

1. Didn't anyone notice back then that she's a vampire?

Gary, look to your left.
Patricia, look to your right.

Vampyr!

[MohRokTah]

3. No, I'm afraid she's not your comic book Vampyr.

She's WAMPHYRI!*

She's a LEECH!

*see Lumley, Brian

[jeff47]

2. You'd think people would have figured out

that when she failed to live her own philosophy, her ideas might not be workable.

[madfloridian]

5. One would think so, but the right just keeps saying things over and over....

until people parrot what they say with no understanding at all. I hear she gladly took her Social Security.

It's funny to me when I do bother to confront someone being critical of safety nets, they sort of back down when they are asked details about their beliefs.

[Bigmack]

4. In my experience....

... a lot of the people who blather all the AynRandian buzzwords have never read her books. They don't even know who she is.

They've just heard the whole bullshit philosophy... in phrases... all over the place. Sounds good to them, so they pick it up.

Most of those poor assholes couldn't read the Cliff notes of AynRand's books.

[rhett o rick]

6. I never have figured out how the right can follow Ms. Rand when they generally can't read. nm

[treestar]

7. She's not even right That is, if you think only of yourself, your product may

well not sell. You have to see things from others' perspective and what they'd want to pay for.