Tuesday, March 24, 2009

Geithner, Starring as "Atlas Shrugged" Villain Wesley Mouch?

Sometimes I feel as if God has taken Rand's Atlas Shrugged and turned into into a nonstop running play, using the United States as his grand stage (much as Rand did in her novel).

Listen to Tim Geitner today as he demands the title of economic czar of the nation:

Geithner seeks new powers over financial companies

Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner called on Congress Tuesday to grant him new powers to regulate huge financial companies like insurance giant AIG, whose failure would pose a grave danger to the U.S. financial system and the broader economy.

Specifically, Geithner wants powers similar to those of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, which has authority to seize control of banks, take over their bad assets and sell good ones to competitors...


Now pay attention to Wesley Mouch, economic czar of Atlas Shrugs' America, and listen to him complain as Rand's "elite" discuss taking complete control of the nation's production:

'It's obvious that measures have to be taken. Drastic measures,' said James Taggart, speaking , not to Mr Thompson, but to Wesley Mouch. 'We can't let things go the way they're going much longer.' His voice was belligerent and shaky.
''Don't look at me,' snapped Wesley Mouch. 'I can't help it. I can't help if people refuse to co-operate. I'm tied. I need wider powers.'

'Go ahead, Wesley,' [Thompson] said. 'Go ahead with Number 10-289. You won't have any trouble at all.' …'
If you want me to go ahead, you'll have to declare a state of total emergency.'
'I'll declare it any time you are ready.'…'

"The chief difficulty is that I am not sure whether the law actually grants us the power to put into effect certain provisions of Directive Number 10-289. I fear they might be open to challenge.''
"Oh, hell, we've passed so many emergency laws that if you hunt through them, you're sure to dig up something that will cover it."

An explanation of why this is going on, and where it will lead:

The primary motive behind the government’s scheme, which is a vast, seemingly opaque combination of the Ponzi and pyramid models, is not greed, avarice, or even the “quick buck” but rather power. As the pyramid pharaohs and Ponzis fake reality in order to steal from their duped victims, politicians strive to keep reality at bay, that is, to postpone or delay the consequences of their past and current policies. They fake reality by blaming any financial crisis on anyone but themselves, usually on “unfettered“ capitalism .

Their role as “confidence men” is to persuade everyone else of it and to call for an expansion of the scheme, to assume more powers in an attempt to correct a crisis of their own making, literally with their fingers crossed. (“I need wider powers!” demanded Wesley Mouch in Ayn Rand’s prophetic novel, Atlas Shrugged.)

So is Geithner a real-life Wesley Mouch? And is Obama really nothing more than Bernie Madoff, running the biggest Ponzi scheme in world history, one destined to destroy our wealth in one fell swoop?

Remember, in Rand's novel, the United States slips into chaos and anarchy due to the "Mouch Mentality". Are we destined for the same inglorius end?

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

I'm reading it now (Yeah, I'm late to the party), but when I read the part you quoted, I thought exactly the same thing.

This is happening right before our eyes.

The JerseyNut said...

I know. Kinda freaky, right? How the hell did she know it would come down like this?

Funny thing is, if you called her a prophet to her face, she would rip you a new one. She was the ultimate defender of reason, after all...which would make her lost in today's world.

Although if there was ever a time we needed her voice....

Publius said...

It was barely a year ago that I read Atlas Shrugged for the first time.

Since november I've been shaking my head thinking what I read was about to come true right before mine eyes.

This is a beautiful illustration of just how it's playing out.

forget "who is John Galt"? Where is John Galt!

Maybe he is one of those retuning military heroes the government is so afraid of.