Atlas Shrugged

About a month ago I took a deep breath and picked up Ayn Rand's Atlas Shrugged. A paperback at 1168 pages of pretty small text, I wondered whether or not I could get through this in a reasonable amount of time. I know the book is renowned for it's political statements and it's promotion of Rand's philosophy of Objectivism, but I just wanted to read it to read it.

It was a breeze, in large part because it is a compelling story. It was a little hard to read given the economic crash that was continuing in November from September and October. Much of the story is about the fall of the American economy from over regulation. As you may recall from the news the last few months, Alan Greenspan referenced that Objectivism had in part guided his tenure as Chairman of the Federal Reserve.

Certainly plenty to think about, but it does make one recognize that too much of a good thing only leads to trouble. Something to think about as the pendulum swings in the direction of more regulation. Not that I'm saying it's not needed, just that it will be interesting to see if the US government, as well as the other governments around the world, can keep the pendulum of regulation from swinging too far.