Watch money. Money is the barometer of a society’s virtue. When you see that trading is done, not by consent, but by compulsion–when you see that in order to produce, you need to obtain permission from men who produce nothing–when you see that money is flowing to those who deal, not in goods, but in favors–when you see that men get richer by graft and by pull than by work, and your laws don’t protect you against them, but protect them against you–when you see corruption being rewarded and honesty becoming a self-sacrifice–you may know that your society is doomed.Ayn Rand
From Atlas Shrugged
Thanks, Justin!
#1 by Shelly Walston on September 28, 2008 - 11:45 pm
I fully intend to have my students write an analysis of this quote sometime during this week. Thank you. We’ll see if any of them are even closely connected to what’s going on right now. While every ounce of my sensibility says the answer is no, deep in my heart I’d liek to think that at least a few are.
#2 by Patrick T. Lafferty on September 29, 2008 - 12:12 am
I hope some of them are paying attention. You can have them post their analysis here. I’m sure my readers would love to see what the next wave has in store for us.
#3 by Brian on September 29, 2008 - 9:21 am
That is an excellent quote. If you’d like a great explanation of exactly what government manipulations of the economy brought about this mess, read this article – written 8 years ago – which predicted the whole thing:
http://www.city-journal.org/html/10_1_the_trillion_dollar.html