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Ayn Rand is popular today; but her ideas lead to destruction, what are the solutions?
Ayn Rand’s ideas have grown since the early 2010s. Between 2012 and 2020, her book Atlas Shrugged was the second biggest seller in the USA after the Bible, thirty years after her death. Friday essay: We all live in the world of Ayn Rand, egomaniac godmother of libertarianism. Can fiction help us navigate it? –…
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Das moderne rote Tuch
nn sich die Menschen organisieren, um ihre Bedingungen zu verbessern, gibt es Ergebnisse. Sie brauchen keine Vertreter, die für sie und an ihrer Stelle sprechen. Wenn Gewerkschafter auf Kosten der Gewerkschaftsmitglieder leben, dann setzen sie sich nicht mehr für sie ein, sondern machen ihnen Angst, damit sie in der Gewerkschaft bleiben. Wenn die Beschäftigten schlechte…
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“Le chiffon rouge” moderno
Cuando la gente se organiza para mejorar sus condiciones, hay resultados. Cuando la gente se organiza para mejorar sus condiciones, hay resultados. No necesitan representantes que hablen por ellos, en su lugar. Cuando los sindicalistas viven a expensas de los afiliados, ya no los defienden, los asustan para que sigan en el sindicato. Si los…
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The Modern “chiffon rouge”
When people organize to improve their conditions, there are results. When people organize to improve their conditions, there are results. They don’t need representatives to speak for them, instead of them. When staff unions live off the backs of union members, they no longer defend them, they scare them into staying in the union. If…
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Arizona, Nevada and California Dream
Californians are leaving California because housing is terribly expensive, and beggary and poverty are everywhere on the streets. Inequality is toxic: the state has the most billionaires and the most homeless people in the US. Tens of thousands of residents of Nevada and Arizona are seeing their housing prices soar as a result of the…
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We’re all in it together
The Republicans, Richard Nixon with the opening up to China in the 1970s and Ronald Reagan with the relocation of manufacturing to Mexico in the 1980s, put quantities of products on the market at lower prices than before. This was presented as a gift to purchasing power. It gave people more disposable income. Landlords then…
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2024 UK general election: choosing the Right or the Left.
The Left and the Right are two ideologies that recognise the importance of having elites. For the Right, some people are considered to have fewer rights than others: women, black people, workers, etc. The elite is composed of Oxbridge. The people have to sacrifice on their housing, health and education to give to the elites.…
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Work, it’s an all-or-nothing option
In Greek, Roman and Eastern antiquity, work was seen as a necessary evil. If possible, others were made to do it for you. The earliest references to work in Mesopotamia depicted gods imposing their tasks on men, because gods were stronger. Value in antiquity was not work, but knowledge, information and the arts. In medieval…
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Price ceilings and price floors
Food, housing, energy, education, health and arms cannot be left to the market. We need to control prices. These are not consumer goods. They are commodities essential to human needs. The very reason for civilization is to be able to provide these necessities. They are not goods to enrich a part of the population. People…
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Finance & Obesity
Today, nearly half of the world’s population is considered obese: https://www.who.int/en/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/obesity-and-overweight Associated pathologies are considered as causes of “preventable” diseases by responsible individuals, which has the effect of distorting the figures, for example by pointing out the risks associated with physical inactivity or tobacco (risks considered preventable) which are actually less polluting than pesticides and fertilizers…