He got fired but still last I checked held a large amount of stock. That stock should be claimed by people Matthew owes money to.

Because she was a selfish, nasty bitch that only lived for herself. And she fucked Alan Greenspan, exhibiting the extremely poor taste and desperation that both of them were composed of and inflicted on the world.

I always liked this one:

I Used to Fuck the Shit Outta Ayn Rand by Alan Greenspan

For all your talk about Israel, I'm not really sure why you admire an UberZionist such as Rand.

The rat comparison only works on short time-scales. If you feed them enough, eventually they adapt and start reproducing again. The same goes for any living creature. The argument is very simple: if there exists any path for genes or memes to forge a group that reproduces endlessly, the first such group will exponentially take over the population until something stops it. Evolution has created proper fingernails and an abstractly re-configuring brain. It is certainly able to make people reproduce, and thus, this will happen until something stops it.



On the monopolies, your argument is correct. However, it works only qualitatively, namely if you assume a financial market of arbitrary size. Reality is not so nice. If a monopoly is so large that the biggest time-scale financial markets can cover is less than the expected amortization time, the investment never happens.

The good news is: your argument means there's no need for state intervention on small scales. The bad: if someone monopolizes something like operating systems or transportation on an entire continent, stepping in should be preferred to waiting for a miracle that might take ages to happen.

There are some things that people just never say aloud. IMO, this is at the heart of the issue. Here's one of them.

Evolution will ensure that humans have (or reacquire) a tendency to multiply in numbers. The current slow-down is temporary at best. This leaves us with two main solutions for selection who gets to live and who doesn't:

• Some large organization exerts birth control
• The poorest die

Claiming that current societies (with the exception of China) promote anything but the latter is wishful thinking. Prepare for mass deaths on the lower end if the upcoming debt crisis causes disruptions in food prices.



BTW, good to see you posting on this account, Atlas. The conspiracy theories and alt accusations were kinda getting out of hand.

I never cared about Ayn Rand much. Seeing the interview though, she was smart, and good at what she did. However, one of the statements was wrong, and I don't understand why people who otherwise have great analyses keep making that mistake. Monopolies can form without government. Simple example: the largest railway provider gives better terms the more you use their network, e.g. by day-passes. A better, smaller competitor will have unreasonably massive difficulty in establishing itself.

I wonder, is there a name for this type of libertarianism I believe in: very weak state with a massive exception to prevent natural monopolies (local optima)?

She seems to have struck rather indiscriminately with her condemnation, marking as evil the concept that you should help people because it has been too often associated with the idea that you must.

That said, handouts aren't help. The old saying "If you would feed a man for a day, give him a fish, If you would feed him for a lifetime, teach him how to fish." holds a deeper truth than the obvious "A skill is a better gift than a meal." That deeper truth is that a handout keeps you dependent, while being able to work for your living makes you free.

I already did. It's in the part of the post you didn't quote.

Just because you shouldn't expect or respect involuntary obligations doesn't mean you shouldn't accept and respect voluntary ones.

She suggests the right solution, as well, but far too many people (perhaps yourself included, Atlas, and possibly even Rand herself) misunderstand the implications of that suggestion.

Yes, that's why I said I let it go, but you made a case out of it.

That the poor deserve to starve in the streets, and selfish and successful business man deserve our worship.

See the cooperative Mondragon Corporation that spawned from the time of the Spanish Anarchism and is still active and successful today.

Rand was wrong, plain and simple. She turns a blind eye on history (as many US-American conservatives).

See the Anarchism in Spain. (Documentary)

 

I also don't know much about him. It took little to notice his contribution was completely worthless and he was a noise-generating cancer. That's what the ignore feature is for.

Wow, didn't think you'd edit posts and outright lie. That's a shame. Contrary to what you think I don't dislike you, you do bring about good discussion on your good days and are mostly harmless. Didn't think you'd stoop so low though.

Anyway you haven't done it since so my job is done.

It's both. The believer is generally inconsistent in his logic.

I would encourage you to seek professional psychiatric help. I would genuinely appreciate it if you did.

Despite your facade of being an intellectual, you ironically lack the meta awareness of your own hypocrisy and naivety.