Blog

Archive: October 2008

Politics and Places

27 October 2008

Denouncing Sen. Obama as “anti-American,” Sen. Biden as a “windbag,” Sen. McCain as a  “moron,” and Gov. Palin as an “opportunist,” my former boss, Leonard Peikoff, briefly comments on the presidential election—he is abstaining—in his October 20th podcast. Dr. Peikoff, who warned of the rise of radical Islam—he diagnosed the threat of religion in America—decades ago, is usually right, thus I am willing to reconsider my lean towards Obama based on his objection alone.

Along those lines, Middle East commentator Daniel Pipes offers evidence of Sen. Obama’s troubling links to radical Islam in a recent article. I would be astonished if this apparently thoroughly vetted candidate has real, philosophical ties to Islamism—but then I was shocked, if not entirely surprised, at the 9/11/01 act of war.

Thanks to a recommendation from my Linkedin connection (and Facebook friend) Anu, I visited the modernist architect John Lautner exhibit, Between Earth and Heaven: The Architecture of John Lautner, at the Armand Hammer Museum in Westwood just before it closed and it was fabulous. I have a new, deeper appreciation for Lautner, who studied with Frank Lloyd Wright. Blueprints, short films and partial models—full-scale versions would have been better—were informative as an introduction to his inspiring work, which generally integrates man and nature.

Bush Bails Out Subprime Automakers

6 October 2008

Here’s an excellent comment about one part of the nation’s current financial crisis, which is being exacerbated by government intervention in the economy:

Bush Bails Out Subprime Automakers

Washington, D.C.—President Bush just signed into law what the Wall Street Journal describes as “a low-interest loan package to aid U.S. auto makers.”

“Have we learned nothing from the subprime mortgage fiasco?” said Alex Epstein, an analyst at the Ayn Rand Center for Individual Rights. “We are embroiled in a credit crisis, rooted in government policies that promoted and backed reckless, low-interest loans to subprime home buyers—loans that could eventually cost Americans trillions of dollars in bailouts and losses. And now, when lenders on the private market understandably won’t lend $25 billion to car companies that often shed billions by the quarter, the government is making reckless, low-interest loans to these subprime automakers?

“Obviously, our government has learned nothing from the crisis. But it has taught industry a terrible lesson: you fail, you get a bailout.”

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Mr. Epstein is an analyst at the Ayn Rand Center for Individual Rights, focusing on business issues.

Mr. Epstein’s op-eds and letters to the editor have appeared in such publications as the Wall Street Journal, San Francisco Chronicle, Philadelphia Inquirer, Canada’s National Post, and the Washington Times. He is also a contributing writer for The Objective Standard, a quarterly journal of culture and politics. Mr. Epstein has been a guest on numerous nationally syndicated radio programs.

For more information on Objectivism’s unique point of view, go to ARC’s Web site. The Ayn Rand Center is a division of the Ayn Rand Institute and promotes the philosophy of Ayn Rand, author of “Atlas Shrugged” and “The Fountainhead.”

Copyright © 2008 Ayn Rand® Center for Individual Rights. All rights reserved.