The Ayn Rand candidate

Is Atlas about to shrug?  No, of course not, but it's still pleasant to read that a Contender (however slim his chances) has read the book and found its ideas compelling.

In a 2005 speech to a group of Rand devotees called the Atlas Society, (Paul) Ryan said that Rand was required reading for his office staff and interns. “The reason I got involved in public service, by and large, if I had to credit one thinker, one person, it would be Ayn Rand,” he told the group. “The fight we are in here, make no mistake about it, is a fight of individualism versus collectivism.” 

That's music to our ancap ears even if we agree with the dreary political prophets who advise us to  gird for another four years of His Ineptness and the Jacobin chorus. When a man who might some day lead the country can use the phrase individualism versus collectivism,  things are not quite as bad as they might be.

But even if the anti-Obamaites find a way to win -- essentially by neutralizing the far-left northeast and the  assured 78 Obama electoral votes  along the Pacific coast and in Hawaii  --   we're not necessarily making great libertarian/objectivist progress. Because Alan Greenspan.

As a young fellow, Alan stopped barely short of moving his clothes to Ms. Rand's closet. As an old man and the national money czar, Alan had to spend a lot of time sputtering that, yeah, objectivism was a pretty good idea, but  not in the "real world."  

Sic transit integrity.

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The cite is from a New Yorker profile of Ryan. It's recommended reading for folks who still appreciate old-school magazine journalism.

Plumbing accessories

Or, Happy Birthday, Rhonda

Personal note

The TMR readership is not one of the demographic segments undergoing a serious population explosion.  But by God you guys are faithful, and I appreciate it, especially after the last few days of dull posts here.

Thanks for sticking around through my latest bout of Mediacom Disease. A little over a week ago Mediacomedy jiggled my wires, palpated my F connectors,  and allegedly retuned a nearby signal amplifier. They promised the troubles were over, which promise they kept for slightly more than three days.  I hereby withdraw, renounce, condemn, and declare null (not to mention void)  my previous report on the subject.)

A tech was here again today. After the usual jiggling and palpating he called for backup. The guy guarding his six discovered and fixed a  "loose connector" where my neighborhood feed mates with the main line. He said. We'll see.

I hope to repay my regulars with a little more content in my content. It was just too maddening to try to write something non-drivelly knowing there was only a  meager chance of ever getting it further than the Mac end of the ethernet  cable.

(The few little posts you did see were transmitted via a wimpy wireless signal that sometimes wafts  across Camp J. If I knew who the rightful owner was I'd send him a  sixpack in gratitude.)

Obama? Romney? No, go ahead and pop the cap

I'm not too familiar with Marc Faber's work. He bills himself as an expert on the markets and the economy, or both. Today he addresses the question of whether Tweedle-Dum (D) or Tweedle-Dee (R) would best aid the American economy.


...says Faber, the Thailand-based author of the Gloom, Boom & Doom Report, if you put a gun to his head and told him to pick a candidate to vote for, he'd say, "shoot." 

He likes gold, by the way, but the report doesn't specify whether as a personal investment or a monetary standard. Could be both. Or he could be just another copper boor. (kof kof).