Matt Taibbi: The Lunatics Who Made a Religion Out of Greed and Wrecked the Economy

[marmar]

via AlterNet:




The Guardian / By Matt Taibbi

Taibbi: The Lunatics Who Made a Religion Out of Greed and Wrecked the Economy
The SEC's lawsuit against Goldman Sachs is a chance to prevent greed without limits.

April 26, 2010 |


So Goldman Sachs, the world's greatest and smuggest investment bank, has been sued for fraud by the American Securities and Exchange Commission. Legally, the case hangs on a technicality.

Morally, however, the Goldman Sachs case may turn into a final referendum on the greed-is-good ethos that conquered America sometime in the 80s – and in the years since has aped other horrifying American trends such as boybands and reality shows in spreading across the western world like a venereal disease.

When Britain and other countries were engulfed in the flood of defaults and derivative losses that emerged from the collapse of the American housing bubble two years ago, few people understood that the crash had its roots in the lunatic greed-centered objectivist religion, fostered back in the 50s and 60s by ponderous emigre novelist Ayn Rand.

While, outside of America, Russian-born Rand is probably best known for being the unfunniest person western civilisation has seen since maybe Goebbels or Jack the Ripper (63 out of 100 colobus monkeys recently forced to read Atlas Shrugged in a laboratory setting died of boredom-induced aneurysms), in America Rand is upheld as an intellectual giant of limitless wisdom. Here in the States, her ideas are roundly worshipped even by people who've never read her books or even heard of her. The rightwing "Tea Party" movement is just one example of an entire demographic that has been inspired to mass protest by Rand without even knowing it. ........(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.alternet.org/story/146611/taibbi%3A_the_lunatics_who_made_a_religion_out_of_greed_and_wrecked_the_economy__

[YOY]

1. They still are.

n.t.

[RandomThoughts]

2. I think that is the real meaning of a clone army.

In the Randian ethos, called objectivism, the only real morality is self-interest

That is also the teachings of the church of evil. An actual church that worships the symbols of evil. They say there is only what makes an individual happy, so if you can burn up your conscious, then do what ever you want to anyone if it makes you happy. Her teachings are not new, they are infact very old. She had a bit of a spin by elevating intelligence as her criteria, since that has an ego stroke, and can convey a sense of rationalization. But really she is teaching a very old philosophy.

Some of the philosophy is that it removes the weaker people, but its criteria for success is only intelligence, and without compassion, then it is law of the jungle, and it is hard to argue that lack of compassion is a good trait for a future society. In its form of arguing that the strongest will survive, it fits into people thinking they should control the next generations by who passes on ideas and genes, so it fits how eugenics became possible also. You can actually see where Darwinism led to eugenics, and the match to beliefs of survival of fittest based on no rules criteria in her idea of the world.



They want a no rules society. Or really only rules that do not apply to them, and then they defend that by saying if they can get away with it, they earned it. By there own rules, regulation or taxation of their entire assets would be just because the people figured out how to beat them. Even if the motive was not the same. That is the oddest part of it, I could explain some terrible things that would fit there world view, but they can not think of them, because they believe they will never be in those places. Maybe it is arrogance, or maybe some have broken through and found some way to handle new thoughts, but many are stuck by the need to believe what they do, or face what they are.


I am sure there are some that do not think that way, or may have added thoughts to there ethos, but I would guess the concepts that article talks about is in many of the large banks and corporations. And in the minds of many poor and middle class people also. Just like some in those positions probably are better then some of their coworkers.


Its pretty easy to think the rich are rich because they are better, when you are rich, and it makes thoughts about if you really earned the money, and how you did, a bit easier to think on if you can convince yourself you deserved it.