E33 - The Anti-Dog-Eat-Dog Rule

A Socialist Reads Atlas Shrugged

This episode focuses on the vexing problem of setting rules for competition in marketplaces and profit-making. The government's function is to set the rules of the game and enforce them.
In Atlas Shrugged, the National Railroad Association conducts illegal collusion, but Ayn Rand makes it seem like this behavior is something that firms could easily get away with in the real world. On the contrary, in the real world, it is not so easy to illegally collude. During this discussion, Jonathan mentions some trade associations that funded ad campaigns (for milk and for cotton).
Jonathan explores the question: could there be a realistic scenario in which something like the Anti-Dog-Eat-Dog Rule could emerge within a society with a strong rule of law? (The video game Bioshock takes place in a world that has already wholly converted to the ideals presented in Atlas Shrugged.)
Jonathan then connects the topic of blight to the economic question of meeting consumer demand. Instead of reducing each economic situation to the dichotomy of public versus private, think about what the best method is to meet the consumer demand for a particular good or service. For more information about "destructive competition" carried out by the Standard Oil Company, see the Supreme Court case Standard Oil Co. of New Jersey v. United States (1911).
A point of agreement that Jonathan sees in this scene is the critique of the power of what Ayn Rand calls "pull" -- when decisions get made based on who your friends are, instead of evidence or merit.
Next episode, Jonathan will refer to the Crito dialogue by Plato.
Whoops! In the end, Jonathan accidentally refers to this episode as 32, but, really, this has been and will always be Episode 33.
My five themes to explore in this podcast's close read of Atlas Shrugged are:

1. What is human nature?
2. Straw-man arguments and their impact on the world Ayn Rand creates.
3. Dagny Taggart as a true hero.
4. How empathy can be de-legitimized.
5. What is Capitalism and what is wrong with it?

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Learn more about Jonathan Seyfried at their website, https://jonathanseyfried.art
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The intro/outro music was composed by John Sib.
The podcast theme image was created by Karina Bial

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