> Subject: [THB] It's 'Atlas Shrugged' all over again > > > Lots of comments on this article at the link: > > http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/opinion/401893_recession02.html > > JSW > > Last updated March 1, 2009 5:11 p.m. PT > It's 'Atlas Shrugged' all over again > > THE ECONOMIST > > Books do not sell themselves: That is what films are for. "The Reader," > the book that inspired the Oscar-winning film, has shot up the > best-seller lists. Another recent publishing success, however, has had more > help from Washington, D.C., than Hollywood. That book is Ayn Rand's "Atlas
> Shrugged." > > Reviled in some circles and mocked in others, Rand's 1957 novel of > embattled capitalism is a favorite of libertarians and college students. > Lately, though, its appeal has been growing. > > According to data from TitleZ, a firm that tracks best-seller rankings > on Amazon, an online retailer, the book's 30-day average Amazon rank > was 127 on Feb. 21, well above its average over the past two years of > 542. On Jan. 13 the book's ranking was 33, briefly besting President > Barack Obama's popular tome, "The Audacity of Hope." > > Tellingly, the spikes in the novel's sales coincide with the news. The > first jump, in September 2007, followed dramatic interest-rate cuts by > central banks, and the Bank of England's bailout of Northern Rock, a > troubled mortgage lender. > > The October 2007 rise happened two days after the Bush administration > announced an initiative to coax banks to assist subprime borrowers. A > year later, sales of the book rose after America's Treasury said that it > would use a big chunk of the $700 billion Troubled Asset Relief Program > to buy stakes in nine large banks. > > Debate over Obama's stimulus plan in January gave the book another > lift. And sales leapt once again when the stimulus plan passed and Obama > announced a new mortgage-modification plan. > > Whenever governments intervene in the market, in short, readers rush to > buy Rand's book. Why? > > The reason is explained by the name of a recently formed group on > Facebook, the world's biggest social-networking site: "Read the news today? > It's like 'Atlas Shrugged' is happening in real life." The group, and > an expanding chorus of fretful bloggers, reckon that life is imitating > art. > > Some were reminded of Rand's gifted physicist, Robert Stadler, cravenly > disavowing his faith in reason for political favor, when Alan > Greenspan, an acolyte of Rand's, testified before a congressional committee last > October that he had found a "flaw in the model" of securitization. > > And with pirates hijacking cargo ships, politicians castigating > corporate chieftains, riots in Europe and slowing international trade -- all > of which are depicted in the book -- this melancholy meme has plenty of > fodder. > > Even if Washington does not keep the book's sales booming, Hollywood > might. A film version is rumored to be in the works for release in 2011. > But by then, a film may feel superfluous to Rand's most loyal fans; > events unfolding around them will have been dramatization enough. > From The > > > > > > ------------------------------------ > > Yahoo! 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