In light of the spending of trillions of dollars by our federal government, the printing of trillions of dollars by the Federal Reserve, and the assault on anyone actually successful in this economy as underhanded or undeserving of the income they earned, I decided to share my all-time favorite speech. From Atlas Shrugged, by Ayn Rand, it is a speech by Francisco d’Anconia, a wealthy industrialist, at a dinner party of mostly Washington politicans and socialites. Francisco has just overheard a woman call money evil, prompting this response. It’s a bit long, but well worth the read — much like the book from which it is taken. I tried reprinting it directly on this blog, but for some reason it kept disappearing. So instead, I share the link.

http://www.capmag.com/article.asp?ID=1826

You should know by now the “men of the double standard” to which Francisco refers. They have been in the news a lot lately, complaining about people at AIG who honored contracts according to the law passed by these same men of the double standard. They denounce anyone who has been successful, assuming that since they cannot produce anything themselves and have been in government their entire lives, the only way someone else may have become rich is through shady or unlawful practices. They denounce the private sector, saying only the government can solve our problems, then beg the private sector to join them in a public-private partnership. They hold as sacred the “right to privacy” and then abandon it when it suits their political whims, releasing the names of private individuals who did nothing more than take the money that was contractually owed to them, so they can be swarmed by the media and citizens whose outrage, while justifiable, is more appropriately aimed at the men of the double standard who were too interested in politics to read the laws they pass.