For the purposes of this little on-line ramble, I do not profess to be an authority on Rand or Keynes. As for Rand, I thoroughly enjoyed her Atlas Shrugged, and recently finished a biography on her life & writings by Anne Heller. Atlas is a far more enjoyable read of the two (the bio is well written, it was just a bit too much for me). As for Keynes, I have not read any of his works in a primary fashion, but being a student of business & economics, I am familiar enough with his theories and use of theory in the 1930-1940’s and today.
Ayn Rand, proponent of laissez faire capitalism; John Maynard Keynes, advocate for government intervention in business; what do these two have to do with the Golden Rule?
As for Rand, it is an easier explanation for myself. She was a pure capitalist, in her writings, her beliefs & in her life. In fact she was, as my mother would say, selfish. Her super-hero’s John Galt & Howard Roark were interested in their belief, their success, their power. In summary, Rand wasn’t a proponent of the Golden Rule.
Before I get to Keynesian Theory, it is interesting to me as I write this that I really can’t compare Ayn Rand and John Maynard Keynes for the sake of impact to the Golden Rule. Rand wrote to the masses and used stories to project her unique and truly groundbreaking insights. Keynes was an academic, wrote for academics and advised government. His thoughtful and equally powerful insights changed the world too. John Maynard Keynes became Keynesian Theory.
Keynesian policy is about government acting in the interest of society. In a true sense and dare I say, utopian view, government is of the people for the people. But we all know that is the case, power frequently corrupts. For example, here is my birth-state of Illinois, we are known for the number and frequency of our Governors being convicted and placed in prison. The issue I have with big government is that the people in power actually did not create anything; they entered the government and became entrenched as part of the overall bureaucracy. Government starts to become bigger and bigger because it essentially needs to continually feed itself. That said, government is necessary to reflect the views of the citizens of the local, state and federal institutions.
Rand wrote about the individual and capitalism. Uncontrolled successful greed creates monopolies that do not benefit society. Keynesian theory is very susceptible to power seekers that do not create anything. This is where the Golden Rule enters the picture. Private business and public government (elected officials and the bureaucrats) would all do very well to remember the Golden Rule. When people become so selfish that they are only motivated by money and power for themselves, they create an inherent risk that should be unacceptable.
This is why I believe that the backbone of our great country is our people banding together to create small enterprises. For in a small enterprise, everybody must be concerned about meeting customer expectations. People engaged in small business know all of their co-workers and customer’s intimately. The only way to operate a small enterprise is to live the Golden Rule.
There is a middle way between laissez faire business and over-regulation of industry by big government. It is simply remembering the Golden Rule.
-Charley
Robert said,
June 21, 2010 @ 6:31 pm
Ayn Rand did not advocate monopolies. In her view, monopolies were created by government granting special privileges and benefits to businesses in the so-called “public interest”.
Unfortunately, a mere maxim such as the Golden Rule cannot create a proper mix of laisse faire and over-regulation. A proper society requires a constitution and objective laws…and it requires rational selfishness rather than an ideology against greed. In fact, a mix of laisse faire and over-regulation is nothing more than fascism.
Rand was right. Keynes is responsible for the mess in which we find ourselves because there is very little difference between the “system” he advocated and the tyranny of Mussolini. They are both “government regulation of business” for the sake of a false “public interest”