"What's Wrong With This Picture?"

"No frame, no glass (tap-tap on the forehead) -- you're in it."

"For the uninitiated, the moral of the story is simply this: Politicians invariably respond to crises -- that in most cases they themselves created -- by spawning new government programs, laws and regulations. These, in turn, generate more havoc and poverty, which inspires the politicians to create more programs . . . and the downward spiral repeats itself until the productive sectors of the economy collapse under the collective weight of taxes and other burdens imposed in the name of fairness, equality and do-goodism."

(Stephen Moore: "'Atlas Shrugged': From Fiction to Fact in 52 Years" in The Wall Street Journal)

Uhm... no. That's a plot-line of the story. The moral of the story is that collectivism is murder.

Still, you should go have a look at the article, especially if you've never read "Atlas", in order to grasp some parallels that are extremely important, but so obvious that the experienced find them almost completely un-remarkable. They are just the natural, fore-ordained run of things now. It is also important to point out that there is nothing strange in the fact that Rand was able to foresee all this stuff more than an half century ago. That's what principles can do for you.

My favorite bit: regarding the prospect for the book making it to film, David Kelley is quoted as saying, "We don't need to make a movie out of the book. We are living it right now."