Directive 10-289

[Havet]

Directive 10-289


"In the name of the general welfare," read Wesley Mouch, "to protect the people's security, to achieve full equality and total stability, it is decreed for the duration of the national emergency that--

"Point One. All workers, wage earners and employees of any kind whatsoever shall henceforth be attached to their jobs and shall not leave nor be dismissed nor change employment, under penalty of a term in jail. The penalty shall be determined by the Unification Board, such Board to be appointed by the Bureau of Economic Planning and National Resources. All persons reaching the age of twenty-one shall report to the Unification Board, which shall assign them to where, in its opinion, their services will best serve the interests of the nation.

"Point Two. All industrial, commercial, manufacturing and business establishments of any nature whatsoever shall henceforth remain in operation, and the owners of such establishments shall not quit nor leave nor retire, nor close, sell or transfer their business, under pentalty of the nationalization of their establishment and of any and all of their property.

"Point Three. All patents and copyrights, pertaining to any devices, inventions, formulas, processes and works of any nature whatsoever, shall be turned over to the nation as a patriotic emergency gift by means of Gift Certificates to be signed voluntarily by the owners of all such patents and copyrights. The Unification Board shall then license the use of such patents and copyrights to all applicants, equally and without discrimination, for the purpose of eliminating monopolistic practices, discarding obsolete products and making the best available to the whole nation. No trademarks, brand names or copyrighted titles shall be used. Every formerly patented product shall be known by a new name and sold by all manufacturers under the same name, such name to be selected by the Unification Board. All private trademarks and brand names are hereby abolished.

"Point Four. No new devices, inventions, products, or goods of any nature whatsoever, not now on the market, shall be produced, invented, manufacturerd or sold afer the date of this directive. The Office of Patents and Copyrights is hereby suspended.

"Point Five. Every establishment, concern, corporation or person engaged in production of any nature whatsoever shall henceforth produce the same amount of goods per year as it, they or he produced during the Basic Year, no more and no less. The year to be known as the Basic or Yardstick Year is to be the year ending on the date of this directive. Over or under production shall be fined, such fines to be determined by the Unification Barod.

"Point Six. Every person of any age, sex, class or income, shall henceforth spend the same amount of money on the purchase of goods per year as he or she spent during the Basic Year, no more and no less. Over or under purchasing shall be fined, such fines to be determined by the Unification Board.

"Point Seven. All wages, prices, salaries, dividends, profits, interest rates and forms of income of any nature whatsoever, shall be frozen at their present figures, as of the date of this directive.

"Point Eight. All cases arising from and rules not specifically provided for in this directive, shall be settled and determined by the Unification Board, whose decisions will be final."


This was the directive passed by the fictional government in Ayn Rand's Atlas Shrugged novel (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atlas_shrugged). It was strongly composed of mixture of "socially-aware" bureaucrats and big business industrialists (basically all of them had monopolies).


Now we all now how Rand was rather sucky in her "philosophy", her ethics, her politics, in short, a lot of things.


But what is your opinion of this directive as a way to solve the problems of a country whose economy was collapsing?

[Demogorgon]

I think it is a silly scare tactic of the kind she was so good at coming up with. It is very easy to show the folly of policies that nobody advocates.

I wish you'd stop bringing her up really. Her philosophy, such as it is, is a mixture of stupidity and plagiarism. Not the best basis for discussion.

[Jazzratt]

I must say I'll congratulate Rand on making a strawman so insanely pathetic that no one could possibly support it. Although I quite like some of the concepts behind point 3: fuck the private ownership of patents, I think making them freely available through a government agency would be a step forward [but that, of course, is not quite what point 3 is about because that idea is not the thing only a lunatic would suggest.].

I honestly feel, like I do with most things to do with Rand, that my intelligence level has dropped having read that.

[IcarusAngel]

I was thinking the same thing. Ayn Rand makes it seem inherently 'statist' (Libertarian/free-market term for anything the government does that prohibits the corporations from making slaves of us all) by making it sound as if the corporations must be FORCED by the STATE to give up their property, and sign it over to this special entity, whatever it is. The whole thing is contradictory because it says we need free-creation to have progress but then step four says that progress is outlawed. :confused:

Of course, the whole problem of corporate 'property rights' could be solved by eliminating the protections that they receive from our friends the government.

Eliminating corporate intellectual property is one of those things that would probably be best accompanied with an overthrow of capitalism altogether. With the wealth gap as big as it is, it wouldn't do much to protect the working class or weaken capitalism.

[Dejavu]

Of course, the whole problem of corporate 'property rights' could be solved by eliminating the protections that they receive from our friends the government.

Absolutely. We agree for once. You get a rep-point/thanked post from me for this.

[Havet]

I wish you'd stop bringing her up really. Her philosophy, such as it is, is a mixture of stupidity and plagiarism. Not the best basis for discussion.

Actually, it was me who complained that people here were bringing her up too often (http://www.revleft.com/vb/whats-all-ayn-t113326/index.html?t=113326). Now you're complaining the opposite? Lol

[Kwisatz Haderach]

The first three points sound like something a real government might actually pass. But then, the next four points take us on a trip through crazyland...

"Point Four. No new devices, inventions, products, or goods of any nature whatsoever, not now on the market, shall be produced, invented, manufacturerd or sold afer the date of this directive. The Office of Patents and Copyrights is hereby suspended.

"Point Five. Every establishment, concern, corporation or person engaged in production of any nature whatsoever shall henceforth produce the same amount of goods per year as it, they or he produced during the Basic Year, no more and no less. The year to be known as the Basic or Yardstick Year is to be the year ending on the date of this directive. Over or under production shall be fined, such fines to be determined by the Unification Barod.

"Point Six. Every person of any age, sex, class or income, shall henceforth spend the same amount of money on the purchase of goods per year as he or she spent during the Basic Year, no more and no less. Over or under purchasing shall be fined, such fines to be determined by the Unification Board.

"Point Seven. All wages, prices, salaries, dividends, profits, interest rates and forms of income of any nature whatsoever, shall be frozen at their present figures, as of the date of this directive.
Riiiiiiiight. :rolleyes: And who, in the real world, actually supports anything like this? Absolutely no one.

Here, Rand gives us a lesson in strawman construction: Take some things that your opponents actually support, and mix them with insane measures that no one ever advocated. Then, attack the entire package as if it were an indivisible whole. At least half the package is composed of your stupid strawman laws, ensuring a disaster that can be neatly blamed on anyone who agrees with any part of the package.

[Dejavu]

Originally Posted by Ayn Rand
"Point Four. No new devices, inventions, products, or goods of any nature whatsoever, not now on the market, shall be produced, invented, manufacturerd or sold afer the date of this directive. The Office of Patents and Copyrights is hereby suspended.

"Point Five. Every establishment, concern, corporation or person engaged in production of any nature whatsoever shall henceforth produce the same amount of goods per year as it, they or he produced during the Basic Year, no more and no less. The year to be known as the Basic or Yardstick Year is to be the year ending on the date of this directive. Over or under production shall be fined, such fines to be determined by the Unification Barod.

"Point Six. Every person of any age, sex, class or income, shall henceforth spend the same amount of money on the purchase of goods per year as he or she spent during the Basic Year, no more and no less. Over or under purchasing shall be fined, such fines to be determined by the Unification Board.

"Point Seven. All wages, prices, salaries, dividends, profits, interest rates and forms of income of any nature whatsoever, shall be frozen at their present figures, as of the date of this directive.Hey with these conditions , we can actually use Sraffa's Production for Subsistence model and not even worry about the discovery problem. :laugh:

The last two points can really be one.