Does Atlas Shrug?
Title | Does Atlas Shrug? PDF eBook |
Author | Joel Slemrod |
Publisher | Harvard University Press |
Pages | 540 |
Release | 2000 |
Genre | Business & Economics |
ISBN | 9780674001541 |
Since the introduction of the income tax in 1913, controversy has raged about how heavily to tax the rich. Opponents of high tax rates claim that heavy assessments have negative incentives on the productivity of some of our most talented citizens; supporters stress the importance of the rich shouldering their "fair share," and decry the loopholes that permit many to escape their obligations. Notably absent from this debate is hard evidence about the actual impact of taxes on the behavior of the affluent. This book presents evidence by leading economists of the effects of taxes on the formation of businesses, the supply of labor, the form of executive compensation, the accumulation of wealth, the allocation of portfolios, and the realization of capital gains. Among its findings are that the labor supply of the rich remained unchanged in the face of large tax cuts in 1986, and that in late 1992 executives exercised billions of dollars' worth of stock options in order to beat the tax increases expected in 1993. The book also presents a history of efforts to tax the rich, a demographic snapshot of the financially affluent, and a road map to widely used tax-avoidance strategies. Does Atlas Shrug? will be of great interest to policymakers and interested citizens who want to know how much tax revenue could really be gained by increasing tax rates on the rich, or whether low capital gains tax rates really spur economic growth.
100 Voices
Title | 100 Voices PDF eBook |
Author | Scott McConnell |
Publisher | Penguin |
Pages | 657 |
Release | 2010-11-02 |
Genre | Biography & Autobiography |
ISBN | 110147789X |
An extensive collection of never-before-published interviews reflecting on Ayn Rand's life and character. Drawing on 100 never-before-published interviews, Scott McConnell presents a unique portrait of a larger-than-life literary giant and a fascinating individual, Ayn Rand. Focusing on the private Rand, McConnell talked to the author's family, friends, fans, and associates, as well as Hollywood stars, university professors, fiction writers, and many more. Arranged in chronological order, these interviews cover a broad range of years, contexts, relationships, and observations on one of the most influential- and controversial-figures of the twentieth century. From Ayn Rand's youngest sister to the woman who inspired the character of Peter Keating in The Fountainhead, the subjects interviewed offer fresh, sometimes surprisingly candid, affectionate, and intriguing insights into a complex and remarkable writer, philosopher, and human being.
We the Living
Title | We the Living PDF eBook |
Author | Ayn Rand |
Publisher | Penguin |
Pages | 500 |
Release | 2009-05-05 |
Genre | Fiction |
ISBN | 1101137665 |
Ayn Rand's first published novel, a timeless story that explores the struggles of the individual against the state in Soviet Russia. First published in 1936, We the Living portrays the impact of the Russian Revolution on three human beings who demand the right to live their own lives and pursue their own happiness. It tells of a young woman’s passionate love, held like a fortress against the corrupting evil of a totalitarian state. We the Living is not a story of politics, but of the men and women who have to struggle for existence behind the Red banners and slogans. It is a picture of what those slogans do to human beings. What happens to the defiant ones? What happens to those who succumb? Against a vivid panorama of political revolution and personal revolt, Ayn Rand shows what the theory of socialism means in practice. Includes an Introduction and Afterword by Ayn Rand’s Philosophical Heir, Leonard Peikoff
I Am John Galt
Title | I Am John Galt PDF eBook |
Author | Donald Luskin |
Publisher | John Wiley & Sons |
Pages | 277 |
Release | 2011-05-04 |
Genre | Business & Economics |
ISBN | 1118100980 |
Inspired by Ayn Rand's characters in Atlas Shrugged and The Fountainhead, penetrating profiles of both the innovators who move our world forward and those who seek to destroy the achievement of others John Galt, the fictional character from Ayn Rand's bestselling novel, Atlas Shrugged, has come to embody the individualist capitalist who acts in his own enlightened self interest, and in doing so lifts the world around him. Some of today's most successful CEOs, journalists, sports figures, actors, and thinkers have led their lives according to Galt's (i.e., Rand's) philosophy. Now, in I Am John Galt, these inspiring stories are gathered with the keen insight and analysis of well-known market commentator Donald Luskin and business writer Andrew Greta. Filled with exclusive interviews, profiles, and analyses of leading financial, business, and artistic stars who have based their lives, and careers, on the philosophy of the perennially popular Ayn Rand, this book both inspires and enlightens. On the other side are Rand's arch villains?the power-seekers, parasites, and lunatics who would destroy that which the creators and builders make. Who are today's anti-heroes, fighting the creativity of the innovators? Contains insightful interviews, profiles, and analyses of the individuals who have lived by a Randian code to achieve greatness for themselves and others Offers a probing analysis of those who seek to destroy or undo the achievements of others?from academics, pundits, and government bureaucrats to fraudsters who have wreaked havoc on our world Engaging and entertaining, I Am John Galt examines how the inspiration that is Galt thrives more than 50 years after publication of Atlas Shrugged. It will spark the interest of Ayn Rand fans everywhere, as well as those seeking a way to succeed in today's turbulent and confusing times.
Weight
Title | Weight PDF eBook |
Author | Jeanette Winterson |
Publisher | Vintage Canada |
Pages | 170 |
Release | 2010-11-05 |
Genre | Fiction |
ISBN | 0307367363 |
The story of Atlas and Heracles Atlas knows how it feels to carry the weight of the world; but why, he asks himself, does it have to be carried at all? In Weight — visionary and inventive, yet completely believable and relevant to the questions we ask ourselves every day — Winterson’s skill in turning the familiar on its head to show us a different truth is put to stunning effect. When I was asked to choose a myth to write about, I realized I had chosen already. The story of Atlas holding up the world was in my mind before the telephone call had ended. If the call had not come, perhaps I would never have written the story, but when the call did come, that story was waiting to be written. Rewritten. The recurring language motif of Weight is “I want to tell the story again.” My work is full of Cover Versions. I like to take stories we think we know and record them differently. In the retelling comes a new emphasis or bias, and the new arrangement of the key elements demands that fresh material be injected into the existing text. Weight moves far away from the simple story of Atlas’s punishment and his temporary relief when Hercules takes the world off his shoulders. I wanted to explore loneliness, isolation, responsibility, burden, and freedom too, because my version has a very particular end not found elsewhere. —from Jeanette Winterson’s Foreword to Weight
Anthem
Title | Anthem PDF eBook |
Author | Ayn Rand |
Publisher | Ayn Rand Institute Press |
Pages | 84 |
Release | 2021-07-07 |
Genre | Fiction |
ISBN | 0996010130 |
About this Edition This 2021-2022 Digital Student Edition of Ayn Rand's Anthem was created for teachers and students receiving free novels from the Ayn Rand Institute, and includes a historic Q&A with Ayn Rand that cannot be found in any other edition of Anthem. In this Q&A from 1979, Rand responds to questions about Anthem sent to her by a high school classroom. About Anthem Anthem is Ayn Rand’s “hymn to man’s ego.” It is the story of one man’s rebellion against a totalitarian, collectivist society. Equality 7-2521 is a young man who yearns to understand “the Science of Things.” But he lives in a bleak, dystopian future where independent thought is a crime and where science and technology have regressed to primitive levels. All expressions of individualism have been suppressed in the world of Anthem; personal possessions are nonexistent, individual preferences are condemned as sinful and romantic love is forbidden. Obedience to the collective is so deeply ingrained that the very word “I” has been erased from the language. In pursuit of his quest for knowledge, Equality 7-2521 struggles to answer the questions that burn within him — questions that ultimately lead him to uncover the mystery behind his society’s downfall and to find the key to a future of freedom and progress. Anthem anticipates the theme of Rand’s first best seller, The Fountainhead, which she stated as “individualism versus collectivism, not in politics, but in man’s soul.”
The Virtue of Selfishness
Title | The Virtue of Selfishness PDF eBook |
Author | Ayn Rand |
Publisher | Penguin |
Pages | 165 |
Release | 1964-11-01 |
Genre | Philosophy |
ISBN | 1101137223 |
A collection of essays that sets forth the moral principles of Objectivism, Ayn Rand's controversial, groundbreaking philosophy. Since their initial publication, Rand's fictional works—Anthem, The Fountainhead, and Atlas Shrugged—have had a major impact on the intellectual scene. The underlying theme of her famous novels is her philosophy, a new morality—the ethics of rational self-interest—that offers a robust challenge to altruist-collectivist thought. Known as Objectivism, her divisive philosophy holds human life—the life proper to a rational being—as the standard of moral values and regards altruism as incompatible with man's nature. In this series of essays, Rand asks why man needs morality in the first place, and arrives at an answer that redefines a new code of ethics based on the virtue of selfishness. More Than 1 Million Copies Sold!