Atlas Shrugged – Day 001 – pp. 2-12
Ayn Rand is a libertarian prophetess along the lines of George Orwell. You know what gives a prophet the ability to see into the future? It’s nothing divine, nothing mystical.
It’s just understanding people.
People are predictable types. The mistakes we all make today, have been made over and over in decades and centuries past. Of course they all looked a little different because there weren’t things like running water and FaceBook, but at their core they were the same.
The results can often look a bit different as well. Different, again, because of the times And that’s what leads the regular guy and gal to think that all our mistakes are unique to us. (That and most people are lousy students of history.)
We think by adhering to a faulty set of beliefs, somehow we can get it right this time. That some how doing the same thing again, in a different era, we’ll get different results.
Of course I don’t have to tell you what doing the same thing over and over expecting different results is. (Cubs baseball for all you non-Chicagoans)
My dad once told me something back in the boom-boom 80’s shortly after the 1987 meltdown. We were talking things financial and I was predicting the end of the world as I was wont to do. But my dad, who though I don’t think he graduated high school, was as street smart as they come, told me “people are smarter these days.”
That’s what he said. “People are smarter these days.”
Now I loved my dad. But when you hear those kinds of words out of someone’s mouth whom you respect, you get an idea of what a universal truth they represent.
My dad, I guy I believed could never get chumped by anybody anywhere ever, was spouting conventional wisdom.
So there you go.
All you have to do is understand the true nature of the human condition and bingo, the wisdom of the ages is at your fingertips.
Of course there is a matter of timing. What’d they say in that movie? “On a long enough time-line, the survival rate for everyone drops to zero.” Everyone’s eventually right. And eventually dead.
But on a more upbeat note, those of us who are alive to witness the passing of the predicted events, also have the advantage of having some idea of what the results should be. It’s just a question of adapting them to the era in which we’re living in the presence of the powers that be.
Chapter I: the Theme
As all good books do, chapter 1 (aptly titled “the theme”) starts to lay out the ground work for the rest of the book, introducing characters and their conflicts.
“Who is John Galt?”
In the opening 10 pages we meet Eddie Willers. He is approached by a bum on the street who addresses that question to him. He tosses him a dime and keeps on his way. He returning to his office, but he is clearly distracted by something.
As he walks back to the office he takes note of a few things. One is a giant calendar the mayor has erected between two buildings. Don’t know if that’s important yet (other than to indicate it’s September 2.)
We also find out times are tough: “He enjoyed the sight of a prosperous street; not more than every fourth one of the stores was out of business…” (about circa what year is this? contemporary with its publication?)
He has a brief childhood flashback of an oak tree shattered by lightning on the Taggart estate … has know the Taggarts since childhood. And when asked by a childhood friend what he would want to do in life he answered “Whatever is right” (so we are led to believe he’s a good guy)
He enters the Taggert Building — so his childhood relationship has extended into adulthood — which gives hims some relief (although I suspect it’s really more akin to that oak tree.)
We meet James Taggart, president of Taggart Transcontinental. (a childhood friend of Eddie) Eddie has to make the announcement. Eddie explains there’s been an accident on the Rio-Norte line.
Accidents happen…
The track is shot…
We’ve ordered new track…
We’ve waited 13 months for Associated steel to deliver…
It’s beyond Orren Boyle’s control — it’s not his fault…
So now we know a bit about Jim Taggart. President of a major transportation company who obviously inherited his position by virtue of the fact that he seems willing to endure the ongoing failings of one of his suppliers. Because they’ve done business with them for years. Even though it’s costing him an entire line of his railroad.
What’s so important about this line? It’s in direct competition with another start up line (the Phoenix-Durango) that is doing awesomely well. Awesomely well at shipping Ellis Wyatt’s (another start up who has discovered the secret of reactivating once-thought dried up oil wells — and making a handy profit) oil.
Ellis Wyatt is giving all his business to Phoenix-Durango because apparently Taggart Transcontinental can’t deliver — their lines are falling apart. This situation seems lost on Jim Taggart:
“Yes, I know, I know. He’s (Wyatt) making money. But that is not the standard, it seems to me, by which one gauges a man’s value to society. And as for his oil, he’d come crawling to us, and he’d wait his turn along with all the other shippers, and he wouldn’t demand more than his fair share of transportation — if it weren’t for the Phoenix-Durango. We can’t help it if we’re up against destructive competition of that kind. Nobody can blame us.”
Wow. Taggert is clearly what we call the “antagonist” in this story.
His predisposition to place blame as if fault meant anything in a situation. Every man has his responsibilities. You either succeed of fail. And if you fail because of outside ineptitude, well…
And apparently Jim Taggart has a sister in the business as well. “Damn my sister.” said James Taggart. Don’t know her yet.
On his way out of the office, Eddie runs into Pop Harper. An ancient office clerk who’s an incidental character I think, meant to re-emphasize the dire and changing times they’re living in. He closes the chapter section (hey- a clean break 10 pages in) by recounting the all the bad in the/his world.
Then asking “Who is John Galt?”