Atlas Shrugged – Day 008 – pp. 74-83
“The proposal which they passed was known as the “Anti-dog-eat-dog” Rule”
Anti-dog-eat-dog???
Well, it was proposed by The National Alliance of Railroads. An organization formed to “protect the welfare of the railroad industry.”
“Members of the same profession or of the same industry should stick together… We all have the same problems, the same interests, the same enemies…”
Uh huh…
“It was said that while the public welfare was threatened by shortages of transportation, railroads were destroying one another through vicious competition on the brutal policy of “dog-eat-dog.”
Mmmmm Hmmmm.
“Then it was said, that large established railroad systems were essential to the public welfare and that the collapse of one of them would be a national catastrophe; and that if one such system had happened to sustain a crushing loss in a public-spirited attempt to contribute to international good will, it was entitled to public support to help it survive the blow”
AH HA!!! I understand… They’re Too Big To Fail!
“The Anti-dog-eat-dog rule was described as a measure of “voluntary self regulation intended the better to enforce the laws long since passed by the country’s Legislature… members were forbidden to engage in ‘destructive competition.'”
Ahhhhhh!!! The Dodd-Frank Reform Bill!
When the bill was passed and the meeting adjourned, all left the room quickly not looking at one man left behind. Care to guess who?
Dan Conway — Owner of the Phoenix Durango line. Yep, the one guy making a profit by promising and delivering a service. Someone who won’t accept “it’s not my fault” as an excuse.
Imagine, for one second, your livelihood being stolen from you and killed by a “competitive cartel,” not because they were better than you, but only because they could.
“Dan conway sat alone among rows of empty seats. He was stil there when the charwoman came to clean the hall. When she hailed him, he rose obediently and shuffled o the door. Passing her in the aisle, he fumbled in his pocket and handed her a five dollar bill, silently, meekly, not looking at her face. He did not seem to know what he was doing; he acted as if he thought that he was in some place where generosity demanded that he give a tip before leaving.”
Taggart barges into Dagny’s office and acclaims himself victorious in saving the company after the Mexican fiasco. They have passed the ADED bill.
Dagny? “You Rotten BAstards!”
Sums it up. She races off to see Dan C to urge him to fight the bill. But he’s a beaten man.
He won’t fight it because he made a pledge to the Alliance to abide by the majority’s rule.
“Dan,” she asked, “have you lost your mind?”
Dan’s naivete shows itself when he says he thought he was doing something good and Dagny reminds him that’s exactly what he’s being punished for — doing good!
She made an effort to speak calmly…
“If that’s the price of getting together, the I’ll be damned… If the rest of them can surive only by destroying us, they why should we wish them to survive? Nothing cam make self-immolation proper. Nothing can give them the right to turn men into sacrificial animals. Nothing can make it moral to destroy the best…”
Oh Dagny, Dagny, Dagny….
So now she has to fix the Rio Norte line before the Phx-Durango line has to pull up stakes in 9 months. If she can’t Ellis Wyatt can’t ship his oil and the whole region will be in trouble…
In fact, Ellis Wyatt stops by her office… Delivers an ultimatum. Since they (the train cartel) were the ones who destroyed the Phx-Durango to save their skins, he expects them to be ready to roll when the P-D goes away. If not…
“… it is now in your power to destroy me; I may have to go; but if I go, I’ll make sure that I take all the rest of you along with me.”
Ooooh!
Call to Hank Rearden. Gotta be a rush order. Gonna cost extra. Done and done. It’s nice to watch business people discuss…