“Government control of the economy, no matter in whose behalf, has been the source of all the evils in our industrial society -– and the solution is laissez-faire capitalism, i.e., the abolition of any and all forms of intervention in production and trade, the separation of State and Economics, in the same way and for the same reasons as the separation of Church and State.”

WOW . . ., ABSOLUTELY ! ! ! That I could rate this quote with innumerable stars. The theologian's mind set that perceives investments and control by canons to be the same thing as statutory definitions at justice is an ignorant delusion that is destroying prosperity individually (especially apparent in the loss of the middle class) and, the entire economy generally. I'm definitely not a fan of what is called capitalism today - true capitalism hasn't been seen in nearly centuries. In clarifying addition, Keynesian economics is not only mentally dishonest, an illicit power exposition by supposed omnipotents and ministers, hypocritical and morally bankrupt, it is criminally anti-fiscal law (-: that's sugar coating it the best I can ;-).

Religion defines a desired way things should be, law defines the way things are. Religion is the all conclusive ends of moral relativism, justice is the all conclusive ends of fiscal law. The being with the laws of nature and nature's God, justice, and fiscal law's laissez-faire capitalism existed before government and church

This really proves what a stupid woman she was. Who does she thinks decides where the roads, rails, airports, canals, bridges, go. The society, people do this through their governments worldwide. Capitalism specifically and economics generally is about helping people, that is distributing goods and services to those who need or simply just want them. Obviously some combination of group (ie government) and individual (capitalism) effort is needed to accomplish this worldwide. Oh! what a shallow, sloganeering, flippant woman she was!

Waffler, you remind me of the old saying, "what you say is what you are."

Government control of the economy creates a "demand economy" such as Stalin's 5 year plans etc. Couple that with the Un-Constitutional Ponzi Scheme that is the Federal Reserve andf its printing presses and you have the perfect storm of control and manipulation. Land of the Free? Only as long as you don't mind having your wealth controlled and eventually stolen. The sytem is at best fascist and at worst, straight up communist.

Reston and Waffler , Carl Marx and Lenin would be proud of you. Are you both card carrying commies or just fellow travelers.

Waffler, how many times do you have to be told that it is better to say nothing and have people think you are stupid than to open your mouth and remove all doubt. Capitalism is about making profits that benefit all those who work for them. It has nothing to do with the distribution of goods to the needy. That is what churches and other community volunteer services are supposed to do (and do quite well, thank you). The government has elbowed and bullied its into the charity business because they saw an opportunity to not only make extra income; but also to buy more votes. The more needy people they can create, the more potential voters. It's an entire Ponzi scheme and a spurious ripoff of true free-market economics. Keynesian econimcs, which espouses spending our way out of debt, is the opposite of capitalism. Obamanomics is a mixture of Keynes economic theory and voodoo.

The death of America is this mentality and this philosophy.

Robert, this mentality and philosophy is exactly what made the States united the most prosperous, benevolent, charitable, free, law abiding and safe haven for individual sovereignty with inalienable rights on the planet. It is the antithesis to this mentality and philosophy that is killing America. I can't point to a time in over a century that the quote's mentality and philosophy were practiced, in vogue, sought or even given any official recognition..

Wrong GunnyCee. A capitalism that does not serve customers fails. That is what Adam Smith said. There will be no profits if the endeavour does not fill needs, either real ones or perceived ones. Capitalism is an economic tool to satisfy the needs of people to get products/things and to make profit doing so. Like all tools it is not in and of itself sacred. The results are what is important not the tool itself. I repeat the idiocy of Ayn in this quote, people, villages, counties, states, nations have for milleniums decided what needs to be done in certain areas, like parks, roads, water works, care for certain classes of people etc. For her to totally ignore such a history of the human race in order to promote her BS is the height of intellectual ignorance.

The economic ills of the 21st century are entirely the result of centralized control of the economy. A central bank printing up debt as money is a plank of Communism, not capitalism. Capitalism is checked by the backing of real wealth, not the creation of money out of nothing and buying real property with it. Without a central bank, Congress could NEVER have run up so much debt, NEVER waged so many foreign wars, NEVER debased the currency to 5% of its value. Socialism is to blame -- whether from the left (communists) or the right (fascists), it is still socialism. The idea that you can fix the game is a socialist notion -- honest money and trade in accordance with natural law is its opposite -- call it what you want.

You and I are the government and we must intervene because we are caring, kind, decent human beings. Because we have not effectively intervened the church and state continues to be the united inhibitors of proper behavior because the state has not accepted the reality of human obligations and potential because of the gods in who trust, who by the way can't be trusted. In humans we trust should be our proclamation, because humans can be trusted.