Economic Attitudes

Throughout the next few chapters, I have witnessed increasing attitudes that work towards their own self interest. I have seen this through Dagny's and Rearden's attitudes on building the new Railroad line.  Even though they are working together and seem to have the same morals on how to run their businesses, they are both working toward their own advantages.

Dagny is the only person in the novel that believes on Rearden metal and therefore she wants the entire railroad to be made of it. This economic decision is based upon her belief that Rearden metal will be more effective and last longer than any other type of metal. At the same token, Rearden wants to sell her his new metal in order to prove to the world that his metal is reliable. He invests on the construction of the Rearden metal bridge to serve as an example of a new innovation to the world, the strongest metal available. 

The attitudes of both characters are acting towards their own economic self interests. The way they explain to each other the motive for their actions makes perfect sense on an economic point of view, however, may seem harsh on a regular human being point of view. The way Dagny completely crushes the new design for the bridge by her engineer is a perfect example of how she does not care about the people's feelings at all. Her ultimate goal is to lead her business to success and nothing is going to stop her. Rearden is just following along in the same way. The way he offers Dagny a new truss design for the Rearden metal bridge is not to help a friend in need but to expose his new product to the world. Two great economic minds think alike, and throughout these chapters I have noticed a stronger connection between Dagny and Rearden, I am eager to learn more about their relationship in the future.