"Some men just want to watch the world burn"

A big question at this point would be, "Why does Francisco d'Anconia enjoy destroying others?". This question is in response to his conversation with Dagny on p. 121 where he openly admits to manipulating the workers of San Sebastian by building a settlement project that cost eight million dollars for steel-framed houses, with plumbing, electricity, and refrigeration which, after he tells the reader, we realize to be just a bunch of poorly built houses that he knowingly sabotaged therefore, that will not survive more than two years. This cruel sabotage is not the only form of evil Francisco commits; Francisco admits to Dagny that his vision of his family tradition, (that a d'Anconia always left a fortune greater than the one he received) is not the same as how we would think of it. When we hear this, we believe it to mean that he shall make more money for the next generation, but instead Francisco believes that the answer lies within making the rest of the community poorer than what they started with allowing him to cripple the competition and, eventually, forcing them to close. 

"'It cost me fifteen million dollars, but those fifteen million wiped out forty million belonging to Taggart Transcontinental, thirty-five million belonging to stockholders such as James Taggart and Orren Boyle, and hundreds of millions which will be lost in secondary consequences.'... 'Do you...find that...amusing?' "Much more amusing than the ruin of the Mexican planners.'"

Such a mindset can almost be characterize with psychotic illness due to the fact that he has no remorse and is willing to completely destroy civilization as we know it. Such a will to completely obliterate our way of life can also be compared to that of Roman Emperor Nero who, as legend has it, burnt Rome to the ground and as his subjects tried to escape the burning flames, he watched from his palace, laughing while playing the lyre. Another concept that we can all reference comes from the modern movie, Batman: the Dark Knight. The Joker, played by Heath Ledger and who portrays the main antagonist in the plot, is characterized as a man who cannot be dealt with and a man who cannot be reasoned with; he has no sense of purpose and does not want any certain thing in particular. Bruce Wayne, played by Christian Bale, asks his butler Alfred Pennyworth, played by Michael Cane, why does the Joker do what he does for no particular reason and as his response, Alfred replies: "Some men just want to watch the world burn.". I believe that such a man, or should I say monster, lives within Francisco d'Anconia and is unleashing himself out on the innocent people who can only watch in horror.