Directive 10-289

I literally just finished reading Chapter 6, Part Two (yes, I know i'm a bit behind). It starts out with the looters all meeting up to discuss the overall state of the economy. Shortly after, they begin speaking about Directive 10-289, and how they supposedly want to stabilize the economy. To me, the tone Rand employs in the character's speech is one to let the reader's know that the looters are simply making excuses and trying to justify the directive when in reality, the directive will not help anyone besides themselves. Fixed salaries, no innovation, and no leaving or disappearing all seems like they are all trying to regulate everything for the benefit of themselves, rather than for the benefit of the limping society which they control. As soon as I finished reading this chapter, I realized that this is sort of the direction in which our government is moving toward.

I expressed in class on Thursday that I was not 100% clear on what was going on with the government shutdown, Obamacare, and all that. Thursday night I asked my father about the whole thing and he explained it to me in more detail. In short, those who worked up to where they are economically are now going to pay the price for the terrible job that the government has done in managing money. He explained almost exactly like Mr. Shapiro did in our class discussion on Thursday. It seemed evident in my father's tone that he wasn't happy with it, and I understand it completely.

The point im trying to make is that Government is making slow and steady strides toward something like Directive-289 (not to the extent of it, but somewhere in that direction). The reduction in motivation and innovation that Mr. Shapiro spoke about in class is evident in this Directive. Who would want to work towards innovation under the circumstances present in the Directive? Nobody. It's the same sort of question that Americans need to ask themselves under this Government. If those who are making more money need to pay more for the terrible job the Government has done, then what's the point of working towards innovation and making more money?

Hank will probably end up giving his patent papers on his metal, a devastating blow to the hard working character. It's pretty sad to read and think that something like this is even possible. Hank continuously gets bashed down when he's actually done so much good for other people. The fact that this is an actual possibility for our generation's future is scary, and I certainly don't want to be a part of it.

-Ben