Matthew, the greatest part about that Rand quote is how it shows how Randians and Keynsians basically agree in endorsing the central fallacy of twentieth-century economics: that the core drive of economic activity is the desire to consume, to gratify desires.
She even praises Christmas because it’s a “stimulus”! Leave it to Christianity to come up with the one thing Ayn Rand and John Maynard Keynes can agree is good. There is no Jew or Greek, no bond or free, no maker or taker, for we are all one in Christ Jesus.
December 19th, 2012 | 10:12 am
Of course it’s the desire to consume. The final cause and the justification of the economy is that it produces things that people need or enjoy. This is why it gets criticized for churning out what is neither needed nor enjoyed, or what is enjoyed only by those of disordered appetites.
To be sure, Rand had her moments where she failed to grasp that the its output was its cause and treated the economy as an extra-large playpen for her supermen.