MORE ON THE UNFORTUNATE RELEVANCE OF ATLAS SHRUGGED:

Perhaps predictably, Ayn Rand is making a comeback on the right, with Congressmen handing out her books, and loose talk of rich people “Going Galt”. . . . What’s interesting to me, though, is how many details Rand did get right–like the markets in “unfreezing” Ukrainian bank deposits, so similar to the frozen railroad bonds of Atlas Shrugged. Or the cascading and unanticipated failures, with government officials racing to slap another fix on to fix the last failing solution. . . .

She was able to describe these things so well, of course, because she’d seen what an economy looked like while it was being wrecked. All of Rand’s writing is dominated by the fact that she lived through the birth pangs of Soviet Russia, and saw her family’s business destroyed by Lenin’s ideology, and extraordinarily incompetent economic management.

Well, we’ve got at least one of those going on now.

Plus, a roundup of Rand commentary from the blogosphere. And remember, kids — if going “John Galt” doesn’t appeal, you can always go “Tim Geithner.” That way you get to speak about the importance of compassionate government, without having to foot the bill. Win/win! (Warning — the I.R.S. may treat you less sympathetically than a man nominated to be its boss.)

UPDATE: Reader C.J. Burch emails: “Thanks for this…read the comments. Breaks down thus…people who have had jobs and businesses. People who haven’t. By the end of the year the people who haven’t worked a real job (outside of government or academia or the press) or run a business are in for one hell of a surprise.”

MORE: “A time for choosing.”