Getting Down to Business

No wonder the world seems to be falling apart, with the leaders of the economy more focused on their relationship with the government and the public than on their own businesses. The actions of the men in the bar scene defy all reasonable logic. They do not understand that the long-term implications of these dealings will be fatal to their own businesses, and it appears that only capable people are, Dagny Targett, Hank Rearden, and Ellis Wyatt, who are actually willing to deal with each other face to face, not scheming and plotting like everyone else. As Rearden says “You and I will always be there to save the country from the consequences of their (Jim and his friend’s) actions”(pg 85). I also find this quote special because it is true how much power Dagny, Rearden, and Wyatt hold, power that is almost as great as the US government.

Jim and his fiends claim to be fighting for social justice when they plot to take the iron mines from Rearden, but are in fact, in their childishness and jealousy, hoping to remove better competition, in comparison to Dagny who since her childhood has only cared and looked for stronger competition to whom she could challenge.

A common theme so far in the novel is the loss of great minds, who seem to be disappearing off the face of the earth. Men for no reason, such as the mechanic, Dan Conway and Francisco, appear to be giving up and quitting. The discussion held between the “intellectuals” at the Rearden’s wedding anniversary represents this complete loss of reason as they, like Jim and his friends, discuss the impractical and ridiculous ideas that are occupying a majority of society minds, ideas such as the belief that hard work is something not to be praised.