Tuesday, September 18, 2007

Your Days Are Numbered

At first, I was being intrigued by a pile of Ayn Rand's Atlas Shrugged on the text book shelf for Econ undergrad here. Still I was reluctant to read it. The book is so thick and I have so little time outside the courses.

But then I learn from New York Times that Alan Greenspan, whose latest book everyone in econ blogsphere are talking about, is also Ms. Rand's big fan. So I changed my mind: perhaps it is worth to reading the philosophy that has shaped the mighty Alan Greenspan's view, the legend of US monetary policy.

Here I am now reading the book in my spare time at snail pace despite the delight of Ms. Rand's storytelling. One of the warm glows comes from my finding of a tagline that I kept remembering from a good German film, The Edukator, that I can't find its source anywhere. It says, "Die Fetten Jahre sind vorbei", or "Your Days of Plenty Are Numbered".

I thought it was quoted from a leftist book since in the film the words were to express an anti-capitalist sentiment. What I got from Ms. Rand's otherwise capitalist manifesto is a dialogue between an old chief clerk, Pop Harper, and Eddie Willers,
"You're ready for the junk file, old pal. Your days are numbered."
Not a precise quote, but I think it says similar thing. Or do you have any better source?

And do you know whose days are numbered?

4 comments:

  1. Thanks for the info, the book sounds interesting to read.

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  2. ayhfaq, i think you mean that a family trust is a manifestation of a pure capitalist. sorry, i don't think so. because you, as a trustee, can suddenly shift the beneficiary to any charitable organisation you want. or maybe, a tax office, if possible. then, you are a socialist.

    but anyway, i think rizal tries to show you an ultimate power of a capitalist, which i reckon still under a power of a market. there are too many rich people out there. even the US capitalists for eg., still scare with the saudi oil princes. they are part of the market.

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  4. Rizal:
    I think it's originally from the bible in the old testament (Daniel). The story goes that God forewarned a king of Babylon that his days are numbered with a writing on the wall.

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