In Atlas Shrugged, the heroes want to "make" money while the villains want, on the surface at least, to "have"

money. What is the difference between these two views of money? Explain your answer by reference to actual events in the novel. To make money is to produce value. In the process of making money, money is produced by the virtues in oneself. It is an equal trade. To get money is to consume. The logical order of reality shows that you can not produce more that you consume. Consumption is not evil in itself, but the way the villain s use it is pure evil.

1. how heroes see money 2. leads to capitalism 3. why the villains want money 4. why they hate money 5. contradiction is the key 6. altruism 8. leads to destruction 7. Ultimate motive of the two

So I want to be prepared to claim the greatest virtue of all-that I was a man who made money (94) Early on in life, Francisco knew the real meaning behind money. He knows that having money by itself is not valuable, but uses the key words to make . The words, to make , give the phrase a totally different meaning than if he had said to have or to get money. To make is to produce, while to get or have is to consume. Ultimately the means by which you get money can be the difference between production and destruction. The heroes of Atlas Shrugged regard money as the product of man s mind. They know that value cannot be had, but has to be produced. In order to make money, you have to trade value for value. original value originates from your mind and virtue is the practice of reason. As Francisco says, Money is the material shape of the principle that men who wish to deal with one another must deal by trade and give value for value. The heroes realize that for money to have value, society must shirk all other forms of collectivism and preserve the freedom of production and trade. The only moral way to achieve this ideal is through Laissez Faire Capitalism.

You can see these principles in action with the prime movers of Atlas Shrugged. When Rearden came up with the chemical composition of Rearden Metal, it was by the process of his mind. A value was made of his virtue. With this value, Rearden Metal, railroads have the potential to run faster and carry more cargo while on it. Dagny uses money, the tool of exchange, to trade his value for her value equally, which is his metal for her money. It is trade by mutual consent for mutual advantage. In a productive society, money acts as the metaphysical indicator of a person s virtue and in turn, money becomes meaningful through a productive society. When she makes the rail out of his metal, production output is more than double. This effect benefits society by doubling the speed to which the nation receives food, metal, and whatever resource that is being carried at the time. The benefit of society is not an end but a corollary effect of the production of the best minds. This is what Francisco means by making money. The villain s reason in wanting to acquire money is split into 2 parts, the conscious desire and the subconscious motive. The conscious desire is actually a subconscious deception, which is the want of value. Not just the want of value but unearned value, value without production Like in the situation with Mark Yonts , he sells the Twentieth Century Motors Company for whatever remnant of value that is left. The store clerk remarks to Dagny, He wasn t the kind to ever operate anything. He didn t want to make money, only to get it. (273) He wanted to get money without having to operate or produce. He wanted the end effect, ignoring the cause. Mark Yonts, and many others, see value in money, but ignore why it is valuable. The villains also want to get money because they believe that money can shape your desires., passions and desires are derived from your values. The villain s values make it impossible to gain any pleasure from life because their code does not permit it. Mayor Bascom tells Dagny, In this world, either your virtuous or you enjoy yourself. (277)This view of the world is accepted by most of the public. While the public hold this view as true, they don t practice it like the villains do.(?) James Taggart takes the aforementioned thought a step further when he says, Unhappiness is the hallmark of virtue .(248)

The desires will always lead to destruction in the end.

The villain s code brings about a sure and steady destruction. The essence of this code can be found in the dark history of the Twentieth Century Motors Company. The Starnes Heirs tried to operate the factory under the mistruth, From each according to his ability, to each according to his needs. (301)Under that system, ability was punished, inability was rewarded. Soon people hid their ability from others, people resented what others had, and production became halted. All the people under it were secretly motivated to acquire the profits of their superiors, but only the lowest moocher survived while the highest productive member did not. The only logical end to this cycle is destruction. Once the productive and their products are gone, there will be nothing else to loot or mooch off of. This is the world where money is not produced, where money ceases to exist.

At the core, your underlying motive is what determines whether you want to produce or just to get money. The villain s main motive is to escape life while the hero s is to live. The villains don t desire the things of life because the code of altruism has corrupted their value system. Instead, they value antiexistence which is escape from pain, escape from thought, escape from responsibility- escape from reality. To only get money is to cheat the principles of reality and destroy it of its value. The production of Money will not allow an escape from reality, but requires the pursuit of it. One cannot acquire wealth and keep it without production, because consumption without production leads to a zero sum.

On the the surface the villains want to have value, but they it. They think money by itself is valuable while not recognizing its source. are too incompetent and corrupt to produce Altrusim is the sacrifice of your highest value, your life, for the sake of another s. It is the code of trade without gain. It acts on the principle that you only exist for another

The villains value stems from their belief in Altruism. Altruism ultimately leads to death and destruction. It is the code of the irrational.

The final product of the code of money, which is the code of life, is John Galt. The villains seek to destroy him and have him too. This becomes apparent when Galt is taken hostage at the Wayne Faulkland Hotel.

Villain s hold money as a guilty pleasure.

Money is at the root of the heroes code Mr. Thompson wanted Galt to perform under force.

During the torture scene, James Taggart shouts that he wants Galt to suffer, he wants him to break when, at the end of his sentence, James Taggart fully realizes his own motive-destruction. This is the only end altruism can lead to. The proprietors of anti-value All of the true virtues in life are held in what money represents. It requires an intransigent Mind, rationality, intellectual ability, selfishness The men who try to replace the mind with the product of the mind

prerequisite code Production,

The villains regard money as a tool made of man s depravity.

The villains use the negation of a negative as a value Man, as volitional being, must come to the conclusion that to live, one must use his mind. Man is an end in himself. He must live to the best of his ability for himself and no other. lest you fall into the same patterns of death and destruction that the looters and moochers have brought upon themselves. Looters take money by force Moochers acquire money through others. The most notorious way that moochers take money is by Moochers can only survive as long as there are producers. Once production stops and all the products of it are gone, both the producers and moochers suffer.

James Taggart wants to escape the rules of reality, so he acquires money through cheating its principles. Instead of producing money, he Little do they know that the money they get is fleeting. Once D anconia Copper becomes nationalized, the destruction of

Money is the key value that the villains want gone. They think that it is triumph over reality to defy Its laws. The villains true desire is not money, but the destruction of it and what it represents. While holding that view, they also see money as necessary for their purpose. Contradiction is the key to the villain s equation. They believe that consumption can exceed production; they seek money and the destruction of money. The product of the villain s code is apparent in the end,