Directive 10-289

I realize that folks who haven't read Atlas Shrugged may not be able to follow along but you could probably get the flavor for the discussion.

What is Directive 10-289 and is SOMETING LIKE IT being initiated?
(not exactly .. but like it?)

It’s purpose was to freeze the economy in place and to stealthily incorporate slavery to the state using supposed altruistic social pressures and buzz words..

Directive 10-289 - Point One makes it illegal for workers to quit or be fired. Point Two forbids business closings. Point Three abolishes patents and copyrights. Point Four prohibits the introduction of "new devices, inventions, products, or goods of any nature whatsoever." (p.505) Point Five makes it illegal for firms to expand or contract production relative to the Basic Year. Point Six enjoins everyone to spend the same amount of money as they spent in the Basic Year. Point Seven imposes universal price controls. Point Eight makes the Unification Board (Gov’t) the final arbiter and interpreter of the directive

Here is the full wording on Ayn Rands Directive 10-289. Yes, more prophecy from Atlas Shrugged. Directive 10-289 is basically the final death blow, by idiot politicians, to the economy and to liberty in the world.

The politicians used buzz words that made people think they were helping boost the economy and punish the 'bad' people who made money. In reality what the politicians did was nothing more than create payoffs to friends and supporters, and they were freezing the economy through their supposed altruistic actions. The world became totally dependent upon the governments. (and in the end - this system failed)

You can see it peaking out here and there in real life.

On Obama’s ‘New Deal’ -
Real Clear Politics

Obama seems determined to follow policies better suited to freezing the economy in place than to promoting economic growth. Higher taxes on high earners, for one. He told Charlie Gibson he would raise capital gains taxes even if that reduced revenue: less wealth to spread around, but at least the rich wouldn't have it -- reminiscent of the Puritan sumptuary laws that prohibited the wearing of silk. Moves toward protectionism like Hoover's (Roosevelt had the good sense to promote free trade). National health insurance that threatens to lead to rationing and to stifle innovation. Promoting unionization by abolishing secret ballot union elections.

The impulse to social engineering is unmistakable. Government officials will allocate resources, redistribute income, and ration good and services. Use government stakes in banks, insurance companies and Detroit auto manufacturers to maintain the position of those already in place, at the cost of preventing the emergence of new enterprises that might have been spawned by the capital being allocated.

Social engineering of course is far easier when you are dealing with an economy that is frozen in place. It's harder when you have to deal with the creative destruction, the emergence of new firms and businesses, and the decline of old ones, which as Joseph Schumpeter taught is the inevitable consequence of economic growth.

Tax (punish) the wealthy in California

Tax Foundation – in California, discussion of a ‘leave the state tax’. In 10-289 no one is allowed to move a business out of state. That way all the states and fed gov’t can tax the hell out of the business without them having an escape.

Seattle Times Obama initiates executive pay cap at $500,000.

FDA Globalization Act of 2008 The government forces all cosmetic/personal care businesses to pay the federal government an annual $2,000 "registration fee" which usually only the mega-companies can pay.

The supposed altruistic rationale for 10-289 looks a lot like the supposed altruistic rationale for Obama’s wealth redistribution remarks.

The non-stimulating stimulus bills?
The talk of nationalization of banks?
Rewarding car manufacturers for making bad products?
Bailing out the dinosaur newspapers (was on TV today)?
A world poverty tax upon the citizens of the USA?

Just around the corner - real life version of the Unification Board. Betchya.

And just to wet your whistle - a little peak at what can be found over in France - Sarkozy's words From about six months ago are right out of Directive 10-289

Wall Street Journal

Mr. Sarkozy said his government will increase to 330,000 the number of subsidized job contracts it will finance in 2009. The figure is 100,000 more than originally proposed. He also warned employers not to use the crisis as a cover for shedding workers: "I won't tolerate any cynical or opportunistic strategies," he said in a speech, pointing to "those who might use the current crisis to justify reducing production and jobs."

[edit on 3/17/2009 by FlyersFan]

Good thread.

The parallels between what Rand envisioned and what is happening today around the world are staggering. Of course, remember that she was a Russian emigrant, so she writes about what she lived.

The non-stimulating stimulus bills?

Well, back in January O8 the Bush admins 147 billion in corporate tax cuts and individual tax rebates failed to turn anything around, and remember that was near the beginning of the meltdown. After that there was 238 billion added to the taxpayer tab for the rescue of Fannie and Freddie.

Obama's tax break to individuals earning less than $75k is 116 billion, which probably won't signal a big return of consumer confidence. Obama's plan ranges wider with items infrastructure and Aid to States accounting for almost 300 billion.

I accept the possibility, even the likelihood considering people's current psychological state, that the stimulus bills may not stimulate. Not a dime of Obama's $787 Billion American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 has yet to be spent.



The talk of nationalization of banks?

Bush bought Citigroup shares ($35 B), took over Franklin Bank ($2 B), shares in insurer AIG ($40 B), Fed purchase of AIG's mortgage securities and debt ($63 B)... and on and on ad nauseum, bailing out corporate capital with the taxpayer dollar.

So what do you object to? That failed companies are bailed out with your money in the interests of a "healthy" financial sector?

The idea that healthy banks would be nationalized is nonsense.



Rewarding car manufacturers for making bad products?

Back in September last year a program allocated the Dept of Energy $25 B to loan to automakers to retool to make more energy efficient cars. Not a penny loaned so far.

Treasury loans to automakers so far:$15 B.


Bailout madness, right. They're just not made to sit back and watch the beauties of the mythical free market take its course. Too big to fail. Too liberal to fail? Companies fail.

They couldn't do it, sit back I mean. They're psychologically and structurally and social networkly incapable.




[edit on 17-3-2009 by undermind]

Interesting analysis of Directive 10-289 and some of the legislation passed in Atlas Shrugged. Some of it sounds familiar .... as in REAL LIFE familiar ...

2. The Anatomy of Legislation

The fictional politics in Atlas Shrugged is pure public choice. Each piece of legislation has the following components:

1. A public-interest rationale.
2. Supportive interest groups with a hidden financial agenda.
3. Negative consequences for the general public.

And I'll add that the legislation passed in Atlas Shrugged was pushed with faux-alturistic rhetoric and the people who created the money were presented as the bad guys to the general public. They were made out to be the reason for the economic crisis, but in fact it was the politicians who caused the crisis.

Back to real life - Barney Frank and Chris Dodd ring a bell? Sure, the banks bear some resonsibilty, but Barney Frank, Chris Dodd and the faux-alturistic groups like ACORN (and their lawyer Obama), are getting away with their much larger share of the guilt. Just like in Atlas Shrugged ... the politicians and lawyers made the laws, got away with their bad decisions that created the financial mess, and the masses of people believed that the rich people were the bad guys.

Equalization of Opportunity Bill

In addition to Directive 10-289, Atlas Shrugged has the 'Equalizaiton of Opportunity Bill'. From the same source -

The Equalization of Opportunity Bill forbids any person or corporation to own more than one business concern. The public-interest rationales overflow :

The editorial said that at a time of dwindling production, shrinking markets and vanishing opportunities to make a living, it was unfair to let one man hoard several business enterprises, while others had none; it was destructive to let a few corner all the resources, leaving others no chance; competition was essential to society, and it was society's duty to see that no competitor ever rose beyond the range of anybody who wanted to compete with him . (p.127)

It's not exactly the same as The Fairness Doctrine that progressives (same name used in Ayn Rands books) are trying to push through ... but it comes pretty darn close. Considering this was written 50 years ago and came out in 1957 ... it's rather spooky how similar these things are.



[edit on 3/17/2009 by FlyersFan]

10-289 it sounds like a radical Communist Muslims dream. Its all well and good thinking to freeze everything when times are bad but how does one control outside influences. Do you stop all imports and in turn does that cut off your export market?

Is this scenario not more of a warning of what is about to happen or what some already think is happeningin the US today. All those executive orders made by POTUS can achieve very much the same thing.

I think this is a great thread but please forgive me if I guess the answer to be found in the world of Dune.

here is the synopsis of that universe:

Some twenty thousand years in the future, the human race has scattered throughout the known universe and populated countless planetary systems ruled by aristocratic royal houses who answer to the universal ruler, the Padishah Emperor Shaddam IV. Science and technology have evolved far beyond that of our own time despite the prohibition of computers and artificial intelligence, and humans called Mentats with highly-evolved minds perform the functions of computers. The CHOAM corporation is the major underpinning of the Imperial economy, with shares and directorships determining each House's income and financial leverage. Key is the control of the desert planet Arrakis, the only source of the valuable spice melange, which gives those who ingest it extended life and prescient awareness. Melange is crucial as it enables space travel, which the Spacing Guild monopolizes. Navigators use the spice melange to safely plot a course for the Guild's heighliner ships via prescience using "foldspace" technology, which allows instantaneous travel to anywhere in the universe.

The spice is also crucial to the powerful matriarchal order called the Bene Gesserit, whose main priority is to preserve and advance the human race. The secretive Bene Gesserit, often referred to as "witches," possess mental and physical powers developed through conditioning called prana-bindu training.

A Bene Gesserit acolyte becomes a full Reverend Mother by undergoing a perilous ritual known as the spice agony, in which she ingests an otherwise lethal dose of an awareness spectrum narcotic and must render it harmless internally. Surviving the ordeal unlocks her Other Memory, the ego and memories of all her female ancestors. A Reverend Mother is warned to avoid the place in her consciousness that is occupied by the genetic memory of her male ancestors, referred to as "the place we cannot look." In light of this, the Bene Gesserit have a secret, millennia-old breeding program, the goal of which is to produce a male equivalent of a Bene Gesserit whom they call the Kwisatz Haderach. This individual would not only be able to survive the spice agony and access the masculine avenues of Other Memory, but is also expected to possess "organic mental powers (that can) bridge space and time." The Bene Gesserit intend their Kwisatz Haderach to give them the ability to control the affairs of mankind more effectively.

The planet Arrakis itself is completely covered in a desert ecosystem, hostile to most organic life. It is also sparsely settled by a human population of native Fremen tribes. Tribal leaders are selected by defeating the former leader in combat. The Fremen also have complex rituals and systems focusing on the value and conservation of water on their arid planet. They conserve the water distilled from their dead, consider spitting an honorable greeting, and value tears as the greatest gift one can give to the dead.

I think what we need is to remake the Dune novels every year as a sort of historical landmarker to the future. As a sort of beacon of hope to the future that we had a real prophet, and that's what matters. Water conservation is a better legacy to the future.

Maybe John Galt should have invented a stillsuit instead of a free energy machine? It would have probably not gone well with the people of this planet circa 2009 but 2009 BC would have been totally down with stillsuit technology.

This is a good thread though, seriously. Ayn Rand was right about a free market being the answer but everyone's addicted to the spice of fractional lending and usury.

Ayn knew that corporations can become entities of communist/fascist very quickly when nationalized as her family experienced and they also had to flee so she knows how anyone with property can become the target of the poor. Her father as a Russian businessman around 1900 or so, had a lot in common with a hard working shop owning American of 2009. I think neither really may expect revolution but both of them would welcome an AK or a shotgun if riots are happening. It's a fantasy book of course, but if Ayn's father hadn't been sold out in his own country by the people who funded the Bolsheviks, then maybe he could have gotten up on the roof of his business (so to speak) and defended his property? But no, the Revolution was primed to happen. The US gun owner, will find revolution a bit better to his liking I am guessing. The common man has a better power structure these days provided the family can be fed. In Russia, that was hard. In the US, I don't think there'll be a whole new generation of Ayn Rand's fleeing their country and writing new communist manifestos. She had good reason to flee her country, but they had been sold out. The US hasn't been sold out. At least not in my opinion. Not like those poor peasants in Russia around 1905 or so. Kinda like most native non-tech enabled people, they never knew what hit them.

In Atlas Shrugged, the revolution is rather bloodless. No nukes go off, right? Or do they toast to that at the end? I forget.

Yes, you are right, it's all coming true. In the long term, however, humanity succeeds long enough to produce a group which Rand would have had a place in for sure: Bene Gesserit.

Originally posted by smallpeeps
Ayn Rand was right about a free market being the answer but everyone's addicted to the spice of fractional lending and usury.

I agree with you. Between Atlas Shrugged and Dune we get an interesting answer.

No nukes go off, right? Or do they toast to that at the end? I forget.

It's never mentioned and I get the impression that they don't. At the end those in Galts Gulch say 'it's time to go back'. They do that when society has collapsed upon itself and spent itself out... when the users and looters have all either collapsed or died through their own stupidity.

Yes, you are right, it's all coming true.

I believe it is. And therefore we can see what will happen. The end is total collapse due to the stupidity, greed, and faux-alturistic programs.

Originally posted by FlyersFan

Originally posted by smallpeeps
Ayn Rand was right about a free market being the answer but everyone's addicted to the spice of fractional lending and usury.

I agree with you. Between Atlas Shrugged and Dune we get an interesting answer.

Indeed. Don't want to derail the thread, but the answer lies in a different book. Herbert's book was available but Rand lacked sufficient imagination to grasp it. Her loss that she sidelined Sci-Fi as a genre because now we live in a Sci-Fi world and Dune is set 20,000 years in the future yet the humanity of Dune is irreducable.

I would suffer or even die to save the last copy of Dune if book burning came into fashion combined with electronic deletion of texts. That's how important I think Herbert's book is for the human race. I can't say the same about anything Ayn Rand wrote.

No nukes go off, right? Or do they toast to that at the end? I forget.

It's never mentioned and I get the impression that they don't. At the end those in Galts Gulch say 'it's time to go back'. They do that when society has collapsed upon itself and spent itself out... when the users and looters have all either collapsed or died through their own stupidity.

Right so Ayn Rand, again, failed to discuss real problems of real people, i.e. Nukes. How can a woman with so little imagination live in such an insular fantasy-world of her own creation? Someone needed to arrange an intervention with her or something. Nukes seem to be the primary thing John Galt would address, should such a person exist. Nukes and stillsuits (hopefully) are the future of the human race unless we change.

Yes, you are right, it's all coming true.

I believe it is. And therefore we can see what will happen. The end is total collapse due to the stupidity, greed, and faux-alturistic programs.

Every post you write on this subject is well considered FF, and thanks for that. I like your term here, faux-altruism which is more accurate for a Randite-position because really Rand was against the sort of grain deals and FDR type shenanigans that kept the Bolsheviks in guns and ammo. I think Ayn knew a lot more than she was able to describe, and this may have been due to her own self-imposed intellectual ivory tower. Many subject were tagged as being 'beneath discussing'. One of those subjects would be the difference between giving someone a dollar for sheer charity (Chrisitian goodness) or giving another country a million dollars in grain deals (faux altruism).

As for your thread here, it is prescient and timely. It also has mentally thrown me into another paradigm, that of the last Star Wars movie wherein Emperor Palpatine finally reveals the hidden order, "Order 66" wich when given to all his clones, turns them immediately into stooges for the Empire. So we see that really, if one has an army of blind idiotic clones, it takes only one trigger-word to cause a 180 degree about face. In one instant they go from protecting the jedi, to executing them.

Directive 10-289 followed by Order 66.

Yes, even the bookstores and movie theatres have truth in them, if we know where to look. Dune remains the answer to both, because Star Wars was "a long time ago" and Atlas Shrugged is "now" and Dune is "a long time in the future".

[edit on 19-3-2009 by smallpeeps]

Flyers fan, I don't know if you are a Man or a Woman, but heck, I might just love you...

Please read "The Virtue of Selfishness", and then let me know when you do... If you can't get your hands on it, just U2U me, I will get it to you..(you had no idea what I had to do to get it)

I will post more on this thread after I get home from work, but you are RIGHT ON when you worry about a program like this my friend.

-Jason