Better dead than Red.

Current book: Atlas Shrugged
Pages read: 491-523

In this section we witnessed a meeting of all the big bad men behind the (I'm going to ahead and call it Communist) government and saw them decide to nationalize all industry, jobs, wages, and salaries and freeze them at their current rates. We also saw them do everything short of rub their hands together and laugh evilly. (If I make myself think of them as cartoon bad guys, this book works a lot better. But that's hardly a convincing political argument, now is it?) Afterward, their representative visits Hank Rearden and threatens to expose his affair with Dagny if he doesn't sign the patent on his metal over to the government. For no apparent reason, he decides that he can't expose her to that kind of public ridicule, though he'd be happy to take it on himself, and so he signs the certificate.

I'm annoyed by the fact that Hank thinks Dagny wouldn't want to make the stand herself, and I find it pretty patronizing. Sometimes I find myself wondering if this book is misogynistic, regardless of the fact that it was written by a woman, and then I realize that it's actually just misanthropic. Rand seems to despise people in general.