Her paranoia permeates much of her writing, an example of which I quote below. Unfortunately the mindset that dwells in 18th century America finds her words supportive of a very conservative political philosophy.

"The basic political principle of the Objectivist ethics is: no man may initiate the use of physical force against others. No man--or group or society or government--has the right to assume the role of a criminal and initiate the use of physical compulsion against any man. Men have the right to use physical force only in retaliation and only against those who initiate its use. The ethical principle involved is simple and clear- cut: it is the difference between murder and self-defense. A holdup man seeks to gain a value, wealth, by killing his victim; the victim does not grow richer by killing a hold-up man. The principle is: no man may obtain any values from others by resorting to physical force."

Hence, the government exists only to protect its citizens and their property; and, to do that, shall form a domestic security force as well as a military to protect against foreign invasion. These, coupled with a judicial to see that contracts are observed, is all the government Ayn Rand is willing to have our taxes pay for.

Unbridled capitalism has the economic power to legally "abscond" any amount of property it wants. Manipulated or not, the 1973 increase in the price of gas resulted in a double digit inflation which, manipulated or not, gave the then nascent credit card industry the gift of ending the 12 percent flat rate of interest which prevailed in every state in the nation.

Strike one: triple the price of gas; strike two: double the interest rate on credit cards; strike three: keep wages stagnant. Ah, but NAFTA will give us cheaper prices for the things we need. They forgot to tell us: "you'll need those cheaper prices, you're not getting a raise.

Unbridled greed, adequately treasured, can legally"abscond" any amount of property it wants.