I think the author has a viewpoint that "capitalism=doing it for the money", and since Rand's heroes weren't thus motivated, they weren't really capitalists. That's pretty weak. I'd define capitalism as a system where buyers and sellers meet and find common ground in an exchange, free from external pressures like governments that tell you what must be made, what must be bought, what must be sold, and what the price must be. The motivations of the creator/buyer/seller in a capitalist system is irrelevant, so long as they are doing it out of a spirit of free desire. I also think his point about Rand's heroes not producing lowly things is a bit off base since two of the heroes dug holes in the ground to bring up coal and copper - raw materials for others to work with.

I found the arguments specious. To say there is not heroism and grandeur in capitalism is ridiculous. Watt and the steam engine, McCormick and the reaper, Edison, carnegie and steel -without these titans where would the wealth be for all the small conveniences the US is known for. Rand chose to focus on the titans but she also celebrated the train engineer. As far as the Fountainhead goes, Roark did take a job as a laborer and performed his duties exceptionally. He did not demean the job but at the same time demonstrated his freedom of artistic integrity.

Thanks for posting this. I saw it some time back but did not get around to rolling it in with other facts in support. I found the argument compelling.

Among the facts not given by Steven Farron was the character of Hopton Stoddard in _The Fountainhead_. "Hopton Stoddard was a little man worth twenty million dollars. Three inheritances had contributed to that sum, and seventy-two years of a busy life devoted to the purpose of making money. Hopton Stoddard has a genius for investment; he invested in everything-- houses of ill fame, Broadway spectacles on the grand scale, preferably of a religious nature, factories, farm mortgages and contraceptives." Rand goes on to describe him as the physiognomic opposite of Roark: Stoddard is small, bent, apologetic, smiling.

Ultimately, Gail Wynand is defeated by his board of directors when he loses the Cream-o Pudding advertising account. Roark's work is rejected by such men, the boards of banks, the directors of department stores.

Hippies and beatniks go back to the "Lost Generation" of the 1920s: When we meet Howard Roark, he is swimming naked. He dresses into "old denim trousers, sandals, a shirt with short sleeves and most of the buttons missing." As Farron points out, Roark's lack of concern for money mark him as dangerous in the eyes of Ellsworth Toohey.