Ayn Rand's opinions don't fit into a hybrid social system like ours. It can only be rationalized in a communist or other totalitarian society.

Can you imagine a corporation with unlimited power that is free to do anything it pleases?

We need government to regulate predatory practices. It would be great if government would step up and regulate healthcare costs and credit card providers a bit more harshly.

> Can you imagine a corporation with unlimited power that is free to do anything it pleases?

Quite easily! It is called a "government".

The government has elected representatives. It's not totalitarian.

In a state with zero government regulation, you have just as terrible atrocities.

Some governments have elected representatives; while lately very much in fashion, this is by no means a requirement.

For the first quote, you could also see this as entering a period of rule by corporations and businesses, where government is the only means for people to combat this. To quote Chomsky, in his most recent book On Anarchism: "Well, we have this huge rabid raccoon running around... it's called corporations. And there's nothing in the society right now that can protect people from that tyranny except the federal government... So, find, I think we ought to get it to do the things it can do - if you can get rid of the raccoon, great, then let's dismantle the federal government. But to say 'Okay, let's just get rid of the federal government as soon as we can', and let the private tyrannies take over everything... that's just kind of outlandish in my opinion.'"

Also, the regulations in this case are to protect consumers, not businesses. The businesses are the ones at risk of making outlandish claims (i.e. "99% of us go to work at Adobe and Google!")

>'Okay, let's just get rid of the federal government as soon as we can'

Another strawman from Chomsky knocked down!

Many anarchists/libertarians call for the destruction of corporatism as well as government. The federal government protects the largest corporations through large corporate welfare grants.

Did I ever state otherwise? It is a well known fact that Chomsky is an anarchist, and opposes both structures of power. But that is contradictory to the implications of the Ayn Rand quote above, i.e. "Let's get rid of gov't as soon as possible", for it ignores the context -- that is, businesses and corporations running amok breaking regulation. Which is also the case in the context of the article.

Also, allow me to uncover another part of the quote (which I omitted for brevity):

"...tyranny, except the federal government. Now, it doesn't protect them very well, because it's mostly run by corporations - but it still does have some limited effect - it can enforce regulatory measures under public pressures, let's say, it can reduce dangerous toxic waste disposal, it can set minimal standards on health care, and so on."

Reply: ("It massively changes the meaning...") If you say so. I feel like it changes the meaning from "Government should be dismantled only once we get rid of tyranny of corporations" to "Government is flawed because of its entanglement with corporations but should be dismantled only once we get rid of tyranny of corporations". Perhaps I didn't give enough context -- but I feel like Chomsky's well known anarchist sentiments should be enough to evidence that he is at heart - opposed to government.

Omitting that part for brevity is fairly disingenuous. It massively changes the meaning of what Chomsky was saying.

(December 1963)