“I want to make money. I want to make
millions. I want to make as much as he did”(655). When Daniels says this, he is
convinced and determined to stand by his words with hard work, self-denial and entrepreneurial
mind-set: the main object of Atlas
Shrugged. To begging with the novel, Atlas
Shrugged focuses on the question of human morality: what essentially is
good and what is evil? What is right and what is wrong? Indeed, the words “to
make money” deeply affect Rand s philosophy of rationalism tackled in Francisco’s
money speech in three principal angles: the moral concept of money, money as an
inoculation to the trader society, and money as the product of man’s mind.

&nbsp; Through this philosophy, Rand sets off merits,
good and earning to evil, unwholesome desire, looting or begging. Thus, the words
“to make money” are touched on throughout the novel and perceived by businessmen
in a contrastive way. Blackguards such as Orren Boyle and Mark Yonts wants to
obtain money regardless of how the get it: “he did not want to make money, only
to get it.” (276) unlike upright businessmen who wants “to make steel and make money”


In his money speech actually addressed to
Hank Rearden(aristocrat who has taken over the world) who earlier declare that
money is evil, Francisco makes clear and reiterates on the real nature, value
as well as the role of money in human existence. Still, he opens his speech by
asking Hank a question: “so you think that money is the root of all evil?”(380)
he emphasizes on money as a moral force; He moves to the impact that money has
on a society as the “the tool of exchange”, (380) the arbiter between the
producer and the customer relating to equal value, it “is the material shape of
the principle that men who wish to deal with one another must deal by trade and
give value for value.”(380)

Again, fortune is the outcome of man’s creativity,
“of man’s capacity to think”, (381) to innovate.it is what you disseminate
today that will help you tomorrow. Wealth is the scheme of man’s moral ability
to produce, it is “the man of best judgement and highest ability that wins, and
his reward is commensurate with his productivity.”(381) Rand then claim money
as a tool that enforces meritocracy over capitalism characterized in the part
of the novel that contains the money speech as: “aristocracy of pull”.

Money cannot build a storey until men are
there to plan. Money is a great actor but it acts only as theory that needs
practice. It “is only a tool” (381) good in its nature but cannot do everything
for man. “It will take you wherever you wish, but will not replace you as the
driver”. Both Hank and James Taggart claim money as evil that: “can’t buy happiness”
(364). Also does Francisco say: “money will not purchase happiness for the man
who has no concept of what he wants”. (381) this seems idealistic. Therefore,
Rand concertizes that: “money is the scourge of the men who attempt to reverse
the law of causality” ;( 381) meaning that money is the effect and man the
cause. Thus, it implies that men respect and defend its cause.

Wealth acquired by fraud, corruption,
force, oppression or empathy will not bring joyfulness to the possessor. It
will not give him “a moment’s or a penny’s worth of joy” (382). Only immoral
men cannot question themselves of how they got their money. If you make money
by oppression, then it is not making money rather it is looting and it will be
for you not a success “but a reminder of shame” (382). Money is good; it is how
you get it that switches it from good to evil.

 Furthermore, Rand gives to money a device
that expresses a specific kind of society, a tool which gives guarantee to a society’s
well-being, “the barometer of a society’s virtue”(383), whose misconception will
always lead to the downfall of the society. Upon the absence of “the freedom to
make money”(173); When the moral principle of using and trading by means of
money is violated, when aristocracy is championed over meritocracy, when
economic justice is not implemented and respected, when people have become
blind to distinguish between right and wrong, then “ you may know that your
society is doomed”.(383) 

Afterward, Rand claim money as a moral
retributive that judges “the mind that cannot match it” (382) the man who inherits
money that he does not deserve will always be stressed, for the degree of
rationality is equal to the degree of productivity.

&nbsp;In the
introduction to the twenty-fifth anniversary of The fountainhead, Rand claims: “My attitude toward my writing is
best expressed by a statement of Victor Hugo”: “if a writer wrote merely for
his time, I would have to break my pen and throw it away” this profound taught
portrays Atlas Shrugged as a timeless
novel. &nbsp;As a piece focused on human
morality, it is therefore universal in today’s context of life: a problem of
human moral attitude as far as money is concerned.

Unfortunately, Rand did not live enough to
see the misunderstandings of the words “to make money.” &nbsp;Nowadays, the world
looks crazy when we talk of money. Everybody wants to acquire wealth, everybody
wants to be rich. Then the question is: what attitudes do people have toward
money as far as good and evil is concerned? Do they really get their money in a
right or a wrong way?

It would be difficult, even obvious to give
the right answer to these questions. To be honest, many people today just like
James Taggart do not care about how they get money. For them, money is money no
matter how it is obtained. Like Hank, most people today, claim that “money is
evil”. This looks real because most have undergone all kinds of wrong and evil
deeds for the course of money to include: &nbsp;foreign exchange, scamming bond speculation
etc… People are ready to kill for money, they steal to have money, and some
even sell their soul to have wealth. 

Francisco’s speech is the shelter of the
ideology of money against the aristocracy of pull. Nowadays, some acquire
wealth by force, others take it by tears. But what is really troublesome is
that they do not have remorse. Morality is losing its face. It is very
difficult to distinguish between right and wrong. What is wrong is considered
good, when what is right is made to be wrong. Round the world, most wealth is
got either by exploitation, oppression or by corruption.

Money may be that evil as some people
claim, but at the conclusion of his money speech, Francisco says that money is
good. Money is what makes distinction between good and evil, it is what defines
human attitude be it right or wrong. Francisco surely sees the need and the
impact that money has upon human life. &nbsp; Money helps us in our day to day activities,
to include: health, traveling, business creation. In bold, it is our “means of
survival” (382), it is the product of the mind because “man’s mind is his basic
tool of survival.”(916) Francisco does not only claim money to be good; not to
be confused, he says this regarding the source through which man gets his
wealth. According to him, money is the source of production, the merits of man
being able to produce and to his product to shine in exchange to money. Money
is therefore good if and only if it is produced by goods in a moral way. 

Agreeing with Francisco’s view will mean to
concur that the morality of money lies under productivity, tribute, value and
rationality for “all that which is proper to the life of a rational being is
the good”.(917) Yet, money becomes immoral when it is given much love, greed,
ambition or the desire for dominion over others. Putting it at the forefront of
everything, considering it as the raison d’etre, and becoming money’s slave.
After all, money is good. So: “run for your life from any man who tells you
that money is evil” because “that sentence is the leper’s bell of an
approaching looter”. (382) 

&nbsp;

 Works consulted:

Rand, Ayn.&nbsp;
Atlas Shrugged. Created by ABC Amber LIT converter, http:// <a href="http://www.processtext.com/abclit.html" target="" rel="" title="Link: http://www.processtext.com/abclit.html">www.processtext.com/abclit.html</a>

 Rand, Ayn. Introduction to the Twenty-fifth
Anniversary of The fountainhead&nbsp;&nbsp; 

Jennifer Burns (2011) “THE ROOT OF ALL
GOOD”, Journal of Cultural Economy, 4:3, 329-347

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The idealistic view of money seen from Ayn Rand's Atlas Shrugged

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