Despite the fact that her most prominent disciple, Alan Greenspan, has publicly disavowed Ayn Rand's philosophy of Objectivism, her ideas are gaining traction. Why? It would seem that her romantic -- some might say melodramatic -- rendering of laissez faire capitalism was made irrelevant by the realities of the economic collapse. Was it not the application of her philosophy, delivered via Greenspan's Federal Reserve -- that led to the lack of oversight and subsequent recklessness of Wall Street?

Though that may be true, The Economist notes that Atlas Shrugged is selling like hotcakes:

Tellingly, the spikes in the novel's sales coincide with the news ... The first jump, in September 2007, followed dramatic interest-rate cuts by central banks, and the Bank of England's bail-out of Northern Rock, a troubled mortgage lender. The October 2007 rise happened two days after the Bush Administration announced an initiative to coax banks to assist subprime borrowers. A year later, sales of the book rose after America's Treasury said that it would use a big chunk of the $700 billion Troubled Asset Relief Programme to buy stakes in nine large banks. Debate over Mr Obama's stimulus plan in January gave the book another lift. And sales leapt once again when the stimulus plan passed and Mr Obama announced a new mortgage-modification plan.

As if that isn't enough, Angelina Jolie has been confirmed to play Dagny Taggart, the heroine of the novel. Interest in the ideas of Rand, ironically enough, are at their apex. But is she still politically and philosophically relevant? Consider that Rand's economic ideas, when put into practice, haven't worked out ideally.

[Image: The Fascinating Life of Ayn Rand]