The producer of the movie sequel to Ayn Rand’s “Atlas Shrugged’’ says the U.S. is on a disastrous path — a path Rand was fleeing when she moved here from Russia in 1925 and which she portrays in the book.
When Rand arrived in America, she saw “people trading, a vibrant economy, buildings being built, there weren’t policemen at every corner, there weren’t people with guns trying to control society,’’ Harmon Kaslow told Steve Malzberg on Newsmax TV’s “The Steve Malzberg Show.’’
“It was an awakening moment for her to say, what a great country America is, founded on the principles of individual effort and capitalism and look where it’s going to go.
“She had the foresight to know that what they were doing in Europe was really a formula for disaster, and here we see that play out in Greece and France . . . increasing taxes and those sorts of things. We’re following that same path.’’
The PG-13-rated “Atlas Shrugged II,’’ starring Samantha Mathis was released last fall and continues the story of railroad executive Dagny Taggart, who lives in a world gone haywire because of bad government.
In the movie, gas sells at $42 a gallon, unemployment stands at 24 percent and there’s an energy crisis.
“Bad government policy is responsible for ousting our innovators, driving away our free thinkers, and killing the heart of entrepreneurs. The back bone of any society, you have growth and prosperity,’’ Kaslow said.
“Here we are today and the amount of the federal budget and the trillions of dollars that go towards entitlements is so overwhelming that it’s stifling out the entrepreneurs.’’
Kaslow, whose other films include “The Pool Boys,’’ and “Beatdown,’’ said he’s found that Hollywood and “definitely the left-leaning mainstream media’’ are afraid of the message of “Atlas Shrugged’’ — despite the public loving it.
“Without any source of advertising this book still sells literally hundreds of thousands of copies every year, so it has this phenomenal word of mouth from very passionate people,’’ he said.
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