What We Need is More Milton Friedman (and Less Ayn Rand)

Matthew O'Brien has an article in the Atlantic commenting on Rep. Paul Ryan's crazy ideas about monetary policy.

 "Back in 2005, Ryan explained that one person informed his thoughts on monetary policy: Ayn Rand. In a great catch by Dave Weigel of Slate, Ryan said that he "always goes back to" Francisco d'Anconia's speech from Atlas Shrugged when he thinks about the Fed. The speech in question consists of a rant against paper money and an ode to gold -- in other words, it's just a hop, skip, and a jump from this to Ryan's championing of a commodity-backed dollar. But even that makes more sense than Ryan's suggestion in a 2010 interview with Ezra Klein that the Fed should raise rates to help the economy."