By Jack Criss

GJB Publisher

Donald Luskin is quick to say he is not a member of any movement. “I’m just me—I‘m an individual,” he states simply. According to his latest book that should be enough—especially for those who use novelist/philosopher Ayn Rand’s ideas as a guide.

“I Am John Galt: Today’s Heroic Innovators Building The World And The Villainous Parasites Destroying It” co-authored with Andrew Greta (John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 2011), is Luskin’s illuminating look at modern day Randian heroes—and villains. Taking cues from Ayn Rand’s two major novels—”The Fountainhead” and “Atlas Shrugged”—Luskin and Greata, through biographical chapters, find moral equivalents of Rand’s characters in today’s world. Hence, Steve Jobs is Howard Roark while Paul Krugman is Ellsworth Toohey, as but two examples.

“Like most people, I read Rand’s major works back when I was young, in high school,” Luskin, Chief Investment Officer of TrendMacro and CNBC Kudlow & Company regular, says. “The novels were thrilling, exciting, romantic, dramatic…all of those things. They especially speak to the young person trying to find his or her way into the world as I was at the time. What is enduring about them, however, is that the books operate on so many different and philosophical levels—appealing to both the mind and the heart. I’m almost 58 years old now and I reread both ‘The Fountainhead’ and ‘Atlas Shrugged’ once a year. I’ve reread other books, too, so I don’t want to come off as a fanatic; but I find that I always learn something new from Rand’s two major novels.”

Citing the prescient qualities of both books, especially relevant in today’s economic and cultural climate, Luskin decided to enter the already populous field of books about Ayn Rand—but with a twist.

“For about ten years, I had being working on the idea of a book on what is wrong with the current state of the world, “ Luskin, who had authored and edited two other books, says. “So the book was going to be necessarily dark like ‘Atlas’ is, in my opinion. That novel describes in vivid detail why so many of our institutions seem dedicated to destroying us. The working title of my original book was ‘The Conspiracy To Keep You Poor And Stupid.’”

Luskin ended up realizing that, instead of ranting against what was wrong with the world, he would take a page from Rand  and also look at the positive in the world, the producers, the creators…the rational. “I came to see that you can learn from observing the contrasts between the great and the bad in the world, such as what enables the creators to achieve and what allows the destroyers to destroy. That’s what her books were about, essentially, so my mission then became to apply her philosophy to people who everyone has heard of and knows.” Hence, “I Am John Galt” was brought into fruition.

While die-hard Randians and Objectivists may (and have) quibbled with Luskin’s real life concretizations of Rand’s fictional characters, there is no doubting the effectiveness of his technique. Even longtime Rand admirers can unearth new nuggets of truth and recognition in Luskin’s chapters about today’s business heroes and destroyers.

Conspicuously absent from the book’s heroes—or heroines in this case—is the great Dagny Taggart character from “Atlas Shrugged.” Why the omission?

“I’ve been asked so many times why there wasn’t a Dagny Taggart real life counterpart in my book,” Luskin laughs. “And she was, indeed, an engaging, charming and inspiring character. But I did not deliberately try to have a female profile, a Jewish profile, an African-American profile and so forth. To me, it’s a form of collectivism to say the most interesting thing about Dagny was that she was a female.”

Luskin claims that it’s a misreading of Rand to say that all of her writings are simply about the evils of big government. “If you read ‘Atlas Shrugged’ carefully it’s actually about how bad big business is,” Luskin says. “Of course, the worst thing is when big business and big government get together which is what we’re seeing now—and people are really helpless facing that monopoly.”

In the book, Luskin’s harshest critiques are found in the chapters on New York Times columnist and economist, Paul Krugman (with whom he waged a personal war of words), and former Rand acolyte Alan Greenspan, in a tragically sad and ultimately pitiful profile. His heroes are businessmen like Steve Jobs, former BB&T Bank CEO John Allison, and T.J. Rodgers, CEO of Cypress Semiconductor. He includes a laudatory chapter on the late economist Milton Friedman instead of the revered libertarian Ludwig von Mises (”I don’t believe Mises made the same kind of heroic contributions that Friedman did,” Luskin explains) and then absolutely lambasts Congressman Barney Frank, comparing him to the sleazy and slimy Wesley Mouch character in “Atlas Shrugged.” “We tried to present the really great ones, the heroes, as well as the lowest of the low,” Luskin says.

Obviously, Luskin admits, “I Am John Galt” presupposes some knowledge of Rand’s work but he does believe that the book should appeal to any individual looking for inspiration in their lives, business or otherwise. “Life is competition and this book offers portraits of exemplary people who have dealt with the same struggles as all of us but made it—and made it extremely well.” Conversely, Luskin says the book was also written as a cautionary tale. “We wanted to show readers the types of people they should not try to emulate and to not become a hack or destroyer like Krugman, Frank or Angelo Mozilo,” he explains.

An important part of the book is spelled out in its’ introduction wherein Luskin says that people of all political stripes should be receptive to his book—and to Ayn Rand. To wit: “So don’t let politics get in your way of learning from the heroes who embody Ayn Rand’s philosophy. Political labels are products of the collective; you are an individual, as Rand was, and don’t have to be bound by them.” Such truth needs to be heeded in today’s world more than ever.

“I Am John Galt” is a highly readable and fascinating book that should appeal to—and challenge the thinking of—people of all political and philosophical stripes.