The Age of Selfishness: Ayn Rand, Morality, and the Financial Crisis #[nn]

In "Part One Ayn Rand," Darryl Cunningham explores the life of a woman who fled a communist Russia only to build a philosophy rooted in radical self-reliance. As Ayn Rand rises through the American cultural landscape, her charisma and conviction draw followers like Frank O'Connor, Nathan Blumenthal, and Barbara Weidman—yet her insistence on individual triumph masks a complex web of influence and control. With sharp storytelling and incisive visuals, the story examines how her ideals of selfishness and autonomy shaped a movement—and the people who both embraced and were shaped by it.

In "Part Two: The Crash," Darryl Cunningham traces the unraveling of financial safeguards through the lens of deregulation, spotlighting figures like Alan Greenspan, Robert Rubin, and Angelo Mozilo as the system they helped build collapses under its own weight. With the invisible hand of the market proven unreliable, the fallout hits small investors and homeowners hardest—while the powerful remain shielded, and Uncle Sam is left to pay the price.

In "Part Three: The Age of Selfishness," Darryl Cunningham examines how Ayn Rand’s philosophy of selfishness took root in political and economic power during the Thatcher and Reagan eras, reshaping nations with promises of prosperity that instead deepened inequality. Through sharp, incisive storytelling, the narrative explores the real-world consequences of these ideas—on the struggling middle class, the poor, and the rich—while spotlighting figures like Paul Ryan, David H. Koch, and Rick Santelli, and questioning the myth of self-interest as virtue.