Ayn Rand and the American Supercar

The Pagani Huayra - not for kids

The Fed says "no" to six Italian supercars - but who are they really trying to protect?

A common criticism of Ayn Rand's seminal work, Atlas Shrugged, is that she laid it on a bit too thick. She wrote about an overly powerful federal government that worked to dismantle the business enterprises of America's most talented and entrepreneurial - a concept very difficult for more cynical readers to swallow.

Yet today, I read about federal interference that would have fit right in on the pages of an Ayn Rand novel: The federal government was refusing to allow Italian car manufacturer Pagani to sell their million dollar Huayra supercar in America because it didn't feature "child safe" airbags.

Forget the fact that only six of these million dollar cars were forecast to be sold in 2012 - easily below the number required for a federal exemption. Forget the fact that the two seat coupe was probably the least likely vehicle in America to ever be used to drive the kids to school - so arguably didn't need "kid safe" airbags in the first place.

All the federal regulators cared about was the fact that they had the ability to scupper a small business investing their money in the American market; so they did.

This is, to be honest, a great example of everything libertarians and free market advocates complain about in the United States. Just like in Europe, the federal government is forcing so many pointless regulations, rules and restrictions on entrepreneurs that it's increasingly unprofitable and unrewarding to make the effort to start a business in the first place.

This is why America is become dominated by corporations; and the hard working entrepreneur - arguably the driving force behind America's economic innovation - has become an endangered species.

Hey, I'll all for federal regulation when it involves real concerns about real safety. But to refuse hundreds of thousands of dollars of American investment because of a stupid and arbitrary safety regulation is indicative of everything that's tearing this country's economy asunder.