Ayn Rand: Looters & Moochers
on Tuesday, June 14, 2011Ayn Rand Money Quotation saying cash may be abused by the corrupt and immoral to extort, steal and manipulate but not to create value. Ayn Rand said:
“Money is not the tool of the moochers, who claim your product by tears or of the looters, who take it from you by force” — Ayn Rand
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In this quote, Ayn Rand is contrasting two types of people who seek to obtain the wealth created by others without offering value in return. “Moochers” are those who try to gain wealth or benefits through emotional manipulation or guilt, such as by crying poverty. “Looters” obtain wealth coercively through force or threat of force, such as through theft, taxation or expropriation.
Rand argues that money is not a tool for such unethical means of acquiring value without earning it. Rather, in her view money represents the rewards of individual achievement, effort and trade, not something to be taken from its rightful owners against their will through emotional or physical pressure. She sees both mooching and looting as illegitimate ways to live at the expense of others in society.