30+ Atlas Shrugged Quotes Laws. What's there in that for anyone? If you saw atlas, the giant who holds the world on his shoulders, if you saw that he stood, blood running down his chest, . The novel takes place in a version of the united states where private businesses are suffering due to harsh regulations and laws. Twelve years in the writing, it is . Francisco d'anconia's speech on money from atlas shrugged by ayn rand (1957). Individual rights are the means of subordinating society to moral law. Explore these quotes from atlas shrugged by ayn rand, a philosophical novel that is widely regarded as a masterpiece. But just pass the kind of laws that can neither be observed nor enforced or . Economic dictator wesley mouch needs rearden's cooperation for a new set of socialist laws, and jim needs economic favors that will keep his ailing railroad . The book depicts a dystopian united states in which private businesses suffer under increasingly burdensome laws and regulations.