Sarkozy Proposes Directive 10-289

In the real world:

PARIS -- French President Nicolas Sarkozy unveiled a series of employment-boosting measures, including 100,000 additional subsidized job contracts, as new data showed a decline in European consumer confidence.

Mr. Sarkozy said his government will increase to 330,000 the number of subsidized job contracts it will finance in 2009. The figure is 100,000 more than originally proposed. He also warned employers not to use the crisis as a cover for shedding workers: "I won't tolerate any cynical or opportunistic strategies," he said in a speech, pointing to "those who might use the current crisis to justify reducing production and jobs."

In Atlas Shrugged:

Directive 10-289 provides the knockout punch to economic freedom in Atlas Shrugged. Its purported purpose is to stop the country's economic decline by freezing the economy in its present state. The directive employs comprehensive central government planning to freeze the status quo. It actually allows top government officials and politically-connected businessmen to retain power and enhance their own control of the economy. This directive mandates that all workers remain at their current jobs, that no business is permitted to close ... and requires firms to annually produce a number of goods identical to the number produced during the preceding year. In addition, the directive freezes all wages, prices, and profits, and requires every person to spend the same amount of money as he did in the preceding year.

Everyone knows that the best way to create jobs is to take away economic freedoms. Hooray for statism!

Here, the government constrains private entities for their own good. In exchange, private entities then produce things of value for all of society. It's a win-win!