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'''James "Jim" Taggart''' (1977-2020?), in [[Ayn Rand]]'s [[novel]] ''[[Atlas Shrugged]]'', was President of the [[Taggart Transcontinental Railroad]]. But instead of being a productive businessman, James Taggart sought to [[profit]] by obtaining and trading various government favors. But his actual motive was not so much the effective mulcting of the public, or even of businessmen more productive than he. His motive was the destruction of the productive, a motive that stemmed entirely from jealousy. He carefully hid that motive even from himself, until the day came when he caught himself attempting to inflict pain on another man when that act had no profit in it. On that day, he suffered a complete neuropsychiatric collapse. Whether he lived or died immediately after that, is unclear.
'''James "Jim" Taggart''' (1977-2020?), in [[Ayn Rand]]'s [[novel]] ''[[Atlas Shrugged]]'', was President of the [[Taggart Transcontinental Railroad]]. But instead of being a productive businessman, James Taggart sought to [[profit]] by obtaining and trading various government favors. But his actual motive was not so much the effective mulcting of the public, or even of businessmen more productive than he. His motive was the destruction of the productive, a motive that stemmed entirely from jealousy. He carefully hid that motive even from himself, until the day came when he caught himself attempting to inflict pain on another man when that act had no profit in it. On that day, he suffered a complete neuropsychiatric collapse. Whether he lived or died immediately after that, is unclear.
Taggart is an example of a corporatist businessman of the sort who nearly destroyed British industry under the system that operated from 1945 until the election of [[Margaret Thatcher]].
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