Likewise, Dagny's brother James doesn't so much believe that money is evil so much as he believes that money is not a natural extension of human reason. Jim's means of making money is through connections and manipulation, not through creativity and intelligence. Therefore, characters like Orren Boyle and James Taggart represent the antithesis of what d'Anconia was trying to say about money. Like John Galt, Wesley Mouch's name is meaningful to the theme of Atlas Shrugged: "Mouch" looks and sounds like "mooch," one of the ultimate evils that d'Anconia denounces at Jim and Cheryl's wedding. Mouch becomes one of the novel's clear villains as a government bureaucrat. His dictatorial economic regime is the embodiment of evil, not money. He mooches off of others' ideas in order to accumulate capital. His appropriation of Rearden Steel is an act antithetical to d'Anconia's theory about human productivity and therefore bolster's the book's central theme. Rather than channeling innate intelligence and creativity into productivity and capital, people like Wesley Mouch and Jim Taggart seek to make money through corruption. Other sources of evil that offer counterpoints for d'Anconia's beleifs include the impotent Dr. Stadler, who falls pray to the socialist government forces and stifles his own productivity. Dr. Stadler therefore supports the book's main premise that money flows from intellectualism, science, and reason because he fails to capitalize...

The novel's true heroes do not succeed in their quests to extricate industry from government control. Their failure does not indicate the failure of capitalism; nor do their failures disprove d'Anconia's beliefs about money. Rather, the failed strike and the failed business enterprises of the book's central characters prove Rand's implication that socialism corrupts the human spirit and thwarts the flourishing of the human mind.
The chaos that takes place throughout the course of Atlas Shrugged also illustrates the thesis that money is the root of good, not evil. The enterprises promoted by heroes like Dagny Taggart, Hank Rearden, Francisco d'Anconia, and John Gelt are systematically destroyed. In some cases, their owners destroy them to make a strong statement against the encroaching looters and moochers. By going along with the government's socialist propositions and assumptions, the general public in Atlas Shrugged is portrayed as sheep blindly following the irrational call toward a socialist, collectivist reality. Moreover, the demolition of the heroes' businesses occurs dramatically: with explosions and other magnificent displays. These events symbolize the destructive power of what the author believes is the ultimate affront to the human mind and human potential: state-controlled industry.