[cknight]

What struck me most in Atlas Shrugged was Rand's focus on rail. By giving the Taggart family a self-built, privately-run transcontinental rail network, very little of the story mentioned roads at all (there was one road trip, as I recall). It seems quite possibly intentional, as the use of a road system implies that taxation and collective action are actually needed, undermining one of her main points.

I can't help but feel that environmental issues also put a nail in the coffin of her philosophy, but to be fair, it wasn't a big deal back in her time. Atlas Shrugged made no mention of the negative externalities of any of the businesses being run, from steel mills to mining and oil. As soon as a business's externalities impact others, moral issues are raised.