[amptorn]

So in the metaphor of the story's title, Atlas, whose shrugging caused the collapse of society, is the looters? Not the successful entrepeneurial giants, Galt et al., who in their collective departure from the world leave it, figuratively speaking, unsupported?

[arkis22]

No, Atlas is people like Galt.

The point is that the looters pushed the weight of the world on to them, and that's the failure of their society.

[amptorn]

This is a terribly muddled metaphor.