What are we supposed to learn about the reality in "Atlas Shrugged" from "The Vulture is Molting"?

Question

In Chapter 4 of *Atlas Shrugged*, Dagny is walking:>She walked on. She stopped at the window of a bookstore. The window displayed a pyramid of slabs in brownish-purple jackets, inscribed: The Vulture Is Molting. “The novel of our century,” said a placard. “The penetrating study of a businessman’s greed. A fearless revelation of man’s depravity.”What is this supposed to be telling us about the state of the world at that time? What does it mean that the novel of the century is a "fearless revelation of man's depravity"?

Answer 1

Rand is being ironic. The novelist is revealing something about human depravity but it is not the depravity of businessmen. It is the novelist who is so depraved as to write for money and use the very market system created by businessmen to attack markets. For the sake of making a profit, the novelist is destroying the ability of everyone to live freely and work for their own profit.