Martians learned about free-market economics before Atlas shrugged

A long, long time ago, before Alaska Governor Sarah Palin was vilified for preaching "Drill, Baby, Drill," international commodities trader Marc Rich was indicted for purchasing crude from Iran, and a critic for The New York Times Book Review stated that Ayn Rand's novel Atlas Shrugged (1957) was "written out of hate," oil companies taught Martians about the benefits of free-market economics in Destination Earth (1956), a 13-minute educational cartoon sponsored by the American Petroleum Industry.

Thanks to the blog boingboing for the link. With the price of crude oil back to almost $60 a barrel, perhaps Mr. Rushkoff should jump on the USO bandwagon.