Will the recession drive Eastern European birth rates even further down? And what effect will that have on long term demographics?

Cultural values and economic development. Yes, respecting the individual does promote prosperity.

Is environmentalism a religion? It certainly has many of the characteristics.

Why do governments like to control education? For the same reason that religions do, it creates acolytes perhaps?

No, seriously, things really have got better since the 1950s.

Understanding Rand: she was writing having seen the Leminists dismantling the capitalist economy.

And finally, couldn't you see this answer coming?