>>32
If I understand it and agree with it, why is it important that I express it only in my own words when my position is identical?
Because if someone wants to discuss it with you or has questions, you should be able to give them a reply. If you're not able to express the idea on your own to begin with, then you probably wouldn't be very good at having a conversation about it. Although fine, I'll give you the benefit of the doubt here and assume you actually can have a real conversation on the subject. In that case, no, I guess there is nothing wrong with referencing something like that. Although handing copies out would be a condescending, douchey move but you sound like you didn't mean that literally anyway.
But the speech doesn't refer to any characters or the fictional scenario, it is quite independent of the story, like someone explaining what a strawman argument is and why it is wrong to use it. At this point I question whether or not you even know what speech I am referring to and its contents.
I'm assuming you mean this:
http://www.working-minds.com/money.htm
I admit that I've never read Atlas Shrugged but I am familiar with its plot outline and thesis. And I did skim through that speech before my last reply. "...and you wonder why the jungle is creeping back to the edge of your cities," is an example of something fictional referenced in it. Even if he didn't mean that cities were literally becoming jungles, this references the decay happening in the novel and not reality. And even if it didn't explicitly mention fictional events, the subtext would still be there. For example, this line: "...which can't exist unless there are goods produced and men able to produce them." It obviously applies to the real world but it's much more effective in the context of Atlas Shrugged where people actually do stop producing.