Subject:
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Re: Libertarian theory and altruism (was: some incorrectly spelled thing not worth repeating
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Newsgroups:
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lugnet.off-topic.debate
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Date:
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Sat, 8 Jan 2000 04:52:10 GMT
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Reply-To:
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LPIENIAZEK@NOVERA.antispamCOM
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Viewed:
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740 times
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Reordered things a bit...
Richard Franks wrote:
>
> Definately agreed on what would be nice - but although Libertarianism might
> achieve this, I don't believe that it's the only way!
So you agree that all of the below are laudable goals, then? Great.
Let's talk more about what they mean and what sort of system would be
needed to foster them.
> In lugnet.off-topic.debate, Larry Pieniazek writes:
>
> > Would things be different in a different system? What if it was more
> > predictable what sort of regulations and taxes would be in place many
> > years in the future?
No tax EVER and the common law liability/negligence framework as the
only regulation, with no change EVER strikes me as about as predictable
as you can get.
Other systems may be more predictable than what we have now, though.
It's hard to se how we could be LESS predictable, with the government
likely to turn on whoever is successful at the time (pick a decade and
they're after someone) on antitrust, with tax rates and rules changing
but always becoming more complex, and with new regulations that need to
be complied with coming at an ever increasing rate (thousands and
thousands of pages each year of new ones with no sunsetting of obsolete
one) from an ever increasing number of agencies.
What system, other than libertarianism, can deliver on simplification of
taxation and regulation?
> > What if it officers were not shielded from personal
> > liability for their decisions?
This is a fundamental tenet of libertarianism, it's more of a mindset
AND an implementation, than merely an implementation divorced from a
thought change. It won't be easy to achieve to get people to be
responsible again, and to take down the shielding laws that let
corporations hide from responsibility... but I have confidence in the
innate goodness of people, properly incented.
What system, other than libertarianism, can deliver on making people
take the consequences of their actions? I say no system that promises
free goods can, for free goods are a direct contradiction to the law of
cause and effect, and free goods teach a dangerous lesson.
> > What if we no longer had boom and bust
> > business cycles?
Since I sincerely believe that business cycles are a direct result of
government intervention in the economy, to my way of thinking, only a
system that stops the government from interfering can hope to do this.
What system, other than libertarianism can make this claim?
> > What if stockholders had real power to influence
> > decisions instead of being powerless to evict boards of directors that
> > didn't do what they wanted (2)?
This is an easy one. Merely dismantle the laws I referred to. But no.
It's actually a hard one. Dismantling laws appears to be hard in our
system. Very hard.
What system, other than libertarianisn, can actually make laws go away
effectively? Demopublicans promise, but don't bother even trying to
deliver. At least Libertarians, when elected, have a track record of
dismantling silly laws. Not a lot of laws because we haven't taken over
any state houses yet or anything like that, but a few, anyway.
> > What if the labor market was so tight
> > that any cluelessness would be harshly punished by a pretty rapid exodus
> > of good staff, followed in turn by a stockholder revolt in which the
> > officers were out on their ears?
This one follows from the others. With an end to the busts, labor will
be in chronic short supply. Or so we think.
I'm interested in your thoughts on how to achieve the goals you and I
agree are laudable, if not via Libertarianism.
--
Larry Pieniazek larryp@novera.com http://my.voyager.net/lar
- - - Web Application Integration! http://www.novera.com
fund Lugnet(tm): http://www.ebates.com/ ref: lar, 1/2 $$ to lugnet.
NOTE: Soon to be lpieniazek@tsisoft.com :-)
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