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 05:50:30 GMT
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Viewed:
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664 times
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On Sat, 8 Jan 2000 04:52:10 GMT, Larry Pieniazek <lar@voyager.net>
wrote:
> Richard Franks wrote:
> > 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.
It's predictable _from the government_. What makes you think the
corporatist swine are going to be as predictable?
>
> > > 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's this "corporation" thing? "Officers" has always referred to
cops, in my experience.
>
> What system, other than libertarianism, can deliver on making people
> take the consequences of their actions?
None.
Not in an industrialised, mass-produced society with big cities.
It takes a village, trite as the phrase is.
> > > 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.
There is counterevidence.
See, for example, 17th century Amsterdam. The tulip market was never
regulated. Yet prices soared to as much as 20.000 guilders (and that
was very real money back then - think a few multi-decamillion-dollar
grand estate houses, nowadays), per bulb. And then they crashed to 0
in the space of a few days/weeks. It was Pokemon for Aristocrats.
A few people got very very wealthy, a lot of people went from very
wealthy to nothing.
Is that a boom/bust situation?
If not, why not? If it is, what created it? If you say it is the
exception, how many more examples do you want me to name?
> What system, other than libertarianisn, can actually make laws go away
> effectively?
Seems to work over here. Don't claim just because your goverment is
utterly ineffective, all governments of the same type are ineffective.
> I'm interested in your thoughts on how to achieve the goals you and I
> agree are laudable, if not via Libertarianism.
Aye, there's the rub. I think we need to work within the system,
slowly adapt it, rather than try to revolutionize. You know what
happens to systems that start by revolution. They either fail very
spectacularly or they succeed very spectacularly - for a few centuries
till they burn out.
Jasper
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