“anarchy sounds good to me then someone asks, ‘who’ll fix the sewers?’” -Biafra
-Imp
Biafra obviously didn’t think it through. Who will fix the sewers? Who will build the roads? Who will resolve disputes?
Why, the free market of course! As long as there is demand for sewers, which barring some huge leap of evolution shouldn’t be a problem, there will be sewers.
What, do you think a bloated government monopoly can do better than a competitive free market…at…anything?
I don’t.
Statism is faith based, no different from religion.
So is belief in the benevolent function of the free market. In fact, so is belief in the existence of the free market at all.
Well, I suppose you are correct. A belief in a benevolant free market would be faith based.
A belief in consumerism, ie supply and demand, on the other hand would be quite well founded. People need stuff. People do what it takes to get stuff.
Do you think without a government people would stop needing roads? Would they stop needing anything they need now?
Do you think the enormous business opertunities that would arise given a disolution of all monopolized functions would not be taken advantage of?
Do you not think the quality of services is generally better in a competitive market than in a monoploy situation?
I have access to enough firearms to thrive in an anarchy. Still, it would seem selfish somehow to actually advocate it.
Although most people in a MA situation would be armed (by all probability), dispute resolution would not have to be handled by the individual any more than you have to do your own plumbing or electrical work. The only thing preventing privatized dispute resolution agencies is the monoploization of force by the state entity.
People don’t need anywhere near as much stuff as they have. Perhaps, just perhaps, the corporate monopolies of so-called ‘free markets’ is what brings about massive over-production and therefore requires rampant consumerism otherwise you get an economic crash.
People need a few basic things, all of which they can mostly provide for themselves if they can be bothered. Capitalism, contrary to popular myth, encourages people to be thick, lazy and unskilled.
No. But most of what they have now, they don’t need. Besides, I favour a sort of communitarian anarchism, whereby the centralised power of the state is removed but local authority powers remain (or are enhanced to make them more democratic).
No, I think we’d get even more of a corporate monopoly than we have now. Doesn’t make any difference if it’s a state monopoly or a corporate monopoly - both are immensely wasteful, inefficient and unjust.
Yes. But a corporate monopoly suffers the exact same problems as a state monopoly, so removing one only makes the augmentation of the other more likely.
I’ve seen no evidence in my 37 years on this rock that Capitalists are any thicker or lazier than Communists, Socialists, or any other Ists. Nor does Capitalism drive wants, IMOHO- prosperity drives wants. As our basic needs are met, our Will drives us to other wants. I see that as human nature.
Have you spent much time outside of the US?
I see, on the contrary, that since basic needs are met we waste a huge amount of time, energy, money, natural resources and so on convincing each other that we have other wants, and then seeking to fill them. It isn’t human nature, it’s pathetic consumerism attempting to masquerade as human nature. Just like the communists will try to convince you that viewing everyone as equal is human nature…
I could be mistaken, but this story was told to me a while ago. I might not have the mechanics of how Socialism works down yet, so if theres a hole here tell me.
Lets talk about quotas.
First lets say the quota set by the Socialist Governmentfor a nail factory is set at 500,000 nails.
The factory meets the quota the easy way by making most of these nails tiny, easy to make thumbtacks. The government then sees this and instead sets the quota instead of the number of nails to the weight of the nails.
To get by the easy way once again, the workers would make huge railroad spikes and other types of large heavy nails to meet the quota. Seeing this, the government instead sets the quota to value of nails. Of course, the nails would be made of outrageous material such as gold and the like. It would continue on and on like this.
Laziness is just human nature, (why do more than you need to?) but when you have a total lack of incentive, as in a Socialist culture, there is even less motivation.
Capitalists have a chance to take the bull by the horns and maybe be rewarded in the long run, unlike socialists, but most do not. (For a number of reasons, really. But laziness is definitely among the biggest.)
Hmmm… I dont think any good official would leave a quota so bland as to allow such obvious sidestepping.