Article: Scattershooting Libertarian

[pussyface]

these are the thoughts of Dr. Walter Block, a prominent professor. very provocative stuff. give it a chance, it is nothing if not challenging and thought provoking, granted that its very "outside of the box" to most.

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The AMA is evil. Thanks to restrictions on entry, doctors’ salaries are in the stratosphere. This is a big element in the medical crisis.

In a rational world, Google and Wikipedia, etc., would have made libraries obsolescent, to a great degree. But, in our world, there are public libraries. They don’t go bankrupt, none of them, even if the need for them is far less than ever before. This is like the rise in the number of people who work in the department of agriculture, "servicing" fewer and fewer farmers. Google and Wikipedia may not have eaten into the business of public libraries, but we’d bet they have done so for private libraries, and also encyclopedia sales, both in the private sector. This is as it should be. Someone with a taste for statistics ought to do a paper on this.

Consider ADD drugs like Ritalin and Adderall. Why are prescriptions required for these drugs? The only people who can get them have learning disabilities but there is extremely high illegal use of these amongst Ivy League schools. If the drugs help everyone pay attention and study, then let everyone have them. This is intellectual egalitarianism.

Cigarette smuggling. Supposedly, only two thirds of cigarettes exported in the world show up in imports. There is a huge profit to be made smuggling cigarettes from lower taxed to higher taxed areas. There is evidence that terrorists are using this as a funding source. Are New York and Western European liberals funding terrorists with their high cigarette taxes?

Unsuccessful union strikes. Most big union strike periods did not seem to raise wages much. How can unions be responsible for raising wages in general when a lot of the time they failed to even raise their own?

Here is a contradiction: The government has its own lotteries. And yet is regulates private gambling, presumably in the public interest. The government makes great profit on its own operations. There is no tendency for profits to fall to zero in this "industry" as there would be in any industry in the private sector.

What are the ten worst unions? Everyone is always moaning and complaining about how big business is ruining the political process with its heavy contributions to politicians. But large unions, too, make big donations to politicians. In fact, one could argue that unions have more influence. Unions influence politics both through money and votes from members. Most corporations can only throw money at a candidate, but they can’t provide actual votes.

Another contradiction on the part of our friends on the left. They see great heterogeneity of species. If the yellow beaked bird is scarce, they want to save this species, even though there are lots of white beaked birds around, otherwise indistinguishable from the yellow beaked ones. Each and every species is precious. We must save them all, and damn the costs. However, for human beings, there is great geneity. We are all alike. The only reason each race, nationality, gender, is not proportionately represented in all walks of life is because of some sort of chicanery: racism, sexism, etc.

Hilary is fond of saying, well, we senators had a pay raise of $30,000; therefore, we should raise the pay of the poorest people by raising the minimum wage level. She doesn’t realize there is a disanalogy here.

The recent business school BBQ at Loyola University should be used as a lesson to the lefty kids who came to eat there for free. Next time we should compare this to the healthcare system. Have a flyer asking whether they enjoy the long line and how long do they think that the business school can afford free BBQ’s every day.

Opposition to gambling casinos stems from regulations. When there are very few casinos, any new one does bring problems. But, if there were a free market in them, and they were located wherever entrepreneurs wanted to locate them, these problems would disappear. The bootlegger-Baptist connection thrives in terms of gambling as well.

There are many ways to regulate drugs, that is, there are several dimensions. One is outright prohibition. Another is in terms of degree. This breaks down, further, into tax (for cigarettes) and geography (gambling, alcohol selling) where there are limits as to where firms can locate. We are pretty much all aware of the difficulties of outright prohibition. But there is less appreciation within the libertarian community that partial prohibition is also problematic. Are there other dimensions besides tax and geographical limitations? Rothbard’s Power and Market offers a categorization of intervention, which is not unrelated to this point.

Here is another dimension: perceived degree of harm of banned substance or practice. For example, heroin is very bad, cocaine is bad, marijuana is only slightly bad, in the eyes of the state. Similarly, in sex, pros ution is totally evil, but strip clubs are lesser offenses.

Posthumous publications have great merits, if you are contemplating writing about politically incorrect issues.

USA Today had an article about liquor license quotas in Boston. Supposedly, there is a waiting list for liquor licenses causing devastating damage to those wanting to start a new restaurant. Businessmen are having difficult times entering a market where they are not allowed to compete fairly in respect to serving liquor.

Libertarians always advocate being armed for self-defense and for protection against a tyrannical government. However, isn’t this idea in respect to an anarchist society contradictory to the division of labor? We shouldn’t need to be able to use a gun anymore than we should be able to fix a car engine. It’s a useful skill, but it is something the division of labor can best address. A condo building with security guards takes away almost all purpose for the individuals inside to be armed.

More nicotine in New York cigarettes would be a market reaction. Hopefully, the cigarette Nazis will not destroy this market mechanism to serve consumers.

There have been studies done in Europe observing how much heroin a person can withstand on a daily basis. If drugs were legalized, people would still have a biological limit to doing drugs. Even the most addicted and rich rock stars have a limit to daily consumption.

Why the are drug addicts prohibited needles?! People are dying from STDs using dirty needles, and it’s not preventing anyone from abusing the drugs since almost all drugs that can be injected can be snorted or smoked.

Ford Pinto. Should every car be as safe as possible? Why not add side airbags? If some manager does not make this decision people will die. But we should let consumers decide safety. No one would be driving if everyone had to buy a Mercedes. This is done in the medical field with Mercedes doctors. Surprise, surprise! Not everyone can afford medical treatment.

The Minister of Propaganda for Nazi Germany, Joseph Goebbels, was at times (1943 total war speech after the fall of Stalingrad) more honest about the condition of war than our own current administration. Scary thought. Also, even amid his rabid anti-Semitic outbursts, he seemed to understand the oncoming Cold War that would arise between East and West.

Police wear uniforms to indicate that they do not intend to use their weapons for harm. Police officers out of uniform deserve no special protection compared to regular citizens. The punishment for shooting a police officer out of uniform should be the same for shooting a civilian. There can’t be special treatment if it is not obvious that the person is an officer of the law.

There is no rhyme or reason to road building in New Orleans. There will be potholes on main streets like St. Charles Ave. but a random side street will get a whole new road. Workers are just standing around the trolley tracks barely getting anything done. Oh the inefficiency.

If people feel vote counting is corrupt, is there a lower voter turn out?

Here is a new concept which explains a lot of what is now going on: the pussification of society. We owe this one to George Carlin.

[Bob Lanier]

If by 'provocative' you mean addled, rambling, and lacking any sort of point, yes, it's quite the provocative article. I'd also call it disingenuous, but it's not at all clear to me that Dr. Block was at the moment of penning this piece clear-headed enough to understand what he was writing, and to be fair it's often difficult to distinguish disingenuousness from simple ignorance.

I would urge the good economics professor to take his own advice and consider ADD medication.

[pussyface]

...the premise of the article was that he was on a roadtrip with one of his students, and they shot the on a wide random variety of subjects.

i don't think this guy liked the article.

[pussyface]

I'd also call it disingenuous,

im going to have to take up with you on this one. disengenuous? you mean you think he wasn't saying what he really believed?

im guessing you were confused on the meaning of the word "disengenuous" (?)

[gtownspur]

"America is poised to bring itself destruction destined to reap..........when i was 5 yrs old my uncle took me to a peep show...........as the mortality of the western world grows clearer, it is the duty of the United States govt...........like the one time i had a shot of lactate breast milk from a thai hooker at my barmitzvah...........


.......Sunday mornings have brought americans closer in prayer to advocate healing for our divided core..........when life gives you lemons, order thai spaghetti from the corner " " market. I swear it's the chinamans aphrodisiac."