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PROPOSED SOLUTIONS

Statists always propose the same remedy: more legislation, more rules and regulations, more enforcement, more penalties, more of the same.

There are two basic problems with these solutions:

  1. They do not work. Laws and regulations have been tried for centuries now with very little effect. This is so because said laws and regulations are slow to adapt, slow to enforce and slow to have any effect.
  2. The costs of such laws and regulations keeps climbing.

In summary, these proposals are more of the same stuff that has never worked (with a few exceptions), is not working and will never work.

Laws and regulations simply cannot compete with a dynamic economy where people in droves are paid to circumvent said laws and regulations legally or illegally. Furthermore, the advancement of science and technology is so fast that it creates loopholes as it goes. The economy is simply unstoppable. What is necessary is not a legislative solution, but an economic solution. The only working answer is to fight fire with fire. The question is, how do we do this?

THE AUSTRO-LIBERTARIAN SOLUTION

Private properties

In this system, all properties (A, B, C, D, E and F) are private properties. For simplicity’s sake let’s assume that they have all different owners. There are four possible scenarios:

  1. The Company XYZ dumped toxic waste into Property A without any contract. In this case, the Company is fully responsible for all damages to all properties. In addition, chances are far better that the company will be caught in the act, simply because Property A is private and private properties are usually better monitored and guarded.
  2. The Company XYZ has a contract with the owner of Property A but the contract specifies that the owner is not liable for any seepage or the contract does not specify anything regarding seepage. In either case, the company is fully liable for all the damages.
  3. The Company XYZ has a contract with the owner of Property A where it specifies that the owner is responsible for any and all seepages, in which case the company is not liable.
  4. The Company XYZ has a contract with the owner of Property A where it specifies that the owner and the company are jointly responsible for any and all seepages, in which case they are both liable.

As you can see, in either case there is no need for any kind of laws or regulation. Everything is managed by contract or by the lack of thereof.

No loopholes

In the current system the loopholes are created by either international or public properties. In the Absolute Austro-Libertarian system none of these properties exist and every single property on planet earth has an owner. A company such as XYZ literally will not have any single non-private place where to dump toxic waste. These companies will be forced to contract with private owners which will be much better stewards of their own properties, because they are their own!

This sounds a little radical, but it is not. In an Absolute Austro-Libertarian system, all public and international property would eventually be owner by somebody through purchases or homesteading. This is not a farfetched idea, it is real. In the same manner that in most countries there is no free land (because it was already taken), when countries dissolve and collapse, the remaining free properties will be taken over.

No limits

Furthermore, in an Absolute Austro-Libertarian system, the issue with toxins is not how much it is there but what is the damage? In current systems if pollutant ZZZ is under the legal limit, a person would have a very hard time litigating for damages. People are limited in their litigation by arbitrary laws. In our system no such limits exist. People are capable of litigating for anything and be compensated for any damage whatsoever regardless of the contamination levels. This is far more “just” and “fair” than current laws which are arbitrary.

Benefits

In the current system, it is financially beneficial for companies to externalize as much as possible.

In our system, it is in the company’s best interest not to externalize because any externalization becomes incredibly expensive. Furthermore, the risks of being caught are far greater.

This leads to two logical conclusions:

a)    If there are no “safe” limits for pollutantants, it is in every company’s best interest to reduce them to the lowest level which is economically viable. Not only that, they are incredibly motivated to be good stewards because not doing so gets very expensive very rapidly.

b)    Company owners are personally liable for polluting third party properties. In an Absolute Austro-Libertarian system there are no incorporation laws, and therefore company owners cannot hide behind limited liability regulations. It is simple, if the Company XYZ does not have contracts with properties B, C, D, E and F, and if it pollutes these properties the company is fully responsible to the full extent of the damage. But the company is not a person, it does not really exist; it has not been “incorporated” because in our system the concept of “incorporation” does not exist. What do exist are company owners and as such they are fully responsible. Which add another gigantic incentive not to pollute in the first place.

CONCLUSION

There are gigantic benefits that can be had without any laws and regulations. This is the power of the free market to safeguard peace and the environment. Externalities can only exist in the current system where international and public properties would enable them. In an Absolute Austro-Libertarian system externalities simply would not exist because neither type of property would exist. And once again we reach the same conclusion: remove the governments and the problem solves itself!

Now you understand more than you did before. You could have a choice to make, or not. Also your choice.

Note: please see the Glossary if you are unfamiliar with certain words.

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