Lesson #183 - Socialized health care - Part 3
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POOR PEOPLE
This is the segment of the population that politicians cynically target the most. The equation is simple, it is far cheaper to buy votes from poor people than it is from rich people. Since politicians are vote maximizers, this is exactly what they do (for details see our article Politicians and Bureaucrats Job Security Through Misery).
Although this equation may be simple, the cause and effect cycle is…
Lesson #182 - Socialized health care - Part 2
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NO INCENTIVES
In a socialized system there are very few (if any) incentives to improve. Consider this. Whether you are an outstanding health worker, a mediocre one or a terrible one, you earn more or less the same salary. This is so because your salary depends on the number of patients that visit you and since there are no ranking systems; people tend to distribute themselves by load. They go…
Lesson #181 - Socialized health care - Part 1
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Socialized health care is another one of those topics that gets people up in arms. It sounds good and therefore it is good, they say. People such as ourselves are evil because we want the best to be available only for the rich and powerful, they say. We don’t see the “real” world, full of misery and despair, they say. We operate “up-there” on the top of our ivory towers…
Lesson #180 - Evil externalitites - Part 2
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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:
- 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.
- The costs…
Lesson #179 - Evil externalitites - Part 1
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No, this time we are not being sarcastic. Externalities are indeed an evil process if evil indeed exists.
DEFINITION
The term externality comes from the Latin prefix exter which means “outside of”. In economic terms, the word means:
a cost or benefit affecting somebody which is outside of (as in not being part of) an economic transaction.
An example of a positive externality is when there is good student in a class and…
Lesson #178 - Drugs for everybody - Part 3
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RESPONSIBILITIES OF ILLEGAL DRUG MANUFACTURERS
We only call this group “illegal” to differentiate them from Pharma companies. Legality is a term that is only valid within a non-Libertarian context. Libertarians do not have laws, just contracts.
This group is essentially composed by manufacturers of so-called “street drugs” which are mainly used for recreational purposes.
These manufacturers are subjected to the very same free market rules as…
Lesson #177 - Drugs for everybody - Part 2
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CHILDREN
This is, again, a difficult topic to address. In the Absolute Austro-Libertarian system, children have no rights until they self-emancipate. However, in the meantime, anything and everything that damages them psychologically or physically is the responsibility of their parents or guardians. If damage occurs it is real and children can fully demand compensation upon emancipation. This damage and compensation is not formal and theoretical, it is exactlythe same as any…
Lesson #176 - Drugs for everybody - Part 1
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This is a particularly difficult topic due to the simple fact that so many people are affected by drugs and have and are destroying their lives and the lives of the people that surround them. Taking a stand on this topic, based solely on principle is tough. However, as we promised you from the beginning, we won’t knowingly lie, twist fact, massage number or evade topics. So here it is,…
Lesson #175 - The division of labor – Adam Smith’s invisible hand - Part 2
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DIVISION OF LABOR
Origins
We have explained the very first reasons for the division of labor to appear. Now it is time to further expand on its origin.
The pressure to succeed in the competing environment imposed by the free markets forced suppliers to improve their products. But improvement takes time and resources. If I am trying to develop a larger, healthier goat for sale, I won’t have time to farm…
