Capitalist Faq

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[capitalistfaq]

"Theoretical question: What would happen in a capitalist system if human labor became obsolete? It's no secret that automating labor is cheaper and more efficient than paying people in many situations. What would happen if the majority of jobs today were automated?"

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[capitalistfaq]

This is probably redundant, but what is our answer to the Somalia accusation?

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[capitalistfaq]

First of all thanks for converting me into libertarism. But I have a question. Whats the use of patents in a libertarian society? Are they right to protect private porperty or an idea can't be privatised?

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[capitalistfaq]

Hey guys, thanks for all the good work here. I'm kinda new at this, don't really know how things work, so i apologize for any mistake I make in advance. So, i had a political economics class today, and my professor began talking about revolutions around the world in 20th century. I'm brazilian, so he ended up talking about the fight between left and right politics that ended up in a dictatorship around the 60s. He was giving a lecture on soviet union and all countries in eastern Europe, and he said that when those governments fell, with the Berlin Wall being put down as a mark, the whole Europe suffered. So here is my question (that he couldn't answer): were those countries of western Europe living in a welfare state situation? If so, this kind of organization is only possible with the exploration of periferic countries (with cheap labor)? Does the destruction of the soviet bloc was really the doom of the welfare states of Europe? Thanks!

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[capitalistfaq]

Please help this fan out: My wife brought me to this page a while back, and I find I agree with most of what you say, if not all of the comments. Anyway, I'm a fan, and I want to learn more about Libertarian ideology. I have two questions to throw out there, if you don't mind reposting, but it's a bit long winded because I want to provide context that I think some commenters disregard. Context: Now, I certainly don't like the way the Government is running things, especially so under the current administration, but I feel that, since the Government has a need to focus on a nationwide economy, they have more motivation to focus on roads, more specifically interstates, and their development, as well as their maintenance. I feel that this is why they are a good group to focus on the building roads, their development, and their maintenance. Even cities show this same concern for their local area when they make public transportation. Because of this, they reinforce the wellbeing of their own economy. On a nationwide scale, nobody has a greater stake than the US Government. Keep in mind that building roads isn't just laying pavement. When developing roads, the pavement is pretty intense work, but it's worthless if there isn't planning on how to best direct the traffic. With poor road planning, traffic boggs down. For example: Illinois has terrible road structures, and they are not developed in a way that helps break up traffic, or make it convenient for the drivers. By comparison, Texas has pretty well planned roads, with plenty of turnarounds, alternate routes, loops, etc. Road planning is a huge task. With that information in mind: Question 1: What makes us think that a Private company would have the motivation to maintain roads nationwide? (Please read Question 2 before answering) In the Olden days, Companies would build Railroads, rather than roads, as a means of focusing on their own company and their own shipments. With this, they could not only transport their stuff in a direct way, but they could also sell tickets and make more money. Question 2: Why wouldn't companies do something like this instead of building roads for public use? It's significantly cheaper and can bring in alternative profits. Note: I know what half of the responses are going to be, based on other answers I've seen on this page, please give actual answers, and don't say ridiculous non-answers like, "How used we are to having the government do every thing that we are so reliant", or "Muh Roads", or "Oh my goodness! A Capitalist doing something for other people!?! Who'd have thought!?!" That's not an answer. That means nothing at all. It's trolling rhetorical nonsense. A real answer. Again: 1) What motivation would a company have to develop and maintain roads on a nationwide scale, or to support a nationwide economy? 2) Why wouldn't they take the cheaper way out and make a private mode of transportation to avoid costs?

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[capitalistfaq]

"Hi, I am a libertarian. I have been voting for several years, every election since 18 I voted for libertarian. However since then the State has grown, rather than shrunk. Although I still have hopes, I am getting pretty weary of the system and utilizing it as a means to reduce the state. Even with candidates like Amash, Cruz, Rand Paul while I don't deny their good intentions, I have grave doubts that they can prevent the state from growing. Plus I have my doubts that, again, as well as their intentions are and hearts in the right place, they can reduce the state. And in some cases some of the politicians elected, not necessarily the ones I named, end up being part of the same system. Now I concede that I do think those same individuals are important because they bring ideas to the national spotlight and introduce newcomers, like Ron Paul who was an educator, but ultimately I am beginning ideas and alternate means of reducing the state are needed. What are your thoughts?"

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[capitalistfaq]

Thoughts on IP?

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[capitalistfaq]

How does the free-market protect us from predatory pricing? One large firm undersells their product to FORCE out ALL competition, then once all the other firms have been forced out because they can't compete with such low costs, said large firm raises prices to "recoup" their losses and can drive the price up even further and charge as much as they want. Especially if it is a vital good, like medicine, electricity, Ice Cream, etc....

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[capitalistfaq]

Just curious, is insider trading considered a victimless crime?

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[capitalistfaq]

I like the arguments for free-market roads. But let me try a context which may be more throughly thought out. (Not that I don't support the free market, but nothing is perfect. Is it in fact more desirable than a government system for things like infrastructure?) Let's suppose our "villain" is ridiculously wealthy and an ass. We all own land and have access rights, but those access rights are access to... Privately owned roads. Alright... fine. Through trades and purchases our villain has purchased all roads within our town (whether a town of 100 or 100,000) - roads which previously "free", built as a co-op between several businesses in town. In order to use these roads, we must now each pay a $500/month toll. There's no place to build access roads without crossing the villain's rightfully owned property. He's not exactly a monopoly - there are other roads in the world. But he is a monopoly with access to lands. I have to have access to others (the market) in order to survive. I have to pay him $500 if I just want to move out. And since most of us can't afford this expense each month, we opt to leave. Because of the high toll to access, property desirability drops, and therefor value. We all sell our homes to the only person who is willing to buy land with such outlandish access fees - the villain. Now the villain has most of the land and all of the roads. He lowers the toll to a reasonable fee, and then starts selling the land back off, at a reasonable price. Now, I realize we already have a virtual monopoly on roads - the government, for the most part (there are a few toll roads). However, we can all agree that roads are important, and what their function is. The government is itself a corporation of sorts, but (and this is ideally here) the corporation thrives on the will of the people, not the necessity of capital. The people do pay capital to have the roads, and the roads are built by private individuals/corporations, but the function of the roads must meet will of the people, including local corporations, or else the elected officials would be replaced. Alright, tear that apart. I'm genuinely interested in how: 1 - What stops "local monopolies" 2 - How do you have competition for roads? Obviously, we can't build and maintain three roads leading up to my little lot - that's a huge waste of resources, and I don't see any capitalist finding that lucrative. But is the only competition that I /can/ move elsewhere? 3 - Some infrastructure will be built privately no matter what the government handles, and the government should not try to prevent private infrastructure. I'm not sure where I was going with that.

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[capitalistfaq]

I understand business' interest in investing in roads to and from their business, and maybe business collectively to invest in roads for monetary gain. However, where how do rural towns who have a relatively low population and no corporate or large business structure get the funds to connect rural town to rural town? I understand if one town has a Wal-Mart and 5 or 6 close towns come their often to shop; Wal-Mart has an interest to build roads to get more customers. But, small towns, with no business initiative to build highways to connect the towns especially if they are separated 20-30 miles a part. make sense?

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[capitalistfaq]

Hey, I'm doing a research paper on how US policy causes more terrorism attacks and threats. Could you post a status asking people to post articles on the comment section that would further enhance my paper's point? Thanks!

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[capitalistfaq]

let me ask something. a child is found murdered. the family doesn't have the money to look into it. how would we as a free society do them justice? granted, we wouldn't owe them that justice. but then we'd be opening people up to a serial killer if they can't afford an investigation. i would never find that acceptable, so without any government, how would they get justice?

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So I have a vague understanding how law enforcement would work in a free society. We'd work on the principle of no victim = no crime. My question is how do we approach the grey zones like drinking and driving? Do we wait until someone hurts somebody to take action because there technically isn't a victim until a crash happens. The alternative is taking preemptive action. How do we enforce road laws like that?

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[capitalistfaq]

I Love your page I've learned so much from you. I was hoping you could write a post on some thoughts about trade with China. I presume you support complete open trading with them? Honestly I'm having a difficult time reconciling my belief in free trade with my disgust with China, not to mention their currency manipulation and poisoned products. If liberty is about doing what you want without infringing on other people's natural rights, isn't it wrong to do business with a country like this? Please stop my confusion headache!

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My only question is the following: if companies were to build roads, wouldn't they need some sort of permit to do such? If they could build anywhere, couldn't they build their property completely surrounding another one in order to prevent that business from being able to build roads? I guess what I am saying is, wouldn't it be disastrous to let companies build wherever they want without at least zoning or permits?

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[capitalistfaq]

My question is if the roads were all built privately what would be the incentive for the builders to build roads? Would it merely be for customers of their business to access their company? And would there be tolls on these roads in order to pay for the privately financed projects?

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