Posted on 09/01/2005 4:22:37 AM PDT by chronic_loser
Cast an aspersion, get a response. Cast no aspersion, get no response.
Recognizing that there are certain economic realities such as the Laws of Supply and Demand, and that markets are efficient (if not always socially optimal) does not constitute a worship of your imaginary idol "Economius". Or do you also think that Sir Isaac Newton was secretly the High Priest of the god "Gravitas"?
For the real deal, check out my friend Walter Block's 'Defending The Undefendable'.
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0930073053/102-7523371-6069759?v=glance
A review:
Just how far can the principles of individual liberty be pushed? Walter Block pushes them just as far as he can in defense of the activities of scallywags, rogues, rascals, and scoundrels. From the premise that activities involving force and fraud are outlawed, Block defends all of those "capitalist acts between consenting adults" that horrify right-thinking Americans by showing that they are actually beneficial.
"An outrageously funny yet ruthlessly logical book... If libertarians can't speak out forthrightly for individual freedom in unpopular areas, we haven't the courage of our alleged convictions. This book ought to be the cutting edge of the libertarian movement for years to come." -- D.T. Armentano
"Walter Block argues that some of the most socially offensive members of society--including prostitutes, libelers and moneylenders--are 'scapegoats' whose actual social and economic value is not being appreciated. Startling and illuminating! Block's lucid defenses often convince; sometimes they lead us to sharpen our attack. In either case, the reader cannot fail to be instructed and challenged by this mind-stretching, provocative, and occasionally infuriating book." -- Robert Nozick
"This witty and wonderful book is a veritable manual of the 'joy of freedom.' If we were only half as interested in liberty as in lust, we would not have half the problems we have." -- Dr. Thomas Szasz
"It is a magnificent book, a trailblazer. I would call it 'Drano for Clogged Minds,' except that Drano is neither amusing nor stimulating, and this book is both. Buy two copies--one for yourself and one for the person you want most to catch up with you." -- Roger Lea MacBride
"There are things that I strongly agree with and things that I strongly disagree with, but the book throughout is amusingly and sharply reasoned, courageous and always provocative." -- Henry Hazlitt
"Defending the Undefendable made me feel that I was once more exposed to the shock therapy by which, more than fifty years ago, the late Ludwig von Mises converted me to a consistent free-market position. Some may find it too strong a medicine, but it will still do them good even if they hate it." -- F.A. Hayek
"Until Prof. Block's book, no economist had the courage to tackle the moral and economic status of the dozens of reviled and misunderstood occupations in our society." -- Murray Rothbard
Professor Block clearly shows how ruthlessly raising prices in these circumstances is not only ethical, but is the optimal ethical action, since it encourages substitution, and therefore produces a better overall outcome.
OR you radically misrepresent the society Jesus spoke of....
Welllllll. This is the second time I've seen a reference to a Gravity god.
The existence of Gravity does not mean we are obligated to all lie upon the ground for our entire lives!
No, it has elements that are very socialistic.
But go ahed, lets hear it for pimping.
Yes, and Joe would bring his wife, their kids, their neighbors' kids, their dog, and their cat, and each one would buy the limit at $1.50 and still load up his truck. All this does is create more middlemen like Joe. Still, I run out of inventory and many people have no bottled water available to them unless they are willing to bid up the price at which these new middlemen are willing to sell.
I already answered KC's question, but this deserved its own reply. I support laws against prostitution, but I realize that it's my religious view overcoming my general pro-freedom attitude. So lets turn the question back on you: do you support laws mandating that a boy marries a girl if he sleeps with her? My religious views also make me inclined to outlaw adultery and fornication. Would you like it if you were banned, by law, from sleeping with your girlfriend? Or forced to marry her because you did? Before you slap someone in the face with morally-based laws like prohibition of the "sex trades", you should consider that that knife cuts two ways.
I honestly see the legalization of prostitution as neither better nor worse than the legalization of fornication. I'd like to see both banned. But I realize that it's a bit of a contradiction of my libertarian bent. And if you insist on legalizing one, I'd say I mostly have to yawn over the question of legalizing both. I'm surrounded by fornicators, so who cares if some of them are, in particular, paid fornicators? It's yucky either way.
I just went up to the corner gas station for a look see.Yesterday all the stations were packed.Gas was between 279-2.99. Today at 3.29 there were two people getting gas.
So I don't know if the difference today is the price or everyone is full and doesn't need gas.
A price is an INDICATOR. He then gives an analogy involving body temperature (fever).
Would somebody who has the book close at hand please look it up and post the pertinent comment?
Yes, it is a good one.
There are all sorts of legal jobs that many people would consider degrading or unpleasant, and pay very little. What is in common is that no one is putting a gun to their head and forcing them take those jobs.
Free will. God's gift to us all...and it comes with consequences.
On the contrary! First-century believers adopted a communal lifestyle, but that wasn't at all socialistic, because it was strictly voluntary. Read Acts 5:1-5, noting particularly verse 4. "While you owned [the house], wasn't it your own? And after it was sold, wasn't the money still yours? So why lie about it?"
Markets and the price mechanism ration much better than governments do. Who is the "little guy" in your question? The owner of the local convenience store? You want him to sacrifice by forgoing the increased profits of selling at the market price so that other people can buy up his stock and make those profits themselves?
I don't have the book.
Price gouging is illegal. Plain and simple. As is pimping. Please don't donate any time or money to the relief effort. You'll pollute the effort by just touching anything.
Luckily for you ignorance is still legal.
But doncha think them rusty rigs up and runnin again, pumping good ole Texas crude out of the ground, won't look perty?
Bet there'll be plenty of once too expensive extraction methods suddenly able to turn a profit . . . While the steep prices are hurting motorists at the pumps, it's a boon for oil producers in West Texas. "If I can fix it, then I can start making him another 50 to 100 barrels a day, then he'll be happy!" Bell said. Bell has spent $200,000 on his wells in the last three weeks. The true sign of a booming oil industry is how many drilling rigs are running. In West Texas, more than 60 rigs have started spinning into the earth in the last 18 months. Don Sparks is drilling two wells a month, spending more than $1 million. But it's getting tougher to get the equipment he needs. He had to buy steel casings from a vendor in Eastern Europe. [. . .] There's an old saying in the West Texas oil patch, that life in the oil business means you're either eating chicken or feathers.
The gambling spirit is thriving again in the West Texas oil fields. In the Midland/Odessa area, oil field consultant John Bell is trying to bring two oil wells back to life for his boss.
These wells haven't pumped oil in more than five years. But high oil prices have inspired oil producers to upgrade equipment and get old pumps running again.
"With low prices I wouldn't be on this project. We wouldn't be out here. We wouldn't be talking about this," he said.
Yup. As is owning an "assault weapon". As is self-defense, in may locales. As is farming your land, if it happens to have ducks or snail-darters on it. As is living in your house, if your house happens to be in New London, Ct. Lots of things are illegal. Many of those things are also immoral, but not all.
Were you a virgin when you married? If unmarried, are you a virgin now? When I'm king, markets will be free, but fornication will be illegal. Better buy lots of soap for your cold showers...
Right. Alberto Gonzalez, Attorney General, just got warned by Bush to prosecute "price gouging". In fact Bush, made a public statement on this. Make sure you let them both know this.
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