We Need the Government...
...to regulate trade with aliens. (HT2MR.)
I love the premise of the article--how would we conduct trade with aliens?--but after that it's all downhill. Here's a good quote:
Hickman [the journal article author] proposes establishing a "solar system monetary union" or publicly administered "planetary clearinghouse" under which interplanetary merchants could operate.
What's ironic is that this is one area where market anarchy would clearly be preferable. By stipulation, our terrestrial governments can't touch the aliens (we're just exchanging intangible things over the electromagnetic spectrum), and so you've taken away their only advantage, i.e. aggression.
(Well, I suppose if the aliens developed feelings for some Earthlings, our governments could threaten to harm them if the aliens broke any of our rules.)
I'm forwarding this to Ed Stringham. If he gets a pub in the prestigious Astropolitics, all I'm saying is he better thank me in a footnote.
I love the premise of the article--how would we conduct trade with aliens?--but after that it's all downhill. Here's a good quote:
Hickman [the journal article author] proposes establishing a "solar system monetary union" or publicly administered "planetary clearinghouse" under which interplanetary merchants could operate.
What's ironic is that this is one area where market anarchy would clearly be preferable. By stipulation, our terrestrial governments can't touch the aliens (we're just exchanging intangible things over the electromagnetic spectrum), and so you've taken away their only advantage, i.e. aggression.
(Well, I suppose if the aliens developed feelings for some Earthlings, our governments could threaten to harm them if the aliens broke any of our rules.)
I'm forwarding this to Ed Stringham. If he gets a pub in the prestigious Astropolitics, all I'm saying is he better thank me in a footnote.
Bob, I dare you to write a Mises or Townhall article on this.
ReplyDeleteTownhall readers don't think we should trade with Mexican aliens, so if I were to write an article, it would be for Mises.
ReplyDeleteMises then. I now double dog dare you.
ReplyDeleteRecognizing ideologues is easy. They're the guys with pat answers to questions they haven't heard yet. Who else decides he or she knows what is in an article before they read it?
ReplyDeleteAnonymous,
ReplyDeleteAre you talking about me or John? For what it's worth, I tried to read the original Astropolitics article but you had to pay for it. Assuming the summary is correct, I know I disagree with the author.
Typical sloppy thinking libertarian. Didn't read the work but knows what it says from someone else's summary.
ReplyDeleteTypical sloppy thinking anonymous poster. Doesn't know that we write our own summaries for our academic pieces.
ReplyDelete