But, but… this is a *private* government!

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I was talking to my next-door neighbor, in the private community I have mentioned previously, about our septic service. I said that I found it odd that the same company, X, that has the contract to test our tanks, also gets to pump the tank if the test proves pumping is needed. "It seems," I said, "as if this gives X a strong motivation to tell you that your tank failed the test."

"Yes," he told me, "I think someone on the board of the community has a close relative high up in the company X, so it was a kind of 'You scratch my back and I'll scratch yours' deal."

So… crony capitalism does not depend on the existence of the state after all! It turns out to depend on the existence of human nature, in particular, our natural inclination to do better by our friends and relatives then we do by strangers.

Comments

  1. Samson Corwell2:28 PM

    I tend to think that most anarcho-capitalists would not see that as cronyism just like how there would be no such thing as blackmail in their world. I've always seen laissez-faire as allowing for various frauds and scams.

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