Thread: Capitalism, Mixed Economy, or Socialism?

like alric and absolute said, there would be monopoly and it would be the equivalent of anarchy. There would not really be any laws because there would be private businesses being the police, and who would stop them if they chose not to obey s certain law?

Originally Posted by Absolute

It would work fine until companies monopolize themselves and eventually shift the direction of the world.

Twist and turn the monopoly problem as one may, one always comes back to the fact that monopoly prices are possible only where there is control over natural resources of a particular kind or where legislative enactment's and their administration create the necessary conditions for the formation of monopolies. In the unhampered development of the economy, with the exception of mining and related branches of production, there is no tendency toward the exclusion of competition.

-Ludwig von Mises, "Liberalism"

http://mises.org/story/621
http://mises.org/rothbard/mes/chap10d.asp

Originally Posted by sheogorath

like alric and absolute said, there would be monopoly and it would be the equivalent of anarchy. There would not really be any laws because there would be private businesses being the police, and who would stop them if they chose not to obey s certain law?

What's wrong with anarchy?

Also, if there were no laws, what would be the problem with private police companies not obeying the laws?

I meant that there would be virtually no laws because the private companies would not obey them.

Whats wrong with anarchy is lack of organization. Organization is crucial when it comes to situations like war. Anarchy would maybe work in a full world anarchy situation, but if you want examples of how it fails in the real world just look at the tribes in africa. Is that not what anarchy would be like? You would have gangs of people (not everybody, but some) that would basicaly contoll certain areas.

As human beings, we abuse our rights when given too much, but at the same time, become restless when with none. The only way to solve this is to give us "enough" rights so that we FEEL like we are in charge, and we FEEL like we have power over our own lives.

just IMHO

Originally Posted by sheogorath

I meant that there would be virtually no laws because the private companies would not obey them.

Whats wrong with anarchy is lack of organization. Organization is crucial when it comes to situations like war. Anarchy would maybe work in a full world anarchy situation, but if you want examples of how it fails in the real world just look at the tribes in africa. Is that not what anarchy would be like? You would have gangs of people (not everybody, but some) that would basicaly contoll certain areas.

As human beings, we abuse our rights when given too much, but at the same time, become restless when with none. The only way to solve this is to give us "enough" rights so that we FEEL like we are in charge, and we FEEL like we have power over our own lives.

just IMHO

How is there a lack of organization? If by organization you mean government, then yes. There will be organization, but among individuals through voluntary actions, like trade, commerce, and everything in general. If Anarchy can work world-wide (in fact we have Anarchy between nations right now since there is no world government), why not between states, cities, individuals?

Give me information on how some African countries are in anarchy and not just governed by warlords.

You have to understand, though, that anarchy is chaos. There would be good people, bad people, and indifferent each having the power to do what they want. Rape, loot, and murder is an example. What would inevitably happen is organizations sprouting from the chaos that then become factions and eventual empires depending on their natural management of people and resources.

Twist and turn the monopoly problem as one may, one always comes back to the fact that monopoly prices are possible only where there is control over natural resources of a particular kind or where legislative enactment's and their administration create the necessary conditions for the formation of monopolies. In the unhampered development of the economy, with the exception of mining and related branches of production, there is no tendency toward the exclusion of competition.

-Ludwig von Mises, "Liberalism"

Which is what we precisely saw with Shell Oil in the past when they were making more money than the United States Government at one point.

Originally Posted by Absolute

You have to understand, though, that anarchy is chaos. There would be good people, bad people, and indifferent each having the power to do what they want. Rape, loot, and murder is an example. What would inevitably happen is organizations sprouting from the chaos that then become factions and eventual empires depending on their natural management of people and resources.

Ridiculous. There would be no chaos because that would lead, as you described, to rape, loot, and murder, which would violate property rights, etc. Rape (violating property rights), loot (stealing/theft, violating property rights), murder (violating your general right to live) would be handled by private court systems and work somewhat similar to how they work now through contracts and their own legal codes. The families would be reimbursed through whatever means, whether it's monetary or imprisonment (though I'm not sure prisons would even exist in a free society because the victim's family/the victim them self would have to pay to keep the criminal in prison) or some other means.

Plus, you assume that everyone that is a respectable person now would suddenly change and just go and kill someone for no reason.

As for factions sprouting up, where will they get their power from? They would have to monopolize in a free society, and I've already explained monopoly in a free society.

I am not an anarchist , and I have no problem with the government stepping in to stop illegal things that are harmful to people. However, I would rather have anarchy, than the super government we have today.