4 ms·

If the Tories really want to be innovative, they should just cut taxes, cut spending, reduce regulation, and let people naturally and without coercion figure ou

by dpatru 17y ago

If the Tories really want to be innovative, they should just cut taxes, cut spending, reduce regulation, and let people naturally and without coercion figure out what they want and how to get it by cooperation. This is called the free market and it doesn't require a fancy computer program to work.

foldr 17y ago
> This is called the free market and it doesn't require a fancy computer program to work. That's right. All it requires is an ideal world.
- dpatru 17y ago
  An ideal world doesn't have problems. The real world has problems that are messy to solve. "Solutions" often have unintended consequences. The free market, by not relying on coercion, generally does the best job at arriving at a solution that optimally balances the interests involved. For example, the reason we don't have lines forming in front of filling stations is because the free market regulates gas prices. When government intervenes by mandating a cheaper price shortages occur.
  - foldr 17y ago
    FWIW, I find these sorts of arguments unconvincing because (a) there is no particular reason to think that solutions involving little or no coercion will be good solutions (b) there is a vicious circularity in the relevant notion of "coercion" (as pointed out by GA Cohen) and (c) there is no general situation-independent notion of an optimal balance of interests that's worth having. >When government I love how libertarians use "government" as a mass noun, as if governments were formed out of some kind of homogeneous toxic gloop.
    - dpatru 17y ago
      I'm not sure what you mean by circularity in coercion. Another example of the contrast of an ideal world with the free market in the real world is stock markets. In an ideal world, there would be no need for a stock market because there would be no uncertainty as to stock value. The free market exists because we don't live in an ideal world. > governments were formed out of some kind of homogeneous toxic gloop. This is not far from the truth. Government that does not draw its power from the consent of the governed is essentially just a very powerful criminal gang.
      - foldr 17y ago
        >I'm not sure what you mean by circularity in coercion. Cohen's book "Self-ownership, freedom and equality" is good on this point. Quite a bit of it is viewable on Google books, in particular page 60-63. > This is not far from the truth. Actually it is quite a long way from the truth. Governments are neither homogeneous nor toxic nor gloopy.

by dpatru 17y ago

foldr 17y ago

> This is called the free market and it doesn't require a fancy computer program to work. That's right. All it requires is an ideal world.

dpatru 17y ago
An ideal world doesn't have problems. The real world has problems that are messy to solve. "Solutions" often have unintended consequences. The free market, by not relying on coercion, generally does the best job at arriving at a solution that optimally balances the interests involved. For example, the reason we don't have lines forming in front of filling stations is because the free market regulates gas prices. When government intervenes by mandating a cheaper price shortages occur.
- foldr 17y ago
  FWIW, I find these sorts of arguments unconvincing because (a) there is no particular reason to think that solutions involving little or no coercion will be good solutions (b) there is a vicious circularity in the relevant notion of "coercion" (as pointed out by GA Cohen) and (c) there is no general situation-independent notion of an optimal balance of interests that's worth having. >When government I love how libertarians use "government" as a mass noun, as if governments were formed out of some kind of homogeneous toxic gloop.
  - dpatru 17y ago
    I'm not sure what you mean by circularity in coercion. Another example of the contrast of an ideal world with the free market in the real world is stock markets. In an ideal world, there would be no need for a stock market because there would be no uncertainty as to stock value. The free market exists because we don't live in an ideal world. > governments were formed out of some kind of homogeneous toxic gloop. This is not far from the truth. Government that does not draw its power from the consent of the governed is essentially just a very powerful criminal gang.
    - foldr 17y ago
      >I'm not sure what you mean by circularity in coercion. Cohen's book "Self-ownership, freedom and equality" is good on this point. Quite a bit of it is viewable on Google books, in particular page 60-63. > This is not far from the truth. Actually it is quite a long way from the truth. Governments are neither homogeneous nor toxic nor gloopy.