3 ms·
I really don't see the point of seasteads - escaping the law is not really feasible (you'll need supplies from a country, and if you do anything the US or other
by jotm 15y ago
I really don't see the point of seasteads - escaping the law is not really feasible (you'll need supplies from a country, and if you do anything the US or other nearby countries don't like, you'll be cut off or heck, even torpedoed). There's plenty of land to build a small city on, much cheaper.
Even if you want a private island for your getaways, you can buy a big yacht for cheaper, anyway. Heck, even if you want to create a criminal haven, it's cheaper and easier to do it in some third world country by bribing everyone (Pablo Escobar and Cuba is a great example)...
- todsul 15y ago"you'll need supplies from a country" It's called importing. Most countries do it these days.
- jotm 15y agoYes, and when you decide to create your own country with your own laws, you'll either be importing at exorbitant fees or be embargoed by everyone...
- a3camero 15y agoThis has happened before. Check out the history of pirate radio in Europe. The European countries responded by creating national laws that embargoed the pirate radio stations. The Spanish were never apart of it and British citizens just ignored and resupplied illegally. Decades after the embargo was passed there were still radio stations opening. Still annoying and likely if you're successful, but probably not killer.
- tryitnow 15y agoWhy would you be importing at exorbitant fees (relative to what an island nation would be paying anyways)? And why would they be embargoed by everyone? Not even Cuba is embargoed by everyone. Why would everyone embargo a seastead inhabited by upper income individuals? In general the market is pretty responsive to wherever the money is.
- Czarnian 15y agoBecause you have to pay a shipper a lot of money to send a ship somewhere that doesn't have any exports to ship back.
- Czarnian 15y agoImporting isn't the problem, exporting is. A seastead will necessarily pay a steep premium on imported goods, even basic ones. The cost of shipping is mitigated by goods going both ways. When you are shipping to a zero-export entity such as a seastead, the receiving entity is expected to bear the cost of the return trip with empty holds.