Thursday, May 19, 2011

Don't let your next vacation be ruined by "Big Government." Come to Somalia...Libertarian paradise!



Can we send all the Libertarians here, please!



9 comments:

Red Rock said...

If you looked hard, you saw the Strawman in the background.

zackA89 said...

oh i see the strawman!

These MMT statist never fail to amuse. I have seen various statists try to pull this Somalia nonsense off on us.

Just because there is no state does not mean it is by default libertarian. Libertariansim is about respect for individual private property rights an peaceful cooperation.

With no respect for private property rights, hardly any freedom in general, and no respect for the non aggression principle, coupled with an oppressive theocratic regime, one could hardly argue it is consisent with libertarianism. Nice try.

If only Somalia could benefit from the wonders of a fiat currency regime, with MMT'ers in charge running huge deficits so these poor Somalians can net save, then they would have prosperity!

Oh, maybe MMT'ers could impose a "hut tax" on these poor Somalians and "monetize" the region, then of course, they would have prosperity!

Tom Hickey said...

Who is going to protect property rights with no government. Oh, right, everyone with property will employ their own armies of the unpropertied.

Grow up.

googleheim said...

The problem with libertarianism is that they also think the Dept of Education is unconstitutional.

Krugman's post today is 3 years past due Norman's rampage against the Libertarian "creative destruction" hopes which were against bailing out Detroit.

Libertarians follow in footsteps of Nixon's China and allow US businesses to re-incorporate in Caymans tax free and move mfg to tax free China zone ... in exchange for China buying US debt by allowing them to open up treasuries accounts but ...

but by then saying it isn't so .. that their smoke screen voodoo economics supply siding is going to save the day meanwhile then they turn around with the Republicans and start spending for their lot while teachers and city workers get the austerity

A.K.A. Damo Mackerel said...

Some posters here are confusing Libertarianism with anarchism. Libertarianism calls for small government protecting natural rights. Anarchism wants government abolished altogether.

Incidentally, Somalia is doing far better than the majority of statists government on the African continent.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Economy_of_Somalia#Manufacturing

Tom Hickey said...

The point is that once there is a state, there is government, and then there is an army, and then there is a security force, and then there are politicians, and then there are favors, and then the whole catastrophe begins, since the state as the power to coerce, and politicians can be bought.

The size of the government doesn't matter. A dictatorship is a tyranny of one. So is a monarchy. An aristocracy and oligarchy is a tyranny of a few. A democracy is supposedly the rule of the people, by the people and for the people. Modern democracies are representative democracies, however, and politicians are easily bought, making modern democracies plutocratic oligopolies.

The problem is not the size of government. It is corruption. Both parties are corrupt to the core and making government "bigger": or "smaller" is not going to change that a bit. The 400 families or that constitute the ruling elite are still going to run things the way they please, which means funneling income and wealth to the top, unless there is a populist revolt against corruption.

Some people don't seem to get that social programs are the modern version of "bread and circuses." Take away the props supporting the middle class and there will be a revolution.

Does anyone think that ordinary Americans are going to stand idly by while they are crammed down by rentiers? If you think that there won't be a depression following the withdrawal of major government funding, you don't understand macroeconomics. Oh, right, the depression will clear out all that malinvestment and then everything will be fine. Dream on.

The real problem that the US faces now is the institutionalization of the national security/surveillance state and the emergency legislation, perpetuated by unending war that makes the US a de jure dictatorship. If you are a libertarian of the left or right, or just a plain vanilla American, this is what is concerning about today.

Matt Franko said...

dmc,

I dont think we are the ones making the mistake.

Tom here is a Libertarian of the left.

Listen to the Motor City Madman in the video interviewed by Beck, he says something like: "we dont want the government doing anything" or some such nonsense and then the crowd of morons breaks into applause... Ted The Sledge is taking things too far here in his zealousness to advocate for 2nd amendment rights... he should just stick to high energy rock.

But this is an example of these so-called Libertarians actually being the ones that are advocating for Anarchy out of frustration or something. There is actually a TV show on that is called "Sons of Anarchy".

Crake said...

As Tom highlighted above, business and special interest become the main citizens, and the electorate becomes second-class citizens. So fundamentally, in the sense the words are typically used: Big Business = Big Government

To me, the core problem of libertarians is that that rally against Big Government, while at the same time they champion Big Business. Basically, they are like the main character in Fight Club – in a parking lot hitting themselves in the face.

beowulf said...

"so these poor Somalians can net save, then they would have prosperity!"

Sure you don't mean net slave? The Libertarian Utopia doesn't shirk from putting property rights ahead of humans rights. Score one for the wealth creators!

trafficking in persons remained rampant in Somalia and that the lack of an authority to police the country's long coastline contributed to trafficking.. there was no unified policing in the territory to interdict these practices, nor any authoritative legal system within which traffickers could be prosecuted.
US Dept of State, Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor
http://gvnet.com/humantrafficking/Somalia.htm