Saffire

Nick, join me in Greenville, SC on October 9th. The Mises Institute is going to be doing a series of lectures at the Westin Hotel, and they just might convince you to become an anarcho capitalist! BTW Thomas DiLorenzo will be there, too.

Trains? Amtrak operates at a net loss every year: http://www.heritage.org/research/budget/bg2072.cfm It costs society more to run it than it generates in revenue. Healthcare? Explain to me how government can increase the supply of healthcare by taking over management of it. I'm not interested in how everyone can get "free" healthcare if they wait long enough. Explain how supply is increased, as well as quality. Elective surgeries like LASIK and cosmetic surgeries continually fall in price every year, while the quality of the procedures increases every year. Why? Because the doctors that perform these surgeries do it outside the traditional medical system, which is fraught with government intervention. The doctors must compete on reputation, name their prices up front, and continually improve their technology to attract customers. Banks? Heh. I just ate a large meal, don't make me vomit.

Who do you work for, again? Oh that's right, the NHS.

Actor Kevin Schmidt (The Young and the Restless): Before: After:

The video is funny, but it assumes that voluntary cooperation based on the exchange of value is impossible without a government, because most people are irrational. Anarchy is not chaos. It's not about sharing, either. It's about voluntary human interaction, which involves trade. Government, on the other hand, makes the claim that trade is detrimental in some aspects of life - paying for roads, defense, or in this case... nuclear energy. Therefore, we must steal money from people (who would otherwise not pay voluntarily) in order to finance these things. Think about this: Have you seen something ridiculously frivolous that costs millions of dollars? Something that isn't necessary at all for society's functioning. Oh yeah, a movie. Or Disney World. These frivolous things exist because of voluntary exchange between individuals. No government had to organize their production and distribution. Now ask yourself this: If free exchange allows for these sort of unnecessary goods/services, why should free trade be incapable of producing goods & services that are absolutely necessary to society's functioning, like roads, electricity, or defense services? Government's existence rests on the idea that without it, people go insane and don't prioritize. Of course, government is comprised of individual human beings, who are just as flawed as the rest of us. Government is not more than the sum of its parts.

What empirical evidence do you have for this? You've got to understand the study of human behavior, praexeology, to know for sure whether a government would eventually be established. Of course, we can extrapolate humanity's existence until the sun explodes 11 billion years from now. So it's possible a government might pop into existence sometime between now and then, I'll grant you that. ;) I suspect that an anarchic society would be unwilling to give their money to establish a government, however, particularly with today's existing security technology - automatic weapons, surveillance cameras, and nuclear missiles. Any non-governmental organization (NGO) that possesses these things will be hard-pressed to generate more than enough free cash flow to build up a standing-army. Remember that what differentiates a government from an NGO is their presumed status in society. If there is a single generation of anarchists who raise their children in anarchy... I find it highly unlikely their children will grow up wanting to give half their paycheck and allegiance and freedom to a government. Problems in anarchy aren't solved with government intervention, they are solved through the profit motive. True, anarchy isn't intuitive to us. But I suspect it will be glaringly obvious to a future generation, at least in some part of the world. EDIT: Listen to the lecture I posted by Hans Hoppe, it's really interesting and it will make you think about what's possible in an anarchist society: http://mises.org/MultiMedia/mp3/MU2009/MU2009_Hoppe_07-31-2009.mp3 Just right click that and "save file".

Colduser, you've got to understand my perspective is probably more consistent than Republicans. Republicans hate Obama because they are Republican, and Obama is Democrat. And they are Republican because their parents were Republican. If you ask them for a specific reason as to why they hate Obama, they'll be as general as possible so as to avoid revealing ignorance on specific issues. My reason for hating all politicians is that they work day and night to write laws, which are documents that point guns at people. EDIT: It's nothing personal, I think Obama is probably a fine father and he's probably never struck another person in his life. This is true for a lot of politicians (particularly those who get into the business because they want to effectuate change on society that they feel would be compassionate).

Every girl has it... it's just her's is bigger. :P

Let's be enemies! *tickle*

lol this is the internet equivalent of rubbernecking.

Nick, get online.

Someone should invent a debit card with a small LCD screen that displays the balance remaining on the account it's linked to.

I have a philosophical enemy, the government. That makes life interesting.

Jesus, kids these days. With their MySpaces, Facebox... and now hermaphrodites? What is this world coming to! Fucking Obama.

Dragonball Evolution 6.5/10 Not as bad as I thought it would be, but it's definitely directed at a younger audience. There were several moments where I laughed out loud, 50% of them due to intentional humor on the director's part and 50% due to the general hokey nature of the movie. This is fun.

I do think it's unhealthy to assume your relationships will be lifelong. And it's possible to fall out of love... because people change. Just enjoy it while it lasts! No need to get stressed about it. Relationships are voluntary.

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5XTi-WdOu2s]YouTube - post office[/ame] :laugh3:

http://mises.org/MultiMedia/mp3/MU2009/MU2009_Hoppe_07-31-2009.mp3 Here's a fascinating lecture in which Hans-Hermann Hoppe proposes that monarchy is a superior form of social organization than democracy. Even if you disagree with his logic, it will make you think!

Then there is no ultimate truth. In which case, the statement "there is no ultimate truth" cannot be said to be an ultimate truth, it is self-defeating logic. Therefore, there IS ultimate truth.

I dunno if anyone's posted it yet, but I like this:

I don't know, but it doesn't come from the barrel of a gun!

I'm gripping my chest over here. You fuckers just took 2 years off my lifespan, now I'm below an Orca.

Well I think if you're going to make a universally applicable rule for the existence of a soul mate you must start by assuming human nature is --- CHRIST IS THAT A PUPPY?

I would prefer to not have an enemy. Maybe a friendly competitor, but never an enemy. Sometimes I'll choose to just stop talking to someone, and I quit hanging out with them. But that's pretty rare, and it's just a decision on my part because they weren't a net-positive influence on my life. They think I'm their enemy, but they flatter themselves. I just grew tired of them.