Every once in a while, we gain a glimpse of how things might work in a fully privatized society. When it occurs, like a flash of light in the darkness, we should take notice. FULL ARTICLE by Jeffrey A. Tucker
Source link: http://archive.mises.org/15976/commodify-my-grass-and-everything-else/
Commodify My Grass, and Everything Else
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I do believe private suppliers are by nature more efficient and consistent than government run businesses. Mises and Hayek wrote volumes on the reason for this so I needn’t elaborate.
Water supply is one area that wouldn’t hold consistent in our current world though, because the majority of land is ‘publicly’ owned it would be impossible for suppliers to secure land for pipelines, catchements and dam walls without the sustained violent and distruptive protests of hardline greenies.
If the idea of public land was abolished and use of land was not to be approved by the arbitrary whims of the politiburo but rather by the private owners and price system private water would be faultless. This is why Rothbard always argued against minarchism because as long as the state remains it will always disrupt the consentual activities of individuals and organisations who wish to do business.
@Michael
I just wanted to say welcome back. Of course you could be a different Michael.
You may be thinking of the one with the lower case “m”, who was a troll. This one appears to be a reasonable sort.
Joe, I am probably a different Michael I’ve only been reading mises.org for a month or two.
While it’s true that public lands might make it difficult for private firms to pipe water to our houses, I don’t doubt that creative entreprenuers could find ways around that problem. How about a household water tank that’s filled up once a week or once a month? Also, there are other aspects, such as government regulation of water supplies, that could be done away with to help ease the water situation.
Don’t you mean “private lands make it difficult”? If you want a pipeline to your house then you would need permission of the private landowners between you and the private water company.
Private lands would be no problem. Simply insert a clause in the contract for water supply that allows the owner of the pipes to rout them anywhere on the property. As for getting across the land of those who don’t want your water, either pay a small monthly rent for having the pipes buried in the ground or pay the land owner a one time fee for access to the land for the purpose of burying the pipes. I deal with city planning departments and I always find private owners far more accommodating than city workers.
I live with a household water tank… it is definitely not preferable to piped water.
Anthony, I don’t think Michael A. Clem was proposing people be left to have rooftop draining water tanks but was suggesting if piping could not be plumbed to someones house then trucks could fill up water tanks on a set basis. This would not be the same as drinking rain water mixed with dust, bird poop and other pollutants on your roof.
Good point about the tanks, I guess we do fine without gasoline lines plumbed to our house so such a supply chain for water could certainly exist.
A while back, can’t remember why, I started drinking bourbon for breakfast. I’m up to about a quart per, and don’t worry about grass anymore. Hiccup!
@Ned,
Do you drink Wild Turkey?
My strategy has always been to pick the fertilizer with the highest total sum. I can’t say that is a great algorithm, but at least it’s an easy rule to follow.
I have a pair of the spiky shoes and can tell you that they don’t work well – at least, mine don’t. But, that’s OK, because you do look quite ridiculous waddling around the yard trying to punch holes in the grass!
I am somewhat glad we have winter where I live, so that at least for half the year the grass is dead and/or covered by snow, and not needing any care and attention from me. And, even during the summer, I do get some measure of zen-like calm from spending a half hour a day, in the early morning, out in the yard with the dandelion weeder. But, maybe that’s just me.
@Dennis,
I can tell you are a true American through and through. I too pick the fertilizer with the highest total sum. I think it is a great rule to follow. When I was growing up I always wanted to car with the biggest engine. GM had the corner on that market for a while and then Ford started to put out some beastly engines. I guess it’s the same thing with womens bra sizes. Anyway, in this country we go for the big. Hell, look at the hamburger fast food restaurants. You can get all your annual calories in one visit.
I just wanted to confirm that you are a true blooded american. Keep up the good work.
Great Article Mr. Tucker
In line with your premise of taking notice where full privatization persists, I am a personal trainer and the field of personal training, I think, is a terrific example of privatization at its finest.
There is no state required license, no state-mandated insurance coverage, but there most certainly are private companies that ONLY employ trainers with their specified insurance coverage amounts and/or licenses – and they are fully within their rights to do so.
Trainers can also operate independently of a facility and train clients at home or at their own personal facilities. Customers can seek trainers through gyms, or they can be trained at home, in a park, online, or elsewhere, people can be trained in groups or individually for as many or as few sessions as they deem fit. Prices charged by new trainers trying to make a name for themselves are modest yet can extend into the many hundreds of dollars per hour for those who work with the most elite athletes. Variety persists and the quality improves daily across the board.
Competition is stiff, demand fluctuates, but the trainers who get results, are good communicators and conduct honest business practices always end up on top.
Hooray privatization!
Respectfully,
Alex
Jeff, you should link the appropriate articles in the paragraph about water rationing. Those are some of your most hilarious works.
Maybe tangentially related: at my local grocery store I saw a sign stating that there was an egg shortage and that they may be out of stock at times, but puzzlingly the prices hadn’t changed at all. At the time I thought that perhaps the people running the store didn’t understand economics, but now I realize there could easily be state intervention that fixes the prices or something similar. I don’t often buy eggs, so I was able to buy them at the normal price that day, but I’d have preferred that they raised the price such that I would have skipped buying them during this shortage. Here it would pose a slight disadvantage, but if this were practiced on all products in the store, it would mean that a shortage on something I buy regularly wouldn’t cause it to run out, though it would raise its price somewhat.
I am a lawn care enthusiast and I approve of this message!
Don’t get me started on water!
Let’s start on the back end of things, which will wrap around to the front.
All below by government decree:
1. ALL household waste water is mixed and graded as “raw sewage”. That is, no grey water (sink drainage, bathtub drainage, anything that doesn’t get flushed) to use as garden watering, etc..
2. Septic tanks are outlawed and all sewage has to flow to a treatment plant. The outflow from this plant is usually pumped into a river or directly into the ocean.
I think you can see where this is going. We pump massive amounts of water out of aquifers, contaminate it with poop, chemically treat it, flush it into the ocean, rather than recharging the aquifers, then when the wells dry up, say “Oh, my, you mundanes are WASTING WATER, so we must ration it!!!”
And the rationing isn’t by simply raising the price of the more-scarce fresh water so that people can intelligently choose how to reduce usage; it’s by imposing various restrictions on how one can use it. Last year I believe they were requiring that restaurants not put out a glass of water with meals unless the customer requested it. Imagine the massive water savings there!
Funny Ned. Very funny.
Well written Mr.tucker. As always, I enjoyed it thoroughly.
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