On Sun, 26 Apr 1998 Paul Hughes <planetp@aci.net> Wrote:
>What is their alternative? [to government handouts]
Private charity might be enough, of course I can't guarantee it.
>Sounds to me like anarcho-capitalists don't give a damn about the
>poor ~80% of the world!
I can find no evidence that rabid anarcho-capitalists such as myself have
less compassion then socialists, we just realize we're dealing with human
beings not Euclidean Geometry so proofs are not available. I refuse to give
guarantees on social issues, politicians are quick to give such assurances
because it makes voters happy, but if one respects the truth it must be said
that in any system that sort of certainty is impossible.
>I have always liked the idea of a minimum guaranteed income
Me too, I'd love to have one, unfortunately it's impossible. Government can't
guarantee such a thing, at least not honestly, because to do so they would
have to guarantee that they will always continue to be successful in their
ability to extort money of any amount from anyone anytime they need it, and
also guarantee that future politicians will always want to make handouts to
the weak. Both assumptions are very questionable and in fact almost certainly
wrong.
>is their any anracho-capitalist who can demonstrate how the
>free-market can support and sustain a wide-spread liesure-class
>society
No, not with any certainty. If there is a wide-spread liesure-class that is
unable or unwilling to support itself then obviously it will have to be
supported by the non wide-spread non liesure-class. If the productive class
is compassionate and willing to do this then the non productive class will
have no problem, and if they aren't then they will. The productive class is
the powerful class and no government can stay in power if they do things the
most powerful class doesn't like, not even if the weakest class is crazy
about the government. This has nothing to do with morality, it's nobody's
fault, it's just a fact of nature.
>If your conclusion is that we must all continue to work in some form
>or another, then I DON'T WANT TO HEAR FROM YOU!
My conclusion is to work or beg for a handout. What is your alternative?
John K Clark johnkc@well.com
-----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE-----
Version: 2.6.i
iQCzAgUBNUTVtH03wfSpid95AQGyVgTuOV25gpEmb76bMIU5gjFgCMl1gcRBgre7
97nc2A/VuZOImn4J67B2dn3bMUpZByAzj5a3PsZrUJbdVbRU+L7zFvYMy3WozOyK
fPtY6Eb/Kp8EcvLp6pPBtA1ueA3KFASOAF3Xs71FTInDGt40mBz/qk6m73hPp1kZ
bDeJh3DYCTD3Kw6gYHgXyGkS9261I4NelgrUbY6L3L7KuIb7fSo=
=jL4z
-----END PGP SIGNATURE-----