Re: extropians-digest V3 #175

Michael Lorrey (mike@lorrey.com)
Mon, 14 Dec 1998 09:40:47 -0500

Emmanuel Charpentier wrote:

> Cynthia Allingham wrote:
> >
> > >
> > > I think the difference capitalism/socialism is about
> > > competition/cooperation.
> >
> > Socialism is based on what is called the command economy. Where the guys at the top give orders to their underlings, with
> > no cooperation involved.
>
> I didn't have that image in mind. True, top down organisation is crap
> in every day life, but crisis might need some kind of chain in command,
> some kind of government that would try to organise efforts towards one
> goal.
>
> How could an anarcho-capitalist nation deal with an outside
> aggression???

By the best method, a guerrilla insurgency. Additionally, foreign covert ops would also be possible, if a group of PPAs see a common outisde threat they may invest in a joint mercenary venture to neutralize the foreign threat to the ungoverned society.

>
>
> Can competing entreprises or individuals offer the same level of
> service than a one block organisation, like the army?

While people often decry the interservice rivalries in the US military, one cannot dispute that they are rated the best in the world. They must be doing something right.

>
>
> > And it is true there is a an element of competition in capitalism. Every business has to match the prices and quality of
> > their competitors, or they will go out of business. But capitalism is a system of cooperation, not on force. In order for
> > a business to survive, it has to cooperate with its suppliers, its employees, and its customers.
>
> There is cooperation "inside" a capitalist organisation and with
> suppliers, and competition with other organisation.... And on the long
> term it seems like a good thing for the general economy, but what
> happens in case of crisis? Who is in charge?

Why does anyone need to be in charge? Most economic crises occur for two reasons: Widespread stock fraud, or severe governmental inaccuracies in the reporting of economic data, especially as applied to reserve bank policies. In a high tech libertarian society, neither could exist in large enough amounts to have such severe influence on the whole economy.

> When I speak about competition/cooperation, I speak about the
> competition between entreprises and individuals that could lead you or
> me to lose our jobs, and about cooperation considering the way people in
> some systems are not stressed to work and can profit of others' work.

If you don't work efficiently enough to make a profit at what you do, then you should find something else to do which you can find profitable. Don't ask me to pay extra for you to do a bad job. If I am the one doing work, I get to choose who I cooperate with, and who I allow to become my dependents. I can choose to donate most of my earnings to charitable works, If that is what motivates me to succeed. Don't force me to donate to anything or anyone I don't want to.

Mike Lorrey