Off Topic — HabitableZone

Off Topic » in reply to re: "every driver"

Commons, and farms
Tom Brosz — (archived)

Many of those examples tend to be industries that work on a "commons," like Federal forest land or "public" fishing grounds. The government routinely charges industries far less than market prices for resources on government land, something that I would like to see changed to reflect real market prices, or the government should sell the land.

Privately owned lumber forests are generally well taken care of, although there are always exceptions. There are areas where regulation is necessary, such as fishing, where individual property rights would be very difficult to lay out. Regulations against polluting the air or bodies of water are also essential, but these are still property issues. You don't have a right to dump your trash onto your neighbor's lawn, even in an ideal libertarian society.

Too much of your opinion of business is largely a projection of your stereotypes, based on exceptions that make the news. And the same for farmers, which I count among many of my relatives. Many modern farmers are moving away from artificial fertilizers and pest controls to more organic methods, and it's because it's more profitable, not because some lawyer in Washington who wouldn't know a bean plant from a cabbage forced them into it. Robert's stereotypes are decades, even centuries old. I have yet to see any farmer "burn up" his land just so he could move somewhere else.

Log in or register to post.

The whole thread (42 posts)