Now, I will add....if you take libertarianism and then temper it with a very strong social moral and religious framework which almost obligates those people who are blessed to contribute and donate back to the welfare of the community...this would probably be the ideal situation. Absent this overarc...

Thinking of non-violent solutions to problems that the government is currently attempting to solve is a great way to make the world better, move towards a better society and life....and possibly make a buck. It's way more than academic in my opinion. Not disagreeing. But, we are working in a very i...

What I don't understand is that the underlying moral foundation of libertarianism is the Non Aggression Principle. But who is going to enforce that principle? In an anarchic world of non-enlightened individuals, the non-aggression principle really just seems like defacto might = right.

I know this is an anonymous forum, but I have to say that Kshartle really, really reminds me of this guy: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stefan_Molyneux

The reimursement gives Doodle cash. The cash is taken from the owners of Taco Bell. What problem has this solved?

If I was depending on that newborn son supporting me during my old age, that cash has definitely solved one problem.

What is the government solution here? To have a legal framework to reimburse doodle for his loss that was the fault of Taco Bell. This is not a solution to the problem of the lost life. He said "Your little scenario is fine and dandy until that Taco Bell taco gives my first born son food poiso...

Kshartle, I don't know what your background is but humans are not economic automatons operating based on purely rational decision making processes like some deterministic physical particles. Your little scenario is fine and dandy until that Taco Bell taco gives my first born son food poisoning and k...

The reality is that if two people have a dispute that is to be settled in any other way than violence, there must be a third party to arbitrate that dispute and enforce the decision. You must have the most bizzare relationships if you can't resolve disputes non-violently without a third party enfor...

Then it's a good thing that paper money doesn't permit that sort of exploitation! I'm convinced now. Techno...it seems that your problem with government is really just a problem with human beings violent exploitative tendencies. Eliminating government doesn't eliminate those tendencies however. In ...

Oh, and to preempt the coming response of: "but at least gold and silver constrains the size of the army that any leader can fund" Again, I would say look at the historical record. Just as today the United States will go around the globe fighting wars to keep secure access to oil open, bac...

Interesting. If I remember correctly, I believe he argues that the Anthropological research of the earliest money often contradicts the bedtime stories that economic textbooks tend to tell. Yes, he argues that traditional story (Adam Smith in Wealth of Nations for example) says 1. barter 2. currenc...

By the way...here is interview I'm drawing from:http://youtu.be/zSnReXI4gKk

Interesting tidbit here....listening to David Graeber interview. Apparently anthropologists have found that gold and silver coinage really didnt begin to come into widespread use until kingdoms began to form and local leaders needed to pay soldiers. Prior to armies, people tended to transact using a...

Right. Since the country is a democracy one should read "the voters in the country feel..."  Hint: the same voters  feel that solar and wind energy should be heavily subsidized.  But I don't want to hijack the automation thread !!! This is a very good point when people worry that without ...

I'm just trying to look at the problem of displaced workers more broadly than just saying that the government violence/coercion/theft should have no role in dealing with structural unemployment. Is this a more clear way of defining your position? This is what I hear and it sounds like a contracdict...

Mdraf wrote: Somebody has to build the automation machines. Somebody else has to write the code for the software that displaced the secretaries.

Yes, but one code writer can eliminate a million secretaries who don't have the ability or training to learn how to write complicated code.

We are doing more with less. This is a problem when our economic system makes employment and a wage the only way possible to consume this increased production. If this trend continues you will have an economy with enormous productive capacity and half of the population unemployed and unable to purc...

Kshartle, What you are saying is that in the future we will have the capacity to produce a lot of things, but we will constrain that production of things because many people are not capable of contributing to it. Those that are not capable of contributing because they were not born with the mental c...

Kshartle, What does this graph indicate to you? http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2012/12/12/opinion/global/12iht-edbrynjolfsson12/12iht-edbrynjolfsson12-popup.jpg Technology (mainly computers and the internent lately) is making humans extremely productive. Yes, but notice how productivity has de...

Kshartle,

What does this graph indicate to you?

Kshartle, Lets say that we have a huge advancement over the next year in automation. Suddenly 40 million Americans (cooks, janitors, drivers, cashiers etc) are displaced from their jobs and have no skills that the economy requires. These people are honest and hardworking individuals but they aren't...

Also realize the economic effect of this on the wealthy capital owning producers. Suddenly, people that were able to generate an income and rent apartments, buy iphones, and maybe own a car suddenly have no income to consume anything. The producer suddenly finds himself with less demand for his prod...

Kshartle, Lets say that we have a huge advancement over the next year in automation. Suddenly 40 million Americans (cooks, janitors, drivers, cashiers etc) are displaced from their jobs and have no skills that the economy requires. These people are honest and hardworking individuals but they aren't ...

The median human IQ is 100. 50% are above that and 50% are below. While IQ isn't everything, the fact remains that the majority of middle to upper class jobs require a significant amount of mental ability. Those jobs that require moderate mental faculties and a strong back or a good work ethic are s...

I think a lot of Austrians would do well to meditate on this quote from Bertrand Russell: "When a man tells you that he knows the exact truth about anything, you are safe in inferring that he is an inexact man." Austrians have a very clear dogma about how money and the economy work. When r...