Anarchy is all around us. It is self-interest and money, and not government regulation, that keeps you safe.
This is going to be a short post.
I have thought about things of this nature before, but today something jumped out at me yet again, in a more profound way than in times past.
It is very simple.
I was walking back from returning my cart to the grocery store after unloading the bags in the car. I had grabbed a bottle of rooibos tea from one of the bags. After pushing the cart back to its place, relaxed, I began to walk back to the car, twisting the cap from the rooibos tea as I walked. I took a big, healthy swig. Ahhh. Just what the doctor ordered. I examined the bottle. Ito En. The cheap brand. It had cost about 83 cents.
For whatever reason, at that moment the thought hit me: I have no idea where the hell this stuff is made, or who is working there. This shit could be poisoned for all I know, and I am drinking it with one hundred percent trust in this random company and these random people I have no idea about.
HOW IS THIS NOT TOTAL ANARCHY!!?!?
Well, someone will say, government regulations ensure that companies are punished if a product is poisoned or some other catastrophe like that occurs. Hmm. Okay. It's true there are government regulations and punishments for such acts. But, wait a minute. What kind of punishment is actually dealt out? What is the actual consequence the head of the company is scared of? Oh, right, losing MONEY. The government punishments result in the business losing money or being shut down, effectively. If it is just money that keeps companies in line, for the most part, why do we need all these government "regulations"?
Sure, you might object, but there are some crazy individuals who would poison their vat at the tea factory just for fun. They are not scared of consequences. Okay. Right. And these people, not scared of consequences, will thus also not be deterred by any amount of state regulations. What is interesting though, is that a company's desire to make more money results in the incentivization of better potential employee screening and vetting protocols, prior to hiring. No manager, CEO, or company president wants his or her business ruined because they accidentally hired some psychopath. As for the rest of the "normal" people, they are incentivized to not do such a thing because they value human life, or at least their own life, enough not to throw it a way for some sick murderous stunt. They are incentivized to sustain themselves, and others, out of natural self-interest.
The takeaway: The free market is incentivized to create its own regulations. Self-interest is what keeps people safe, in general. State regulation has already proven itself an inhumane and disgusting failure. Why? The state is both the regulator and the "regulated." "Conflict of interest" is too small a phrase, I feel.
See: "Sovereign Immunity"
The sovereign immunity doctrine prevents any entity, governmental or private, from suing the federal government unless -- unless the government gives its permission -- to be sued. And, as you might expect, when the government decides when and if the government can be sued, well, they have a tendency to side with themselves.
Source: http://edition.cnn.com/2015/08/13/opinions/cevallos-animas-river-liability/index.html
Excellent post. I'd add that the incentive to do less in the way of quality control is created by government regulation. Since there is just one or a small number of known palms to grease when it comes to getting the stamp of approval; since there is a set and predictable outline of the rules for acquiring said stamp; since heavy regulation discourages competition from upstarts; and since the focus of the company is on just satisfying government requirements (often set by a bureaucracy with zero market experience), there is far less uncertainty and the attendant creativity of solutions than can be seen in less regulated industries where the focus is on being better, safer, cheaper, and easier than the competition.
Jess, you nailed it, as usual.
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You said it. That's a bullseye. Thank you.
Great post/rant/observation.
No one rules if no one obeys ; )
Highly rEsteemed!
Cheers!
What is most vital to a free market is accurate and abundant information. Free market is about hyper-efficient decision making. To make decisions, one needs to know the facts. This is why blockchain can truly help create a free market on the global scale.
Blockchain can make information available and make sure they have high accuracy. Without access to proper information free markets would simply collapse not because of anything that's wrong with the freedom but simply because even the greatest minds of the world will surely eff it up if they were fed wrong information.
The quest for truth is always one of, if not the most important fundamental behind freedom and free market.
![](https://steemitimages.com/640x0/http://www.quotesvalley.com/images/31/three-things-cannot-be-long-hidden-the-sun-the-moon-and-the-truth.jpg)
Very true. Thanks for this excellent comment.
Keep posting great stuff like this and I'll drop by to comment :-)
The FDA was started because a meat company had sold some bad beef, and people were stopping their purchases from the company. And so, they begged the govern-cement to set up a regulatory agency to restore people's trust in them.
Oh the horror stories I have heard of the FDA.
Basically, their regulations have caused all of the large food poisonings I have heard of.
Not surprised one bit, but am surprised to learn that's how the FDA got its start!
Yep. How about poisoning the alcohol supply during the prohibition so that people couldn't make their own booze anymore (lots of them died, unaware). Real nice folks, over there at "the government."
the state is both the regulator and the regulated
^^ true. Unless i took that out of context, i have recently experienced that as I attempted to obtain a medical marijuana card in a state that just came out with their first dispensary. I was all down to go. Signed up even, so i could have access to a better treatment for my ptsd. Until i read all the fine print about how it is actually still illegal (federally) then all the horror stories of all the dispensaries that were federally raided came to mind. I could lose my professional license that i need to make a living. Oh and by the way the dispensary gets its product from the town i live in. Anyway, this may be way off base from what you were trying to discuss. But its my story
Nope. It's exactly what I am trying to discuss. How ridiculous is it that the dispensary can operate "legally" and "illegally" at the same time. What a bunch of totally tremendous dufuses. It would almost be funny if the state wasn't a murderous cancer on the earth.
Human Social planning like this are always contradictory and dehumanising while the agents of this "planing" are always patting themselves on the back. It is maddening to say the least.
LOL And yet we are the ones called crazy lunatic terrorist!
Right!?!?!!?
“Give up your freedom for fake security, you don’t deserve neither of both.”
Let’s be real, right from the birth you are driven by the government to become the perfect puppet, manipulated through school, media, forced to work for a paycheck that barely makes you survive. What is absurd though is that 99% of people think they are free, while the 1% laughs behind their shoulders.
Cryptocurrencies are finally a bug in the matrix, a backdoor to escape.
Weimar Republic 2.0
Stuff like this always reminds me of my longing to live in an ethnostate with national socialism.
LOL i hadn't seen that watering trees one before, that meme reminds me of the other day when i was sitting in traffic and it was raining and i look over and the sprinklers were on LOL the city has the water sprinklers set up to automatically go on & nobody thought to adjust them or turn them off smdh gave me a good laugh 😂 👍
Gotta water the water man! So that it stays....water...y? :)
What a bunch of dufuses.
I wish more people would realize what a difference it would make for the better when ridding ourselves of government.
![](https://steemitimages.com/DQmdFgNYYV3HyGMZhtKd3XPGHmjRCoR4LUmKKPqbJnk1nZJ/FB_IMG_1498878303046.jpg)
Meeeee too!
The free market always does a better job of regulating. When we have former members of large corporations sitting in government offices the general public is the loser. Well done @kafkanarchy.
I agree. Cheers, @jerryt.