Legal System

From Part VIII of Defending the Undefendable, “Labor.” Read by Jeff Riggenbach.

But what happens when government sanctions, and in effect legalizes, counterfeiting, either by itself or by other institutions? Counterfeiting then becomes a grave economic and social problem indeed. For then there is no one to guard our guardians against their depredations of private property.

Austrian economists are not fooled, because they reject the idea of empirical data in the validation of theory in the social sciences.

"The division of labour is limited by the extent of the market." The extent of the market, however, is best defined by entrepreneurs and consumers, not regulators.

The Social Security system has run its course. It's unfair and it's economically destructive. It's time for the program to be abolished.

Conscription was an unjust, capricious, and immoral disaster then. We don't have any reason to think things will be different now.

This free-market system encouraged just the right mix of tradition and innovation.

Genuine market economies — meaning those that maximize the long-term benefits to consumers and producers — thrive when state power is minimized. With this in mind, abolishing the FAA and firing its bureaucrats who hinder the market order would constitute a step in the right direction.

Meanwhile, such a system of "extended liability" for homeowners would have prevented the extra stress on banks caused by negative-equity defaulters. Because these people would know they are paying back the full sum either way, they would instead keep the house and pay back the (albeit, exorbitant when considering the plummeting value of their home) debt over time — perhaps while keeping their home, if they had proof of income.

Taken from Free Market Economics: A Basic Reader, compiled by Bettina Bien Greaves (pp. 227-231). Narrated by Floy Lilley.