John Stossel: "I Was Brainwashed"

michaelsuede said:
Private security services operate on a market model based on voluntary payments by customers seeking their services.

You tell me how they might differ.
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Market model, wha? You mean there's someone there to enforce something, to tell the firms how to behave?









Like... a government?
 
michaelsuede said:
Private security services operate on a market model based on voluntary payments by customers seeking their services.
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Oh, so all we need to do in Somalia is go in there and establish a market model based on voluntary payments. How exactly do you suppose we might convince the existing private security forces (I mean, warlords) to accept this market model?
 
michaelsuede said:
no one is going to buy insurance from a company that is running around looting people.

they would go out of business immediately - AND other insurance companies would gang up on them.
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There are no other insurance companies, they're all destroyed. Insurance is a necessary commodity, so people are stuck buying it from... guess who?
 
michaelsuede said:
no one is going to buy insurance from a company that is running around looting people.

they would go out of business immediately - AND other insurance companies would gang up on them.
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This, of course, describes the United States perfectly.
 
michaelsuede said:
no one is going to buy insurance from a company that is running around looting people.

they would go out of business immediately - AND other insurance companies would gang up on them.
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Are they winning? Because if so that's who I'm going with! I'm not going to pay for the smaller, weaker security force because it has better morals. I'm going to make damn sure my payments are going to the big, marauding, ruthless mf'ers. That way I'm less likely to get killed. Which is going to be a constant concern in this "utopia" you're proposing.
 
ideogram said:
Oh, so all we need to do in Somalia is go in there and establish a market model based on voluntary payments. How exactly do you suppose we might convince the existing private security forces (I mean, warlords) to accept this market model?
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They probably wouldn't.

Of course, that's the entire point of my argument.

The State would never relinquish its control over the police and courts either.

The only way for such a market to come into existence is for the people of the nation to act together to bring it about.
 
michaelsuede said:
no one is going to buy insurance from a company that is running around looting people.

they would go out of business immediately - AND other insurance companies would gang up on them.
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Aren't you paying taxes to an organisation you believe commits mass murder? And you stated that it's because you don't have a choice? And you believe all the other governments are as bad or worse? Why do these principles apply to governments but not insurance companies?
 
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Twiler said:
Aren't you paying taxes to an organisation you believe commits mass murder? And stated that it's because you don't have a choice? And you believe all the other governments are as bad or worse? Why do these principles apply to governments but not insurance companies?
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Because one is funded voluntarily while the other is not.
 
Twiler said:
I doubt they'd be more than one company left after the terrible insurance wars.
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The only alternative is a small number of businesses conspiring as a cartel to look like they're competing but are actually all owned by the same person or group.
 
michaelsuede said:
The only way for such a market to come into existence is for the people of the nation to act together to bring it about.
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How do you propose for the "people of the nation to act together"? Do you think an unorganized mob can achieve this, or maybe they might need a leader? Hey, this leader, how would he be different from a warlord?
 
PGH said:
I've said it before, it's completely voluntary. You can leave any time.
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Great argument.

How about you leave instead.

This way I don't have to worry about getting mugged by someone you paid to mug me with my own money.
 
TubbaBlubba said:
So when Vinnie from Vinnie's Security CO: stuffs a .33 magnum up my nose and tells me to cough up my cash for his "protection", that's a voluntary transaction?
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Precisely. Now a government tax of 12 cents on a can of soda to help pay for health care for the sick? That's violent and egregious theft that leads to chaos.

I think I finally got it...
 
michaelsuede said:
Great argument.

How about you leave instead.

This way I don't have to worry about getting mugged by someone you paid to mug me with my own money.
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Make him. The security force which he has voluntary contracted with by choosing to stay and to which he voluntarily pays his dues is on his side, what are you going to do? Perhaps you could find a competing security force to pay to protect you?
 
michaelsuede said:
Great argument.

How about you leave instead.

This way I don't have to worry about getting mugged by someone you paid to mug me with my own money.
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I'm not the one who disagrees with our system of government. Me leaving does nothing to solve the problem.

You hate it. You think it's unfair to you. You go.
 
PGH said:
I'm not the one who disagrees with our system of government. Me leaving does nothing to solve the problem.

You hate it. You think it's unfair to you. You go.
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Let's say an entire state agrees with my position.

Would you let them leave the union voluntarily and form an anarcho-capitalist society?

Or would you demand that the US federal government attack them and force them to stay in the union?
 
michaelsuede said:
AGW is a joke.

Any arguments to the contrary amount to nothing more than propaganda
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That's quite a virulent memetic infection you've caught there!

The climate alarmists have been caught red handed manipulating climate models, using bad data, and out-right lying about the cause and effects of climate change.
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Are you guys still frothing at the mouth over climategate? There were like 5 investigations that found no wrongdoing. Suppose that's as convincing to you as the new birth certificate is to the birthers.

I'm not going to get into a man-made climate change debate because its so full of crap that it doesn't even need me to bother refuting it.
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That's hilarious. The biggest cop-out ever. No one wants you to start talking about that in this thread anyway but the fact you even bothered saying something like this is telling.
 
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