The hue and cry against “stealing” intellectual property makes a terrible assumption: that the creator or inventor is being robbed of something. What exactly are they being robbed of?
Tag: profits
“Sanction”: The Triumph of Ayn Rand’s Worst Idea
Ayn Rand is widely hated. Indeed, if you made a list of thinkers that people “love to hate,” she’d be near the top of the list. Liberals hate her. Conservatives hate her. Socialists hate her. Indeed, plenty of libertarians hate her. It’s hardly surprising, then, that she has not been broadly influential. While she has…
Let’s Stop the Merchants of Death
It’s safe to say that America’s major military contractors would not exist — or exist in anything like the size and form we know them — were it not for the U.S. government and its mammoth military establishment.
Two Tactical Reasons to Show Business Some Love
Most economists admit that business serves socially valuable functions. When I express earnest appreciation for business, however, my peers usually respond by mocking Ayn Rand. The sarcasm sings: “Oh, those heroic entrepreneurs!”
The Insidious Wiles of Foreign Influence: Trump, Bin Salman, and Netanyahu
Even if the Saudi monarchy or Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman in particular did not murder journalist Jamal Khashoggi, that regime is an especially evil one in both its domestic and international conduct. To see that, one need only consider the horrendous Saudi war against the people of Yemen, with the backing of the U.S. government starting with Barack Obama.
On Protectionism
I can’t think of a single economic or business regulation imposed by people who call themselves “government” that is not primarily a form of protectionism for established interests.
On Labor Day
Perhaps Labor Day would best be celebrated by recognizing the source of wage labor: capitalism. Economist George Reisman had it correct when he wrote that few people could survive by selling products. Many more people survive by selling their labor.
Band-Aid Solutions Are Lame and Nature is the Answer
The violations that plague us don’t come out of thin air one day. It is the result of the culmination of traumas inflicted onto us from day one (and actually before, while we are still in the womb) of entering into a world that profits and runs off of others people’s trauma. We literally live and operate in a place that is rooted in trauma and carries out traumatizing rituals on its most vulnerable people. So long as we passively accept these cultural narratives and practices, we cannot and should not expect better from our society.
On Noprofits and Risk
For the people who work there, nonprofits are a wonderful, dangerous vacation from the feedback of reality. They provide a sort of cushy anti-moral hazard, where people take less risk than they would if they faced direct market feedback from customers. An environment like that is good at slowly stagnating or even corroding the human spirit, as safety nets tend to do. Be careful.
The Propagation of Knowledge
People don’t pass you information because it is true, they pass you information because it benefits them to do so. People don’t study information because it is true, people study what information benefits them. This isn’t a slight at scientists. Few people would suggest that scientists ought to spend time studying information that has no benefit. Many scientists study information based off of flawed premises built within the culture. Few scientists get grants from disinterested parties. The force that links “knowledge” to accuracy or truth is incentives.