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Why Not A Free Market In Privacy?
leviramsey writes: "Julian Sanchez has written an article analyzing the privacy debate and suggesting a free market solution to the privacy issue on Liberzine.com. Very interesting idea that seems to make sense to me." While this essay doesn't lay out how this market might work in practice, it raises the interesting and often scoffed-at idea that sometimes we like to trade some of our privacy for various things, online and off, as a visit to Yahoo personals will prove.
He addresses this in the article.
Why do you assume the poor will be willing to trade their privacy for cheaper products? And why would you dream of prohibiting them from doing so if they wish. These people are poor, but they're still rational. If they want to trade some information about themselves for a $100 off a computer, great! Cheaper computers for them and a better educated society.
To assume that you can make better decisions than someone who is poor, simply BECAUSE they are poor, is extraordinarily insulting.
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RumorsDaily
The reason the power plants in California are in trouble is not because of anything EXCEPT too much government regulations. They were told that there was suddenly a free market for them to buy energy. This is good. However, they were told that they were not allowed to raise the price to consumers. This was bad.
When there's a free market for you to buy your basic neccessities of production, but not a free market to sell your output, what chances do you have to not go bankrupt when you're operating costs rise?
The fault for the situation in California rests entirely at the feet of the politicians who deregulated half, but not all, of the energy market. It was a foolish idea doomed to failure.
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RumorsDaily
[john] Here are $10 for you, so you don't tell my wife Sarah where we went this evening.
[me] ok.
the next day...
[sarah] So where did you and John go last night?
[me] John gave me $10 to keep it shut.
[sarah] Here are $11 for you.
[me] Nude dancers