Mike Gurstein wrote: > > towards a Libertarian Guaranteed Annual Income... I'm on "postpone" mode, probably be back on line in September. But I wanted to make one parting shot. > > On the other hand, I wonder whether the safety net _must_ be a state > function. How about private "welfare insurance"? In an economy based on the > plenty produced by a mature nanotechnology, the price of a "welfare policy" > that provided a benefit of basic life necessities (food, shelter, access to > the net) would probably be pretty darned small. Private sector insurance companies always engage in CHERRY PICKING. Even Reagan's first Council of Economic Advisers recognized that private insurance companies would always create a pool of "uninsurables" and thus general redistribution of income by government was APPROPRIATE even from their very narrow free-marketeer ideological position. The main reason for "creeping social democracy" is that we have obligations to each other because we are fellow human beings and absent true anarchism, the modern state is the only method of enforcing those obligations so that those of us who would voluntarily assume such obligations can be confident our work will not be in vain (a la the prisoner's dilemma). I think it could work fine > if everyone did it. But how could a libertarian society mandate that > everyone buy "welfare insurance"? First you have to force insurance companies to sell such insurance to people they regard as bad risks! HAve a good summer everybody! Solidarity, [continued gnashing of teeth over the power of capital!] Mike Meeropol Economics Department Cultures Past and Present Program Western New England College Springfield, Massachusetts "Don't blame us, we voted for George McGovern!" Unrepentent Leftist!! [EMAIL PROTECTED] [if at bitnet node: in%"[EMAIL PROTECTED]" but that's fading fast!]
