Recently Michael Perelman wrote:
If buying and selling is so natural, why are drugs, prostitution and child
pornography illegal? Why can't I sell my children or buy a kidney?
Of course with respect to drugs and prostitution libertarians would
claim they ought to be legal--and perhaps many non-libertarians may also
agree. On the child pornography issue libertarians would point out that
children are not of age to give rational consent to contracts, and
children of course are potential free contractors and not chattels to be
marketed. However, conditions for families in many countries make selling
children into prostitution a means of avoiding starvation--as in Thailand.
Not too long ago while slavery was still legal children could be sold
I expect, not by parents but owners of the parents. It is amazing the
extent to which different cultures have tolerated markets as natural that
we find abhorrent even "against nature". I would hope
that in a hundred years netdenizens will wonder how we tolerated market
health care, labor markets, etc.
Buying kidneys and other organs is accepted practice in countries such as
India. Organs are harvested from persons executed in the People's Republic of
China. (There was an interesting CBC programme on these markets a while back)
Cheers, Ken Hanly
>From "LYNN TURGEON, PROFESSOR EMERITUS OF ECONOMICS, HOFSTRA UNIVERSITY,
>[EMAIL PROTECTED]"@anthrax.ecst.csuchico.edu Mon Feb 24 10:46:26 1997
Mon, 24 Feb 1997 09:44:13 -0800 (PST)
Date: Mon, 24 Feb 1997 09:44:13 -0800 (PST)
Reply-To: "LYNN"@anthrax.ecst.csuchico.edu
Originator: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Sender: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
From: "LYNN TURGEON, PROFESSOR EMERITUS OF ECONOMICS, HOFSTRA UNIVERSITY,
[EMAIL PROTECTED]"@anthrax.ecst.csuchico.edu
Subject: [PEN-L:8752] President Zyuganov?
X-Comment: Progressive Economics
"Long Island Meets Yeltsin Wannabe," was the headline in "Newsday" the
day after Gennady Zyuganov's stopover following an earlier talk at Northeastern
University in Boston, an interview with Dan Rather, to be followed by a meeting
with the new Secretary General of the United Nations, an interview with Charlie
Rose on PBS, exposure to the Council on Foreign Relations, and a national
performance on C-span before a Russian Business group. After a short
introductory speech, he opened himself up to questions from about 400 students
and visitors to Nassau Community College.
In his most recent campaign against the now ailing Boris Yeltsin,he
claimed to have visited 83 of the Russian 90 provinces and to present a program
that answered the needs of
Russian voters who were undergoing a time of troubles. Children going to
unheated schools, pensioners and workers (including those in the armed forces
and in the nuclear power sector) who were not being paid for months at a time,
and nationality conflicts that had killed and maimed hundreds of thousands of
former Soviet citizens were symptoms of the crisis faced by Russia's population
after five painful years attempting a transition to a market economy.
Zyuganov pictured himself and his program as Mr.Moderation. There was
no attempt made to defend the previous "etatization" before 1990, which had
lead to stagnation under the Communists. What was needed was more balance
allowing for private entrepreneurship and property. Russia would represent a
most favorable climatefor foreign investment. Hence his itinerary would later
include Houston, in oil producing country. He foresaw a "mixed" economy along
European lines with mobility between parts of the former Soviet Union
unencumbered by visas or passports.
Heclaimed a consensus exists in Russia which opposes the extension of
NATO to include Poland, the Czech Republic and Hungary. If pursued by the West,
it would break down the existing balance of power and encourage a push towards
a military solution by the worst elements within Russia itself. He clearly
identified with George Kennan's recent warning on the Op-Ed page of the NYT.
Because of the hardshipand death brought about by the Nazi attack in 1941
onevery Russian family, including his own, Zyuganov's moderation disappeared on
this subject.
Otherwise, he appeared affable and at times even humorous, a
characteristic of good politicians around the world. Since he had stressed his
intellectual background and major in math and philosophy, a student asked him
who his favorite philosopher was. If anyone expected him to say "Marx or Lenin,
"because of the emphasis on Marxism-Leninism in the earlier Soviet
philosophical curriculum, they would have been disappointed. Instead, the
answer was "Hegel." Presumably, he was fascinated by the dialectic principles
incorporated by Marx in what became Soviet philosophy.
In contrast to his rival, Alexander Lebed, who had been earlier
questioned by "Newsday" on a recent visit to Long Island, Zyuganov came across
as a big supporter of an expanded role for the United Nations. In several
asides, he criticized Lebed's military education and lack ofpolitical smarts.
Zyuganov seemed to represent a sharp contrast to Lebed's anti-semitism and
admiration for Chile's Pinochet. Like all Russians, there was no lovelost on
Mikhail Gorbachev, who was held responsible (mistakenly in my view) for the
present "Time of Troubles."
There were no concrete proposals on how to deal with the present
economic crisis ot her than to pay their back wages and pensions. No mention
was made of hisParty platform in the June 1996 election which specifically
mentioned some return to price controls and planning. More import antly,
therewas no criticism of the monetarist IMF that had been responsible for their
transition problems and which was referred to in his last campaign as
equivalent to a "neutron bomb" killing people and leaving underutilized
factories intact.
In the last election, Russian intellectuals rationalized their votes
for Yeltsin as the "lesserevil." If the next election becomes a contest between
Zyuganov and Lebed, it seemed clear that Zyuganov would at least represent the
"lesser evil." What is interesting is the fact that both candidates deem it
necessary to receive U.S. support in their upcoming election. Lynn Turgeon
