Speaking of driving on the Fabian Highway, we can now have government produced cars to drive or at least government backed warranties. I'll come back to this shortly.
It is interesting to note that I recently had dinner with a friend who is a substitute teacher. He was recently teaching a 7th grade language arts class and mentioned that they were covering the use of pronouns. Which I find interesting because it seems that they would pick that skill up by simply talking to any adult for more than a couple of minutes. How often do we hear people make statements like "The government needs to regulate the finance industry" or "If we didn't bail them out the (insert your favorite industry here), then they would fail and that would bring down the whole economy". Some of the pronouns we use everyday like "government", "the economy" and "us", come quite natural for most Americans. Defining these terms is where it starts to become fun. What is government? What is the economy? One of my favorite definitions of government is this:
government - n.
A coercive monopoly on force, usually in a given geographical area
But, even this fails to break things down in the most basic terms. Government is a group of individuals that exert power over other individuals, with the threat of death backing them up. What I attempted to do with my friend when he made the comment that "the reason the finance industry went amiss is because of a lack of regulation". I tried to do what Stefan Molyneux does in this video, which is to get away from all of the abstract ideas that we use in everyday conversation and get down to the heart of all matters, humans act.
Now back to the government backed warranties of cars. Apparently Obama claims that the government will back the automakers warranty. This is designed to give the consumer more confidence when purchasing a car, because even if the manufacturer goes under, their warranty will still be honored. Can you just imagine the quality of the repairs at a government owned and run car dealership?
Obama was quoted by the AP as saying:
"I am absolutely committed to working with Congress and the auto companies to meet one goal: The United States of America will lead the world in building the next generation of clean cars"Can you identify the pronoun that is not usually defined in the above quote? If you guessed "The United States of America" then you are correct, give yourself 200 bonus points. Who exactly are the people that make up the US? In the context of the quote it should have something to do with those involved in the auto industry and the consumers who demand US made cars. Of course this does not just mean consumers who live in the US that demand US made "clean cars", but everyone in the world that demands this product. The problem here is that Obama wants to make American car manufacturer's make cars a certain way ("clean"), even if individuals don't want to buy them.
Which of course we (everyone who demands clean cars that are produced in the US) don't want or we would already have them. That is what the market does, it provides the goods that are demanded. Even a market that has a death grip on it by the government through regulation, taxes and safety standards, still attempts to give consumers what they want the best it can.
[For those of you who are wanting to hit me with a stick for using the term "the market", subtract 500 bonus points. Yes, "the market" is another concept that exists only in our minds. The market is merely made up of many different individuals making exchanges, ie. I'll give you $5 for that book.]
There are a couple of things that are occurring. One, Obama presumes to have the knowledge to be making such a decision, which is not even possible. (To read more about the knowledge problem, I suggest Hayek, The Use of Knowledge in Society).
Also, the taxpayers are being forced to pay for Obama's desire to see "clean cars" made in the US. If you are not sure why taxpayers are going to be responsible for this, keep reading.
Just for quick review, let's go over how the government can finance things.
1. Tax (which is theft)
2. Borrow (the promise to steal)
3. Inflate the currency (this is theft, by stealing value from people)
4. Receive donations
Normally this list does not include number 4, but it should since this is the only way the State can receive funds without using coercion. If you are thinking that donating to the State would be an immoral thing to do, then give yourself 1000 bonus points. The always fun to read Walter Block, has written on this issue of donating to the State. A "presumption of guilt" should exist for those who have donated to the State when they are tried at the Libertarian Nuremberg Trials. Here is a short sample from Block:
Consider the case of a long time libertarian professor who donated a large sum of money to a state university. We begin our analysis with the presumption that he is guilty of a crime against libertarian law.Make sure to take the time to read the whole article by Block, it's worth your time.
The other three ways that the government can finance it's plan to force the automakers to make "clean cars", involves stealing from you!
So in the end, those who wield the sword are going to plunder the defenseless so "clean cars" may be produced in the US.
