danw@oliven.UUCP (danw) (03/15/85)
[] Another question: Do libertarian dictionaries contain the word "corruption?" ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ No. Corruption is a government activity. If McDonalds wants to adulterate the hamburger with saw-dust, and/or charge $75 for a Big Mac, this is bad business not corruption. (The market place keeps them from such "corrupt practices".) As there is no market place in the "government services business" we can't call government stupidity "bad business" so we call it CORRUPTION. danw
faustus@ucbcad.UUCP (03/17/85)
> [] > Another question: > Do libertarian dictionaries contain the word "corruption?" > ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ > > No. > > Corruption is a government activity. > If McDonalds wants to adulterate the hamburger with saw-dust, > and/or charge $75 for a Big Mac, this is bad business not corruption. > (The market place keeps them from such "corrupt practices".) > As there is no market place in the "government services business" > we can't call government stupidity "bad business" so we call it CORRUPTION. Only governments can be corrupt by definition... This is pretty funny. I think that if McDonalds sold saw-dust hamburgers for $75, and people bought them because they were told that they were Hamburgers of Everlasting Youth, and many people died because of it, I would tend to call this a corrupt company. If they advertised them as McSaw-Dust Burgers, that would be fine, though. Once again, the libertarians are playing games with definitions to make their points... Wayne
baba@spar.UUCP (Baba ROM DOS) (03/17/85)
> [] > Another question: > Do libertarian dictionaries contain the word "corruption?" > ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ > > No. > > Corruption is a government activity. > If McDonalds wants to adulterate the hamburger with saw-dust, > and/or charge $75 for a Big Mac, this is bad business not corruption. > (The market place keeps them from such "corrupt practices".) > As there is no market place in the "government services business" > we can't call government stupidity "bad business" so we call it CORRUPTION. > > > danw If your security forces accept a bribe to permit me to kidnap your wife, it is only a bad business decision if the bribe I offer is less than the amount of money that they would stand to lose if it became known that they had done so, multiplied by the probability that the bribe will be discovered. I am appalled at the propensity toward magical thinking exhibited by some of the dreamier libertarians in these discussions. It's as if they believe they can transfer all the negative aspects of human behavior onto the scapegoat of Government, and by slaying the beast, vanquish avarice and treachery from the human heart. Baba ROM DOS
laura@utzoo.UUCP (Laura Creighton) (03/18/85)
Wayne would cal;l the lying McSawdust Co. corrupt. I would call them unethical, and fraudulent, but not corrupt. But I would trot them over to the local libertarian court, and charge them with coercing their neighbours (through fraudulent advertising) and being criminally responsible for the deaths of those who died from eating sawdust (poisoning people is murder). To assume because I would not call such practices ``corrupt'' that I would do nothing about it is grossly unfair. Laura Creighton utzoo!laura