It's time for the government to sell all its property to private interests.

[Philosophy Explorer]

What if that property were slaves?

PhilX

[bobevenson]

Why not?

The only proper function of government is social integration, like a traffic cop keeping people from running into each other. Government should not own, operate, support or promote ANYTHING!

How would government even accomplish social integration if it couldn't so much as use a paperclip to clip together the memo the ordinance was written on?

No, the government can get all the paperclips and other things it uses and pays for. It just doesn't own anything.

[bobevenson]

The government should not own anything, not even a single paperclip!

Bob, you ought to come to New South Wales, Australia. Our state government is selling its assets to private interests as fast as it can. Roads, electricity, water, property, just to name a few.

Thanks for setting an example for the rest of the world!

[artisticsolution]

Water co: "We don't want to sell water to Las vegas. We are taking a stand against their morality/it's too costly/we mismanaged our facility and no longer can provide safe drinking water and don't have the funds to fix it,,,etc.)

Yeah...what could go wrong?

[bobevenson]

Water co: "We don't want to sell water to Las vegas. We are taking a stand against their morality/it's too costly/we mismanaged our facility and no longer can provide safe drinking water and don't have the funds to fix it,,,etc.)
Yeah...what could go wrong?

The government has the ability to set commercial standards, and force a company to sell its operations to another company if necessary. For instance, an electric company with a monopoly on electricity should be able to charge whatever rate it wants, but if another company is able to charge a significantly lower rate, it should be able to buy that company at a reasonable price to be determined.

[artisticsolution]

Water co: "We don't want to sell water to Las vegas. We are taking a stand against their morality/it's too costly/we mismanaged our facility and no longer can provide safe drinking water and don't have the funds to fix it,,,etc.)
Yeah...what could go wrong?

The government has the ability to set commercial standards, and force a company to sell its operations to another company if necessary. For instance, an electric company with a monopoly on electricity should be able to charge whatever rate it wants, but if another company is able to charge a significantly lower rate, it should be able to buy that company at a reasonable price to be determined.

If the government can force a business to sell, then there is no private enterprise.

[artisticsolution]

Bob, you are way too emotional to take your thoughts seriously.

Name me a single emotional thought. My approach is 120/80 cold and calculating.

To describe yourself as "cold and calculating " is an emotional statement. It is the romantic ideal that men often display when they try to mimic thier favorite movie star or comic book character.

Non of it is real. Emotions are just an illusion. Practical applications , with safety nets for real life sceneris are what is needed to run governments because the stakes are too high.

A government for the people and by the people is this best case scenario one can hope for...sure, it's not perfect...but nothing is. A government for the people and by the people is just more practical as it gives people a voice and thereby solves problems a tad better. Without a voice, an individual is a slave.

[bobevenson]

Water co: "We don't want to sell water to Las vegas. We are taking a stand against their morality/it's too costly/we mismanaged our facility and no longer can provide safe drinking water and don't have the funds to fix it,,,etc.)
Yeah...what could go wrong?

The government has the ability to set commercial standards, and force a company to sell its operations to another company if necessary. For instance, an electric company with a monopoly on electricity should be able to charge whatever rate it wants, but if another company is able to charge a significantly lower rate, it should be able to buy that company at a reasonable price to be determined.

If the government can force a business to sell, then there is no private enterprise.

Are you saying an electric company should be able to triple its rates? If you say the government can regulate rates, then that's not private enterprise. On the other hand, a private company should be able to take over another private company with a monopoly that doesn't allow reasonable entry, if it can significantly improve operations at a lower rate. That's an example of AEP economic theory.

[artisticsolution]

The government has the ability to set commercial standards, and force a company to sell its operations to another company if necessary. For instance, an electric company with a monopoly on electricity should be able to charge whatever rate it wants, but if another company is able to charge a significantly lower rate, it should be able to buy that company at a reasonable price to be determined.

If the government can force a business to sell, then there is no private enterprise.

Are you saying an electric company should be able to triple its rates? If you say the government can regulate rates, then that's not private enterprise. On the other hand, a private company should be able to take over another private company with a monopoly that doesn't allow reasonable entry, if it can significantly improve operations at a lower rate. That's an example of AEP economic theory.

Bob, I am just stating the obvious. I am not arguing with you. I am just asking you to think about it for one second.

If you want the government to be able to force sales of companies, then that is not private enterprise. That is a government controlled state. effectively the government would control the company for free. If the government has the ability to force sales, who in their right mind would put up billions of dollars to own a company, that they have no real say or security for their "buck"?

I am simply stating a fact, sans emotion or opinion.

[Philosophy Explorer]

I think a better title would be "It's time for the government to deport Bob Evenson."

PhilX

[bobevenson]

If the government can force a business to sell, then there is no private enterprise.

Are you saying an electric company should be able to triple its rates? If you say the government can regulate rates, then that's not private enterprise. On the other hand, a private company should be able to take over another private company with a monopoly that doesn't allow reasonable entry, if it can significantly improve operations at a lower rate. That's an example of AEP economic theory.

Bob, I am just stating the obvious. I am not arguing with you. I am just asking you to think about it for one second.

If you want the government to be able to force sales of companies, then that is not private enterprise. That is a government controlled state. effectively the government would control the company for free. If the government has the ability to force sales, who in their right mind would put up billions of dollars to own a company, that they have no real say or security for their "buck"?

I am simply stating a fact, sans emotion or opinion.

Private enterprise is economic activity undertaken by private individuals or organizations under private ownership for profit. If the government prevents a private company like the electric company from using its position as the only possible seller of electricity from suddenly tripling its rates, by forcing the company to sell its assets to another private company at a fair market price, how does that negate private enterprise? I'm talking about the elimination of monopolistic power, not private enterprise.