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View Full Version : Gov. roads, schools, books?




PreDeadMan
11-06-2009, 10:44 PM
Hello all I need to become more active on these forums though I do very much visit these forums every single day I trust these forums more than the MSM lol... So Anyway I need a book ( I assume it will be a book on mises.org heh :) ) explaining if we abolished the income tax and property tax got rid of government education, roads,etc.. how the private sector can take these things over and do a better job than the government. Thank you all for helping me out.

Danke
11-06-2009, 10:51 PM
Some here are against government roads, but our gas tax can handle that. Don't need income or property tax for that.

Austrian Econ Disciple
11-07-2009, 12:22 AM
Jefferson pretty much abolished all domestic taxation during his Presidency, yet reduced the debt from 86 million to 58 million. Stick to a constructionist view (IE The legal view) of the Constitution and you don't need any income taxation, property taxation, excise taxation, death tax, etc. In fact, we didn't even have income taxation until 1913. Do you think we had no roads, no railroads, etc. before 1913? Of course, some of it was subsidized, but even before subsidies these works were all ready in operation. We had railroads, roads, etc. of better quality and a cheaper price BEFORE subsidies.

In simple logical terms....if the market provides better services and goods in every other area imaginable, then one can safely assume that it will also provide better goods and services in areas provided by Government. It makes no sense to assume otherwise....Start there as your logical premise. It is sound.

Some authors to check out in a general sense....Walter Block, Hans-Hermann Hoppe, Murray Rothbard. I think those three cover these topics the best. Secondly, we didn't have a Dpt. of Education until the later half of the 20th Century. Were Americans on the whole retarded and uneducated prior? In fact, Americans were the brightest and smartest in the world precisely because of the lack of Government involvement. Now look at Americans today. We rank absurdly low, and on the whole have regressed severely, even while pouring money down the drain. It's simple....indoctrination and moral hazard.

I think you start with the assumption that Government took over these institutions because of inferiority, rather than the actual reason...power. Next time you question another Government program start with the other premise, that which Government grabs does so for power, not for benevolency, for in history there has never been shown such a Government of benevolency. If there was such one, and instituted by the people, there would be no need for Government. (You can substitute the more concise Madison quote)

Secondly, history has all the answers you seek. A good book is Thomas Woods, the Politically Incorrect Guide to American History, and The Curse of Hamilton by Thomas Di'Lorenzo. Cheers.

Andrew-Austin
11-07-2009, 12:41 AM
Hello all I need to become more active on these forums though I do very much visit these forums every single day I trust these forums more than the MSM lol... So Anyway I need a book ( I assume it will be a book on mises.org heh :) ) explaining if we abolished the income tax and property tax got rid of government education, roads,etc.. how the private sector can take these things over and do a better job than the government. Thank you all for helping me out.

I don't understand. Yes there is plenty of materials on mises.org you can use, both free and unfree, in various forms of media, but why not look yourself?

I'm not sure there is ONE book that covers education, roads and whatever etc is supposed to be. Really you could get a general economics book that could explain why the free market can handle anything better than the government. You could type in "private education" and get some more digestible articles.

I'll find one for you at least though. Walter Block has a book covering the privatization of roads and highways: http://mises.org/store/Privatization-of-Roads-and-Highways-P581.aspx

Albert Jay Nock has a book on why the public education system is a bad idea (http://mises.org/store/Theory-of-Education-in-the-United-States-The-P449.aspx), and there is a good chapter in For a New Liberty on education (http://mises.org/media/1738) (brilliant listen for free). But they are not economics books they are libertarian philosophy books. I'm not sure a book on the economics of private education has been written, its just something you can derive from a general understanding of economics. You might find articles and speeches on the subject though.