General

Re: A confession

Merlin — Sat, 27 Feb 2010 01:06:17 GMT

Merlin:

What readily comes to mind:

-Tax advisor: lowers the cost of non-compliance

-External Auditor: idem

-Liability insurer: conflict resolution with no need of state courts; potentially could include incentives not to follow unfair government rules (this is mine, hands off)

-Property insurer: protection with no need of public law and order agencies

-Banker: lowers the cost of non-compliance and makes “black market” transaction cheaper and more secure, potentially could introduce sounder currencies into use

One thing is clear, going into a career in public academia or local politics just won’t do it.

Just came to mind that Property Developer is an other business line which can help a lot furthering anarchy: develop a micro-city, set down the rules you like and see what happens. In time the State would love them too, as it could easily deffer costly activities (law enforcement) to the developer, and just get taxes in return (a re-run of what David Friedman calls the Ottoman System). it takes a lot of money and time to erect, but it can help a lot. Construction engineering would be perfect place to start.

Re: A confession

Solredime — Sun, 07 Feb 2010 13:23:55 GMT

Now might be a good time to advertise this group: http://mises.org/Community/groups/revolution_as_business/default.aspx

And I'm looking forward to seeing how Gil Guillory's idea works out, because security is amongst the most important services that must be provided according to the Agorist theory.

Re: A confession

Merlin — Sun, 07 Feb 2010 11:31:05 GMT

I’m afraid that not one of the great entrepreneurs on this earth (but please do correct me if you know otherwise) got his idea flying by convincing investors. He managed to get is started himself, very slowly, and only after it begun to fly, did additional funds follow.

So I would say that a good entrepreneurial idea can be measured by the fact that no one else is getting it, meaning that it is either flat wrong, or genius. And than again, getting a business idea that is at the same time successful in the marketplace AND makes the game much more difficult for the state, two non-related goals, would be even more difficult for someone who isn’t looking for that. So, in this case above al others, I’d advocate individual action. Others will be attracted, latter on, by the money you’re making. Just me though.

Re: A confession

thelion — Sun, 07 Feb 2010 05:02:12 GMT

Great thought and great article! My thoughts, in addition:

'Going alone' the only method of entrepreneurship?

Going alone need not be the idea of entrepreneurship. Whether its you or a company of people including you, the question is of alertness to money on the table, if you take the Mises-Kirzner point of view.

For instance: If several people must form a company in order to provide market clearing as opposed to single person not being able, due to transaction costs, able to take the recognized opportunity, then in fact only the company classifies as entrepreneurship.

The point is the alertness, whether of individual or a group of individuals, leading to discovery of arbitrage opportunity or unnoticed production possibility.

Entrepreneurship, by its unpredictability, furthers the market system as much as the market system furthers entrepreneurship.

(See, for a similar idea, Kirzner, Israel. [1983] 1985. Entrepreneurship and the Future of Capitalism. Discovery and the Capitalist Process. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.)

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Re: A confession

AJ — Sun, 07 Feb 2010 01:52:49 GMT

Is going it alone really the idea of entrepreneurship?

Re: A confession

Merlin — Sat, 06 Feb 2010 23:59:23 GMT

AJ:

How about a Mises Business School?

That would defeat the very idea of entrepreneurship: to get it done alone. There are some things that just can’t be thought.

Re: A confession

AJ — Sat, 06 Feb 2010 14:07:22 GMT

How about a Mises Business School?

Re: A confession

jtucker — Sat, 06 Feb 2010 04:24:34 GMT

You know, there is an important truth in this article. I hadn't quite thought of it that way before. But it is true: once people get into this political junk, they never leave. We all want to succeed in what we do but what is success in politics? It is gaining power and tricking people with ever more sophistication. that's about it. I've seen anarchists lose vast numbers in the political racket.

My concern about business is that it is all consuming. I mean, the danger here is that people lose interest in anarchism and instead focus on their business model. That's a downside.

the ideal profession is in the world of ideas. But regular university life is a bummer with its own pitfalls.

what I'm really hoping is that we combine business and the world of ideas and do something wonderful. This is my dream right now.

Re: A confession

Clayton — Sat, 06 Feb 2010 03:41:23 GMT

Merlin:

I’ve been quite reluctant to let this out of the bag, just for the same reasons as Rothbard was reluctant to label himself as an anarcho-capitalist, or Molinari was reluctant to publish his Private Production: I thought I was alone.

But after reading this exquisite article from Kennedy, and checking a couple articles of Guillory and Blakeney here at the Mises library, I see that more and more people are getting the very same idea.

Thus I confess: I’m currently working in insurance, and tried very hard to get this job (to the point remaining unemployed for 9 months, when other perfectly lucrative jobs where being offered to me) only because I see the practical use of the ideas of Murphy’s Chaos Theory as the only possible way to futher an ancap society. Elsewhere I’ve discussed that stronger forces will determine when an ancap society comes about. But those forces are pushing by the day, making ancap-furthering business models lucrative to operate.

Thus, my friends, I invite all of you who have not read Kenendy’s article to do so, and keep yourself a keen eye for any business opportunity which in the future you might get, and could help spread, by the forces of the market and those alone, anarchy.

My ideas for making people more expensive to govern:

1) Tax insurance... not exactly sure how it would work, but the basic idea would be similar to credit default swaps... I take over your expected tax liability (whatever it comes to) at some discount... if taxes rise, then I take the hit, if they remain stable, I make money. Some technical problems with this are that taxes are dependent on income but there is not much point in tax insurance after your income is settled because the government (usually) doesn't change the tax rules after Jan. 1. So, I think you'd have to sell the tax liability in tranches, i.e. the tax liability for your first $10K, second $10K and so on. Also, since the "tax speculators" would be buying in bulk, they could benefit from the tax ignorance of tax liability sellers, i.e. take over $1m of tax liabilities, then employ tax software or tax pros to drive the real tax liability to much less than was originally calc'd by the tax liability sellers. If I don't know much about the tax code and how to save on taxes, I might be willing to pay someone $7,000 to take what I think is my $6,900 tax liability when, in reality, some more creative (but "legal") accounting could drive my tax liability down to, say, $6,700. The speculator pockets that difference, as well. This would greatly spur legal tax avoidance by bringing investment capital into the tax avoidance market. Another problem is that if the government can see the kinds of swap agreements that are in vogue, they can use this information to double-cross speculators, which will kill the market... so, this would have to exist in some off-shore unregulated environment because the terms of swap agreements would have to be absolutely secret with, perhaps, only discount rates published, by jurisdiction.

2) Full-reserve bank. Open and operate a full-reserve bank that keeps 100% physical dollars on hand in-vault. I would love to do this but, alas, I have no capital and I doubt that I can persuade a VC that this exotic niche is profitable.

3) Vote with my feet/foreign investment... move overseas and start a business doing anything in a country that isn't as totalitarian and fascist as the West.

Clayton -

Re: A confession

JosephBright — Fri, 05 Feb 2010 22:48:30 GMT

This is an important topic that needs more attention, so I am bumping it up. I want to hear more ideas of ancap-furthering business models.

Re: A confession

Merlin — Fri, 05 Feb 2010 13:28:53 GMT

Thedesolateone:

I was considering becoming a tax accountant, for various reasons:

(a) Pays well, as far as I can tell
(b) Help people get out of tax
(c) Independence/flexibility

Thus begins The Revolution!

Re: A confession

Thedesolateone — Fri, 05 Feb 2010 13:19:07 GMT

I was considering becoming a tax accountant, for various reasons:

(a) Pays well, as far as I can tell
(b) Help people get out of tax
(c) Independence/flexibility

Re: A confession

Merlin — Fri, 05 Feb 2010 10:36:44 GMT

What readily comes to mind:

-Tax advisor: lowers the cost of non-compliance

-External Auditor: idem

-Liability insurer: conflict resolution with no need of state courts; potentially could include incentives not to follow unfair government rules (this is mine, hands off)

-Property insurer: protection with no need of public law and order agencies

-Banker: lowers the cost of non-compliance and makes “black market” transaction cheaper and more secure, potentially could introduce sounder currencies into use

One thing is clear, going into a career in public academia or local politics just won’t do it.

Re: A confession

AJ — Thu, 04 Feb 2010 16:59:57 GMT

Excellent article. Start a business that makes people more expensive to govern. Shall we brainstorm businesses that do this? How about businesses that do the opposite?

I personally think that whoever can introduce a untraceable yet usable digital currency will probably deliver a fatal blow to statehood.

Re: A confession

Daniel Waite — Wed, 03 Feb 2010 22:34:42 GMT

Wow. I've not seen that before, even though it's about 8 years old.

He is right, of course. I have a dream in life. A dream like never before.

I will own and operate an insurance company. Myself and my employees will protect private property from aggression, whether that aggression comes from an individual or the state.