The last time people tried this, they actually dredged up an island.
But then they got taken over by Tonga.
You can’t. There’s a reason why even zero/ low tax financial centres (if they are serious, discounting the scam places) all trumpet their strong and non corrupt legal structure - for example Hong Kong, Cayman Islands, Channel Islands etc. Or that maritime law in itself exists (and usually with all parties agreeing to be bound, by,say, UK admiralty law, even if they don’t have to be) Civil law is dispute resolution, and you don’t go into a big deal (financial or otherwise) without agreeing to binding resolution mechanism between the parties. Even if you didn’t have to legally, you still do.
Not many contracts get signed with the legal system of, say, Indonesia as the place to settle the dispute. Or a cruise ship.
Watching a performance of Arms and the Man reminded me that the closest example of an actually viable libertarian state is probably Switzerland. It’s probably not a coincidence that it’s heavily armed, in extremely defensible terrain, and focused on completely transparent and heavily regulated finance. It also has a bunch of libertarians-hate-it features like conscription, but good luck defending the place without them.
That there already is a Switzerland for your no-questions-asked banking needs probably is a bit of a problem for starting up Galtboat. I don’t think libertarian land is actually a viable concept in the medium to long term, but even ignoring that I have no idea how the hell you’ll get it up and running in the first place without a serious dose of Charlie Stross technology.
Incidentally, Switzerland itself recently got strongarmed by other European countries and America into better prevention of tax evasion, traditionally a pillar of its banking revenues… it’s no longer “no questions asked”, and they were forced to share account information with foreign tax authorities.
The defensible terrain and conscript army are really of no relevance. Switzerland was happy to comply with the demands of dictators from Napoleon to Hitler. A small landlocked country, relying heavily on imports and exports, can be brought to its knees by its neighbors simply closing their borders against it. Unless the country is willing to drop to the economic level of Afghanistan, that is.
I thought the critical article’s points about labour were very interesting. Who would run and service the boat? Would they be citizens of this lolberboat or just staff? I can’t imagine how they would ever be the passenger’s equals. That a nation-state-dream would be premised on a libertarian class and a Helot-like class of worker-serfs is kind of creepy.
Well, shit.
Turns out Galt’s Gulch already exists.
It has among the lowest tax burdens of any major country: fewer than 2 percent of the people pay any taxes. Government is limited, so that burdensome regulations never kill jobs.
This society embraces traditional religious values and a conservative sensibility. Nobody minds school prayer, same-sex marriage isn’t imaginable, and criminals are never coddled.
The budget priority is a strong military, the nation’s most respected institution. When generals decide on a policy for, say, Afghanistan, politicians defer to them. Citizens are deeply patriotic, and nobody burns flags.
So what is this Republican Eden, this Utopia?
Why, it’s Pakistan.
Heh, cue the libertarian special pleading.
The military dictatorship aspect, paired with the religious behavior laws aren’t very libertarian.
Not sure how someone talking about what they would consider a reublican eden to be has anything to do with a discussion of libertarian ideals, as the two groups are not the same.
Well done, you two! We’re all so proud of you.
Yes, the article in question was about the expressed fantasies of congressional Republicans such as Paul Ryan and other Tea Party conservatives, which only, well, forum posters here still believe are actually libertarian. But I take it the complete collapse of any governmental responsibility for social welfare described, you’re both OK with. Got your generators yet?
(helpful aside: social collapse without military dictatorship = your wonderland can be successfully invaded by Tonga.)
China, Korea and Disneyland really do have a lot more in common than I first thought!
Don Boudreaux suggests that calling Pakistan “a low-tax laissez faire Eden” is like calling North Korea a progressive Shangri-La.
I very nearly snorted my tea because of you, sir.
So, if you had for some reason to go outside the U.S. (and presuming we’re talking about going to a real doctor or hospital, not some black-market back-alley quack), you really think there would be no difference at all in the quality of care you receive in another country - which would presumably have its own laws, medical boards, etc. to regulate health care - vs. what you would get at this (hypothetically “self-regulating”) floating palace?
And if we are talking about black-market back-alley quack…I dunno, I’d still rather go with the guy with more experience. Who knows how those quacks on this boat would get picked?
That’s the libertarian fantasy. The reality, I suspect, is they wind up with the dregs who can’t work anywhere else (legally or illegally); and because there’s no qualitative filters in place, they get to stay as long as they can pay their rent.
Bet it would make one hell of a William Gibson novel (if it hasn’t already), though.
I love how “size of government” is a criteria in there. Sure, all the things we want government to do declined in quality, but it got smaller, so that’s good!
That’s enough to buy what, one moderate sized house in San Francisco?
Oooh, look! I found the perfect logo for Galt-opolis:
I understand Irrational Games isn’t using it, and no doubt wouldn’t mind little Patri Friedman making it his own!