From: szabo@techbook.com (Nick Szabo)
Subject: Re: Andre Marrou on Larry King
Organization: TECHbooks --- Public Access UNIX --- (503) 644-8135
Date: Fri, 24 Jul 1992 19:59:16 GMT

>In article <1992Jul24.110504.28326@techbook.com>, szabo@techbook.com (Nick Szabo) writes:
>>
>>	* Abolish IRS and personal income tax (1/3 of government
>>	  revenue), reinvigorating the economy by putting $hundreds
>>	  of billions into the hands of consumers, savers, and
>>	  investors.
>>        * Reduce national government size 7-10% per year, by attrition of
>>	  federal employees; no layoffs needed.

In article <1992Jul24.174409.28165@ornl.gov> de5@ORNL.GOV (Dave Sill) writes:
>Would these two be coordinated? 

Yes.  Spending would be cut faster than taxes to give us a budget
surplus, and government lands with highest real estate value currently 
going to waste (eg Camp Pendelton, Presidio, but not national parks or 
forests valuable to biodiversity) to start paying back the debt.
Details depend on the political pragmatics of how much power the 
Libetarians get, of course; for now we are getting the message out.

>>	* Charitize welfare
>
>What does that mean?

Charities make a far more effective safety net.  When a charity like 
United Way screws up, donations fall and the screwup gets corrected 
(this just happened with the executive-salary scandal).  There is
no such feedback for government programs; they merely oscilate with
the political winds.  The main poverty-fighting plank of the LP
is freeing up the regulations that prevent the building of low-cost 
housing, and getting rid of agriculture policies that articially prop 
up the cost of food; this will be implemented in parallel with charitizing 
welfare.


>That's it?  He plans to dump trillions of dollars of prime real estate onto the
>market to pay off the debt.  Why don't we cut out the middle man and trade our
>land to our debtors directly?

I don't understand what you're saying.  The government land is pretty
much going to waste, especially the Presidio in San Fransisco and 
Camp Pendleton on the Southern California coast.  The land wouldn't
be "dumped" but sold over a period of years.  The rebuilding would 
provide a big boost to construction spending, driving our economy
out of recession.  The ensuing use of this land for housing, hi-tech
companies, etc. would help keep our economy strong for years to come.

>Those pesky codes aren't designed to drive up
>the cost of housing, they're there to ensure safety. 

It doesn't matter what they are designed to do; it matters what they
actually do.  Plumbing and electrical codes, etc. are designed 
for middle class pocketbooks; zoning is often designed by existing 
home dwellers to prevent new construction.  These make it impossible to 
build reasonable housing that is affordable to the poor.  Well-intentioned 
government intervention again causes huge problems, because we assume
they are doing what we want them to do instead of what we are actually 
doing.


-- 
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