From: de5@ORNL.GOV (Dave Sill)
Subject: Re: Andre Marrou on Larry King
Organization: Oak Ridge National Laboratory
Date: Fri, 24 Jul 1992 17:44:09 GMT

In article <1992Jul24.110504.28326@techbook.com>, szabo@techbook.com (Nick Szabo) writes:
>
>* Listed the points in the Libertarian platform (I didn't get every
>  point; some of these are discussed further below)
>	* 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.

Would these two be coordinated?  Can't tell from the above, but you can't cut
revenue faster than spending.  Also, how does Marrou plan to deal with the
debt?

>	* Charitize welfare

What does that mean?

>* King challenged him on civil rights.  Marrou emphasized that the right to
>  vote is fundamental, but there is no right to demand service from
>  private owners; he asked King if people should have a right to go on 
>  his show or if King has the right to choose who goes on his show;
>  King ducked the question.

If I'm reading this correctly, Marrou/the Libs have no problem with businesses
restricting their clientele by race, sexual orientation, religion, etc.  Seems
kinda looney fringish to me.

>* He said that much of the national debt could be paid off by
>  selling government property that has high real estate value but is 
>  going to waste, including the Presidio and Camp Pendelton.

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?

>* Marrou said he is strongly pro-choice, noted that abortion was
>  legal when the U.S. was founded.  He suggested four ways
>  that abortions could be reduced, including reducing FDA interference
>  that prevents use of effective birth control like Norplant and 
>  RU-440.  

Norplant is legal, approved, and in use.  And I think it's RU-486, not RU-440.
And RU-486 doesn't reduce abortions, it induces them.

>* A caller asked Marrou how he would tackle the homeless problem.
>  Marrou said the problem was caused by zoning, restrictive 
>  electric/plumbing codes, and other regulations that are designed for 
>  the middle class and drive up the cost of housing beyond what the poor
>  can afford.  If home builders were free from regulation, they 
>  could build affordable housing and homelessness would be greatly 
>  reduced.

Sounds like snake oil, to me.  Those pesky codes aren't designed to drive up
the cost of housing, they're there to ensure safety.  Should people be allowed
to live in unsafe housing just because they can't afford safety features?  The
homeless problem isn't lack of affordable housing, it's an excess of jobless,
poor, addicted, and mentally or physically ill people.  Shaving 10, 20, or even
30% off the cost of construction won't solve the homeless problem.

-- 
Dave Sill (de5@ornl.gov)	   For every Bill Joy there is a Kirk McKusick.
Martin Marietta Energy Systems     For every Bill Gates there is a Richard
Workstation Support                Stallman.                     --Paul Graham
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