In most countries, the state (or government) takes tax money from the people. All libertarians support cutting taxes back, and some libertarians believe the state should not take tax money at all. Libertarians think people can take care of the poor without the government. They believe that people should pay for the things that they want to use, but not have to pay for other things that they do not want. Tax evasion (refusal to pay taxes to the state) is a victimless crime. Libertarians would prefer to see taxation replaced with lotteries, user fees, and endowments.
Libertarians think everyone should be allowed to decide what is good or bad for her/his own body. Libertarians think if people want to drive cars without wearing seat belts, it is their own choice. They should not be forcibly stopped from doing that, not even by the state. If a person wants to donate all of her/his money to a charity, or waste it all gambling, that is also something she/he should decide for herself/himself. No one should be forcibly stopped from doing that, not even by the state. Libertarians even say that if adults want to use harmful drugs, they should be allowed to do that, even if it spoils their lives. It is the drug user's own choice because it is the drug user's own body. As long as the drug user does not start using violence against other people or their legitimate property, no one should use violence against the drug user or the drug user's legitimate property, not even the government.
Many libertarians also believe that families and friends should look after people so that they will not use drugs, drive without seat belts, or do other things that are dangerous for them. But no one can force others to do things that they do not want to do, or to stop them from doing nonviolent things that they want to do.
There are two broad basic types of libertarians.
Minarchists are libertarians who believe that society should have a state with very limited power. They believe that free markets are the most moral and efficient way of providing goods and services. They typically believe that the only things the state should provide are police and judges to make sure that people obey the laws, and a military to make sure that no one attacks the country. Some minarchists believe in having a small amount of taxation and limited provision of public goods such as international diplomacy and public parks.
Two famous minarchist libertarians are Robert Nozick and Ayn Rand. Nozick believed that the only legitimate thing a state can do is have a police force. He called his legitimate state a "night-watchman state." Ayn Rand believed that the state should have a police force and a court system.
Libertarian anarchists usually call themselves anarcho-capitalists, free-market anarchists, individualist anarchists, or just anarchists.
Libertarian anarchists do not believe the state is needed. They believe that people can organise their own lives and businesses. They want to replace the state with voluntary organisations, including charities, private companies, voluntary unions, and mutual aid societies. They also want to end all forced taxation.
They say that state police can be replaced with "DROs" (Dispute Resolution Organisations) or "private protection agencies." They also say that state judges can be replaced with "private arbitration."
A famous libertarian anarchist thinker was Murray N. Rothbard. Others include Lysander Spooner, Benjamin R. Tucker, and Linda & Morris Tannehill.
Most libertarians fall under one of the two types of libertarians listed above. But there are other types, too.
Auction
An auction is a method of goods or services can be sold and bought. In an auction, the price of an item is not fixed in advance. People wanting to buy the item say how much they are willing to pay for it. This is called "bid". In each round, the bids are evaluated: If certain criteria are met, the auction is stopped and one bidder will buy the item at the specified price. Alternatively there will be another round. If certain conditions are met, the auction will stop, and the item will not be sold. There are different kinds of auctions, with different rules.
Auctions usually happen with a given timeframe, when the time expires, the bid that best matches will win, or the item will not be sold.
There are companies that specialize in doing auctions. These companies will charge fees for doing the auction; they may also get a commission that depends on the price the item is sold at.
Auctions can be done online, or they can be done offline. Sometimes, bids are placed by telephone, or over the internet.
The most common kinds of auction are:
Auctions work because of information asymmetry: The seller wants to sell at the highest possible price, and the buyers want to pay as little as possible.But the seller does not know the prices the buyers are willing to pay: Setting a price that is too hight means that there will be no sale, setting a price that is too low means that there will be less profit. Each buyer knows how much he is willing to pay, but does not know the price the other buyers are willing to pay. So buyers influence each other. The theory that models these phenomena is called auction theory. It is based on game theory and microeconmics.
Hong Kong
Hong Kong (; , , literally "Fragrant Port"), officially The Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of The People's Republic of China, is one of two Special Administrative Regions (SARs) of the People's Republic of China (the other is Macau). It is one of the richest and most highly developed parts of China. Hong Kong grew quickly in the decades after World War II. It is now a famous world class financial center. Hong Kong was one of the last territories of the British Empire before China obtained it and granted it special status in 1997.
The population of Hong Kong is more than seven million. The economy has rapidly grown from a trading port to a very rich city. Hong Kong also has the world's largest number of skyscrapers.
Hong Kong is divided into 3 main parts:
Hong Kong was a British colony from 1842 to 1997 because China lost the Second Opium War. After the handover, Hong Kong became under Chinese control but with a lot of autonomy.
Hong Kong has its own constitution that is different from that of the People's Republic of China (PRC).
Hong Kong is in a tropical area, and has monsoon winds. It is cool and wet in winter (Jan-Mar), hot and rainy from spring through summer (Apr-Sep), and warm, sunny and dry in the autumn (Oct-Dec). The rainy season is from May until September. In summer and early autumn, there is a frequent threat of typhoons.
As Hong Kong is located nearly at the centre of the Eurasian Plate, there are sometimes tsunamis and earthquakes.
The population of Hong Kong reached 7 million (7,496,98) in 2020. Most of the people in Hong Kong are Chinese. Hong Kong is one of the most densely populated countries in the world. It has an overall density of 6,300 people per square kilometre.
Hong Kong has one of the world’s lowest birth rates—1.11 per woman at an age of being capable to give birth as of 2012. This is far below the rate needed to replace each person, 2.1.
People from Hong Kong mainly speak Cantonese. Students are required to learn English at school. Ever since Hong Kong became a part of China, the number of people who speak Mandarin has increased because Mandarin is the official language of the PRC.
17 days of the year are public holidays in Hong Kong:
There are coins from 10 cents to 10 Hong Kong Dollars; and bank-notes (paper money bills) from $10 to $1000. One American dollar is equal to about $7.75 in Hong Kong Dollars, at the official bank exchange rate.
Hong Kong's education system is mostly based off the English system. Children are required to be in school from age 6 until completing secondary school (high school) at age 18.
Hong Kong has 11 Universities: