Income
distribution will not be equal with private property rights, nor with any other
structure of rights. Equality and competition are contradictions in terms, and
people will compete in any society.―――Will
China Go Capitalist?
Politicians
running for office promise to serve the public. Somewhere there may exist a
great man who holds such lofty intentions, but I have reached the conclusion
that if there is one I have not met him. Everyone I know who is running for
office, no matter what is said, is as a rule self serving. Completely
disinterested men simply don’t exist. If he did, then his behavior would be
inconsistent with constrained maximization, and I don’t think such a homo
non-sapien was ever born.―――The
Curse of Democracy as an Instrument of Reform in Collapsed Communist Economies
Self
serving politicians promise welfare programs to the poor to get elected, but
all the while it is themselves who are getting richer. Poor people look for
short term gain and they do not have a whole lot to lose; they are not naïve,
but they are disposed to favour short term promises. Politicians who do so all
make out. I know some “Democrats” in some Asian countries, whose incomes are up
5, 6, 10 times with the introduction of democracy.―――The Curse of Democracy as an Instrument
of Reform in Collapsed Communist Economies
In
a society where individuals compete for the use of scarce resources, some rules
or criteria of competition must exist to resolve the conflict. These rules,
known as property rights, may be established in law, in regulation, in custom
or in hierarchy ranking. The structures of rights may take a variety of forms,
ranging from private property rights at one extreme to common property rights
at the other.―――Common
Property Rights
In
a communist state, there is no private owner of productive resources: each
constituent is propertyless, in the literal sense of the word… [T]he rights to
use resources, and to derive income therefrom, are defined in terms of rank… In
the people’s communes in China under the Great Leap Forward, for example, no
one owns the productive resources (i.e. everyone is propertyless), but comrades
of different ranks enjoy different rights and privileges.―――Common Property Rights