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Originally Posted by Jake";p="
Don't offer patents and see how many drugs are developed - none!
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The wording of that statement is very revealing: You want the government to offer incentives to businesses apart from what the market offers. That is central planning. Since ideas are involved in the creation of
all physical products, patent laws redundantly "protect" products and give the government rather than consumers the say in which ideas are the most valuable. The person whose ideology made me reconsider intellectual property laws is Murray Rothbard, the ultimate capitalist.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Jake";p="
Quote:
Originally Posted by Force-of-the-Truth";p="
I think that "intellectual property" is a contradiction in terms and therefore I don't view patent laws as legitimate. Since I don't consider patent laws to be part of a free market, I think that the South African government is morally justified in doing anything necessary to oppose dishonest laws that are ending lives. In a side note, America uses the UN but doesn't follow its rules, as shown by the 2003 invasion of Iraq. This is just speculation, but perhaps gold subsidies would be good leverage to counter the threat of sanctions.
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If I remember correctly, you call yourself a capitalist, but everything you write is anti-capitalist! |
More of my "anti-capitalist" ideas include abolishing Social Security and welfare and replacing the income tax with a flat VAT, incidentally. I do oppose free trade, which is actually a way of subsidizing multinationals. You, as a self-proclaimed paleoconservative, ought to know that. Since both free trade and patent laws are themselves coercive wrongs and government exists for protection against coercion, intervention is justified to counteract such measures.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Jake";p="
The pharma companies owe africa nothing.
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In so far as they have benefited from dishonest laws (patent laws), they owe a lot to the market in general, including Africa.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Jake";p="
Africans need to get hold of themselves and stop acting like ignorant savages.
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They are no more lacking in discipline than anyone else. What they lack are technology and education.