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Gary North points to a great story on how the free market has found a way around the government-created gas shortages and tortuous lines in NY.
Sellers of gasoline have emerged on Craigslist, charging up to $30/gallon.
"Why wait 5 hours for gas?" asked one seller in Brooklyn, who claimed to have "a couple of extra gallons" available for $15 each...The State is furious!
"Everybody is so appreciative that they can even get gas," said Ryan, 28, a New Yorker who was offering gas for $18 a gallon on Craigslist Monday and declined to give his last name. He said he'd been delivering gas from his truck after a friend transported it into the city from upstate New York, and had been earning between $250 and $300 a day.
"I'm just charging for delivery," he said. "I think if you can wait in a gas line, you should do it, but some people don't want to wait. Some people don't have time to wait."
How dare people make voluntary transactions with other individuals! Get back in line!
"We will do everything we can to stop unscrupulous businesses or individuals from taking advantage of New Yorkers trying to rebuild their lives," New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman said Monday. "There are always people who show up when there's a crisis to take advantage of victims of a disaster."The State is in a constant struggle to somehow get in control of this thing called human action.
It's a never-ending and un-winnable struggle. In 2011, the Federal Register topped 70,000 pages. The free market still finds a way. Someday it may reach 1,000,000 pages...yet the market won't be stopped then either.
You can't box-in a human mind that's determined to find a way.
When people desire to make a trade, they'll make it. Do you think the State predicted that Craigslist would be used as the artery for gas distribution? Even if it did, creative people would have used something else, like Twitter or Facebook.
Creativity cannot be contained. It can't be seen! Ask someone to show you creativity...to place it into your hands. They'll look at you funny.
The State is a brute that thrives on throwing its weight around. But its achilles heel is that it can't point a gun at creativity.
That's the one saving grace that human liberty has on its side...the ability for a group of human minds to take any situation and use the resources available to satisfy desires.
While this is great news for liberty, there is a dangerous flipside; and it causes unimaginable human suffering.
Once Power to use aggressive force is granted to an individual (or group of individuals) you're not going to contain that either.
There are no set of "rules" that will stop the human mind that's determined to expand that power. There is no "Constitution" that can "shackle" it. There's no "Bill of Rights" that a determined tyrant or Congress can't sweep away.
There's always a way...and governments throughout history (as well as the current gangs of thieves around the world today) are sufficient proof.
The answer to the suffering?
Never, ever, give the power to use aggressive force to anyone.
The human race is still in the process of learning this lesson.
That's some beautiful and inspiring writing, Chris. You made my day. Thanks!
ReplyDeleteYet another piece of evidence to point to when someone states the erroneous belief that the USA is somehow a "free country". It was the most free country at one point in time but now it obviously is not.
ReplyDeleteI am wondering what would happen if I sent a box full of two liter bottles of soda to the hurricane victims.
Great post, Chris.
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