Get The Sickness!

Personal Property Rights

I haven't been posting too many blogs in 2006, as I have been busy with life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. I been traveling a bit and have picked up a few new clients who I have contributed to helping them achieve their goals.

I am proud to be an American and delighted that we have a set of values that are embodied in documents like the Declaration of Independence and the US Constitution. I do have concerns with our various government bodies trampling on personal property rights and politicians taking advantage of their positions. Our San Diego area representative, Randy Cunningham, was sentenced to 8 years and four months of jail for taking bribes. Incidents like that help reinforce my faith in the system, while imperfect; it is better than other governments around the world. I've been thinking about how corruption in China is going to cause their government to implode and be replaced with one that will largely be controlled by factory owners. That will be the subject for another blog.

Back here in the US, Randy Cunningham took bribes and essentially embezzled money from American taxpayers. While I have concerns about how the US government is spending our tax dollars and about the huge expenditure of dollars and lives in Iraq, I am proud that our nation has sent a message that we can't just sand by while the Sadaam's of the world trample on the personal property rights of their citizens. Excessive taxation, imprisonment, abductions, executions, fear on the streets and corruption are all violations of personal property rights. Free people should stand up for those around the world who are oppressed and I am proud that America has liberated Iraq.

People who live in countries ruled by monarchs, dictators or even countries with nationalized industries are all having personal property rights violated. Why should a person of "royal" blood have more rights than anyone else? I believe that the financial markets around the world should recognize that countries with monarchs or dictators are inherently unstable and that there should be a risk premium for doing business with them. If you lend money to a country ruled by a monarchy - you should charge 1-2% premium or you get downgraded by Standard & Poors and the like. If you loan money to a country ruled by a dictator - it's a 3% risk premium. If you borrow money to do business with companies domiciled in those countries, the same premiums should apply.

Institutions like the UN have been created to promote world peace. In reality, just about any country can join and it is hard to say if membership modifies the behavior of some of those membership nations. I am in favor of developing a new international organization call the UDS - Union of Democratic States. Membership would only be available to nations that could prove that they had free elections and that protected the personal property rights of their citizens. No unlawful imprisonment, no taking of their personal property and no tolerance for government corruption.

This is a subject that bears more discussion. Another day though as I got thinks to do. I'm having a life, and all things considered, a pretty good one!

posted by Michael Sick @ 11:38 AM