Agorist Thesis #8

Agorist Thesis #8 - Force distorts market information.

Violent intervention in the market distorts market information - the signals that tell entrepreneurs what to produce and what not to produce.  For example, do you think that bombs and fighter jets would be as abundant if it weren't for taxation funding military spending?  Would people be using the same government schools, or would they opt to send their kids to better private alternatives?

The thing is, we don't know for certain the answer to these questions because people don't have a choice whether or not to fund public projects.  If you don't pay taxes, you risk being locked up in a taxation-funded prison.  

Government subsidized services outdo private ones.  As I cited before, public education is an example of this.        The United States Postal Service is another example.

Another good example of this is fiat currency - money that doesn't necessarily have market value, but is forced legal tender by government.  Paper money in a free market is useless, as paper is not a relatively scarce commodity.  The saying goes "bad money drives the good" because the good money is undervalued in the market, and therefore leaves circulation and is hoarded, - or it moves to other countries where it isn't undervalued.

On a praxeological level - when I'm threatened by violence, I make the economic decision that I see best based on my moral and utilitarian preferences.  Some people might chose to defend their property because they can realistically defend it from attack, others might do it because they see it as the right thing to do.  But most people, when they're not in a situation to defend their property from infringement will not resist, and make the decision to not risk a threat to their life or other property they may have.

The overall point here is that violent interactions distort voluntary interactions between individuals.