In Defense of Anagorism

political economy in the non-market, non-state sector

Tag: philosophy

  • Only the good (blogs!) die young

    I am pleased to add to my blogroll the apparently defunct blog No More Sunsets. The most recent post there was titled Back soon and dated July 16, 2012, with the text

    I’m in the process of moving so I’ll be out for the next couple of weeks.

    I hope the author is doing OK.

    I strive to keep my blogroll as on-topic as possible. By this I mean that no matter how small this list turns out to be, I want it to be a catalog of the online offerings of the “non-market, anti-state sector.” By this I mean those who, when push comes to shove, are anti-statist, and who, at least on occasion, suggest that the market mechanism—the price signals, the absolute centrality of voluntarism—might be a contributor to the problem of de facto or de jure statism.

    Putting the left back in left libertarianism is definitely a recurring theme at No More Sunsets. There is an article pointing out differences between Proudhonian mutualists and “neo-mutualists.” Those ridiculously non-credible “primitive” economies in which three persons exist or two classes of economic goods exist are referred to not as Edgeworth boxes but as Imagination Island or Crusoe’s island. Also subject to questioning are such supposedly unalloyed goods as voluntarism, individualism, agorism, efficiency, etc.

    I can’t read anything on this excellent blog without having a lot to say, but it is closed to comments. Apparently this has not always been the case. Perhaps I will start a series of blog posts here that are essentially comments on posts at No More Sunsets.

    At any rate, my purpose in posting this is to offer gentle encouragement to a writer whose work I admire and who I’d like to think of as a fellow anagorist. This is in the spirit of NMS’ own post in that vein:

    Mutualism and Solutions to the Social Problem is a new blog with extremely powerful posts. Hopefully, they continue blogging. All too often, I see people who start on a project and give up shortly after. Please show your support by checking them out.

  • Quotebag #87

    “what this means, as a practical matter, is that financial independence is not really in reach for huge numbers of workers. people live with their parents, or in terrible places; they go without health care; they can’t be prepared for emergencies; and they scramble. it is pepper-sauce in the wound to call these workers lazy, to jack them around on hours.”—kathy a.

    “However, our culture must admit that all the waste products of market-based capitalism are not ‘waste’ at all, but a very valuable resource.”—Nick Meador

    “There are many practical and philosophical reasons for obeying a law you don’t agree with, but there is never a reason to feel guilty about breaking a law you don’t agree with.”—kfogel

    “Obviously one is not entitled to a job in a ‘Right to Work’ state, so what is the truth behind the PR spin?”—David Hummels

    “If the world ends next week bring it on, because I can’t continue living in a society that’s getting more violent, selfish, greedy and stupid every single minute of every single day”—lostonearth35

    “In contrast to the relatively immutable laws of physics, economics are completely man-made; these are not immutable laws by any stretch.”—Michael Silverton

  • Quotebag #84

    “If the concept of the Unconditional Basic Income encourages laziness, why would any right minded parent pass on an inheritance to their children?”—bstard4bristolmayor, h/t Jack Saturday

    “Not asking out Ayn Rand girl. I will not date her in a boat, I will not date her with a goat, I do not like Objectivism and won’t permit my brain to schizm, she’s awfully cute, but understand, I will not tolerate Ayn Rand.”—Garrett Cook

    “If you think about it, the concept of a free-market economy itself is a kind of gamification of human production. Yes, we’re all happy when we make more money, but we’re happiest when we make more money than others. Just ask any CEO.”—Don Peppers

    “Talk to me about how to have the freedom to pursue my dreams without leaving a mountain of young, old, sick, and dying to fend for themselves and I’ll listen.”—Melanie Pinkert

    “Anarchists might break a window, but capitalists will take your whole house, medicine from the hands of the sick, and rights from the poor.”—Hope

    “The solution to the need for competition isn’t to eliminate the idea of a middle class that doesn’t have to compete so hard, but to socialize that situation so that everyone benefits from it. ”—John Madziarczyk