Hi! Not much time here, but while I have access, I thought I’d share a few observations based largely on our adventures thus far.
1. In thinking about how to move from federal and state-based governmental control to a more free society, the question of how to handle “public property” is a source of much contentious debate, even among pro-freedom individuals. In particular, privatizing the roads is considered a particularly thorny issue. To that specific issue, I can now say, “Look to Malaysia for an example.”
2. Many times when a person says, “I can’t”, what is really meant is, “I won’t”.
3. Leaving aside the times when we misspeak as outlined above, the greatest obstacle to achieving greater freedom—as well as all other sorts of personal accomplishments—is thinking that “I can’t”.
By way of more general information, we’re all well and happy and having a good time. I miss being able to catch up on what y’all have been up to, though!
Some Things I Have Learned Recently
It never changes...
Not so sure about the "privatization" of roads in Malaysia. From everything I know it is another case of the government favoring a select group, in this case connected ethnic Malay contractors. The bidding rules are very much rigged in their favor, just like almost all of the other "privatization" schemes the Malaysian government has undertaken since the mid 1980s.
Isn't that the way it always goes? Every time I have ever looked at some "privatization" scheme put on by some government, it turns out to be a give-away to the politically connected. There may be exceptions, but I haven't seen them. This is why I don't expect any true libertarian moves by any government. EVER.
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Hey, Sunni! Good to hear you are having a good time out there! Hope to hear more from you soon!
Just a bit more information
I haven’t had time to read the article you linked to yet, Jorge, but I will. Meantime, the only information I have came from a chap I met who lives there. He described the process as the government opening up a bidding process for all the roads. I don’t know any details of how that process went, but he also said that many companies sell shares in the roads, and they are quite profitable.
To pay the tolls, one probably has an RFID chip—he didn’t say but it sure sounds like one—which adds another layer of potential problems ... but it’s still an intriguing thing to me to know that it has been done, at least a little way.
Good to hear from you!
Please do tell us more about the Malaysia example. It's hard to imagine that could be a truly free market situation if the government is involved, but I'm willing to be surprised. :) Be careful!!
Hmmm.... Not so sure about
Hmmm....
Not so sure about the "privatization" of roads in Malaysia. From everything I know it is another case of the government favoring a select group, in this case connected ethnic Malay contractors. The bidding rules are very much rigged in their favor, just like almost all of the other "privatization" schemes the Malaysian government has undertaken since the mid 1980s. The Chinese and Indian minorities are effectively excluded from participation. This article gives a good description. It seems to me another case of private profit/public loss with the specific Malaysian characteristics of racial discrimination. This kind of "private" project is not free market and give capitalism a bad name.
Willing to be shown that I am wrong on this, but I saw quite a bit of Malaysian "privatization" when I lived there and in neighboring Singapore.
Glad you are having a good time. Continue having fun!