From: mkj@october.segno.com
Date: Mon, 29 Apr 1996 01:20:05 +0800
To: cypherpunks@toad.com
Subject: Re: CryptoAnarchy: What's wrong with this picture?
Message-ID: <199604281221.AA01603@october.segno.com>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain


Sandy Sandfort wrote:
> Income tax is the Godzilla of taxes.  It is THE TAX when it comes
> to the US.  (Perhaps VAT has a similar status elsewhere, but both,
> as pointed out, are subject to crypto-anarchistic subversion.)
> 
> > ...taxes existed, and governments sustained themselves perfectly
> > well, long before these systems arose.
> 
> But at nowhere near the voracious levels of modern states.

This is a point I hadn't considered.  If the govt doesn't know where
most of the money is, they can't "harvest" it nearly as efficiently.
Although they will almost certainly try to extract as much as possible
from the poor, you can't get blood from a stone.  Hence the size of
current governments will undoubtedly have to shrink.

Most other arguments put forth so far in this thread, about how people
"won't stand for" certain government behaviors and so forth, I don't
find convincing.  Modern military technologies, especially in the
U.S., make the prospects of a sucessful popular uprising dubious.

When you cut off someone's air supply, even the nicest, gentlest
person will go into an unrestrained, murderous frenzy.  I expect
something similar will happen to even the most "civilized" governments
within the next few years, as popular crypto begins to cut off their
money supply.  As I see it, only those relatively few citizens who can
afford to flee will dare to resist.

Which brings us to the "flight of capital" issue.  Will nations be
able to compete freely for the loyalty of the rich?  Or will the most
powerful nations form effective coalitions, and perhaps simply bomb
"rogue" nations into the stone age?

The more I contemplate my "simple" question of yesterday, the more I
find myself getting into deep waters which I feel ill-equipped to
navigate.  I rapidly run up against such imponderable questions as,
"What is government?"  and "What is wealth, really?"  Only one thing
is certain: We live in interesting times!

At any rate, I thank everyone for their thoughtful responses.

					---  mkj