Anarcho-Capitalism

Idea is floated for a start-up colony anchored in the Pacific Ocean

"Two Silicon Valley entrepreneurs, frustrated by the shortage of visas that keep some of the world's brightest science and engineering minds from building companies on dry land, have hatched a plan to build a start-up colony in the middle of the Pacific. They plan to park a cruise ship 12 nautical miles off the coast of Northern California in international waters. Foreign-born entrepreneurs would live and work on the ship, building start-ups within commuting distance of Silicon Valley. They wouldn't have to get work visas that are so hard to come by. They would just need business tourism visas that would let them ferry back and forth to Silicon Valley." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingIdea is floated for a start-up colony anchored in the Pacific Ocean

3D Printed Guns (Documentary)

"This is a story about the rapid evolution of a technology that has forced the American legal system to play catch up. Cody Wilson, a 24 year old University of Texas Law student, is an advocate for the open source production of firearms using 3D printing technology. This makes him a highly controversial figure on both sides of the gun control issue. MOTHERBOARD sat down with Cody in Austin, Texas to talk about the constitution, the legal system, and to watch him make and test-fire a 3D-printed gun." Continue reading →

Continue Reading3D Printed Guns (Documentary)

‘Pirate Bay’ for 3D printing launched

"The company that developed 3D printed gun parts has announced plans to launch a new firm, dedicated to copyright-free blueprints for a range of 3D printable objects. The firm, Defcad, is the brainchild of Cody Wilson, law student and self-styled crypto-anarchist. Mr Wilson said the revolution which many predict 3D printing will bring about will only happen if it can be freed from corporate ties. The blueprints available on the site will be for 'important stuff', he said. 'Not trinkets, not garden gnomes but the things institutions and industries have an interest in keeping from us; access, medical devices, drugs, goods, guns.'" Continue reading →

Continue Reading‘Pirate Bay’ for 3D printing launched

Spoiled greens

"Ever since the Illícitos Cambiarios Law was approved in 2010, buying, selling, and even mentioning the price of black market dollars in Venezuela has become a crime punishable by up to 7 years in prison. The answer to this legal gag on all things dollar-related was a flourishing black market, which has spawned its own little sub-culture, jargon (Lechuga Americana, Lechuga Europea, Lechugas en hojas frescas, Lechugas Amazónicas), code-words (1000 a 25. Transfer. Norte. Inbox me.), and a host of anonymous Twitter accounts that helpfully quoted daily reference prices, which, as we established, is illegal." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingSpoiled greens

Underground Economy Helps Account for Discrepencies in Economic Data

"Kalmes is among the 4.8 million unemployed Americans -- 40 percent of all those jobless -- who have been out of work for more than 27 weeks, even as the economy has been growing since June 2009 and the job market shows recent signs of healing. As her unemployment benefits have run out, she has entered the informal economy to make ends meet. America's shadow economy includes activities that are actually illicit -- prostitution and drug dealing -- and more benign jobs like working construction for a day for cash, or even the $2 per child that Kalmes gets for walking neighborhood students to the bus. Economists estimate $2 trillion could be involved." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingUnderground Economy Helps Account for Discrepencies in Economic Data

Private Detectives Filling Gaps Left by Police Budget Cuts

"Detectives like Glemser across cash-strapped states have been getting more calls like these as cities and towns cut their police forces to contend with deep budget cuts. Private detectives are just one piece of the private sector security and policing services that people are increasingly turning to as they worry about crime. The U.S. private security industry is expected to grow 6.3% a year to $19.9 billion by 2016, according to a study by security research group Freedonia Group Inc. In California, where many cash-strapped cities cut police budgets during the recession, residents are turning to detectives, security firms and even the Internet." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingPrivate Detectives Filling Gaps Left by Police Budget Cuts

The Truth Behind the Decline in Somali Piracy

"[P]rivate security forces thwarted Somalian piracy and not the mighty navies. It is interesting to note that while everyone from navies of different countries to 'the transitional administration in Somalia' becoming more successful are cited as causes of this, it notes that 'For many in the shipping industry, the fall in attacks is a vindication of the decision to massively ramp up the use of armed guards'. It also notes that 'So far, not a single ship with armed guards has been taken by pirates'. Looks like the risk/reward of being a pirate is not economical anymore. All due to private security. Walter Block would be happy." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingThe Truth Behind the Decline in Somali Piracy

Seasteading: Striking at the Root of Bad Government

"We know it is possible to live on the ocean; we know there are ways to make money there, and our mission is to drive down the costs of seasteading to transform the ocean from potential frontier into real frontier and eventually into just another option with some serious advantages. This will lead to experimentation and innovation in governance and force existing States to improve or wither away for a lack of residents. The challenges are large but the potential payoffs are much, much larger. By transforming the political problem of bad governance into a hard but achievable technological problem, which humans have a knack for solving, we make success possible." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingSeasteading: Striking at the Root of Bad Government

Anarchist Defeats Minarchist in New Hampshire Election

"When Ward 5 of Manchester, New Hampshire, elected a delegate to the state legislature this month, its voters rejected a Republican from the Free State Project who favors a minimal government. Instead they picked Tim O'Flaherty, a Democrat from the Free State Project who favors the abolition of government altogether. In the words of the Manchester Union-Leader: 'O'Flaherty ran against a fellow Free Stater, housemate Dan Garthwaite, whom O'Flaherty called a statist.' Meanwhile, in Vermont, voters in the town of Randolph have just made my left-anarchist friend Jessamyn West a justice of the peace." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingAnarchist Defeats Minarchist in New Hampshire Election

Will Judge Napolitano Run for President in 2016?

"Judge Napolitano talks to Wenzel about his new book, Theodore and Woodrow. Find out how these presidents were instrumental in Americans losing many of their freedoms. In addition, the Judge tells Wenzel if he will run for president in 2016. He also discusses why the potential for civil unrest and a totalitarian state are a very real possibilities." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingWill Judge Napolitano Run for President in 2016?