- Capitalism and Alternatives -

Deathy's Post Revisited

I notice that none of our 'Anarcho-Cap' friends (at least at this writing) have responded to Deathy's post: "Clean Air".

While they're mulling the possibility that living things might have a need and right to clean air, here's another thing of value that fails to reach the ledger sheets of global corporate capitalism. Natural silence.

"...But natural silence is by now a very scarce commodity, unknown to billions of people in their lifetime. Yet noise is one of the most endemic and one of the most intractable of environmental problems, imposing stress, disturbing sleep, reduced efficiency, causing severe annoyance and, in some occupations, a major cause of deafness. Are we going to be asked as a public to pressure about noise so much that economics accomodates it as an externality and somehow or other abstracts a value for our loss of it? I doubt it."

Here we have a scarce commodity of increasing value. The capitalist ('anarcho' or otherwise) solution? Corner the ear-plug market!

Follow Ups:

• an end to noise borg Anarchy, Inc. March 29 1999 (2)
  • the silence remains deafening. bill April 06 1999 (1)
    • The silence following misunderstanding borg Anarchy, Inc. April 06 1999 (0)
• Posthead Revisited Gee March 26 1999 (1)
  • Erm, no... Red Deathy Socialist party UK March 26 1999 (0)