Pirate Island As An Economic Model

Does everyone have a brother that listens too much to Rush Limpbugger while not reading enough nonfiction? Anyway, I do. One time when arguing about World Economic Policy, he brought up the example of one thriving economic community that charged next to nothing in taxes, offered a Labor Force that received abysmally low wages, and he proposed that every Economy could equally prosper by doing exactly the same.

He had forgotten a very important point, which should have been obvious to any orthodox and observant Capitalist… he had forgotten about Competition, and that in Free Market Economics the predictive models can reduce only to one foreseeable outcome – that there will be one Winner and a bunch of losers. In this sense Competition amounts to a huge race toward the most minimal standards and infrastructures. Yes, one particular Pirate Island, positioned optimally so that a very Imposing and Curiously Lenient neighboring Political Jurisdiction can pick up all the Social and Military Slack, can forgo most in the way of Tax Rates in order to attract the most number of Tax Payers. But such a competitive trick can only work once. If Tax Rates were Universally Low, then there would be no reason for any body to move. One Pirate Island works because there is Law and Order everywhere else. The Pirates from Everywhere Else have only one place to go with all their Loot. If the Law was equally unobserved everywhere, then Outlaws and Pirates could might as well just stay home. Oh, and please forgive my hasty metaphor where I inadvertently compare the Rich and Wealthy People to criminals, but if it helps us to understand the picture… as, after all, both groups are after exactly the same thing. In fact one needs to wonder how such levels of selfishness and greed can ever NOT be against one law or another.

So, anyway, is it wise for the Entire World to engage in a Competition, a virtual race to the bottom, where only one Economy can hope to win anyway… and a meager win it would be for a People who would have to satisfy itself with the slimmest margin of wages and social spending in the Entire World; and we would need to wonder how long adjoining Political Jurisdictions could possibly consent to receive the impoverished overflow of social, political and economic refugees from such an Economic Winner?

But let’s think again about this argument for Universal Criminality, that if laws were ignored everywhere, then Outlaws could simply stay home. Well, this same argument works equally in reverse – that if Laws are Universally Upheld then the Criminals, in this case Rich People and Corporations, would have no reason to flee – they might as well take their chances at Home as anywhere else. Do Rich Corporations REALLY want to go to live with Sand Fleas in Bahrain except that they go there explicitly to escape Taxation? If Taxes were the same, they’d stay home and save themselves the unease of being hated by all the poor natives.

It is about time that the people
e who make decisions concerning the World Political Consensus should examine the possibility of arriving at One Legal and Economic Standard – no downward trending Competition offering Pirate Level tax breaks and lower than subsistence level wages in order to steal businesses from other Economies. Let everyone renounce the possibility of being the One Lone Winner in order that everyone can be certain not to be one of the bankrupt and miserable losers.

Also, it may be added that the possibility of their ever being one Winner is entirely imaginary. History has shown that while Economic Competition had always been propelled on the hopes of their being some Perfect Economic Winner, the effects of the Over-Concentration of Wealth had always precipitated a Complete Collapse before any single Winner could have the chance to emerge. You see, Social and Military complications arise. Economies that pair down on their Social and Military Infrastructure in order to Pad the Wealth of their Rich, find that they are exposed to both internal rebellion and foreign invasion, and it can’t be ignored that their Tremendous Wealth does present an irresistible target. But, the Wealthy Classes are lulled into the belief that their tremendous Personal Wealth can purchase them Invulnerability –Gated Communities… even Castles, moots and drawbridges… and even Private Armies. But unless they are prepared to scale up their efforts until they are again willing to pay for real levels of National Security Infrastructure, any limited and focused effort can only provide some temporary island of Security, under siege, and doomed to eventual fall. Again, a review of History shows that there has never yet ever been the first Winner. History only shows a succession of continuous losers, and this will be the case until we finally get serious about what must transpire before we all can become Civilized.