Karen:   Your blog on anarcho-lemonadism was wonderful.  It reminded me of the long-standing tradition on Chicago’s Maxwell Street.  On Sundays, adults (for the most part) operated all kinds of card-table businesses, peddling anything from handmade items to old toys to flowers.  I recall one person who sold nothing but empty thread-spools.  When we lived in Chicago — just before the great fire! — my wife and I visited Maxwell Street on a few occasions, and often found the same people selling the same merchandise.  It became evident to us that these street-entrepreneurs were engaged in their respective trades for reasons having nothing to do with wealth-maximization: it was a social gathering, just as it was for the many thousands of us who visited this thriving marketplace (I don’t remember ever buying anything there).  As with the history of the early turnpikes in this country — which were generally a financial loser for those who invested in such companies — there are many rewards gained from commerce that transcend dollar profits.  This is a truth that must be suppressed by the political classes whose powers depend upon convincing their victims that the voluntary nature of all marketplace activity is, in reality, a form of “exploitation” to be rectified by state violence.

The Best of Butler Shaffer