Re: South African parliament brings country one step closer

Writes Greg Privette:

Hi Lew,

From the article linked on Political Theatre:

The main opposition Democratic Alliance (DA) and some rights groups are critical of the plans, saying they would scare off international investors and potentially damage the national economy.

As in many of these cases even the opposition makes the wrong argument. While the two points they argue are likely correct the other side can always find some “economic expert” to give the opposite opinion of the investing and economic effects. These things seem to never be argued on the correct basis which is the morality of property rights. Any decline in investment and increase in economic damage will be due to the negative signals given when countries begin to openly flout basic property rights. In this case “ownership” is based on the old idea of who mixed their labor with the land? As we have seen throughout history, and repeating itself in many cases today, the destruction of property rights always ends in chaos and mass poverty. It is also important to remember that violation of property rights on a mass scale is always the work of the state.

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