Paypal Founder Helping Build Artificial Island Nations

MadMartigan2001 writes with a pretty crazy article on a project involving floating libertarian paradises. From the article: "PayPal founder and early Facebook investor Peter Thiel has given $1.25 million to an initiative to create floating libertarian countries in international waters. Thiel has been a big backer of the Seasteading Institute, which seeks to build sovereign nations on oil rig-like platforms to occupy waters beyond the reach of law-of-the-sea treaties."

Re:Only as "free" as your ability to defend it

[bugs2squash]

These people are the same ones who hate obamacare, right up until they need to show up at an ER and expect a free ride. It's not that they should be worried about our navy attacking them, it is that they expect to pay no taxes and yet have our navy come and defend them if, say, a Somalian pirate wants to enjoy some libertarian living.

Re:Beyond the protection of the law, too

[NeutronCowboy]

So what you're saying is that this will be an island of really rich people. Who will clean their phones or serve their food? Other really rich people? Yeah right. No one would be able to afford a phone cleaning. So they'll have to import labor. Who'll want to work for little money and no social security? Other countries provide far better benefits, so poor people have no reason to emigrate to these countries.

This will end up the same way some smaller Middle East countries are "importing" from poor South-East Asian nations: a modern version of slavery. And if it doesn't, it will fall apart because the building isn't properly maintained, the armament isn't properly maintained, or it becomes too expensive to live there due to the immense cost of basic services.

Pirates are the least of the problems that I see these people facing.

I wish them luck.

[Beelzebud]

Getting all the libertarians to move out of the country would be the best thing to happen in America since the fall of the robber barons. I'm all for it! Just don't come asking for aid and the use of our military when things start to get tough.

Re:Only as "free" as your ability to defend it

[mikeg22]

The GP, if he/she is like every single other Libertarian I've discussed this with, is convinced that poor people are poor because they don't work hard, and government assistance programs are literally stealing from the wealthy to "fund the whims" of the poor, who are poor due to their laziness. These people believe that taxing the rich to assist the poor will just make the poor more lazy as they don't have to work hard anymore, and is therefore counterproductive. They also believe that taking money from the rich to give services to the poor is counterproductive because of the the point in my previous sentence, but also because the rich can put that money to better use (hiring people for example, or investing). In my experience the opposite is true. The poor tend to spend their money on necessities at the most competitive prices possible, directly injecting the money into the economy in a very capitalistic way, whereas the rich tend to save the money (not spend it) or spend it on $5000 watches, $80,000 foreign SUVs, traveling around the world throwing the money away, etc...conspicuous consumption which is not healthy for the economy.