[186] in libertarians
Good Phoenix Article
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (damartin@mtl.mit.edu)
Mon Sep 12 16:03:53 1994
Reply-To: damartin@mtl.mit.edu
Date: Mon, 12 Sep 1994 16:00:49 -0400
From: damartin@mtl.mit.edu
To: libertarians@MIT.EDU
In the latest issue of the Boston Phoenix, there is a long
article about environmentalism from a free-market point of view. It
asserts (very convincingly) that the free market does a better job of
helping the environment than the state. Since you can often pick up a
copy in the Student Center for free, I would recommend reading it.
Apparently, the article is a summary of ideas in a new book written by
the author.
One amazing fact I learned from the article is that the US
government often leases land to mining companies, ranchers, loggers,
and other businesses, but is NOT ALLOWED to sell the land to
environmental groups that are willing to buy the land and keep it
unspoiled. Even worse, the US government leases the land for far less
than it costs to maintain the land, so the US government actually
loses money by leasing it. However, the agency in charge of the land
gets a larger budget if it leases out the land, so there is a
bureaucratic incentive to lease it out anyways.
-David Martin
