----- Original Message -----
From: "john courtneidge" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: "Ed Weick" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>; "Harry Pollard"
<[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Cc: "futurework" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Sent: Thursday, January 25, 2001 10:32 AM
Subject: Re: Who pays, who benefits?
> Yep: all property is theft.
>
> And so . . .
>
> hugs
>
> j
No, John. That wasn't my point. However it came into being, property is
property. What is most needed, and what is often lacking, is a clear
definition of who holds what rights to it, how it can be transferred from
one holder to another, etc. It needs a very good system of laws and
processes, or it can be very badly abused. I've been to countries in which
rights, laws and processes are very poorly defined (or were at the time) and
where people could simply move in on what others thought was their property.
If you read my Russian notes on my web page
http://members.eisa.com/~ec086636/moscow_part_3.htm ) you'll see that that
is exactly what happened to a farm family not too far from Moscow. It
simply got moved off what it thought was its land, with disastrous results.
What is most important, IMHO, is how property rights become established.
They should be negotiated, not imposed. We have a lot of rather ancient
Indian treaties in Canada which embody imposed property rights. At the
time, the Indians were simply in no position to negotiate and gave up vast
pieces of land. Reflecting the growing political power and awareness of
Canadian Indians, especially since World War II, we now also have recent
land claims agreements in which property rights were negotiated. There is a
huge difference between the two.
Labour can be thought of as property. The union movement did a great deal
to move labour from pure exploitation to negotiation during the first part
of the last century, though there would now seem to be a need for some
redefinition of labour rights given the large scale shift in the nature of
work which has taken place in recent decades.
Anyhow, I won't go on. My canine property needs a walk.
Take care,
Ed
