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From: berman@psuvax1.UUCP (Piotr Berman)
Newsgroups: net.politics.theory
Subject: Re: Military Preparedness
Message-ID: <1804@psuvax1.UUCP>
Date: Thu, 19-Sep-85 13:10:33 EDT
Article-I.D.: psuvax1.1804
Posted: Thu Sep 19 13:10:33 1985
Date-Received: Sun, 22-Sep-85 14:01:58 EDT
References: <3690@topaz.RUTGERS.EDU>
Organization: Pennsylvania State Univ.
Lines: 50

> >...  Isn't it much more likely that market forces would make one
> >particular Defense Inc. strategy become dominant at a given time?  
> 
> If so, you would just have a conventional military, so what's the problem?
> However, I don't think it would happen like that.
> 
> >And if
> >you have five competing defense systems, what about cooperation?  When four
> >of them collapse, what's the fifth to do?  
> 
> Everybody who took up this argument, (not just Charley) omitted the 
> reference to Luttwak.  Let me reccomend him again:  He makes a good 
> case for the aphorism, "Great military victories happen when a force that's
> 3% efficient beats one which is 2% efficient."  My major point is that
> the vaunted efficiency, coordination, and so forth of a centralized
> government military system generally just don't exist, and that forces
> organized along market lines would likely be just as efficient.
> 
> "Hello, Amalgamated Artillery."
> 
> "This is Sgt. Foobar of Infantry, Inc.  I'd like to order a barrage on
> the west slope of Humongous Hill at 3:45 this afternoon."
> 
> "Thank you for your order, sir, will that be all?"
> 
> "For the moment--and bill me!"

What about "Sorry, due to uncertain outcome of the war, we decided to
accept only cash, 50% in our currency, 50% in enemy's currency".

> --JoSH

The basic flaw of JoSH is the following: how a market may operate for
goods which are not used, like military services in the peace time?
There are not clear criteria to select.  This is already a problem
with military, but I do not see any reason that market would do it
better.
Also, who would pay to develop weapons and train soldiers in the 
peace time?  JoSH wrote that the patriotic citizens may purchase
the necessary wapons themselves.  Of course, not everybody may
now afford a nuclear-powered submarine or a fighter plane, but
in Libertaria we would have enough of the wealthy individuals
fiercely devoted to the system which allows them to prosper so
well.
Hm.  Where is the argument that private companies would not wage
wars of aggresion, since they are noneconomical?  All of the
American aggresive wars were much cheaper than the necessary
expences to keep Ruskies at bay.

Piotr Berman