Following on from our report earlier this year about ideal places for libertarians to go, it appears that we are now seeing capitalism in its wonderful Ayn Rand style libertarian idealized form. Somali ‘maritime companies” have setup a stock exchange to help incubate free enterprise in its natural form. From Reuters we have this report.
HARADHEERE, Somalia (Reuters) – In Somalia’s main pirate lair of Haradheere, the sea gangs have set up a cooperative to fund their hijackings offshore, a sort of stock exchange meets criminal syndicate.
This is how capitalism naturally starts. A natural resource is discovered for risky exploitation, and the risk is shared throughout the wider community (before the inevitable bubble collapse). It allows successful and even unsuccessful entrepreneurs to offload offer their businesses complete with priceless customer goodwill to others. As a former pirate maritime entrepreneur explains:
“Four months ago, during the monsoon rains, we decided to set up this stock exchange. We started with 15 ‘maritime companies’ and now we are hosting 72. Ten of them have so far been successful at hijacking,” Mohammed said.
“The shares are open to all and everybody can take part, whether personally at sea or on land by providing cash, weapons or useful materials … we’ve made piracy a community activity.”
Such a public spirited benefactor of his fellow citizens. Reminds me of those wonderful people who fund support the Act party in their similar public spirited neo-libertarian formation of the council-controlled organizations (CCOs) to provide a natural resource for pirates to plunder managers to run efficiently.
Lets hope that the CCOs in Auckland give as many benefits to Aucklanders as the stock exchange is giving in Somalia:
The administration has no influence in Haradheere — where a senior local official said piracy paid for almost everything.
“Piracy-related business has become the main profitable economic activity in our area and as locals we depend on their output,” said Mohamed Adam, the town’s deputy security officer.
“The district gets a percentage of every ransom from ships that have been released, and that goes on public infrastructure, including our hospital and our public schools.”
Of course we Aucklanders already own the resources that Act is pirating running efficiently. So we’d have to assume that stripping the assets will make them even more profitable for someone long term. We can only hope that Aucklanders are amongst them.
But who can argue with this happy result and example of how people can better themselves through positive thinking and hard work. Sahra didn’t let adversity constrain her (and is an inspiration to us all)…
Piracy investor Sahra Ibrahim, a 22-year-old divorcee, was lined up with others waiting for her cut of a ransom pay-out after one of the gangs freed a Spanish tuna fishing vessel.
“I am waiting for my share after I contributed a rocket-propelled grenade for the operation,” she said, adding that she got the weapon from her ex-husband in alimony.
“I am really happy and lucky. I have made $75,000 in only 38 days since I joined the ‘company’.”
Of course there are probably some anti-capitalist, anti-free-enterprise wimps who would point at some losers from this new enterprise – like the crews, customers, insurers and owners of the ships. But the same wimps would disagree with trafficking in human slaves, selling heroin to children, or asset stripping Auckland. Clearly not fans of Ayn Rand, which means that they are obviously losers by philosophy.
Here is the video from earlier this year that seems almost prescient.
We can just hope that all libertarian and neo-libertarians go to this free-enterprise stateless nirvana. It will leave us richer.
hat-tip: The Strategist
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