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Path: utzoo!henry
From: henry@utzoo.UUCP (Henry Spencer)
Newsgroups: can.politics
Subject: Re: Free trade, Canadian culture, $$
Message-ID: <7703@utzoo.UUCP>
Date: Tue, 24-Feb-87 14:02:17 EST
Article-I.D.: utzoo.7703
Posted: Tue Feb 24 14:02:17 1987
Date-Received: Tue, 24-Feb-87 14:02:17 EST
References: <191@fornax.uucp> <3047@watdcsu.UUCP>, <195@fornax.uucp>
Organization: U of Toronto Zoology
Lines: 21

>  If you are going to operate some service as a business then there should
>  be valid, clearly explained reasons, why it is:
>  a) essential that you operate in the first place,
>  b) essential that you avoid operating as a public service and instead
>     operate strictly on a profit motive.

I'm horrified to say that I didn't see any smiley faces after that...

The reason why it is essential that services be allowed to operate as
businesses is because there is no legal way to forbid it in a free country.
If you are going to operate some service as a business, the *customers* (not
Big Daddy in Ottawa or Washington) decide whether your service is worth
having, i.e. "essential".  They say "yes" by buying from you and "no" by not
buying from you, instead of saying "yes" at gunpoint whenever they pay taxes.

As for why operate on a profit motive, to put it bluntly, because greed is
a more reliable motive than altruism.  If I want to send mail quickly and
reliably, I use Federal Express (etc.), not the Post Office.
-- 
Legalize			Henry Spencer @ U of Toronto Zoology
freedom!			{allegra,ihnp4,decvax,pyramid}!utzoo!henry