The British economy

According to the IMF, the British economy is presently "impressive". Granted, economic growth may be steady, inflation may be relatively low, unemployment is low and the balance of payments is sustainable. Still, I'd like to see a move away from statist economic policies.

What we need are the following:

- a move away from economic growth. Let individuals choose if they want greater standards of living.

- Abolish sterling and permit private companies to produce commodity backed currency.

- Abolish the Bank of England and let the market determine interest rates.

- Cease and repeal all regulations and taxes on business.

- Stop monitoring inflation and abolish the CPI, RPI and RPIX.

- Repeal the income tax. The UK isn't at war with France any more, and Napeleon died long ago.

The implementation of these measures would lead to a far freer and more prosperous economy. If only Gordon Brown would read von Mises, Hazlitt or Rothbard instead of adhering to statist pap...

Iran

I saw this story a few days ago. Frankly, I don't see why we should aggravate Iran at all.

The Salman Rushdie affair notwithstanding, the UK has done little to anger Iran. I don't see why we should consider them an enemy.

Is there any colonial baggage attached? Perhaps. But the Democratic Republic of Congo hasn't attacked or engaged in negative relations with Belgium. And the Belgians were one of the worst colonial rulers following the Scramble for Africa.

The UK should remain non-aligned and maintain good relations with all countries. This means withdrawing from NATO, the EU and the UN. We really should really leave Iran alone and focus on genuine threats to our sovereignty and self-ownership.

Prostitution

This issue has been featured heavily in the media over the past few days, especially with these murders in Ipswich.

Of course, prostitution should be legalised. Paying for sex is not an act that violates one's person or property. In that sense, it's a victimless crime. In regards to street prostitution, then in a free society property owners can determine whether they want prostitutes on their streets. Private property owners could even designate special areas in which people can use street prostitutes. As for brothels and massage parlours, then leave it to the free market (as with everything else). Brothels that don't test their women for diseases would lose out to those that do. It would be bad PR for a brothel, if a punter caught a disease from a working girl.

Abolishing car tax

During the week, the government announced a reform of the road system. Instead of paying car tax, road users would have to pay tolls on all roads.

OK, yes, taxation is theft. The less amount of taxation, the better. But I don't really approve of this idea. The road infrastructure would still be maintained by the state, and would still be funded by general taxation. There are no hypothecated taxes in the UK, at present.

What's really needed is a privatisation of the road system. Let private organisations own and maintain the roads. Big roads like the M1 and M6 can be owned by private companies. Smaller neighbourhood roads could be owned in common by a community or a local Dispute Resolution Organisation or private protection agency.

In the free society, there may not be a market of roads, in the strict sense. There might not be rival M1's or M6's. Nonetheless, different modes of transport would be in competition with each other. So rain services would seek to maintain high standards, so they don't lose customers to bus companies for example.