I know three posts in a day might be a little excessive, but I saw this on LewRockwell.com and I don't know whether to laugh or be frightened. From none other than Murray Rothbard:
"In fact, lighthouses could easily charge ships for their services, if they were permitted to own those surfaces of the sea which they transform by their illumination. A man who takes unowned land and transforms it for productive use is readily granted ownership of that land, which can henceforth be used economically; why should not the same rule apply to that other natural resource, the sea? If the lighthouse owner were granted ownership of the sea surface that he illuminates, he could then charge each ship as it passes through. The deficiency here is a failure not of the free market but of the government and the society in not granting a property right to the rightful owner of a resource."
Yeah...
What's wrong with it? Pay up or we turn off the light!
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