Zen Habits Founder Leo Babauta on Owning Nothing

http://mnmlist.com/on-owning-nothing/

When you abandon the idea of private ownership, a lot of possibilities arise -- limited only by our imaginations.

Only an economic illiterate could write something like that.

Here is the problem with common property. Economists call it the "tragedy of the commons." The term comes from the common pasture where farmers would put their livestock with each having full rights to use the land as they desired. The result was overgrazing and destruction. You can read more here.

When something is free or shared, people acting out of self-interest will horde and consume as much as they can. The only way to alleviate this is a form of rationing. The government can be the one to ration these resources which leads to loss of freedom and shortages and a trip or two to a Siberian gulag. Or you can set up self-rationing in what is known as the free market. The result is prosperity and freedom and abundance.

There is a reason Leo Babauta is on this "less is more" kick. It is part-and-parcel of his worldview which I discussed here. This way of living leads to death, and Leo's embracing of what can only be a communist lifestyle only illustrates my point. They already have a place where Leo can find this lifestyle. It is called North Korea. If you want to see the difference between communism and capitalism, here is the famous picture of the Korean peninsula at night:



Leo defends himself against my charges of communism:

I know people will point to failed experiments such as the USSR where the abandonment of private property didn't work even a little. I agree with that assessment, but the problem was that it was all state-controlled. I think allowing the government to control property is a very bad idea. People should control property -- we could set up voluntary, democratic associations to maintain bike and car and book and clothing libraries and housing and all that.

These voluntary associations did exist during the 1960's. They were called communes, and hippies shared everything including orifices and genitalia. The result was that these lazy bums tried to live off of everybody else. The smart and industrious ones left. Eventually, they all left because parasites need a host to feed on. The modern day equivalent of the commune would be the entourage or "posse" that surround millionaire celebrities and athletes. These entourages are a primary reason these famous rich people end up declaring bankruptcy later.

The final example of communist living would be the family. Husbands and wives share property along with kids. They also endlessly bicker and fight over that property. The cool thing about living alone is that you know where your stuff is, and you only have one person to blame if it gets lost or broken.

Theoretically, communism should work. On paper, waste is eliminated. In practice, it never works. Sharing does not eliminate need or promote peace and happiness. Leo Babauta is wrong. The man is a fool.

As for capitalism being wasteful, this is not true. Granted, people own shit they don't use or need and put away in storage spaces. But eventually, they empty these spaces either because of bankruptcy or what have you. That's when a scavenger like me picks them up for peanuts. I am not the original owner of anything I own except my toothpaste and my toilet paper. I am a thrift store junkie and buy only used vehicles. I am also a total libertarian capitalist. I believe in abundance on the cheap. I regularly have to throw out stuff I don't need that has been given to me. It gets donated to thrift stores.

I think everyone has the right to their own lifestyle, and I won't begrudge Leo his Zen lifestyle. But communism comes at the expense of others. It only holds together under totalitarianism which is why it always leads to that. This was the thesis F.A. Hayek illustrated in The Road to Serfdom. Shared resources lead to central planning and control. ALWAYS. This leftard commie dream is a fantasy. You can't have both freedom and communism. It never works.

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