“Every possible encouragement should be given to privateering in time of war.” -Thomas Jefferson
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I am telling you, this is an interesting paper to read if you can find the time. If you are a big Ayn Rand fan or a Mises Institute fan, then you will enjoy this. Even if you aren’t into that stuff, I still think you will like this treatment of the subject.
It is basically all about privateering and how it could be used for national defense. To basically use free market forces to defeat an enemy. The reason why this is not being implemented, even though the mechanism is still in place in the constitution is that big government and it’s military is really not down with sharing the stage with private industry. Although if you look at the evolution of the industry the last eight years or so, you could make the case that we are sharing the stage. Either way…..
Larry has pointed out that private industry is certainly capable of doing extreme damage to an enemy, if given an opportunity. And as you can see with his final commentary on the subject, the professor thought it would have been a good tool to use against Usama Bin Laden and Al Qaeda. I wonder if we could have got him by now, if we would have set up a system like this to go after his merry gang of miscreants?-Matt
Edit: 11/30/2009- Mr. Lozzi has made a comment on the article Larry Sechrest wrote to correct the record. You can find this quote in the comments section and I will post it here in the edit.
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From Edward Lozzi & Associates:
Although there was a group of Fortune 500 Companies who raised over a billion dollars to finance mercenaries to kill Bin Laden within weeks after 911, and 2 years before Bush sent in U.S. troops, something needs to be made clear to your readers. The article from Seacrest in 2001( repeted on your site) implies that myself and my company raised these funds. U.S. News & World Report broke the story. But it is not the case that we raides-or help raise the funds. In fact our public relations firm was only brought in to consult on spreading the quest and to liason with the media- we were retained by the cooperating Fortune 500 companies who remained secret fearing more planes crashing into their corporate offices in New York and Los Angeles. There was intent fear of this happening for almost a year. Thank you.
Edward Lozzi, President Edward Lozzi & Associates Beverly Hills
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Privateering and National Defense: Naval Warfare for Private Profit
September 1, 2001
Larry J. Sechrest
Abstract: The claim that all legitimate defense functions can and must be privately supplied flies in the face of certain economic doctrines that are almost universally accepted. Almost all economists declare that national defense is a “public good” that will be provided in sub-optimal quantities—or not provided at all—by private, profit-seeking firms. The purpose of this paper is to challenge just that sort of statement. The attack on national defense as a public good which must be provided by the state will be two-pronged. One part, the briefer of the two, will raise theoretical questions about public goods in general and national defense in particular. The second part will be devoted to a detailed survey of privateering, a form of naval warfare conducted by privately-owned ships which lasted from the twelfth century to the nineteenth century. What privateers were, how they operated, the legal customs that grew up around them, how effective they were, how profitable they were, and why they disappeared will all be addressed. The common employment of privateers during wartime will be offered as empirical evidence that defense need not be monopolized by the state.
Download PDF File of the Full Paper
Larry J. Sechrest is a Research Fellow at The Independent Institute in Oakland, California, and a professor of economics at Sul Ross State University. (Larry also passed away in 2008)
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Let Privateers Troll for Bin Laden
September 30, 2001
Larry J. Sechrest
In the wake of the Sept. 11th attacks, a group of American businessmen has decided to enlist the profit motive to bring the perpetrators to justice. Headed by Edward Lozzi of Beverly Hills, California, the group intends to offer a bounty of $1 billion—that’s billion with a “b”—to any private citizens who will capture Osama bin Laden and his associates, dead or alive.Paying private citizens to achieve military objectives seems novel but is hardly untried.
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