For The Stoat

So long as property is divided among many owners, none of them acting independently has exclusive power to determine the income and position of particular people—nobody is tied to any one property owner except by the fact that he may offer better terms than anybody else.

Hayek, F. A.. The Road to Serfdom: Text and Documents--The Definitive Edition: Text and Documents--The Definitive Edition (The Collected Works of F. A. Hayek, Volume 2) (Kindle Locations 3303-3306). University of Chicago Press. Kindle Edition.

Perhaps you recall that it was precisely the issue of particular people being tied to any one property owner that exercised Paul Krugman and brought on your denigration. I added a few other instances of laws and contract structures having this effect. I'm sure you learned somewhere that actual serfdom was precisely the condition of workers being tied to one property owner.

In the US today, it's common for students to graduate from university, or worse, fail to graduate from university, with $50,000 to $100,000 in debt, even students with degrees in education or art history or similarly unremunerative occupations. (For MD's, think $500,000). This debt is an enormous limitation on their economic freedom - but one that libertarians presumably would approve of. My guess is that debt created a lot more slaves and serfs than socialism ever has.

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