Should oxygen be privatised?

[Phony Moderate]

Discuss.

[dead0man]

errrr....how?

[Associate Justice PiT]

errrr....how?

     ^This. It's not really a scarce commodity anywhere except maybe on top of a really tall mountain, so there would be no benefit to anyone to own a bunch of oxygen.

[Ban my account ffs!]

errrr....how?

     ^This. It's not really a scarce commodity anywhere except maybe on top of a really tall mountain, so there would be no benefit to anyone to own a bunch of oxygen.

Why couldn't you just extract most of it from the air and then sell it back to people in a "purified" form?  That's essentially what mining companies do.  And you probably have no problem with that.

[Associate Justice PiT]

errrr....how?

     ^This. It's not really a scarce commodity anywhere except maybe on top of a really tall mountain, so there would be no benefit to anyone to own a bunch of oxygen.

Why couldn't you just extract most of it from the air and then sell it back to people in a "purified" form?  That's essentially what mining companies do.  And you probably have no problem with that.

     There'd be no incentive for people to buy it though, unless they extracted all or nearly all the oxygen in the atmosphere, which would probably carry such massive costs that any company undertaking it would be bankrupted long before they could complete the project.

[Ban my account ffs!]

But if it could be done cheaply enough, you believe that a company has the right to deplete the atmosphere of oxygen?

That's waht the question meant.

[Associate Justice PiT]

     I don't know, I'll have to think about that.

[phk]

errrr....how?

     ^This. It's not really a scarce commodity anywhere except maybe on top of a really tall mountain, so there would be no benefit to anyone to own a bunch of oxygen.

Why couldn't you just extract most of it from the air and then sell it back to people in a "purified" form?  That's essentially what mining companies do.  And you probably have no problem with that.

Literally impossible since oxygen is one of the clearest examples of a public good.

[Earth]

This doesn't strike anyone else as pure satire, or at the very least, incredibly dumb?

[Bo]

No. BTW, this is a very stupid poll.

[Ban my account ffs!]

This doesn't strike anyone else as pure satire, or at the very least, incredibly dumb?

Of course it's not serious.  But some of our more, shall we say, "unique" posters will buy into it and support it cuz of their love of OMGZ LOLZ THE FREE MARKET.

[phk]

This doesn't strike anyone else as pure satire, or at the very least, incredibly dumb?

Of course it's not serious.  But some of our more, shall we say, "unique" posters will buy into it and support it cuz of their love of OMGZ LOLZ THE FREE MARKET.

Such as?

Anyway you do know that its pretty much impossible to turn oxygen into a private good.

The most it would end up even in the most "freest" conditions would be a club good or a common resource good.

Anyway I can pretty much foretell a good Micro discussion coming onward, so lets move the thread into the Econ section.

[John Dibble]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SiabeNR_q0U

[Brandon H]

No, it should be regulated like CO^2.
(sarcasm)

[k-onmmunist]

Lol no.

Then again, it shouldnt be nationalised either

[Torie]

This question reminds me of Murrray Rothbard's little musing, that wouldn't it be great if we could put light in a bottle, and sell it?  He hated things that were not internalized into the price system.

[Sewer]

This question reminds me of Murrray Rothbard's little musing, that wouldn't it be great if we could put light in a bottle, and sell it?

Close enough.

[Magic 8-Ball]

Of course.

[Robespierre's Jaw]

The IMF will eventually try one day; but not to Bolivia. They've endured enough.

[k-onmmunist]

What a stupid idea.

[MASHED POTATOES. VOTE!]

Trollish poll.

[True Federalist (진정한 연방 주의자)]

Yes.  The way Medicare distorts the market in favor of renting home oxygen equipment instead of outright purchase, even for those who will be needing home oxygen for breathing assistance for years is a clear example of waste and abuse.

[Derek]

Obama would love to control how much air you can breathe in and then give the rest to someone else. Hell he wants to do that with your money. Pretty soon the government is going to dictate how much you can withdraw on a daily basis because they think they know best about your spending. I'm telling you man, this maybe a joke discussing oxygen but not if Obama were on here. He takes nothing lightly. Not even the David Letterman show.

[Free Trade is managed by the invisible hand.]

This question reminds me of Murrray Rothbard's little musing, that wouldn't it be great if we could put light in a bottle, and sell it?  He hated things that were not internalized into the price system.

Rothbard was a joke economist. I read his book about the great depression, and its kind of refreshing to hear his name again.