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May 15, 2006

The Thugs That Command The State, Own The State

In my discussion of mortacracies, I often made the point that the absolute dictators, what I call realistically thug rulers, own their states. I do not mean that they have a license or title of some sort to everything in the state, but that with their absolute power they can take for their personal use anything in the state, including all its national income, any land, any product, any life, any virgin.

And by international law, the fact that their so-called government is diplomatically recognized by other governments, many ruled by thug regimes themselves, means that the state is sovereign. That is, the gang of thugs that rule can do whatever they want, even as we see in Sudan and Burma, commit genocide, or as in North Korea, starve its people to death in obedience to a corrupt ideology or personal desire. This absolute power of thugs over a state by virtue of their guns is not widely understood, as well can be seen when their individual wealth is discussed as though it were like assessing the wealth of Bill Gates.

This point is brought home in the following on The Volokh Conspiracy, "ESTIMATING THE WEALTH OF ABSOLUTE DICTATORS - IMPLICATIONS FOR ECONOMIC REFORM IN NONDEMOCRATIC SOCIETIES," by Ilya Somin (Assistant Professor of Law at George Mason University). While it focuses on Castro, I would say the same of any ruling thug. Regarding Forbes' estimate that Fidel Castro has a net worth of $900 million, he says:

However impressive this figure seems, it actually understates Castro's real wealth. As an absolute dictator, Fidel can appropriate for his use virtually any asset - or person - in Cuba, anytime he wants. His true net worth is the total value of everything in Cuba, possibly subtracting the expenses of the secret police, the military, and the other institutions needed to keep him in power.

(Continued here)

Posted by Rudy at May 15, 2006 10:25 PM

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