Public Interest Monopolies

[DavidV]

public interest

I don’t think this is a valid concept in an economic context. The public is merely a collection of individuals, and there is no valid basis for including some (say, the customers of cable companies) and excluding other (such as the stockholders of the cable provider). The notion of “public interest” is based on utilitarianism, as in: “It is in the public interest of Germans to get rid of the Jews.” Even if the Germans could benefit from getting rid of Jews, there is no basis for excluding Jews from “public interest” or for calculating the benefit/cost to the Germans/Jews.

[MasterScowler]

RC:

Here is The List as it Stands:

*Encyclopedia of the World's Religions -R.C. Zaehner

*Romantic Manifesto -Rand

*Under the Banner of Heaven -Jon Krakauer

The Iliad -Homer

Carl Sagan's Cosmic Connection

Anatomy of Thought - Ian Glynn

Ender's Game -Orson Scott Card

The Complete CS Lewis (compilation)

Let Freedom Ring -Sean Hannity

Anthem - Rand

The Virtue of Selfishness -Rand

XML

Benjamin Franklin: An American Life -Walter Isaacson

Beyond Good and Evil -Nietzsche

Antichrist -Nietzsche

The Conquest of the Incas -John Hemming

Darwin's Dangerous Idea -Dennett

The Koran

The Elric Saga -Michael Moorcock

The Republic - Plato

Nicomachean Ethics -Aristotle

Sir Apropos of Nothing -Peter David

OPAR -Peikoff

*The last three I've read. I keep them in order as I gain interest in them, but the actual reading order is somewhat arbitrary... I like to break up the tedium of verbose, and painfully thought-provoking stuff with something light, silly and fun. Under the Banner of Heaven actually made me cry; the next night I read Paul Reiner's "Couplehood", and I switched to The Iliad instead of Sagan, thinking mythology would be a little easier on the brain... Even the Master Scowler needs an occasional break from the sturm and drang...

And this doesn't include "The Reserves", about a dozen paperbacks and such that I keep around the house for when I need to fill a short gap of time between List selections. And "The Faves", e.g. if Terry Goodkind or John Grisham release anything at any point, they automatically move to the top of the list. Guilty pleasures, yaknow...