WEBVTT NOTE Collective Ownership 1 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:04.000 Collective Ownership 2 00:00:04.000 --> 00:00:08.000 There are several ways in which property can be owned. 3 00:00:08.000 --> 00:00:16.000 And owning property is an extremely important part or makes up an extremely important part of our lives. 4 00:00:16.000 --> 00:00:24.000 We spend a great deal of time figuring out what property it is that we want and how to become the owner of it 5 00:00:24.000 --> 00:00:28.000 and then how to deal with it after we are the owners. 6 00:00:28.000 --> 00:00:35.160 One of these interesting ways of owning something we call collective ownership, and the characteristic 7 00:00:35.160 --> 00:00:40.800 of collective ownership is that we have a particular property and it is said of the 8 00:00:40.800 --> 00:00:49.020 property that it is owned by each one of us in concert with every other one of us. 9 00:00:49.020 --> 00:00:54.360 In other words, this is the kind of ownership that we run into when the government or some 10 00:00:54.360 --> 00:01:05.360 and some other public agency says that it owns a property, but that actually it doesn't own it, but that we, a collective we, we all own it. 11 00:01:05.360 --> 00:01:20.360 Now, one of the first experiences that I had in this area relating to collective ownership goes back to a time a number of years ago when I first went to Colorado Springs to become the editor of the daily newspaper there. 12 00:01:50.360 --> 00:01:56.520 Supposed to be off limits for everybody in Colorado Springs, the reason being that as 13 00:01:56.520 --> 00:02:02.320 the city manager, he had invited another group of people from another community to come in 14 00:02:02.320 --> 00:02:08.480 and have free access to the park. And therefore, so that the park wouldn't be too crowded, 15 00:02:08.480 --> 00:02:15.360 why he wanted everybody locally to stay out of the park so that the people he had invited 16 00:02:15.360 --> 00:02:20.180 could be in the park and there would be plenty of room for them. Well, I thought this would 17 00:02:50.180 --> 00:02:57.180 Well, I said to him, the city, what's that? Well, he said, you know perfectly well what 18 00:02:57.180 --> 00:03:02.180 the city is. I said, no, I don't. I don't know what the city is. What is the city? Well, 19 00:03:02.180 --> 00:03:08.300 he said, it's the city of Colorado Springs. I said, fine, I understand that, but just 20 00:03:08.300 --> 00:03:14.420 what is it, aside from being a word? Oh, he said, this is what you mean. Well, he says, 21 00:03:14.420 --> 00:03:16.820 The city is a corporation. 22 00:03:16.820 --> 00:03:20.580 Oh, I said, well, I understand that. 23 00:03:20.580 --> 00:03:24.560 But I said, I'm trying to find out who the owner of the park is. 24 00:03:24.560 --> 00:03:30.860 Are you saying to me that the corporation that is called Colorado Springs owns the park? 25 00:03:30.860 --> 00:03:33.140 He says, yes, that's exactly what I'm trying to say. 26 00:03:33.140 --> 00:03:34.680 I said, fine. 27 00:03:34.680 --> 00:03:39.120 Now what I have to find out from you is who owns the corporation? 28 00:03:39.120 --> 00:03:40.760 He says, what do you mean, who owns the corporation? 29 00:03:40.760 --> 00:03:47.160 I said, well, you know, a corporation is not a person, you know, it's a fictional body 30 00:03:47.160 --> 00:03:52.560 that's been created by men, and I'd like to know who owns it. 31 00:03:52.560 --> 00:03:55.000 Oh, he says, I see what you mean. 32 00:03:55.000 --> 00:03:56.760 Why, he says, the taxpayers own it. 33 00:03:56.760 --> 00:03:58.240 Oh, I said, marvelous. 34 00:03:58.240 --> 00:04:04.680 The taxpayers own the corporation, which is Colorado Springs, and that corporation owns 35 00:04:04.680 --> 00:04:05.680 the park. 36 00:04:05.680 --> 00:04:06.680 He said, yes, that's exactly it. 37 00:04:06.680 --> 00:04:12.440 I said, well then, if the taxpayers own it, I guess that means that I'm one of the owners of the park. 38 00:04:12.440 --> 00:04:13.880 He said, of course you are. 39 00:04:13.880 --> 00:04:19.560 I said, marvelous! I didn't know that. I didn't realize I had an asset there, but I'm delighted. 40 00:04:19.560 --> 00:04:25.080 And I said, that being the case, I tell you what, I'll be going over to the park a little later this morning, 41 00:04:25.080 --> 00:04:30.600 and I wonder if you could have somebody from your office stop by and meet me there, 42 00:04:30.600 --> 00:04:36.200 and point out to me the particular part of the park that I own, because I didn't know I had this, 43 00:04:36.200 --> 00:04:40.680 and I'd like to be informed as to what my assets are." Well, he sort of snorted and said, 44 00:04:40.680 --> 00:04:44.680 well, now, wait a minute, you know, we don't do that. He says, you don't own any particular 45 00:04:44.680 --> 00:04:49.800 part of the park. I said, well, I'm one of the owners because I'm a taxpayer. He says, well, 46 00:04:50.600 --> 00:04:55.320 you are a taxpayer. Well, that was sure true. He said, you are a taxpayer and you own a part 47 00:04:55.320 --> 00:04:59.480 of the park, but we can't tell you which part. And I said, well, I don't think very much of 48 00:04:59.480 --> 00:05:04.760 the kind of ownership where I as the owner can't identify what it is that I own. Now, I said, 49 00:05:04.760 --> 00:05:15.260 I take the owning of property as a very serious thing. I feel responsible for it. I want to protect it. I want to take care of it. And I don't want to let it hurt anybody. 50 00:05:15.260 --> 00:05:23.260 As a matter of fact, if there's a piece of the park there that I own, I would like to improve it at my own cost. 51 00:05:23.260 --> 00:05:31.760 I might even like to put a monument on it. I realize it would be a tall, thin monument because I'm sure I don't have a very large piece of the park. 52 00:05:31.760 --> 00:05:45.920 Well, he began to get a little ruffled and out of patience with me, and he said, 53 00:05:45.920 --> 00:05:51.760 Well, now wait just a minute here. You can't do that. You can't do that with any kind 54 00:05:51.760 --> 00:05:58.120 of a corporation. Now, just suppose that you bought some shares of General Motors. You 55 00:05:58.120 --> 00:06:05.400 couldn't walk into the showroom of, say, one of the motor cars and take a look at one 56 00:06:05.400 --> 00:06:11.040 of the vehicles on the showroom floor and say, I own 10 shares of stock and therefore 57 00:06:11.040 --> 00:06:15.880 I own the backseat of that automobile. Turn it over to me. You couldn't do that. Because 58 00:06:15.880 --> 00:06:21.480 Because you don't own any part of the assets, you own a piece of the corporation, and that's all you own. 59 00:06:21.480 --> 00:06:27.480 I said, well, now you've got a good point. I'll have to concede that, because that is the nature of corporate ownership. 60 00:06:27.480 --> 00:06:34.480 If I own a piece of the corporation, you're quite right. I don't own a part of the assets of the corporation, 61 00:06:34.480 --> 00:06:42.880 because I own a part of the corporation itself. But I said there may have been a slip-up in your office, Mr. City Manager, 62 00:06:42.880 --> 00:06:49.440 because thus far I've been here two or three weeks and you haven't sent me the certificates 63 00:06:49.440 --> 00:06:55.440 that show how many shares I have in the park so I said if that's where the breakdown is I wonder if 64 00:06:55.440 --> 00:07:01.200 you could get those shares over to me because I said quite frankly I've been hearing rumors about 65 00:07:01.200 --> 00:07:06.800 this group that's coming into town and as I understand it from rumors of course it's kind 66 00:07:06.800 --> 00:07:12.000 of a rough-knit group and I think they're going to do some damage in the park and then I'm afraid 67 00:07:12.000 --> 00:07:18.000 that you won't be declaring a dividend to the owners of the park. Instead, you'll be sending them a bill for repairs. 68 00:07:18.000 --> 00:07:23.000 And I'd like to, you know, check out of this one. I don't think this is a good investment. 69 00:07:23.000 --> 00:07:32.000 So if you'll please get the stock certificates over to me as soon as possible, I'm going to unload because, you know, I don't think it's a profitable investment. 70 00:07:32.000 --> 00:07:38.000 Well, then he really did get angry with me and he said, now wait just a minute. If you were to try to sell shares like that, he said, 71 00:07:38.000 --> 00:07:42.000 Why, that'd be like trying to sell the Brooklyn Bridge. We'd put you in jail. 72 00:07:42.000 --> 00:07:45.000 I said, well now, what kind of stock are you selling? 73 00:07:45.000 --> 00:07:49.000 You got some kind of a stock here that if I try to sell it, I'm going to go to jail? 74 00:07:49.000 --> 00:07:52.000 I said, that sounds to me like some kind of a racket. What are you trying to do? 75 00:07:52.000 --> 00:07:56.000 Well, then he really did get angry with me. He said, oh, take it up with the park department. 76 00:07:56.000 --> 00:08:00.000 And he slammed the phone down. So I called the park department. 77 00:08:00.000 --> 00:08:06.000 I sometimes do things like that. And I asked them the same question. 78 00:08:06.000 --> 00:08:11.160 And I said, who owns the park? Well, we went around the circle the same way, and to make 79 00:08:11.160 --> 00:08:18.200 a long story short, it worked out that we had a case of collective ownership, and we 80 00:08:18.200 --> 00:08:26.560 couldn't figure out where the ultimate responsibility for managing the park resided. You see, the 81 00:08:26.560 --> 00:08:33.200 taxpayers had to pay the bills on the park, but they couldn't decide who used it. Theoretically, 82 00:08:33.200 --> 00:08:39.760 It was their park, but they couldn't use it if somebody else said they couldn't use 83 00:08:39.760 --> 00:08:40.760 it. 84 00:08:40.760 --> 00:08:45.460 If anything went wrong with it, they were sent a bill in the form of a tax increase 85 00:08:45.460 --> 00:08:47.280 the next year. 86 00:08:47.280 --> 00:08:51.360 And of course, there was never a dividend declared. 87 00:08:51.360 --> 00:08:56.000 If the park made money, which would be an impossibility on the basis of the way it was 88 00:08:56.000 --> 00:08:58.220 managed, they wouldn't get any part of it. 89 00:08:58.220 --> 00:08:59.840 That would go someplace else. 90 00:08:59.840 --> 00:09:05.760 So here you had a case where the people who owned the park had no control over what they 91 00:09:05.760 --> 00:09:11.240 owned. The people who exercised the control over it really didn't have to concern themselves 92 00:09:11.240 --> 00:09:14.920 with it, and some of them even lived out of town and didn't have to pay for it. And 93 00:09:14.920 --> 00:09:18.360 then the people in this particular instance who were going to use the park didn't get 94 00:09:18.360 --> 00:09:24.180 to manage it, and they didn't get to pay for it either. So you have a complete splitting 95 00:09:24.180 --> 00:09:40.100 In collective ownership, you have a division between the parties who are responsible and 96 00:09:40.100 --> 00:09:47.700 the parties who have authority. Now let me talk for just a moment about the basic philosophic 97 00:09:47.700 --> 00:09:53.980 characteristics of ownership. Ownership contains the element of value. It contains the element 98 00:09:53.980 --> 00:09:59.620 The element of boundary and the element of control, these three elements always appear 99 00:09:59.620 --> 00:10:05.960 with the ownership of property. Now, the element of control, which is what property ownership 100 00:10:05.960 --> 00:10:13.500 is all about, when you own a property, what you have is the rightful position to control 101 00:10:13.500 --> 00:10:19.340 it, that is, to become the decision maker over that property. That's the idea. And 102 00:10:19.340 --> 00:10:27.300 The element of decision-making contains two characteristics. The first, authority. That 103 00:10:27.300 --> 00:10:34.460 means to say the ability to make a decision and to have the decision stand. It is the 104 00:10:34.460 --> 00:10:40.680 ultimate decision that can be made over the property if you are the owner. The second 105 00:10:40.680 --> 00:10:49.200 characteristic of control would be the characteristic of responsibility. If you are the decision 106 00:10:49.200 --> 00:10:54.400 Maker, clearly you are responsible for the decisions that are made. You would also be 107 00:10:54.400 --> 00:10:59.440 responsible for maintaining your property. I couldn't own a piece of property and then 108 00:10:59.440 --> 00:11:04.220 send a bill for repairing it to people in my neighborhood. It's my property. I have 109 00:11:04.220 --> 00:11:10.280 to keep it up, not other people. And also, if my property damages someone, it would be 110 00:11:10.280 --> 00:11:18.280 the same as if I damage them if I own a car and my vehicle slams into somebody else's 111 00:11:18.280 --> 00:11:28.280 Well, it's the same as if I did it with my person, only it's worse because the car is heavier and harder and it would hurt more than if I ran into them. 112 00:11:28.280 --> 00:11:38.280 So it's the same as if I did. Remember that ownership is conceived of as an extension of the person over and beyond his physical being. 113 00:11:38.280 --> 00:11:55.280 So if I own a vehicle, I'm responsible for what the vehicle does. Just as I would be responsible if my fist got into your face, I would be responsible if my car got into your car, or into your backyard, or something else that is yours. 114 00:11:55.280 --> 00:12:05.280 So the responsibility and authority are a part of control. And control is what ownership is all about. 115 00:12:05.280 --> 00:12:12.280 Now, if you're going to have collective ownership, which is what I've been illustrating and describing, 116 00:12:12.280 --> 00:12:21.280 then you have a condition in which the authority is vested in one person or one group of people, but they aren't responsible. 117 00:12:21.280 --> 00:12:26.280 The responsibility is vested in another person or other groups of people. 118 00:12:26.280 --> 00:12:32.280 Now that creates a completely untenable position for those who are made responsible. 119 00:12:32.280 --> 00:12:39.200 Possibly I could show you what I mean best by giving you this little quip. A friend of 120 00:12:39.200 --> 00:12:45.880 mine came up with this once. He said to me, you know, I've been trying to devise a perfect 121 00:12:45.880 --> 00:12:51.080 hell. I said, marvelous. I think everybody should spend some time on that. He said, well, 122 00:12:51.080 --> 00:12:57.160 I've been working on having a perfect hell and I've got mine figured out. I said, great. 123 00:12:57.160 --> 00:13:00.480 What kind of torture instruments will you have in it? He said, there won't be any torture 124 00:13:00.480 --> 00:13:17.480 I said, well, it sounds like an innovation. What kind of hell are you anticipating? Well, he said, in mine, everybody there will be made responsible, but nobody will have any authority at all. 125 00:13:17.480 --> 00:13:23.480 And I got to thinking about it. I thought, you know, that's maybe all you need and you'd have a perfect hell. 126 00:13:23.480 --> 00:13:30.080 If I can make you responsible, but I have all the authority, what in the world can you 127 00:13:30.080 --> 00:13:38.040 do? I can saddle you with anything and everything. And you see, that's what we have with collective 128 00:13:38.040 --> 00:13:45.960 ownership. In collective ownership, all of us are made responsible for the decisions 129 00:13:45.960 --> 00:13:52.600 that a selected few make. Now, I would like to see, and I would like to suggest as a superior 130 00:13:52.600 --> 00:13:58.640 Their Type of Ownership, a condition in which the fellow that makes the decisions is responsible 131 00:13:58.640 --> 00:14:02.600 for having made them. And if they pay off, good, let him get the benefit. And if they 132 00:14:02.600 --> 00:14:06.840 don't pay off, well, don't send me the bill, let him have the bill. He made the decision 133 00:14:06.840 --> 00:14:08.120 in the first place. 134 00:14:08.120 --> 00:14:12.120 Incidentally, my judgment on the park turned out to be right because the group that came 135 00:14:12.120 --> 00:14:17.640 up from this other community got into the park and they did about $5,000 worth of damages 136 00:14:17.640 --> 00:14:23.640 to the shrubbery, and there was a bandstand, and they wrecked that to a degree, and it 137 00:14:23.640 --> 00:14:29.960 cost about $5,000 to repair the damage, and the result was that all the taxpayers, quote 138 00:14:29.960 --> 00:14:36.840 and unquote, owners, got a bill next year in the form of an increase in their taxes 139 00:14:36.840 --> 00:14:43.720 to help pay for a decision that the city manager had made, and let's concede, he perhaps 140 00:14:43.720 --> 00:14:54.840 had an increase too. But he was able to take by far and away the bulk of the cost and shove 141 00:14:54.840 --> 00:14:59.480 it off on people that had no say in the matter at all. Well, now the argument would be, of 142 00:14:59.480 --> 00:15:06.040 course, well, wait a minute, they did have a say because they got to elect the city manager. 143 00:15:06.040 --> 00:15:10.100 And therefore, if they don't like what the city manager did, well, they can fire him 144 00:15:10.100 --> 00:15:15.100 and through the processes of the electorate and get another city manager. 145 00:15:15.100 --> 00:15:18.820 And in a degree that's true and that must be conceded. 146 00:15:18.820 --> 00:15:26.300 But the fact remains that here we have a kind of ownership nonetheless where there is no 147 00:15:26.300 --> 00:15:34.640 individual responsibility or authority properly based and no chance of getting out from under. 148 00:15:34.640 --> 00:15:39.940 You see if I buy 10 shares of stock with General Motors and I don't like what they're doing 149 00:15:39.940 --> 00:15:40.940 Banking. 150 00:15:40.940 --> 00:15:44.100 I don't have to bother to try to change their management. 151 00:15:44.100 --> 00:15:45.100 To heck with it! 152 00:15:45.100 --> 00:15:51.100 I can turn around the following day and sell out and recover most, if not all, of what 153 00:15:51.100 --> 00:15:52.580 I've put in. 154 00:15:52.580 --> 00:15:57.060 As a matter of fact, I don't have to own anybody's stock at any time unless I decide 155 00:15:57.060 --> 00:15:58.060 I want to. 156 00:15:58.060 --> 00:16:01.340 Now, that takes a deliberate decision on my part. 157 00:16:01.340 --> 00:16:06.660 So I go into the process with my eyes open, I know what I'm paying for, and the only 158 00:16:06.660 --> 00:16:09.900 reason I buy it is because I think I'm going to make something with it. 159 00:16:09.900 --> 00:16:14.140 And if I find I was wrong, then I sell out because I didn't make anything with it. 160 00:16:14.140 --> 00:16:20.340 And that's fair, because I'm the fellow who is in authority over what I'm doing, 161 00:16:20.340 --> 00:16:26.500 and I make it or lose it on my own, and I'm responsible for having done what I did. 162 00:16:26.500 --> 00:16:33.580 But now when we get into collective ownership, well, I am coerced, my money is taken from 163 00:16:33.580 --> 00:16:38.260 me whether I like it or not, it's expended in ways over which I have no control, and 164 00:16:38.260 --> 00:16:45.500 The only possible out I have is to try to elect another guy that will do it differently. 165 00:16:45.500 --> 00:16:49.820 But there isn't any way that I can get him to do it the way I want to do it. 166 00:16:49.820 --> 00:16:56.140 And if I did, think of the incursions upon all of the other people that are placed in 167 00:16:56.140 --> 00:16:59.780 the same situation who don't agree with me. 168 00:16:59.780 --> 00:17:01.780 It's a completely untenable situation. 169 00:17:01.780 --> 00:17:06.460 Now let me point out something that you may not have thought of, but it's an extremely 170 00:17:06.460 --> 00:17:13.760 Significant Point The major differences today are being expressed 171 00:17:13.760 --> 00:17:23.260 in this area. This is where it is. This is where the action is. The major question of 172 00:17:23.260 --> 00:17:32.900 our time today is this. Who gets to own how much of what? That's the question. A lot 173 00:17:32.900 --> 00:17:39.260 A lot of people suppose that the major question of our time is whether communism or capitalism 174 00:17:39.260 --> 00:17:45.500 will win the day. Let me assure you that that question has been resolved a long time ago. 175 00:17:45.500 --> 00:17:54.500 No question. Hands down, capitalism won the day. No question. Capitalism is an efficacious, 176 00:17:54.500 --> 00:18:02.140 viable method. It works. However, what hasn't been decided is who is going to own the capital. 177 00:18:02.140 --> 00:18:08.360 As a matter of fact, I think the people I have noted who are more interested in capital 178 00:18:08.360 --> 00:18:13.500 than anybody else are communists. They're very interested in capital. They want mine 179 00:18:13.500 --> 00:18:22.500 as well as their own. So here you have a conflict in the question of ownership and that's where 180 00:18:22.500 --> 00:18:30.900 it is. Who gets to own, and read that word ownership if you like, control, what we're 181 00:18:30.900 --> 00:18:39.900 The question is, who is going to own, to it, control the meaningful assets in the world? 182 00:18:39.900 --> 00:18:43.900 That's the question. And that question hasn't been decided yet. 183 00:18:43.900 --> 00:18:51.900 Now, of course, what we want to do is to come up with a solution that would maximize human well-being. 184 00:18:51.900 --> 00:18:57.900 And let me say this. If the communists have the facts, we better become communists as fast as we can. 185 00:18:57.900 --> 00:19:03.380 If they're wrong, we better figure out how to say so. We shouldn't become emotionally 186 00:19:03.380 --> 00:19:09.300 involved here. We should become intellectually informed. Don't be for or against communism 187 00:19:09.300 --> 00:19:14.060 because you like its sound or you don't like its sound. You have to understand what 188 00:19:14.060 --> 00:19:18.220 it's for, what it's about, and how it works, just as you have to understand capitalism 189 00:19:18.220 --> 00:19:22.860 and what it's for, what it's about, and how it works. And then you weigh these things 190 00:19:22.860 --> 00:19:29.860 to see which, in the end, comes up with the most practical, the most suitable way of operating. 191 00:19:29.860 --> 00:19:36.900 And whichever that particular way is, or those ways, we better accept that. Because now we're 192 00:19:36.900 --> 00:19:41.400 dealing with reality. And that's what we have to deal with. In the end, we are confronted 193 00:19:41.400 --> 00:19:46.380 with objective reality. We better know what the facts are. If the capitalists are right, 194 00:19:46.380 --> 00:19:50.380 we better get to be capitalists real fast. If the communists are right, the same thing 195 00:19:50.380 --> 00:20:14.380 Now, that's important. We shouldn't be operating on the basis of our prejudices, our preconceived notions, our emotional hang-ups, whatever they may be. We should get to the facts of the matter and find out which method or which combination of methods is going to come up realistically with the best possible way we can do it. 196 00:20:14.380 --> 00:20:25.280 So keep in mind, the basic question of our time is the one I've just phrased, who gets to own how much of what? 197 00:20:25.280 --> 00:20:32.880 Now take for just a moment and consider that question in the light of many of the trouble spots that we have in the country today. 198 00:20:32.880 --> 00:20:38.580 Think about them. We have what appears to be a racial issue. You know what that really is? 199 00:20:38.580 --> 00:20:42.380 That's a question over who is going to control property. 200 00:20:42.380 --> 00:20:48.380 Take, for instance, how the racial issue has apparently affected our educational institutions. 201 00:20:48.380 --> 00:20:53.320 What's the argument really about? Well, you've got public schools, and what are they? They 202 00:20:53.320 --> 00:20:58.980 are collectivized property. We are told that each one of us is an owner of the property 203 00:20:58.980 --> 00:21:04.220 in conjunction with everybody else who also owns the property. All right? Now you have 204 00:21:04.220 --> 00:21:09.380 a school board. They're supposed to run the school. Who does the school board represent? 205 00:21:09.380 --> 00:21:16.220 Theoretically, everybody. Okay. Factually, that's not possible because everybody has 206 00:21:16.220 --> 00:21:21.640 different ideas. So, if the school board, for example, decides—and let me just make 207 00:21:21.640 --> 00:21:26.680 a real pointed case out of it—let's suppose that the school board decides that we ought 208 00:21:26.680 --> 00:21:34.240 to have absolutely segregated schools, whether they are all black, all white, or all yellow, 209 00:21:34.240 --> 00:21:37.820 or all brown. It doesn't concern me at the moment. Let's just suppose that the school 210 00:21:37.820 --> 00:21:44.500 If the school board decides that all the schools are to be segregated, then what about the 211 00:21:44.500 --> 00:21:47.100 people that don't agree with that? 212 00:21:47.100 --> 00:21:53.100 You can't have a school and have it owned by everybody, having everybody having equal 213 00:21:53.100 --> 00:22:00.020 rights to that property, and then make a decision that violates somebody's rights. 214 00:22:00.020 --> 00:22:05.540 The people who believe in integration have as much right to believe in integration as 215 00:22:05.540 --> 00:22:09.940 As somebody has to believe in segregation. But when you put it all together in one piece 216 00:22:09.940 --> 00:22:17.580 of property, keep in mind, the property can't behave both ways. It can only follow one ultimate 217 00:22:17.580 --> 00:22:24.500 decision at a time. If you've got a segregated school, it is not integrated. If it is integrated, 218 00:22:24.500 --> 00:22:33.020 it is not segregated. The problem of the racial tension and so on is largely an economic problem. 219 00:22:33.020 --> 00:22:39.460 relates to who owns the stuff, not whether you're going one way or another. I know blacks 220 00:22:39.460 --> 00:22:45.620 that prefer segregation. I know blacks that prefer integration. I know whites that prefer 221 00:22:45.620 --> 00:22:51.640 integration. I know whites that prefer segregation. But you try to put all that in one building 222 00:22:51.640 --> 00:22:58.000 and you can't do it because they're philosophically contradictory. You can't move both north 223 00:22:58.000 --> 00:23:04.640 and South at the same instant, in the same way. That's not possible. So you have to make a decision. 224 00:23:04.640 --> 00:23:09.760 And who makes the decision? When you've got a publicly owned property to it, a collectively 225 00:23:09.760 --> 00:23:16.960 owned property, you can't be right. It's not possible. It isn't possible. Because you're 226 00:23:16.960 --> 00:23:24.080 trying to please, and you must equally please, persons who have absolutely opposite views. 227 00:23:24.080 --> 00:23:30.860 Well, then if the school board acts to please segregationists, they are violating the rights 228 00:23:30.860 --> 00:23:36.420 of the integrationists to have their way with what they themselves have helped pay for. 229 00:23:36.420 --> 00:23:40.320 If the school board operates in favor of the integrationists, then they are violating the 230 00:23:40.320 --> 00:23:44.580 rights of the segregationists who have also paid to have it their way. 231 00:23:44.580 --> 00:23:49.060 When you've got property that is collectively owned, you've got collective ownership, 232 00:23:49.060 --> 00:23:51.000 you've got a problem. 233 00:23:51.000 --> 00:23:56.960 In fact, that's one of the problems I call the problem of conflict in ownership. And that's 234 00:23:56.960 --> 00:24:02.200 one of the areas I'm going to take up in relation to ownership. Because if we're going 235 00:24:02.200 --> 00:24:08.580 to maximize human well-being, we're going to have to begin minimizing human conflict. 236 00:24:08.580 --> 00:24:14.440 And so what we'll want to do is to move in the direction of getting away from types of 237 00:24:14.440 --> 00:24:20.160 ownership which positively, by their nature, dictate conflict. 238 00:24:20.160 --> 00:24:28.160 Take another look at this. Here we have a public highway. Who owns it? Well, we are 239 00:24:28.160 --> 00:24:33.240 told it's another case of collective ownership. The government owns it. Well, does the government 240 00:24:33.240 --> 00:24:41.840 really own it? No, the government is only acting for us. Who's us? Well, that's 241 00:24:41.840 --> 00:24:48.240 everybody. Well, that means that I have as much ownership of that highway as any other 242 00:24:48.240 --> 00:24:55.240 of the World, The Theory of Money and Credit, The Theory of Money and Credit, The Theory 243 00:25:18.240 --> 00:25:23.440 I don't like the way you were driving. 244 00:25:23.440 --> 00:25:24.440 Well, what's it to him? 245 00:25:24.440 --> 00:25:25.440 He's working for me. 246 00:25:25.440 --> 00:25:32.960 You know, if I have a fellow working in my house, say I have a butler or a gardener or 247 00:25:32.960 --> 00:25:38.840 a maid, and I come in through the front door of the house and the maid says, I don't like 248 00:25:38.840 --> 00:25:40.120 the way you came through the door. 249 00:25:40.120 --> 00:25:41.480 You go on out and come in again. 250 00:25:41.480 --> 00:25:42.480 You know what's going to happen to the maid. 251 00:25:42.480 --> 00:25:44.480 She's going to get fired right then. 252 00:25:44.480 --> 00:25:46.720 I'm going to say, Buster, this is my house. 253 00:25:46.720 --> 00:25:50.680 I'm going to come into it any way I like, because I can do it, because I'm the authority 254 00:25:50.680 --> 00:25:59.200 over the house. But now who's the authority over the highway? I have to pay for it. I'm 255 00:25:59.200 --> 00:26:05.800 made responsible if the highway is disintegrated, my taxes go up, if accidents occur on it, 256 00:26:05.800 --> 00:26:11.520 I'm included in the blame. It's all my fault, but who makes the decisions over it? 257 00:26:11.520 --> 00:26:25.040 So, every time you run into this type of operation, you run into areas where you can have conflict. 258 00:26:25.040 --> 00:26:32.120 And the more we can get out of conflict, the better it will be for human beings, I think. 259 00:26:32.120 --> 00:26:39.320 You see, the major question now relates to this. What kind of ownership would tend to 260 00:26:39.320 --> 00:26:42.520 to Maximize Human Well-Being. 261 00:26:42.520 --> 00:26:50.860 Would we have a better human situation if all major properties were managed by the people 262 00:26:50.860 --> 00:26:52.640 who owned them? 263 00:26:52.640 --> 00:26:58.680 Or would we have a better situation if all major properties were owned by people who 264 00:26:58.680 --> 00:27:00.600 didn't own them? 265 00:27:00.600 --> 00:27:07.340 Is there some special characteristic that accompanies ownership that provides reasonable 266 00:27:07.340 --> 00:27:14.340 Special Judgment in the Management of Properties or, conversely, is there some special judgment 267 00:27:14.340 --> 00:27:21.060 that accompanies people who don't own properties that make them better managers? Which is the 268 00:27:21.060 --> 00:27:27.420 better manager or who is the better manager of a property? The man who has worked to earn 269 00:27:27.420 --> 00:27:34.280 it, who has saved, been careful with his money, made an investment, taken care of the property 270 00:27:34.280 --> 00:27:40.560 and is engaged in making decisions over it, or is a better manager, a man who has not 271 00:27:40.560 --> 00:27:45.840 saved, has not invested, has been examining it, and now he believes that because of the 272 00:27:45.840 --> 00:27:50.680 fact that he doesn't own it, he is in a better position to discover what everybody 273 00:27:50.680 --> 00:27:55.080 else would like in respect to the property than the man who has had the foresight and 274 00:27:55.080 --> 00:28:00.360 the thrift to own it in the first place. This is the question that has to be resolved. It 275 00:28:00.360 --> 00:28:06.480 It goes to this basic question of who gets to own how much of what, and that's what 276 00:28:06.480 --> 00:28:13.720 we have to examine. Now this business of conflict in the ownership of property is, of course, 277 00:28:13.720 --> 00:28:21.360 a major area. We human beings are good at it. We can get conflicts in more ways than 278 00:28:21.360 --> 00:28:27.120 you can think of. We have had a long practice of it. I think human beings have a tendency 279 00:28:27.120 --> 00:28:35.920 to be a little bit belligerent and to be very prideful and sometimes very avid, very greedy, 280 00:28:35.920 --> 00:28:42.720 and certainly we are selfish, we are egocentric, we are individually oriented, and so it's 281 00:28:42.720 --> 00:28:47.440 not too difficult for us to get into conflict, and that is certainly one of the things we'll 282 00:28:47.440 --> 00:28:51.520 want to examine. So we'll do that at a later time. Thanks very much.