Reply To: Debate assistance…

#17820
jmherbener
Participant

Your protagonist is completely mistaken. Shareholders have a legal claim to the equity of an enterprise. A shareholder who owns one percent of the shares has a legal claim to one percent of the equity of the enterprise. The claim can be exercised if the enterprise disbands. Of course a legal claim to equity that can be exercised only on condition that the enterprise goes out of business does not give the shareholder a legal claim on the inventory of the enterprise. Neither does a consumer get a claim on an enterprise’s “cash equivalent of his stock of inventory” by buying a tube of toothpaste. But, he does get a legal claim to the tube of toothpaste. In contrast, no person has a legal claim of ownership to the property of the state whatsoever. Citizens have no legal claim to any property owned by the state. Government officials have legal use of state owned property, but not full legal ownership.

On this point, take a look at Hans Hoppe:

http://library.mises.org/books/Hans-Hermann%20Hoppe/Economics%20and%20Ethics%20of%20Private%20Property%20Studies%20in%20Political%20Economy%20and%20Philosophy.pdf