[daniel_newhouse]

Free trade should be simple – a nation has the policy that there are no tariffs, custom duties, or quotas at all.
Export restrictions imply that a company has to register a product with the source and destination companies and let the governments track whether the products meet import/export restrictions.

This systems would work great if people did not have the ability to sue companies and individuals for compensatory or punitive damages. Then business would no longer be liable for errors in imports and exports.

Liability of individuals and businesses could be replaced by liability of the government. Citizens could seek redress of grievance from the government for failing to uphold the law.

[daniel_newhouse]

The way we calculate GDP is just plain silly. First off, income should be taken out of GDP altogether. What counts is the money people pay for services or the money they pay for products. When a product is paid for the full value of that product should be calculated as the GDP for the point of origin. This will require a much better tracking and labeling system, but it would be well worth it. The result would be a GDP lower than GNI, which I am sure is true.

Statistics we need.

Hypothetically speaking, archaeologists of a future civilization looking back on our own would track standard of living with 1 essential metric: the size per bed of farmhand dormitories. This is the standard of living of the poor.

What they frequently substitute, since farmhand dorms disintegrate in the archeological record, is the size of churches. Churches are frequently made of durable material.

[daniel_newhouse]

Patents are a government granted monopoly. A patent prevents any other company from using any proprietary invention when making their products. But do patents ever really belong to the institution you work for? If the CEO or the chairman of the board of directors moves to another company, do patents move with him? If I understand employment agreements properly the patents are supposed to belong to the company you work for.

Now, what’s wrong with preventing other companies from using your propietary patented material? What if someone who generates the patented material moves from one company to another? They can’t use it at the new company. This reduces their individual value on the job marketplace. You may look at a resume of someone who is reponsible for patents and be impressed. But what good does it do them to get a new job and not
be able to use their old inventions?

I say all patents go anonymous GPU!

Also, copyright. I say, if you copy something (transcribe in techno-can) from one employer to the next you have violated the law. If you remember it, it’s fair game.

[Author]

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