Quote of the Day: Molinari on Property

“Private property is redundant. “Public property” is an oxymoron. All legit property is private. If property isn’t private it’s stolen.”
― Gustave de Molinari

An important point to remember everyday.  Property is an objective thing.  There is no other form of property than what we commonly call private property. When people and groups imagine joint ownership of something with thousands or millions of others, the entire concept and benefit of property erodes.  It becomes anti-property – just some thing we all quibble over how it is to be used.  Land or other items are best used, best preserved, and best respected by others when the fact of their being privately owned by a person is known and respected.  When something is “owned” by some fictitious entity like us, we, a government, a corporation, etc – it ends up being abused, used for temporary gain by lessees, and fought over.  So as we hear news – local, national, and international – discussing concepts of goods, people, places, governments, companies, property, taxes, and so on – remember Molinari’s quote; and analyze what you hear through this lens.