Reddit mentions of In Defense of Classical Liberalism: An Economic Analysis

>What about a factory that is polluting a river that several small villages use for drinking water and agriculture. At what point does law become regulation?

This is obviously an issue of the courts. If you set the precedent that everything can be fixed with a simple regulation, it creates a very complex, inefficient and wasteful system that can be managed just as easily by the justice system. Besides, isn't there a thread here almost everyday of government passing regulations that help one business at the expense of another?

>on your second paragraph

You're talking about Marx's labour theory of value, that you should be paid according to the amount of hours of work you do.

In the mid-1800s, Karl Marx used the labor theory of value to postulate that workers were being exploited by owners, and that the level of exploitation is measured by the amount of profit a business collects. Marx essentially believed that the value of any good could be objectively calculated by adding the cost of the raw material used in the product to the value of the labor that went into producing it. His theory regarded profit as an unfair reduction of wages paid to the worker. Eliminating exploitation therefore involved eliminating profit by either increasing wages or giving any surplus to the worker.

The theory was embraced by workers everywhere, and eventually found its way into countries like the Soviet Union. Once in place, however, it became immediately obvious that the theory wasn't creating the worker's paradise it promised. In 1918 Russia, for example, Lenin announced that all profits and surplus would be seized by the state and distributed to workers. Because of this, farmers began growing food only for themselves, since they knew that any extra would be taken by the state. Widespread starvation was the result.

Industry fared no better. By 1920 small factories were producing just 43% of their 1913 total. Large factories were producing 18% of their 1913 figure. Coal production was at 27% of its 1913 figure in 1920. By 1920, the average worker had a productivity rate that was 44% less than the 1913 figure. It got so bad that in 1921 Lenin was forced to once again allow private profit. Industry quickly recovered.

Though most modern economists say Marx's work has been discredited in both theory and practice, his words still resonate with worker movements and would-be revolutionaries around the world. Yet with the economic foundation of Marxism largely discredited, those words now spread dangerous fallacies in their eloquence. Most who share them are unaware of this fact, and every generation ends up having to relearn this the hard way.

Sources: 1, 2

>but my work generates 10x what I am paid in profits for the company

Do not forget, labour is competitive too. Another company would offer you a higher wage and better bonuses if you are as productive as you say you are.

>how is that an ideal system?

It's not ideal. But it's the best we have. If you dislike the current system, you have to ask yourself three questions.

1. Relative to what?
   
   
2. At what cost?
   
   
3. What hard evidence do you have?