Law Student Ash Navabi: Copywrong? The Legal & Economic Case for the Abolition of Intellectual Property

Canada’s population surge was not helpless new babies. In a functioning economy, an increase in working-age adults with savings should *raise* the standard of living, not lower it.

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At a time of high global uncertainty, other countries hold their own citizens back by taxing & regulating them to paralysis. Canada can buck the trend by unleashing our own capital, talent, & ideas. This way, we can be more ambitious than 2% growth & 3% inflation.

I know these ideas will mean a major cut to government revenues & services. But imagine how much more charitable Canadians could be if we kept 100% of our incomes. Imagine also the efficacy of these services when it’s our own investments on the line.

*Because that last one is probably the most controversial, here are some sources: An attorney against IP law: https://t.co/q4brE1Q2i6 Economists against the efficiency of IP: https://t.co/H32VddBz2A Philosopher on the implications of IP:

The most under-discussed leash on Canadians is that of patents & copyrights (IP). IP is not only immoral & unethical, but it is also economically inefficient as it prohibits competition. Abolishing patents will unleash unprecedented investment in Canadian pharma & hard tech.

Minimum wages make it illegal to hire inexperienced & low productivity workers, causing record unemployment among young & new Canadians. Licensing is an outdated racket, as more people look to online for medical, legal, & engineering advice. Time to abolish both.

The tightest leashes of all are income taxes & inflation. Both were 20th century creations. Canada grew great without them. And despite the brouhaha, tariffs are <1% of gov revenue. Imagine what Canadians could build with 100% of their incomes, with tariff-free trade.

The solution can’t be more of the same: a few tax tweaks, a few billion in handouts to the politically-connected, with more government debt & inflation. Unleashing must involve abolishing—completely eliminating—the worst taxes & regulations.

As politicians repeatedly promised to “cut red tape,” taxes and regulations have continuously increased. It’s not red tape holding back Canadians; it’s the taxes & regulations, which hold back growth like a *leash* holds back a wild animal.

“Red tape” was just red string. It was used by the inbred Habsburg King Charles V of Spain to prioritize files. The British then used it to bind all bureaucratic documents. So “cutting red tape” just means less binding & unbinding for bureaucrats.

In addition to billions of dollars of new spending marketed as “investment,” the budget also promises to reduce “red tape.” Yet even after the new spending & “red tape” reductions, the Canadian government only expects 2% growth at best. This is not good enough.

If you believe that @MarkJCarney new Canadian budget will “build big, build bold, and build now,” then you don’t understand why Canada hasn’t been building big, bold, & fast enough for several decades.

1992 World Series: Toronto skyline 2025 World Series: Toronto skyline

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@build_canada Cc: @lucyhargreaves4 @ddebow @melkuo @_benjaminparry @EricDLombardi

@build_canada So it makes no sense for the solution to be ‘more subsidies, but with a few tweaks here and there to who gets the subsidies and who pays them.” Shouldn’t the answer to “lowered expectations” be changing the status quo, rather than doing more of the same?

@build_canada The last 70 years have been one big experiment with government subsidies to businesses, infrastructure, startups, and takeovers of entire industries like education and healthcare. To fund this, new and increasingly higher taxes were implemented. This is how we ended up here.

Reviewing the 10 most recent @build_canada memos: One wants tweaks to immigration rules, & another wants tweaks for capital gains. Six want more government $ for VCs, startups, airports & consultants. One wants more gov employees with a credit card. This is ‘Subsidize Canada.’