"A lot of the money and people in such places come from Silicon Valley. Consider Próspera, a private town in Honduras, financed in part by funds backed by Andreessen, Thiel and Sam Altman. Here businesses can create their own bespoke regulatory frameworks, entrepreneurs can run wacky medical trials free from Food and Drug Administration standards and citizens are protected from crime (though presumably not the white-collar kind) by a private firm of armed guards. Its goal says it all: “building the future of human governance: privately run and for-profit”.

That might well be the Trump administration’s mantra, too. But investors should remember that techno-libertarianism often peaks before a fall. In 2006, Richard Haass, a former George W Bush state department official, wrote a piece arguing for corporations to be elevated to near nation state status. Companies such as Microsoft and Goldman Sachs had a role to play in “regional and global deliberations”, as the “near monopoly power” of states was eroded.

The great financial crisis made that notion both passé and politically toxic, at least for a time. Now, we are about to see what private monopoly power in the guise of government looks like. I wonder how long the dream — or perhaps nightmare — will last before the world once again wakes up."

https://www.ft.com/content/13cc2796-6e91-4002-92e6-3a31cf2dfeb3

#USA #Trump #TechnoLibertarianism #Libertarianism #Privatopia #SiliconValley #Monopolies