In Saigon(Ho Chi Mien City), the Rex Hotel sits at the intersection of a 6 lane boulevard with a 4 lane thoroughfare. This is the hotel where, in 1972, reporters and correspondents of the Vietnam war sipped Mohitos while awaiting their own evacuation from the(lost) war zone.
Today, under the influence of free market progress, since 1992, the city has grown into a bustling metropolis, with 8,000,000 citizens, and 2,000,000 Mopeds, with 1000 new ones being sold daily. I was given this info by a Certified Guide(they are fired for erroneous reporting).
The intersection described above handles tens of thousands of vehicles each business day. There are accidents that occur rarely. I watched the spectacle of hundreds of cars and mopeds per minute negotiating the busy intersection. From the Rex Hotel, it looks like a fantastic half-time integration of the most coordinated marching band in the world !! A ballet of sorts, cars, mopeds, and bikes at 20 MPH.
But wait!! Guess what?? There are NO traffic controls, NO traffic lights, NO cops, and NO rules at that intersection !! Traffic lights and controls are rare in the city. How can this be ?? The only thing that matters in the above scenario is that YOU DO NOT HIT ANYBODY, all that is necessary is that one protect their own personal interests. They are simply watching out for themselves, but consequently everybody wins. It seems to work. Without this freedom of action, guided solely by "selfishness", traffic in Saigon would be paralyzed. More control equals less freedom.
"Atlas Shrugged", by Ayn Rand, pretty much says it all!!
Avagadro602
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