My friend Ruod has been a successful and jolly civil liberties broker, until lately when he lost his job in the collapse of the freedom market, a disastrous crisis for institutions in that sector.

Due to the recent rapid inflation of prices, the cost of purchasing individual freedoms had become surprisingly, distressingly high, only payable by most people through the avenue of high-interest loans. And for a while, an ever increasing fraction of the population teetered precariously at the edge of being able to make their loan payments. Then, the whole system hit its breaking point as the growth of other economic sectors faltered; the performance of long-prosperous industries wavered, companies with ambitious plans scrambled, struggled and foundered, salaries dropped, people tumbled out of employment. Now the majority of people with these loans are defaulting, losing their financed liberties, flooding the market with a staggering glut of personal freedoms—fantastic deals with hardly any buyers. Facing an utter dearth of prospective clients as well as clienteles reneging on closing and closed deals, brokers like my friend quickly lost their livelihoods, their businesses collapsing. Continue reading →