Some Afterthoughts on the Revolution

It's been a little while since I was in alarmist mode. From what I experience in Second Life, things have in many ways return to normal. True, there are still a lot of institutions that are keeping low withdrawal limits, but otherwise the new policy has been absorbed into the SL economy.

Was my alarmist disposition unwarranted? Perhaps to a small extent. However, there is still the little matter of intervention in what had been a truly free market. It seems that Linden Lab has simply exercised their power in how the economy is run.

This reminds me of the situation in 1763, shortly after the Seven Years War. Even though they were victorious, Great Britain was in a financial mess. Wars that span several continents are pretty expensive to fight. They reasonably thought that some of the places that were defended in that war should contribute to the repayment of their defence.

The result was a twelve-year struggle over the issue of how much authority that the mother country had over its colonies. After all, the colonies existed only because the Crown and Parliament either established them or allowed them to be established. Given the distance and the nature of many of the American colonies, there was a lot of internal freedom, including the economic system.

All the time did Great Britain have the right to interfere with the colonial economies. Yet they kept their hands off, even when it violated the few rules laid out by the government. It was when they decided to impose this power that the whole affair leading to the Revolution occurred.

In my mind, Linden Lab has performed pretty much the same action. It is indeed their world. They allow for a large amount of internal freedom for SL residents, but at any time of their choosing, they can revoke that in favour of some new limiting policy.

After Great Britain's first attempt to impose duties within the colonies lead to disastrous results, the taxes were repealed. However, the mother country did leave with a parting shot, an official proclamation that they could impose this again at any time.

I think that is the danger that has emerged. We residents have had it fairly free economically to create risky yet high yield investments. With that slapped down (at least in the form of interest), we now have a better picture of what Linden Lab could do in the future. That is the lesson we should take note of.