Date: Wed, 30 Aug 1995 10:33:33 -0400 To: cypherpunks@toad.com From: Duncan Frissell <frissell@panix.com> Subject: More Disintermediation According to Monday's USA Today, the Customs Service has come up with a plan to stop stopping international travelers arriving at US airports. Apparently they can't afford "personal" service any more. With 60 million arrivals, Customs has decided to mingle a bit in luggage claim, look for those meeting its profiles, and use drug- and food-sniffing dogs to catch smugglers. Note that international travel has doubled in the last few years. What is Customs (and La Migra) going to do when it doubles again. It is much easier for market phenomenons like this to double or triple than it is for government agencies to double or triple. Markets scale well. Governments don't. DCF "When foreigners steal 'our' jobs, our labor is freed for other tasks and total world product increases. Jobs can no more 'run out' than desire for things in general can 'run out'."