More on manuals plus rescue

[Paul Koning]

> On Aug 19, 2015, at 3:28 PM, Sean Caron <scaron at umich.edu> wrote:
> 
> At what point should historic preservationists be concerned with preserving
> someone else's obsolescent business model? Selling Xerox copies and burned
> CDs ... and that's hard cash out of the pocket of every hobbyist that could
> undoubtedly be better spent say, preserving actual equipment, than paying a
> "vig" on documentation. I know it's hard to make a living in the USA these
> days but I feel the suggestion is only going to hurt consumers and delay
> the inevitable anyway.

If you want to have a defensible claim that your personal property is your own, you have to likewise respect the claims of others to theirs.

If someone sells property he owns, you have a choice: you can spend your money to buy it, or you can elect not to spend your money and not buy it.  But you cannot argue that the seller's business is "obsolescent" and this is a reason to justify stealing his property.  Nor can you argue, in a free market, that the selling price is a "vig" -- if you don't like the price, offer less, find another seller, or get in the business yourself.

	paul