(copied from another comment that I posted this in originally by accident) You consider NHS to be an example of a well run nationalized system, and yet the NHS

(copied from another comment that I posted this in originally by accident) You consider NHS to be an example of a well run nationalized system, and yet the NHS deals with chronic rationing [0] [1], has queues for many things (and actually lets you pay to jump place in line) [2]. I'd hardly call that efficient or well run - instead, I'd call it symptomatic of central planning. During the 90s and 00s I thought that perhaps China's simultaneous transition from poverty and shortage to (relative) wealth and abundance (which was driven by their transition from state control to capitalism) would have finally put this 'the state could eliminate shortages and give everybody everything' nonsense to rest, but it seems that people have very short memories indeed (or just weren't born yet when the major experiments in nationalization were underway). To give you a preview of the links, this quote is particularly poignant: "Rationing is nothing new, of course. When waiting lists stretched to many months and even years, treatment was often rationed simply by the patient dying before they reach the operating table." [0] http://www.theguardian.com/society/2015/dec/08/nhs-rationing-denying-patients-care-cash-crisis-survery-doctors http://www.theguardian.com/society/2015/dec/08/nhs-rationing... [1] http://www.theguardian.com/healthcare-network/2015/apr/24/rationing-care-fact-of-life-nhs http://www.theguardian.com/healthcare-network/2015/apr/24/ra... [2] http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-3104106/NHS-charges-patients-14-000-jump-queue-crucial-ops-Hospitals-letting-need-knee-hip-replacement-surgery-pay-skip-queue.html http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-3104106/NHS-charge...