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Bad management is not synonymous with socialism. While you can argue that good management of an economy is harder with a weakened invisible hand, that's a far c

by labster 10y ago

Bad management is not synonymous with socialism. While you can argue that good management of an economy is harder with a weakened invisible hand, that's a far cry from saying socialism causes death.

duncan_bayne 10y ago
The idea that you can "manage" an economy is known as the (socialist) calculation problem, and was raised as an issue last century by (amongst others) the Austrian school. Simply put, it's impossible, and the harder you try, the more death and misery you create in the long term.
- duncan_bayne 10y ago
  Curious about the reason for the downvotes here - the calculation problem has been one of the strongest economic (as opposed to moral) arguments against socialism, for decades.
golergka 10y ago
It is: managing other's people money that you can steal from always gets worse results than managing something of your own.
- yxhuvud 10y ago
  > that you can steal This is the bad management part, and does not automatically follow from socialism.
  - golergka 10y ago
    It automatically follows from balance of power. It's hard to steal for CEOs because board members are individual (not collective, that's important) and powerful actors. In a typical socialist political structure, there aren't any actors like this - at best you have some public representatives who are much more concerned with staying in their seats than managing anytging.
    - yxhuvud 10y ago
      Bullshit! Socialism is not inherently against transparency nor accountability. There have been some crappy socialistic governments, but there have also been some of the better ones, like the ones here in Scandinavia.
      - snrplfth 10y ago
        But the Scandinavian governments and economies are not socialist in the sense of "the government/state/collectives own the means of production". It's true that the Scandinavian countries have high levels of taxation and redistribution, but for the most part the government does not own much of the economy - with the exception of some natural resources and utilities, most of the economy is in private hands. Indeed, they're often cited as among the most "free market" economies in the world in this sense.

by labster 10y ago

Bad management is not synonymous with socialism. While you can argue that good management of an economy is harder with a weakened invisible hand, that's a far cry from saying socialism causes death.

duncan_bayne 10y ago

The idea that you can "manage" an economy is known as the (socialist) calculation problem, and was raised as an issue last century by (amongst others) the Austrian school. Simply put, it's impossible, and the harder you try, the more death and misery you create in the long term.

duncan_bayne 10y ago
Curious about the reason for the downvotes here - the calculation problem has been one of the strongest economic (as opposed to moral) arguments against socialism, for decades.

golergka 10y ago

It is: managing other's people money that you can steal from always gets worse results than managing something of your own.

yxhuvud 10y ago
> that you can steal This is the bad management part, and does not automatically follow from socialism.
- golergka 10y ago
  It automatically follows from balance of power. It's hard to steal for CEOs because board members are individual (not collective, that's important) and powerful actors. In a typical socialist political structure, there aren't any actors like this - at best you have some public representatives who are much more concerned with staying in their seats than managing anytging.
  - yxhuvud 10y ago
    Bullshit! Socialism is not inherently against transparency nor accountability. There have been some crappy socialistic governments, but there have also been some of the better ones, like the ones here in Scandinavia.
    - snrplfth 10y ago
      But the Scandinavian governments and economies are not socialist in the sense of "the government/state/collectives own the means of production". It's true that the Scandinavian countries have high levels of taxation and redistribution, but for the most part the government does not own much of the economy - with the exception of some natural resources and utilities, most of the economy is in private hands. Indeed, they're often cited as among the most "free market" economies in the world in this sense.