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Would private industry have won WW2 on its own, or put humans on the moon? That’s the level of commitment and organization that is now required. Private industr
by pbourke 7y ago
Would private industry have won WW2 on its own, or put humans on the moon? That’s the level of commitment and organization that is now required. Private industry is great at many things, but sacrificing profit for a shared goal is not one of them.
- WalterBright 7y agoThe US in WW2 was not a planned economy. The government put out contracts, and private capitalist companies delivered the goods. The government did not run industry. Capitalism worked so well the US was able to fight the war in two theaters while also supplying the other Allied nations. The Axis powers got simply overwhelmed by what American capitalism produced. > or put humans on the moon? In the 1960s, nope. The Apollo shots cost $288 billion in today's dollars. That kind of money simply wasn't available to any particular corporation back then. It wasn't sustainable by the government, either, as we went to the moon, landed, came back, and then ... oh well. Nobody has been able to justify the cost since. But today we are seeing capitalism make enormous cost reductions in rockets, and that will change the game completely.
- pbourke 7y agoNobody is claiming that the government should run the factories directly. They should have showed up in early February at the ventilator and PPE factory doors with blank checks to ensure that output is ramped up to 11 immediately.
- WalterBright 7y agoI was replying to "sacrificing profit for a shared goal", which means the government runs it directly. Writing a check to the company is very different.