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It's interesting to note that central planning has been highly effective for small nation state sized corporations such as Walmart[0] presumably long before any
by dundarious 5y ago
It's interesting to note that central planning has been highly effective for small nation state sized corporations such as Walmart[0] presumably long before any adoption of AI, and that attempts at pervasive internal markets at Sears[1] arguably rapidly accelerated its downfall.
That's absolutely not to say that Walmart is a direct exemplar of successful Soviet-style "state capitalism" or socialism, nor that Sears is a proof by contradiction of the efficient market hypothesis, or any such thing. But for a long time now we seem to be living in a hybrid world, and hence we should be open to societal changes and solutions from either direction -- even if ideology makes that uncomfortable. Anyone advocating for a society with near 100% market mechanisms or near 0% market mechanisms is almost certainly wearing ideological blinkers.
[0] https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/564287/the-peoples-republic-of-walmart-by-leigh-philips-and-michal-rozworski/ https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/564287/the-peoples-...
[1] I read a great long-form piece written around the time of the parent company's bankruptcy in 2018, but I can't find it. This Bloomberg piece appears to be relevant, though I have only skimmed it. https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2013-07-11/at-sears-eddie-lamperts-warring-divisions-model-adds-to-the-troubles https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2013-07-11/at-sears-...
- whatshisface 5y agoCentralized control works out OK in retail because if an evil madman seizes power over Walmart everyone can go to Target instead.
- wcarss 5y agoInteresting. That implies an authoritarian dictatorship is necessary for central planning -- what reason is there that democratically elected representatives cannot operate centralized systems of resource procurement/management/allocation? Also, aren't Walmart and Amazon technically run democratically by their shareholders? Wouldn't the remedy for a madman running Walmart be a replacement elected by the board?
- deleted 5y ago[deleted]
- betwixthewires 5y agoYup, this is a very important point to be made. Central planning works very well when there is free association, that is, there is a market for people to pick organizations to associate with. A failure by planners leads to people quitting working there, downsizing, less business, all things that cannot happen in an organization where there's no alternative for people, such as a nation state. There is no low friction feedback mechanism for a state that enables it to reorganize as needed, mainly because we don't get to decide what state we are a citizen of.
- dundarious 5y agoWalmart is arguably already a private unaccountable tyranny that has seized near complete market control in many, many locations. Again, the criticisms and potential solutions cut both ways.