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We definitely do broad-strokes central planning in the US and every other developed country with tax system design, social support systems, and industrial polic
by Robotbeat 5y ago
We definitely do broad-strokes central planning in the US and every other developed country with tax system design, social support systems, and industrial policy.
The Soviet Union sucked, but it lasted an extremely long time.
The moral of the story is central planning kinda does work, just not very well if you do too much of it.
- sfink 5y agoI think it's more that you need layers. A centrally planned layer of regulation and safety nets that provide a base level to keep things running (and people alive), but without the cost and inefficiency of trying to control everything, and then a more efficient, free market–like layer on top that relies on the lower layer to provide the "free" in "free market". I believe it would be more productive to argue about where the layer boundaries should be, rather than endlessly arguing about whether one or the other layer should even exist. (Because they'll both always exist. People will help each other out even in a free-for-all; and black markets will always come into existence in rigid, fully-planned economies.)
- WC3w6pXxgGd 5y ago> The Soviet Union sucked, but it lasted an extremely long time. Less than a century is not "an extremely long time," and its citizens majorly suffered under the central planning. There was nothing successful about the Soviet Union.