4 ms·

The story is not really a parable, this is exactly what Communist economy looked like in Poland and other Eastern Bloc countries. Production levels weren't supp

by rafski 15y ago

The story is not really a parable, this is exactly what Communist economy looked like in Poland and other Eastern Bloc countries. Production levels weren't supposed to meet market demand, they were supposed to meet The Plan. As a result, there were shortages of virtually everything but—who would've guessed—vinegar. Oddly enough Poland revisited central planning idiocy again when it joined the EU with its economic absurdities, e.g. production quotas not allowing farmers to produce more milk or sugar than the plan allows. A friend of mine living in Poland now told me about a farmer client of hers who visited her company last year with a large truck and a trailer full of cucumbers to give away to employees. The cucumbers were either oddly-shaped or wrong size according to EU norms but perfectly good otherwise. He couldn't legally sell them, was supposed to dump them instead. Not being OK with wasting food he drove around the city to people he knew, trying to give away literally tons of cucumbers...

cheatercheater 15y ago
OK, let's amuse your suggestion for a second: 1. I go to a shop, want to buy a cucumber, what I find is oddly shaped with bulges on it. Perfectly edible, but not that great for cooking and therefore I get less value. It is however sold as a cucumber; I am dissatisfied. I understand it might be a good idea to be able to sell those cucumbers; I do not trust your assertion that the cucumbers could not be sold legally - they probably could be sold at prices lower than usual. They could also be sold to companies that turn them into pulp or something like that; as animal food; etc. They just couldn't be sold as the Standard Cucumber Type #23. 2. Farmers are allowed to sell as much as they want. Some of them go for it and are able to sell the extra and end up making more money; others produce a lot of shit and end up not selling. I remember reading the news about road blocks set up by farmers dumping their grain onto highways. Yeah, nice thinking, Commisar Rafski. Countries which do not have quotas end up with cheap butter. Why? Because the government ends up being forced to buy the surplus milk at standard price. Lots of farmers end up working on the assumption that as much milk as they produce is good, because it'll get bought at that specific minimal price no matter what quality it is. They could instead spend their time and resources making something that's needed, but no, they end up making volatile produce that'll decay in a week if it doesn't get turned to butter. And so, you end up having lots of butter. Again you are incentivizing completely pointless work. Really well intentioned, too. But short-sighted. Think twice the next time you compare the finance and economic prowess of the leading scholars in the whole European Union combined, with that of your farmer friend-of-a-friend who hasn't finished high school (that's the typical educational level of farmers in Poland).

by rafski 15y ago

cheatercheater 15y ago

OK, let's amuse your suggestion for a second: 1. I go to a shop, want to buy a cucumber, what I find is oddly shaped with bulges on it. Perfectly edible, but not that great for cooking and therefore I get less value. It is however sold as a cucumber; I am dissatisfied. I understand it might be a good idea to be able to sell those cucumbers; I do not trust your assertion that the cucumbers could not be sold legally - they probably could be sold at prices lower than usual. They could also be sold to companies that turn them into pulp or something like that; as animal food; etc. They just couldn't be sold as the Standard Cucumber Type #23. 2. Farmers are allowed to sell as much as they want. Some of them go for it and are able to sell the extra and end up making more money; others produce a lot of shit and end up not selling. I remember reading the news about road blocks set up by farmers dumping their grain onto highways. Yeah, nice thinking, Commisar Rafski. Countries which do not have quotas end up with cheap butter. Why? Because the government ends up being forced to buy the surplus milk at standard price. Lots of farmers end up working on the assumption that as much milk as they produce is good, because it'll get bought at that specific minimal price no matter what quality it is. They could instead spend their time and resources making something that's needed, but no, they end up making volatile produce that'll decay in a week if it doesn't get turned to butter. And so, you end up having lots of butter. Again you are incentivizing completely pointless work. Really well intentioned, too. But short-sighted. Think twice the next time you compare the finance and economic prowess of the leading scholars in the whole European Union combined, with that of your farmer friend-of-a-friend who hasn't finished high school (that's the typical educational level of farmers in Poland).