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To quote my economics professor: “central planning works great as long as consumer preference isn’t important.” Obviously the situation in WWII was more comple

To quote my economics professor: “central planning works great as long as consumer preference isn’t important.” Obviously the situation in WWII was more complex, as the central planner and the consumer were the same entity. Maybe a better quote would be “central planning works great when the preferences of non-state consumers aren’t important.”

asdff 3y ago
The idea of consumer preference is a little bit of a stretch IMO. When I enter a marketplace I can't have my preferences be met my definition, I have to adjust my preferences to meet what the market is able to supply in excess and make a profit on. Sometimes advertisements are used to make me think these preferences of the producers are actually preferences of my own. So either in the centrally planned US or the US we have today, I can't get a hot pink ford mustang from the dealer even if that's what I want as my preference. I get something that's ultimately a compromise of many factors.
- fragmede 3y ago
  Ford's statement on that was you can have any color (Model T), as long as it's black. There are plenty of wrap companies that will turn your Mustang hot pink. For a fee, naturally. what the vendor doesn't provide, someone will step up to provide it, so long as there's a market for it. There's a company turning Tesla Model 3's into work vans, even.
  - asdff 3y ago
    That seems great and all until you consider the inefficiencies of that sort of model. Say there is latent demand for x and the market doesn't make x. That doesn't mean x is made. That probably means everything from A-Z is made and tried to make stick, some x is seen to be in demand, then you get demand+alpha companies making a crack of making some x for some time until the alpha portion of that equation drops out for lack of sales. All of this seems great until you start respecting peoples time and money. For example, all the people slaving to make (a:z)-x, that was all wasted labor and investment. So were all the x making companies overproducing for demand, that was all waste too, representing money and labor that could have been better spent at some other unmet need of people, if resources (labor and material) were better planned. Then there is the more sinister idea of profitability and a timeline on returns that perverts this further, preventing good ideas from seeing the light of day because they can't ensure a healthy enough return in a short enough time. Good ideas like the bow and arrow or the wheel might have been stopped short in their development if their producers couldn't ensure a healthy enough margin for their shareholders, if we had free market capitalism in the neolithic age.

asdff 3y ago

The idea of consumer preference is a little bit of a stretch IMO. When I enter a marketplace I can't have my preferences be met my definition, I have to adjust my preferences to meet what the market is able to supply in excess and make a profit on. Sometimes advertisements are used to make me think these preferences of the producers are actually preferences of my own. So either in the centrally planned US or the US we have today, I can't get a hot pink ford mustang from the dealer even if that's what I want as my preference. I get something that's ultimately a compromise of many factors.

fragmede 3y ago
Ford's statement on that was you can have any color (Model T), as long as it's black. There are plenty of wrap companies that will turn your Mustang hot pink. For a fee, naturally. what the vendor doesn't provide, someone will step up to provide it, so long as there's a market for it. There's a company turning Tesla Model 3's into work vans, even.
- asdff 3y ago
  That seems great and all until you consider the inefficiencies of that sort of model. Say there is latent demand for x and the market doesn't make x. That doesn't mean x is made. That probably means everything from A-Z is made and tried to make stick, some x is seen to be in demand, then you get demand+alpha companies making a crack of making some x for some time until the alpha portion of that equation drops out for lack of sales. All of this seems great until you start respecting peoples time and money. For example, all the people slaving to make (a:z)-x, that was all wasted labor and investment. So were all the x making companies overproducing for demand, that was all waste too, representing money and labor that could have been better spent at some other unmet need of people, if resources (labor and material) were better planned. Then there is the more sinister idea of profitability and a timeline on returns that perverts this further, preventing good ideas from seeing the light of day because they can't ensure a healthy enough return in a short enough time. Good ideas like the bow and arrow or the wheel might have been stopped short in their development if their producers couldn't ensure a healthy enough margin for their shareholders, if we had free market capitalism in the neolithic age.