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>> It really goes to show what is possible when there is a centrally planned economy vs having the labor tied up serving decentralized market forces without any

>> It really goes to show what is possible when there is a centrally planned economy vs having the labor tied up serving decentralized market forces without any clear directive. Truly this is one of the most outlandish statements I have ever read on the internet. Bravo. Contemporary North Korea is a decentralized paradise I suppose. Cuba must be similar? I would love to know your opinion of China before the Deng reforms, Vietnam before it liberalized, or of state planning in Venezuela, to say nothing of the also-centrally-planned Soviet Union?? You ask us to imagine “what the state of our nation might have been today,” if we had stayed on that path?!? You need only have visited Russia in the 1990’s to see what an absolute disaster that was. Lucky for you if you didn’t make that trip there are still parts of the world where you can see it if you dare.

nicbou 3y ago
It works sometimes, for some purposes. No one suggested that it should be taken to such extremes. The community guidelines recommend reading comments in the best possible light, and to converse curiously. I believe that it would do you some good to read them. https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html
- mcpackieh 3y ago
  User asdff recommended it be taken to such an extreme by suggesting that America should have remained in a centralized command economy after WW2 ended. huitzitziltzin's response is on point and you are out of line.
asdff 3y ago
These sorts of comparisons are always in bad faith. Cuba is not a good comparison partner to the U.S., neither is China. There are so many variables in play that you have to be acting in bad faith or have a much too simplistic understanding of the world to be believing you can reduce such complex history to this single factor. A simple case to break the argument of Cuba is to look at nearby Haiti and see that conditions don't magically improve under a free market economy, there are more factors at play than that.

nicbou 3y ago

It works sometimes, for some purposes. No one suggested that it should be taken to such extremes. The community guidelines recommend reading comments in the best possible light, and to converse curiously. I believe that it would do you some good to read them. https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html

mcpackieh 3y ago
User asdff recommended it be taken to such an extreme by suggesting that America should have remained in a centralized command economy after WW2 ended. huitzitziltzin's response is on point and you are out of line.

asdff 3y ago

These sorts of comparisons are always in bad faith. Cuba is not a good comparison partner to the U.S., neither is China. There are so many variables in play that you have to be acting in bad faith or have a much too simplistic understanding of the world to be believing you can reduce such complex history to this single factor. A simple case to break the argument of Cuba is to look at nearby Haiti and see that conditions don't magically improve under a free market economy, there are more factors at play than that.