> Think of it like communists refusing to allow private ownership - the evidence is available that private ownership leads to better results overall and they un

> Think of it like communists refusing to allow private ownership - the evidence is available that private ownership leads to better results overall and they understand the mechanics of how it works. This leans on too many historically and philosophically contentious points to be a useful comparison imo. I'm not sure who you mean by "the communists," presumably the USSR and the early PRC? But they both had quite different economic systems, and if your argument centers around "they didn't have private property," then, we should toss in a couple fascist regimes as well, at which point, are we discussing communism, or simply systems with no, or with arbitrarily removed, private property? Cause that could include feudalism. Or are we discussing central planning systems, in which case, that could be ANY system, regardless of whether or not there's private property. (and by property are we including toothbrushes lol?) And honestly it does also depend on what you mean by better results overall. In this article it seems a key argument is made: > The first element, that’s the one that used to be present but isn’t anymore, is a large public sector, because you need a large enough bureaucracy that can supervise all the contractors. Many conflate public sector with socialist tendencies, and the person being interviewed here seems to imply that the lack of socialist tendency in the USA (I doubt we'd disagree about that!) is hampering its ability to engage in public projects effectively. Wouldn't that be in opposition to your point? Sure, Germany isn't communist, but many would say it is closer to it than America, and it has better trains. And the USSR absolutely had better trains. Whether it was truly communist, or something else, I feel is moot - it seems to be the thing you're describing as "worse results," but, it had better results, surely? Unless you think the USSR's public transit system wasn't good?