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Competent central planning would be great! However that would never work in real life...

by pwnna 13y ago

ams6110 13y ago
You'd be happy with a "competent" planner telling you where you could work, what you could earn, where you could live, how many kids you could have, etc?
- minikites 13y ago
  And that doesn't happen now in the US? Your boss does all of these things. Sure, you can quit, but there goes your health insurance and good luck finding another job unless you're in the Hacker News demographic.
  - ameister14 13y ago
    I don't know about you, but my boss has no say in how many kids I have or specifically where I live, and any effort he makes to impact these things is not enforced by the state.
- jerf 13y ago
  More to the point, is your neighbor going to be happy? Is the new immigrant going to be happy? Are your children going to be happy? Many people might think they can say yes to that question as their personal opinion, but I think it's easier to understand how it's hard for people to answer "yes" in general. For one thing, everybody always thinks they deserve more. It matters very little how much they already have.
- jayd16 13y ago
  Central planning does not require micro-management and one could easily imagine a system where central planning provides a person with more options than what a free market provides a lower income individual.
- pwnna 13y ago
  Actually. Yes (on average). Since people tend to want more, and since we're all subject to boundary conditions posed by nature, compromises need to be made in certain cases. A good example is the driving situations in Japan/China where if you have an even numbered license plate you can only drive on certain days. Also, central planning != micro management. Just general guidelines similar to things like building codes. But really, not sure how it would really work.
- 6d0debc071 13y ago
  Qualifications, minimum wage, property laws... 3 out of 4 of those things at the moment have government bounds on them in some sense or another, and that with fairly questionable planning. Edit: Oh right, yeah, duh: minimum age before you can decide for yourself whether you have an abortion or not.

Competent central planning would be great! However that would never work in real life...

by pwnna 13y ago

Competent central planning would be great! However that would never work in real life...

You'd be happy with a "competent" planner telling you where you could work, what you could earn, where you could live, how many kids you could have, etc?

minikites 13y ago
And that doesn't happen now in the US? Your boss does all of these things. Sure, you can quit, but there goes your health insurance and good luck finding another job unless you're in the Hacker News demographic.
- ameister14 13y ago
  I don't know about you, but my boss has no say in how many kids I have or specifically where I live, and any effort he makes to impact these things is not enforced by the state.
jerf 13y ago
More to the point, is your neighbor going to be happy? Is the new immigrant going to be happy? Are your children going to be happy? Many people might think they can say yes to that question as their personal opinion, but I think it's easier to understand how it's hard for people to answer "yes" in general. For one thing, everybody always thinks they deserve more. It matters very little how much they already have.
jayd16 13y ago
Central planning does not require micro-management and one could easily imagine a system where central planning provides a person with more options than what a free market provides a lower income individual.
pwnna 13y ago
Actually. Yes (on average). Since people tend to want more, and since we're all subject to boundary conditions posed by nature, compromises need to be made in certain cases. A good example is the driving situations in Japan/China where if you have an even numbered license plate you can only drive on certain days. Also, central planning != micro management. Just general guidelines similar to things like building codes. But really, not sure how it would really work.
6d0debc071 13y ago
Qualifications, minimum wage, property laws... 3 out of 4 of those things at the moment have government bounds on them in some sense or another, and that with fairly questionable planning. Edit: Oh right, yeah, duh: minimum age before you can decide for yourself whether you have an abortion or not.