Economic Planning

[zubovskyblvd]

Comrades, I was wondering how you all felt about planned economies? Specifically their relevance to the 21st century, as the majority of socialist/claimed to be socialist governments have scaled back their involvement in their economies significantly. Economics is something I struggle with, so sorry if the question is a bit vague.

[CartCollector]

IMO Parecon-style democratic planning is better than using a market. There's a whole bunch of problems with markets (including socialist ones), like the existence of externalities (actual costs not present in the cost of a good). Also, goods in a market are produced to be sold, not necessarily to be used, which leads to a whole bunch of problems like advertisers trying to get people to buy more (and in turn making people work more) so they can make more money. Democratic planning is better because it allows consumers, not the rich, to control what is produced.