The quality of Socialized Goods and services.

[StrictlyRuddie]

So I have 2 questions,

1. I was in a debate where they were arguing that services and goods that are socialized aren't ever as good(quality wise) as those of private enterprise because of the whole "Competition creates better products for one company so they can Lower the cost and make there product better than the other company product".

2. In socialism how would people obtain things that aren't socialized? Things such as Art, a CD player, furniture, picture frames, a camera etc.. if wage is abolished, or would there still be wage for these extra things?

[Kwisatz Haderach]

1. I was in a debate where they were arguing that services and goods that are socialized aren't ever as good(quality wise) as those of private enterprise because of the whole "Competition creates better products for one company so they can Lower the cost and make there product better than the other company product".
Competition does not guarantee a constant increase in quality, because companies can compete in many different ways - increasing the quality of their products is only one among these many ways. For example, Coca-Cola and Pepsi have been in competition for a long time, but their products haven't increased in quality - in fact, they haven't changed at all for many years.

Furthermore, socialized goods are subject to competition too, as long as we're talking about a democratic society. If a democratically elected government provides a socialized good, then elections provide competition - different parties and factions compete in elections and try to win votes by increasing the quality of socialized services.


2. In socialism how would people obtain things that aren't socialized? Things such as Art, a CD player, furniture, picture frames, a camera etc.. if wage is abolished, or would there still be wage for these extra things?
There would be wages in socialism to cover such things, yes. But wages would be determined strictly by how much you work. So they would be very egalitarian - one person might work twice as much as another person, but it's impossible for anyone to work, say, 500 times more than the average worker (high-ranking executives under capitalism often get paid 500 times the wage of an average worker).

Communism is the system that abolishes wages entirely. In communism, things like a CD player, furniture, picture frames, a camera etc are made freely available, perhaps with the condition that you can only take a certain amount of each.

[StrictlyRuddie]

Alright, thanks for clearing up those points for me.

[spice756]

I was in a debate where they were arguing that services and goods that are socialized aren't ever as good(quality wise) as those of private enterprise because of the whole "Competition creates better products for one company so they can Lower the cost and make there product better than the other company product".


Than why are US cars so bad and cheap looking? Why are electronics good only for 8 to 10 years ? Why is it TV or VCR do not last 30 years.

[Schrödinger's Cat]

Nothing is wrong with competition. It's just a natural drive. Software designers are going to compete against each other to make the best product. The problem lies in competing for something you shouldn't have to, such as natural resources.

I might point out we don't have "socialized" goods. Every public institution is run top-down like a corporation, very much independent of any democratic system.

[N3p7uN3]

Than why are US cars so bad and cheap looking? Why are electronics good only for 8 to 10 years ? Why is it TV or VCR do not last 30 years.

It's capitalism in work. Companies have realized that if they purposely make electronics and other objects deficient, then the consumer will just have to buy another one to replace a broken one. Basically, companies would rather you buy a crappy product instead of a quality one because they want you to buy more, and thus, more money for the company

[Schrödinger's Cat]

I had my own experience with that. Only a few months after the warranty ended my iMac acquired a pixel error. I read up on the issue and apparently a whole bunch of computers had the same problem, at (coincidentally kof) the same moment after warranty.

[Anarch_Mesa]

I had my own experience with that. Only a few months after the warranty ended my iMac acquired a pixel error. I read up on the issue and apparently a whole bunch of computers had the same problem, at (coincidentally kof) the same moment after warranty.


Probably a coincident that it was after warranty. It is a common error in iMac's along with monitor errorsm it makes you glad they took there time and didn't sell you a piece of shit and rub it in your face....:rolleyes: