[PEN-L:28664] Re: The need for planning

[Michael Perelman <michael@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

I accidentally erased Justin's post.  It has not appeared on the archives.
Lou should not have ridiculed Justin's post.

We have been over and over the question of whether market socialism gives
more variety of consumer goods.

Quality of consumer goods is a minor reason to want socialism.

Capitalism probably produces more variety than capitalism.  If you want
variety, why bother with socialism?

Of course, some of this variety is meaningless.  We have also discussed
how markets (say, tv or radio) limit variety.

The Soviet Union is not a fair test of planning.  We have been over that
before.  The threat from the Cold War was a lot more serious than the
terrorist threat to the US.  Look how the post 9-11 policies have screwed
up the economy.


 --
Michael Perelman
Economics Department
California State University
Chico, CA 95929

Tel. 530-898-5321
E-Mail michael@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx