andie nachgeborenen
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Markets are harsh and brutal and a bit cruel -- that is why we need the welfare state and unenemployment insurance, but otherwise you do go all Soiet. And whatever Chris and Charles say, I know a lot about the Societ economy, and believe me, you don't want exploding TVs, long lines for stuff you don't want, shoddy everything if it's not military, and so forth. Yeah, it tottered along for 60 years. But if that is the criterion, markets are a lot older. We do want everyone fed and housed, but we don't have to get rid of markets to do that.
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CB: Markets have failed to feed and house "everyone" for the 300 years of their dominance. Not only that , it has brought us exploding Pintos, exploding nuclear bombs, exploding twin towers, short lines because masses of people don't have the money to get stuff they want, this in the rich nations of the market's jurisdiction. Somehow market ideologists exclude the poor nations, for which the market is every bit as responsible for the state of, from their scoresheet for the failures and accomplishments of that warmed-over Invisible Hand concept, "self-organization" through the price mechanism. Who are you trying to kid ? A bunch of people with partial knowledge blindly "integrating" it, blind men feeling the elephant to describe it ( with apologies to the blind), is more efficient at information gathering than a conscious effort at centralizing and integrating it all. This is basically a preference of guesswork over scientific method.
Even more, marketeers' (why this has to be mentioned, I do not know)have as their main goal their own profiteering, not fulfilling the needs and wants of people. They attend to the latter only to the extent that they must consider it to make the most money.
People's wants don't just popup out of nowhere spontaneously, to be hunted down by entrepreneurs. See Michael Dawson's book.
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