Reply #7: That's a long discussion. You're the one who criticized a planned economy, so maybe you should start

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with your criticisms.

A planned economy could work in a number of ways. There could be input by users before products were created. Test models could be tried out by focus groups. So much innovation comes from public universities anyway I don't really see the problem. A planned economy would be vastly different than the planned economies of the past, considering the technologies available now. The issue isn't so much "can a planned economy work?" The issue is more: how would average people overthrow those who own factories, 21st century military apparatuses, etc? I'm sure we can run the world without bankers and profiteers. The problem is how to fight them.

One thing is for certain: nation-state socialism is impossible. There will either be global capitalism (and an end to us) or there will be an end to global capitalism. But a planned economy can only thrive if it isn't involved in permanent warfare against powerful capitalist nations. Any glimmering of a planned economy will guarantee isolation leading to widespread starvation or military intervention by a "Western democracy" usually using one's angry religious extremists or nationalists or, if that fails, bribery (i.e. the invasions/sanctions against socialist/left governments such as: Nicaragua, North Korea, Afghanistan, Iraq, Iran (in the 50s), Guatemala (in the 50s), Chile (in the 70s), El Salvador, Cuba, etc., etc., etc.....)