There are several ideas out there, but yes they generally require transitioning away from capitalism. The one I’m particularly fond of is called a “library economy”, where we no longer commoditize anything that isn’t consumable. Imagine instead of buying a wheelbarrow and shovel to do some yard work, you go to the gardening library and checkout the things you need. When you’re done in about 3 weeks, you return the items back to the library.
In general though, any planned economy would be far more efficient and less wasteful. Imagine that instead of 30 different TV’s with the exact same panel, there’s 2 or 3 types of tv with that panel. The way Walmart operates is a perfect example of a planned economy.
I don’t see how a library economy would work with a lot of things. Like, if I wanted to do a house cleaning day, I go to the cleaning library and rent a vacuum. But what if I drop something on the floor…I have to check out a vacuum, just to clean it up? Then what if all the vacuums are checked out? It really seems horrible inefficient and a logistical nightmare.
The real tragedy of the commons is that we lost the commons to the wealthy elite. We can govern the commons collectively by ourselves without the need for governments, corporations, or the influence of money. I also have a hard time imagining someone deciding that they need 10 wheelbarrows and taking them all from the library, which can acquire more. Are there people checking out every copy of Harry Potter from a book library just to deprive others from reading it?
A library economy doesn’t mean you can’t also own things. You can own a vacuum, and then borrow a steamer for the big spring cleaning. Or say you’re like me and vacuums aren’t necessary most of the time. Instead of owning one, I could go and get one once a month.
Library actually sounds nice. Funny you mentioned wheelbarrow, I actually need one for a project, but have no space for one, and hate the idea of buying something I’ll need once. I’ll end up renting one, but would be great to check one out.
Not disagreeing with your central point, but it’s worth noting that planned economy has been tried and it failed, not sure to planning errors but fundamental systemic issues with the approach.
There have been failures, yes. However, look at any company, especially the megacorporations like Walmart. They all have planned economies. Walmart IT isn’t placing contract bids with the Walmart marketing department, they just help the marketing department when needed. The meat department isn’t shopping around for cheaper suppliers, they get meat from the logistics network Walmart controls. The only example of a free market business I know of is Sears, which was already sinking. The free market idea from the CEO was catastrophic and sunk the company in under a year. The IT department needed to turn a profit, so their prices were high. When the marketing department needed IT and Sears IT placed a bid, it was higher than contracted IT so the marketing department didn’t work internally and ended up costing the company massive amounts of money.
There are also successful planned economies in existence right now; Cuba is thriving in spite of the economic sactions by the US, and Vietnam didn’t stop being communist after the war with the Khmer Rouge. This also excludes other realities, like what constitutes the failure of a country? Is it a failure of a planned economy, or is it a failure of government? If it’s a failure of the economic system, then why aren’t failing/failed capitalist nations attributed to capitalism?
Imagine instead of buying a wheelbarrow and shovel to do some yard work, you go to the gardening library and checkout the things you need.
I get the sentiment but that sounds awful. Do I need to go borrow a mountain bike every time I want to go for a ride which I now do about 3 times a week? What about my hobby as a maker? Do I need to go borrow all the necessary tools every time I want to build something?
This would basically mean that I get almost nothing done ever because when the inspiration strikes my tools are nowhere to be found.
Only just discovered the concept now in this thread but I guess it’d work like any other library. You’d just check out the stuff you need that you choose not to own for what ever reason.
If you want to own a mountain bike because you would use it regularly then that would be fine. But if you need a drill press for a project you can go check one out.
Just guessing here as I’ve done no reading on this subject.
No not at all! Instead of thinking about this as the only way to get things, think about how you get things now. Just replace stores with libraries. You can own things that you use regularly (basically through an indefinite borrow from the transportation library), but borrow other things as needed
There are several ideas out there, but yes they generally require transitioning away from capitalism. The one I’m particularly fond of is called a “library economy”, where we no longer commoditize anything that isn’t consumable. Imagine instead of buying a wheelbarrow and shovel to do some yard work, you go to the gardening library and checkout the things you need. When you’re done in about 3 weeks, you return the items back to the library.
In general though, any planned economy would be far more efficient and less wasteful. Imagine that instead of 30 different TV’s with the exact same panel, there’s 2 or 3 types of tv with that panel. The way Walmart operates is a perfect example of a planned economy.
I don’t see how a library economy would work with a lot of things. Like, if I wanted to do a house cleaning day, I go to the cleaning library and rent a vacuum. But what if I drop something on the floor…I have to check out a vacuum, just to clean it up? Then what if all the vacuums are checked out? It really seems horrible inefficient and a logistical nightmare.
Yeah it’s not really a feasible idea, imo. People are terrible and it would be a classic tragedy of the commons.
The real tragedy of the commons is that we lost the commons to the wealthy elite. We can govern the commons collectively by ourselves without the need for governments, corporations, or the influence of money. I also have a hard time imagining someone deciding that they need 10 wheelbarrows and taking them all from the library, which can acquire more. Are there people checking out every copy of Harry Potter from a book library just to deprive others from reading it?
A library economy doesn’t mean you can’t also own things. You can own a vacuum, and then borrow a steamer for the big spring cleaning. Or say you’re like me and vacuums aren’t necessary most of the time. Instead of owning one, I could go and get one once a month.
Library actually sounds nice. Funny you mentioned wheelbarrow, I actually need one for a project, but have no space for one, and hate the idea of buying something I’ll need once. I’ll end up renting one, but would be great to check one out.
Not disagreeing with your central point, but it’s worth noting that planned economy has been tried and it failed, not sure to planning errors but fundamental systemic issues with the approach.
There have been failures, yes. However, look at any company, especially the megacorporations like Walmart. They all have planned economies. Walmart IT isn’t placing contract bids with the Walmart marketing department, they just help the marketing department when needed. The meat department isn’t shopping around for cheaper suppliers, they get meat from the logistics network Walmart controls. The only example of a free market business I know of is Sears, which was already sinking. The free market idea from the CEO was catastrophic and sunk the company in under a year. The IT department needed to turn a profit, so their prices were high. When the marketing department needed IT and Sears IT placed a bid, it was higher than contracted IT so the marketing department didn’t work internally and ended up costing the company massive amounts of money.
There are also successful planned economies in existence right now; Cuba is thriving in spite of the economic sactions by the US, and Vietnam didn’t stop being communist after the war with the Khmer Rouge. This also excludes other realities, like what constitutes the failure of a country? Is it a failure of a planned economy, or is it a failure of government? If it’s a failure of the economic system, then why aren’t failing/failed capitalist nations attributed to capitalism?
I get the sentiment but that sounds awful. Do I need to go borrow a mountain bike every time I want to go for a ride which I now do about 3 times a week? What about my hobby as a maker? Do I need to go borrow all the necessary tools every time I want to build something?
This would basically mean that I get almost nothing done ever because when the inspiration strikes my tools are nowhere to be found.
Only just discovered the concept now in this thread but I guess it’d work like any other library. You’d just check out the stuff you need that you choose not to own for what ever reason.
If you want to own a mountain bike because you would use it regularly then that would be fine. But if you need a drill press for a project you can go check one out.
Just guessing here as I’ve done no reading on this subject.
That’s exactly right! Library economics are incredibly simple. You own what you want to own, and borrow what you need
No not at all! Instead of thinking about this as the only way to get things, think about how you get things now. Just replace stores with libraries. You can own things that you use regularly (basically through an indefinite borrow from the transportation library), but borrow other things as needed
I can already go to a library and borrow a power tool or a shovel though. No need to end capitalism to do that.
Don’t Google what planned economies did to the Aral Sea and it’s climatic consequences