To be free or planned? That is the question...
dah81
It went from the fear of monopoly, to the all out slope of slipery-ness of a fully planned and heavily regulated economy. Recently articles and comments have been written about kommie's market dominance and what should be done about it. He has been threatened with deportation for wanting to dominate a market, and ideas have been bandied about quite recklessly. Increasing taxes in kommie's home province was an idea portrayed to be Robin Hood-esque. The noble cause of stealing from the rich to give to the poor seems to resonate among the poorer masses. And why shouldn't it? They would benefit greatly from this...for a while. The problem is that the same people who are making this argument are citing that it is due to kommie's greed that these alws should come into effect. The hypocrisy should be evident, if it isn't, then you are probably one of them.
Yes a planned economy has worked in eNations like Pakistan, but let me point out what your intuition should already be telling you. It can't work in the long run. I, like I assume most players, logon everyday and click 2 buttons because they feel it is getting them ahead. There is the challenge of one day being the GM of one of the mega-conglomerates that are forming.
If we all rallied behind the good cause of equality in a planned economy, income becomes a public good and the problems of 'tragedy of the commons' will soon surely follow.
Let me first explain the intuitive economic problem of 'tragedy of the commons'. This is where a public good is overused and underprovided due to the fact that each person's work means very little to what s/he gets out of it. The classic example is overfishing. If we have a fishing lake with 10 fishermen living around it. Each time a fisherman overfishes by one fish s/he only bears 1/10 of the cost of overfishing in negative effects. Likely thinking "Oh, one more won't hurt anything". Each fisherman will do this until there are no more fish to be had.
Assume for this thought experiment that we were able to privatize the lake and divide it into pieces to be bought and sold without any environmental impact from dividing up the fish. Assume also that there is no theft.
Each fisherman would have a vested interest in his piece of the lake and make sure that s/he would not overfish. Each fish that is gone, s/he would bear the full cost of it as his stocks go lower and lower.
In a communist economy this can take place. Not working does not bear the same cost. If I'm too lazy to logon and click "work" then I won't bother because I know I will be provided for anyway. If there are 300 eCanadians, then everyone bears 1/300 of the cost of not bothering to work. Many will shrug and likely think "Oh, it wont hurt if i don't work today" until eCanada becomes a ghost nation.
Likely initially there will be some solidarity, but really, how long will that eLast?
Comments
I don\'t see the link between the idea of taxing Kommie\'s companies (and any other company, for that matter) to redistribute the wealth and the idea of a planned economy like ePakistan. Could you elaborate please?
a planned econ generally redistributes wealth.
Yes, but it doesn\'t work the other way aroun😛 redistribution of wealth doesn\'t necessarily imply a planned economy. There are an infinite number of degrees between a fully planned economy and a tax-free market. I believe your \"tragedy of the commons\" example is a good argument against ePakistan, because it would take the fun out of the game, but it isn\'t a good argument against the idea of taxing businesses and providing the government with an income.
HA HA! It\'s obvious! Free is the only way to go, my brother! If someone can\'t survive, they get tossed off the boat to rot with the others. Only the strong survive!
The only reason kommie dominates is because of a glitch...duh
What glitch would that be?