Central planning, whether governments or megacorporations, has always let you win big ... when the central planners were competent and lucky.
The reason decentralized capitalism has done so well in the long run even when centralization can really stomp it in the short run is because sooner or later you have a bad run. Maybe your central planner loses their touch or is replaced, maybe they just get unlucky and a new development or natural disaster turns a good bet bad.
When that happens in a decentralized system, some part of it fails, the rest prospers, and new businesses start to replace the failed.
In a centralized system, if the bet that went bad was big enough, it's game over. Healthy pieces are dragged down with the rest, and only a shattered shell remains.
The information age may make it easier for a central planner to manage, but it doesn't change that basic problem.
The reason decentralized capitalism has done so well in the long run even when centralization can really stomp it in the short run is because sooner or later you have a bad run. Maybe your central planner loses their touch or is replaced, maybe they just get unlucky and a new development or natural disaster turns a good bet bad.
When that happens in a decentralized system, some part of it fails, the rest prospers, and new businesses start to replace the failed.
In a centralized system, if the bet that went bad was big enough, it's game over. Healthy pieces are dragged down with the rest, and only a shattered shell remains.
The information age may make it easier for a central planner to manage, but it doesn't change that basic problem.