Xref: utzoo alt.religion.computers:1256 gnu.misc.discuss:688 talk.politics.misc:39946 Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!cs.utexas.edu!uwm.edu!rpi!image.soe.clarkson.edu!news From: nelson@sun.soe.clarkson.edu (Russ Nelson) Newsgroups: alt.religion.computers,gnu.misc.discuss,talk.politics.misc Subject: Free market vs Central planning Message-ID: Date: 29 Dec 89 01:55:06 GMT References: <4639@sugar.hackercorp.com> <4ZW1ijS00WBKE1qh5C@andrew.cmu.edu> <4823@sugar.hackercorp.com> <72@zds-ux.UUCP> Sender: news@sun.soe.clarkson.edu Reply-To: nelson@clutx.clarkson.edu Organization: Clarkson University, Potsdam NY Lines: 27 In-reply-to: gerry@zds-ux.UUCP's message of 28 Dec 89 22:13:11 GMT In article <72@zds-ux.UUCP> gerry@zds-ux.UUCP (Gerry Gleason) writes: If this alternative does seem a little like socialism, you can consider how to decide which contribution is more important than another and reward that author with some type of bonus. The way I see it, private software companies (often small enough to avoid bureaucratic stupidity) often are not all that good at making the rewards commencerate with the contribution, so why shouldn't rewards be arbitrary. Maybe you could set up contests that awarded additional prizes to the best works. I agree, Gerry. Almost everyone agrees that the government should have a hand in the physical infrastructure. Why not have a hand in the software infrastructure? Some people object to this, claiming that the free market is better than central planning. If the free market is so efficient and capable in bringing goods to market, then why don't companies use the free market internally? [note followups] -- --russ (nelson@clutx [.bitnet | .clarkson.edu]) Russ.Nelson@$315.268.6667 Live up to the light thou hast, and more will be granted thee. A recession now appears more than 2 years away -- John D. Mathon, 4 Oct 1989. I think killing is value-neutral in and of itself. -- Gary Strand, 8 Nov 1989. Liberals run this country, by and large. -- Clayton Cramer, 20 Nov 1989. Shut up and mind your Canadian business, you meddlesome foreigner. -- TK, 23 N.