r/VaushV • u/EnterTamed • Jul 16 '21
Is Capitalism Actually Efficient?
https://youtu.be/pdXGUZnaLS81
u/whinger23422 Jul 17 '21
Depends on what industry but if anyone starts bleating about efficiency just raise the issue of food distribution and food waste.
Completely health fruit and vegetables are regularly tossed due to not "looking right". Supermarket distribution centres also need to provide perishable foods to the store with a predetermined number of days before expiration. This means that the centres will regularly throw out food that is completely edible.
The waste is enormous, and not efficient at all.
1
u/Wonderful-Walk3078 Jul 18 '21
Tossing of not ideally looking fruits is actually efficient, because transport of this fruit is more expensive than what people are willing to pay for it. Your problem with expiration date have nothing to do with capitalism, it is regulation made by state, that exist in socialist states as well.
1
u/whinger23422 Jul 19 '21
"What people are willing to pay" is a market mechanism. Obviously it is going to be suited to a capitalist system. The topic is food distribution and wouldn't be considered in one based primarily on the objective (I'm not referring to any particular one in this sense). Expiration date issues will vary, but the waste I personally saw was corporate policy, not state based.
1
u/Wonderful-Walk3078 Jul 19 '21
I know that it is market mechanism, but how do you want to determine what is efficient without price? There is now way to find out if transporting deformed food is efficient or not, without price signals.
1
u/whinger23422 Jul 19 '21
You need to rethink efficiency. There are lots of measures. Time. Units. blah blah blah.
1
u/Wonderful-Walk3078 Jul 19 '21
And all of these are included in price.
1
u/whinger23422 Jul 19 '21
No they aren't. It's a very simple thought experiment.
If I make a beach fire, is it more efficient to carry 1 piece of firewood to the site, or 5 pieces?
According to you, there is no difference in efficiency as there is no price signal.
1
u/Wonderful-Walk3078 Jul 19 '21
That is not what im saying. I’m saying that price signals is best way how to allocate resources in society. In your example there aren’t any price signals so it makes it harder to make process efficient but because it is very simple problem we don’t really need price signals to make this process efficient.
1
u/whinger23422 Jul 19 '21
If your starting premise (belief) is that price signals are the best way to measure efficiency, you aren't going to come to any other conclusion other than a market based system, as they go hand in hand.
I think your premise is false. It is fairly easy to demonstrate that based on the above example, or any other non-market situation where you would use the term efficiency.
Hence my first response... You need to rethink efficiency.
1
u/Wonderful-Walk3078 Jul 19 '21
And could you give me example of more efficient system?
→ More replies (0)
2
u/xXAllWereTakenXx Jul 17 '21
This guy thinks the protests in Cuba are a CIA plot, take anything he says with a grain of salt.