Quote Originally Posted by Renton View Post
But CoccoBill believes that the state is the only way for groups of people to cooperate and make decisions. A socialist person who understands economics still understands the great value that comes from free markets; he just believes that certain projects need to be financed through taxation which will enhance the effectiveness of the free market. He certainly doesn't believe that the profit-and-loss system just consists of individuals winging it; that there's no incentive to be an expert in this context; that expertise and knowledge wouldn't be cultivated and accumulated under these conditions.
No I wouldn't say I believe that, I believe a structured and policy-based system is needed to keep greed and selfishness at manageable levels. I also don't think I'd call myself a socialist. A government is always going to have non-experts just as free markets are going to have individuals winging it, both are people with identical genetics. You're assuming profit to be the only incentive for doing anything, and that's where I disagree strongly. A lot of people become experts for entirely different reasons, but it might be most of them are women.