ABSTRACT
In Chapter 4 we explain why even “best case” central planning would be incapable of achieving the goals we presented in Chapter 1. In particular, we explain why central planning is incompatible with economic self-management – decision-making power in proportion to the degree one is affected – and therefore inevitably leads to worker apathy and empowers a “coordinator class” of central planners and enterprise managers. We argue that the “Achilles heel,” or “fatal flaw,” in central planning lies not in its inability to cope with information problems however considerable those may be, and the focus of most mainstream critiques, but instead in its inability to provide workers with self-managed work opportunities – ironically what socialism initially promised above all else.
