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Re:Fidel Castro has died by wallace_f on Saturday November 26, 2016 @01:21AM (#13042042)
> you can't argue that his political philosophy works either---just look at Cuba today.

As someone who studied the subject formally, don't place maximum weight on the success and failures of the (statistically insignificant) rise and fall of modern nation states. This is a very far cry from a controlled experiment to begin with, anyways.

Don't read into that too much. I'm not saying mainstream economics doesn't have compelling arguments to make about the elegant effectiveness of free (properly regulated) markets. I'm just trying to be fair: it's a far cry from a scientific fact, which it seems like not just this comment, but a lot of us in the west (even mainstream academic economics) sell the idea as.

Re:Fidel Castro has died by gragas on Saturday November 26, 2016 @01:24AM (#13042057)
Okay, I won't put too much weight on objective facts.

I guess that destroys my argument that there hasn't been a single successful planned economy in history so far.

Re:Fidel Castro has died by wallace_f on Saturday November 26, 2016 @01:48AM (#13042165)
There is not even such thing. There exists no major economy in modern history which is either 100% planned or 100% "free market" (anarchist).

Well anyways, the objective fact here is that Cuba is objectively richer and more successful than some nearby economies that have had more right wing influence in nearby Central America.

Re:Fidel Castro has died by bobwaycott on Saturday November 26, 2016 @02:06AM (#13042228)
All economies are planned. There are none operating at global scale in the last century+ that have not been planned in myriad ways.
Re:Fidel Castro has died by friendlygrammar on Saturday November 26, 2016 @01:43AM (#13042147)
>it's a far cry from a scientific fact, which it seems like not just this comment, but a lot of us in the west (even mainstream academic economics) sell the idea as.

Centrally planning an economy is an NP complete problem. Marxism is dumb and if any would be socialist on this forum can explain to me how we as a society can retain the benefits yielded by capitalism without the use of capital and how socialism of such a form can exist without a centrally planned economy, I'm all ears.

Marxism has failed and failed and then failed again, and then it also led to the deaths of 100 million.

Re:Fidel Castro has died by bobwaycott on Saturday November 26, 2016 @02:22AM (#13042280)
You seem to have a very wrong idea of what Marxism is, means, and argues. You also seem to have a deep-seated and emotional hatred for it. That's all well and good, but perhaps you should lay off discussing it. You keep getting all worked up here, which you perhaps would be able to avoid if you had a better understanding of what Marxism is, what it means, what it argues, what it predicts. You're continuing to behave in an insulting manner toward people, calling names, and making antagonistic, simplistic, blanket statements that evince no nuance of understanding.

For a concrete example, someone who is interested cannot really respond to you if they wanted to because you're firing in every direction with very little detail or explanation. How is anyone supposed to guess at what you consider to be the "benefits yielded by capitalism"? What socialism "of such a form" do you mean? Why do you seem blind to the many "dumb" parts of capitalism or liberal democracy? Do you study the various alternatives that have been discussed in the history of political science and theory? What specifically do you find dumb about Marxism, particularly as compared with its counterparts in other economic models and interpretations of human history?

On HN, you'll find emotional, knee-jerk reactions receive a swift, negative response. Especially when they're negative emotions, delivered with insults and anger. You can do much better than this, and you'll find interesting conversations coming your way.