Comment Re:What? (Score 1) 393
By this logic, the Soviet Union should have succeeded, and government corruption should be irrelevant.
Your analysis doesn't allow for deadweight losses or economically unproductive overhead. Some activity is productive. Some isn't, even if it's necessary to allow the productive activity to occur. The more of your economy is spent on nonproductive (or even negatively productive) activity, the weaker it will be. Ideally, you would have nonproductive activities reduced to the point at which they exactly pay for themselves - if they spent more, they would begin to detract from productive activities, and if they spent less, they would be overlooking potential productivity improvements. The more hands money passes through, the more instances of unproductive activity you will have to deal with.
Your analysis doesn't allow for deadweight losses or economically unproductive overhead. Some activity is productive. Some isn't, even if it's necessary to allow the productive activity to occur. The more of your economy is spent on nonproductive (or even negatively productive) activity, the weaker it will be. Ideally, you would have nonproductive activities reduced to the point at which they exactly pay for themselves - if they spent more, they would begin to detract from productive activities, and if they spent less, they would be overlooking potential productivity improvements. The more hands money passes through, the more instances of unproductive activity you will have to deal with.