You need to sign in or sign up before continuing.
Take a photo of a barcode or cover
I think the title both undersells and oversells the book.
The first chapter is indeed an interesting overview of how Wal-mart internally plans resource allocation on a massive scale, even coordinating supplier production to avoid the "bullwhip" effect which causes inefficiencies in so called "free markets". However, this is only a few pages and does not come close to anything technical. This and the later description of Amazon's large scale informatic infrastructure leave a bit to be desired and the authors do not provide a bibliography. It would have been good to at least point to more in depth sources on the subject.
Despite this, the book is also about much more than Walmart. We also read the following in the subsequent chapters:
-- A well written history of the early economic calculation debate among figures like Mises, Lange, and a more obscure figure called Neurath.
-- A persuasive critique of the idea that free markets really do more innovating than state actors, or even do any without state assistance.
-- A history of the British NHS and its dismemberment by the neoliberal governments from the 80s to the present.
-- A history of Project Cybersyn in Allende's Chile and a primer on cybernetics and Stafford Beer. This section again was wanting some technical detail. After all, it described one of the main successful real world implementations of the type of planning the book advocates. Would have been a good place to describe how the system worked!
Overall the book is not exactly what the title suggests. It does not make a compelling enough case that the planning technology used in a corporation can be used towards the project of decommodification and turning capital to public ends. I would still like to read the book that does, if it's out there.
However, it does provide a thorough history of the ideas and debate surrounding economic planning, along with a lot of interesting anecdotes. The writing is sharp and efficient, making the book a quick read.
The first chapter is indeed an interesting overview of how Wal-mart internally plans resource allocation on a massive scale, even coordinating supplier production to avoid the "bullwhip" effect which causes inefficiencies in so called "free markets". However, this is only a few pages and does not come close to anything technical. This and the later description of Amazon's large scale informatic infrastructure leave a bit to be desired and the authors do not provide a bibliography. It would have been good to at least point to more in depth sources on the subject.
Despite this, the book is also about much more than Walmart. We also read the following in the subsequent chapters:
-- A well written history of the early economic calculation debate among figures like Mises, Lange, and a more obscure figure called Neurath.
-- A persuasive critique of the idea that free markets really do more innovating than state actors, or even do any without state assistance.
-- A history of the British NHS and its dismemberment by the neoliberal governments from the 80s to the present.
-- A history of Project Cybersyn in Allende's Chile and a primer on cybernetics and Stafford Beer. This section again was wanting some technical detail. After all, it described one of the main successful real world implementations of the type of planning the book advocates. Would have been a good place to describe how the system worked!
Overall the book is not exactly what the title suggests. It does not make a compelling enough case that the planning technology used in a corporation can be used towards the project of decommodification and turning capital to public ends. I would still like to read the book that does, if it's out there.
However, it does provide a thorough history of the ideas and debate surrounding economic planning, along with a lot of interesting anecdotes. The writing is sharp and efficient, making the book a quick read.
Reading well developed unabashedly Leftist thought is a pleasure. This book articulates clearly how capitalism (exemplified by Walmart and Amazon, but also the USDOD and Federal Reserve) already employ centralized planning and as such are proving that central planned economies already do work. This part of the argument is well argued, giving the lie to the libertarian belief in an absolute free market. Next the authors debunk the idea that markets work as well as planning given the failure of firms to succeed when they adopt internal markets (shown in the case of Sears and also the UK NHS). The book then goes on to a claim that the USSR wasn't actually felled by central planning because it didn't really have plans. It thus concludes that in theory as well as fact a centrally planned economy can work.
The main flaw is that somewhere in there is a claim that the central planning can work for and by the people, a vaguely "democratic" notion about who will be empowered by the rise of big data socialism. I find this to be the most torturous part of the book. A simpler conclusion would be that Amazon and Walmart are bad, not because they are capitalists but because they exemplify the failures of a command and control economy!: Bad external side effects; destabilization of markets; totalitarian impulses towards control of workers etc.
Overall a good listen and an important perspective.
The main flaw is that somewhere in there is a claim that the central planning can work for and by the people, a vaguely "democratic" notion about who will be empowered by the rise of big data socialism. I find this to be the most torturous part of the book. A simpler conclusion would be that Amazon and Walmart are bad, not because they are capitalists but because they exemplify the failures of a command and control economy!: Bad external side effects; destabilization of markets; totalitarian impulses towards control of workers etc.
Overall a good listen and an important perspective.
challenging
informative
inspiring
medium-paced
Walmart and Amazon are extremely good at planning and logistics. They've gotten great (especially with the help of ML and leveraging computing) at figuring out what people throughout huge parts of the world want and setting up systems for connecting with manufacturing and distribution. This book gives an easy-to-follow accounting of economic planning as experimented with by authoritarian socialist governments. The authors here make an interesting argument that contra the popular belief that large-scale economic planning LEADS to authoritarianism, authoritarianism actually leads to a failure of effective large-scale economic planning.
They aren't proposing we're on the cusp of a democratically-led form of nation-wide economic planning, but seem to be trying to break down connotations between economic planning and authoritarianism, which is what we mostly think of when we think about historical attempts at economic planning. This is an exposé of sorts: "Look, Walmart and Amazon are planning at the scale of nation-states with computing and logistical techniques cribbed DIRECTLY from the Soviet system!" These systems could unlock a brighter future in which democratic socialism is the prevailing practice and economic planning allows for people to get what they want when they want it without all the icky baggage of capitalism and private firms running the show.
Beyond this main point, I thought the best part of the book was the section giving a fairly clear and concise history of planning from the Russian Revolution through to the break up of the USSR. This isn't something I've read much about so I reread that section a couple of times.
They aren't proposing we're on the cusp of a democratically-led form of nation-wide economic planning, but seem to be trying to break down connotations between economic planning and authoritarianism, which is what we mostly think of when we think about historical attempts at economic planning. This is an exposé of sorts: "Look, Walmart and Amazon are planning at the scale of nation-states with computing and logistical techniques cribbed DIRECTLY from the Soviet system!" These systems could unlock a brighter future in which democratic socialism is the prevailing practice and economic planning allows for people to get what they want when they want it without all the icky baggage of capitalism and private firms running the show.
Beyond this main point, I thought the best part of the book was the section giving a fairly clear and concise history of planning from the Russian Revolution through to the break up of the USSR. This isn't something I've read much about so I reread that section a couple of times.
interesting but could have used more footnotes/citations. also doesn't really talk about changing our society in terms of how we live (fewer cars, changing infrastructure) but more changing the governing of the society.
Skip it and just rip a bong with your local university’s Communist Party Chapter president
This was a really interesting book that discusses how much planning and cooperation goes into the operations of mega-corporations like Walmart & Amazon. It shows that “ruthless market competition” is far less relevant in our current corporate capitalist system than we’ve been led to believe. It discusses the dichotomy of planned economies vs anarchic markets and the viability of leveraging modern computing for planning.
It takes a critical, rational look at the Soviet Union’s system and gleans valuable insight from what they accomplished and where they erred.
It also discusses something I didn’t know anything about before: Chile’s “Project Cybersyn”, a precursor to the internet tasked with economic planning. “…management cybernetics could serve Allende’s vision of an anti-bureaucratic democratic socialism in which workers participated in management and that would defend individual civil liberties.” That was a great success until the US-backed fascist coup in 1973, which resulted in the dismantling of “Project Cybersyn”. I’ve now renamed my router to “Cybersyn” in solidarity.
This book says what I’ve been saying for years now: Capitalism cannot fix the climate crisis. Caputalism caused the climate crisis. The profit motive and endless growth caused climate change. No amount of regressive Pigovian flat taxes on carbon will solve this crisis. “The market’s profit motive—not growth or industrial civilization, as some environmentalists have argued—caused our climate calamity and the larger bio-crisis. The market is amoral, not immoral. It is directionless, with its own internal logic that is independent of human command.”
Massive economic planning already exists in various siloed systems, but with tyrannical capitalists as the decision makers. The goal is to democratize the process and prioritize humanity instead of the profit motive.
It pairs well with "The Entrepreneurial State: Debunking Public vs Private Sector Myths " by Mariana mazzucato (2013), which shows that innovation is far more prevalent in state-backed research, not profit-based enterprises. I highly recommend that book. The concept of anarchist markets is covered deeper in "Markets Not Capitalism: Individualist Anarchism Against Bosses, Inequality, Corporate Power, and Structural Poverty" Edited by Gary Chartier & Charles W. Johnson (2011) , I mildly recommend this book.
Great book. Highly recommended
It takes a critical, rational look at the Soviet Union’s system and gleans valuable insight from what they accomplished and where they erred.
It also discusses something I didn’t know anything about before: Chile’s “Project Cybersyn”, a precursor to the internet tasked with economic planning. “…management cybernetics could serve Allende’s vision of an anti-bureaucratic democratic socialism in which workers participated in management and that would defend individual civil liberties.” That was a great success until the US-backed fascist coup in 1973, which resulted in the dismantling of “Project Cybersyn”. I’ve now renamed my router to “Cybersyn” in solidarity.
This book says what I’ve been saying for years now: Capitalism cannot fix the climate crisis. Caputalism caused the climate crisis. The profit motive and endless growth caused climate change. No amount of regressive Pigovian flat taxes on carbon will solve this crisis. “The market’s profit motive—not growth or industrial civilization, as some environmentalists have argued—caused our climate calamity and the larger bio-crisis. The market is amoral, not immoral. It is directionless, with its own internal logic that is independent of human command.”
Massive economic planning already exists in various siloed systems, but with tyrannical capitalists as the decision makers. The goal is to democratize the process and prioritize humanity instead of the profit motive.
It pairs well with "The Entrepreneurial State: Debunking Public vs Private Sector Myths " by Mariana mazzucato (2013), which shows that innovation is far more prevalent in state-backed research, not profit-based enterprises. I highly recommend that book. The concept of anarchist markets is covered deeper in "Markets Not Capitalism: Individualist Anarchism Against Bosses, Inequality, Corporate Power, and Structural Poverty" Edited by Gary Chartier & Charles W. Johnson (2011) , I mildly recommend this book.
Great book. Highly recommended
informative
reflective
medium-paced
[I'm reading this for a book club. I just finished the audiobook and loved it. I will write a more thorough review after I finish the physical version for the book club.]