The case for Economic Planning into achieving progressive goals

Economic Planning, in its simplest and purest form is the process by which key economic decisions are made or influenced by central governments, according to Britannica. In its simplest form, this process is when the government mobilizes the economic resources in their country and help advancement while reducing wastage that laissez-faire economics are so often criticized for.

Tried and proven at Corporate Level

In a Jacobin article dated in 2019 entitled, "Yes, a Planned Economy Can Actually Work", Jacobin illustrates how Walmart achieved efficiency via large-scale planning, ensuring strong outputs and allowing more goods to being produced. Contrasted to that is the disaster that is Sears. Edward Lampert, the Sears CEO, who bankrupted his company by introducing their own internal market and have all departments compete against each other instead of working toward a common good.

Are we fighting for the same thing as the anti-worker Walmart? By no means! However, it does give us insights on the state of the economy we currently have and how we can improve it by being more and more efficient in ensuring that the economy is built for all.

Improving the economy

Firstly, a Nation has far more resources than Walmart, especially when speaking about a country as advanced as the USA, Canada and most of Europe. Right now, the de-centralisation of economic resources has had adverse effects when it comes to mass mobilization to implementing progressive policies and programmes all around the world.

Governments need to have a more hands-on approach to maximize production especially in terms of manufacturing. When it comes to manufacturing, the goal is to produce as much as possible with maximum efficiency to help grow the economy. With this goal in mind, the government must use an economic concept that all of us (should) learn in an economics class: economies of scale. The decentralized nature makes it hard to do these plannings on a large scale to actually improve productivity, improve the economy and thereby, improving the standard of living.

Final Thoughts

We can start scaling our economy by funding an economic planning unit, made by technocrats, who report to whomever may run the economy in a given nation, on how to scale the economy in a way that benefits all. Only when we have an inclusive economy, then will economic growth from increased productivity benefit the many, not just the few. An economic planning unit that follows the above guidelines will become very successful in mobilizing the economy for good, progressive values.

During the COVID-19 pandemic recovery, private supply chain measures did not recover fast, probably citing profit issues. Perhaps if governments had owned the supply chain measures, the internal economy, at least, would have recovered faster than how it did in our timeline, because governments could've mobilized their resources not in the spirit of profit, but rather for the good of the people.

I, therefore, urge governments: big and small alike to actually invest in this to improve the economy, rather than relying on austerity measures to see through a good budget balance as an inclusive economy will be more beneficial for all.