When a mistake goes from inconvenient to catastrophic

I was sent the article in the first comment by a colleague in the Supply Chain industry.

I'm absolutely flabbergasted. How do two apparently educated people write paragraphs about how company after company and industry after industry have stepped up to help solve parts of the Covid19 crisis, and how decisions at the state and federal level have hampered that effort in some states and in some ways. Then actually say with sincerity the "only hope we have is a federal 'Office of Supply Chain' to make it all run smooth????

For all of it's faults, and it has several, Capitalism and Free Market are always superior than State Controlled or Command Economies.

Lets look at 1 issue in particular from the article. Some states are including CPG manufacturers in the Lock Down, others are not. The authors raise the issue that this causes discord and inefficiency within the supply chain. And as such Federal government solution is needed.

My argument to that is the Governors of those states are doing the best they can and making the best decisions they can with the information at hand. (I personally believe it to be a mistake, as we need the goods). But because there are 50 governors, most will make the correct decision, some will make the mistake. But because operations can continue in the states that take the correct path, products will still get delivered where they are needed.

If the power and decision is centralized, the mistake (if it happens) goes from inconvenient to catastrophic. We would have no manufacturing, and no products getting to market. And when it is a business decision, business operates on a risk versus reward process, and find a way to take action (or not). But because government only operates on risk mitigation, they tend to act on the side of not making a mistake.

That is the essence of the failure of command economies.

Add in that the correct information is virtually impossible to get to a centralized decision maker, and the likelihood of the mistake being made is much, much greater.

All of the mistake prone issues of lack of information and risk aversion exist when there is absolute altruism and genuine concern for doing the best or all concerned. Which is the foundation myth of Socialism and Command Economies. But that absolute altruism does not exist. Personal interest, personal gain, always come in to play. It is human nature.

Sooner or later everyone makes a mistake. Centralizing that decision simply means sooner or later the mistake is catastrophic.

The only possible solution to that is to let individuals, companies, and industries make their own decisions. Some will make mistakes, and some will fail as a result. But others will make good decisions and thrive. And in thriving, they provide needed goods and services to the rest of us.