The Nazi economy was unable to function. It was always overheating, and it required resources from abroad that it had to pay for in hard currency it didn't have. The only way to get a semi-stable Nazi economy is to achieve resource autarky (so they don't need to pay hard currency for...
If you don't believe in eugenics then LKYs policies seem like the ramblings of a detached eccentric. If you do believe in eugenics then LKY was a brave supporter of truth fighting for good public policy against a world supporting a big lie that ultimately ends up hurting a lot of people...
One of the key features of successful Singaporean technocracy was LKYs unique mix of certainty and humility. He recognized which problems he could not solve and left people to solve them on their own.
Do our current politicians strike you less arrogant? Less connected? Less in an echo...
We already had a progressive movement, and we already elected an egg-head technocratic president (Woodrow Wilson).
The best takedown of this idea I ever read was "That Hideous Strength" by C.S. Lewis.
The BEF is destroyed in 1914 via encirclement. The UK decides that while it will run the blockade and engage in colonial and possibly anti-Turkish action in the Middle East, its not going to put an army into Northern France.
Since there is no BEF, there are fewer offensives in the West, which...
+1
207 BC is kind of like 1942 for the allies. You've got way more resources. The Blitzkrieg failed. If you back away and take an objective look at things your winning the war. Technically, if your willing to fight total war in perpetuity its basically impossible for the other side to win...
Losses came disproportionately from the best of society. The sick and the weak stayed back home. Also, many were maimed, which is worse then death in a cost/benefit sense since they become and ongoing burden.
To the extent that land rents (or their equivalent) are being extracted by someone (capitalist or otherwise) there is some argument to be had over how land rents are to be distributed.
What can't be done is to make the unproductive more productive then they are. This labor theory of value...
Hannibal's strategy, at its core, was to turn the Italian allies against Rome. That they didn't after all those early losses probably means the Roman alliance system was INCREDIBLY robust. Any POD would mean undermining that alliance system, and I think history proves battles alone wouldn't do...
We can't have a discussion if we don't objectively define terms.
Socialism has books, parties, platforms, etc. We ought to be able to say "socialism says A, B, C, etc". If we can't concretely identify what socialism is I see no point of debating if "it" could work.
Communism/socialism implies particular economic, political, and philosophical premises. I don't see how those don't end in disaster, and the historical record on this is no accident.
When people call democratic center left mixed market economics "socialist" they are engaging in a mutilation of...