Because in one case the one selling the milk gets money to invest into providing more milk, and in the other case said seller does not (or gets less of it).
If those five gallons are to be distributed by need, then that difference in return needs accounted for as well (i.e. the government doing the redistribution should also be putting resources into improving milk production to avoid that situation in the future).
Well what prevents the government putting resources into improving milk production? That just seems to be the logical next step.
It seems the same activity (more milk production) would happen regardless, but instead of placing the rate of milk production in the hands of the current milk suppliers, it would be democratically controlled by the people buying the milk.
In theory it could work, but the government would need experts in milk production to determine what to invest in. Expand this to every possible good, and it becomes un-manageable quickly, while also being ripe for corruption.
The producers of the good are typically much better positioned to determine how to efficiently spend resources to increase production. It is their own profits, future, and livelihood on the line so they are much more likely to choose carefully.
Can people with knowledge of milk production not be selected for government? Why would people choose to have those with less knowledge of milk production to run the milk production department?
Who decides who runs the milk production department?
In a market economy, everyone is free to compete, and everyone votes with his/her hard-earned dollars each time they purchase some milk.
With the government system, would you have people vote for the best milk producer? Is the general populace qualified or able to assess skill in milk production? If you instead decide to appoint this milk producer, how do you prevent corruption?
Yes, as it is a much simpler question: Is this gallon of milk worth my $3.27? Maybe this has been a good week and they choose the $4.27 organic variety.
In contrast, when voting for a national milk producer, voters need to take into account the needs of the general populace, the future efficiency of each producer, possibly the weather and health of cows in different regions of the country. It is a much better deal to have the producers take on that risk, and let the consumers choose once the price and final product are known.
Both ways there's less milk available than needed, so the problem (lack of milk) still exists.
reply