Why central planning fails
There is a great debate going on in Canada about our contract to purchase 88 F35 fighter jets. The jets are to replace the aging CF18s, but too many Canadians are butthurt by Donald Trump. They want to cancel the contract and order jets from Sweden instead. The average clueless Canadian thinks this knee jerk reaction will really damage Donald Trump. Once again, I am forced to marvel at the stupidity of the average Canadian.
The last time The Canadian military bought new fighters was 1980. Canceling this purchase denies the US the opportunity to sell us a handful of jets every 45 years. Do you think canceling the equivalent of 2 jets per year is going to be a grave injury to the world’s largest economy?
Canadians do not understand macroeconomics and cannot do math. They also don’t understand business contracts. I am sure that there is a break fee in this contract. If we don’t go ahead with it, we will still be obliged to pay Lougheed Martin. They will make their profit from us anyway. The only difference will be that we have no planes to show for it.
I really don’t want to write another post this morning about the stupidity of the average Canadian. There is a surprising reason for that. I also question the wisdom of the contract but not for the same reason. I want to know why we buy jets and not drones.
On the killing fields of Ukraine, an estimated 70% of casualties are now caused by drones.
The Ukraine war has been fought with drones, missiles, and artillery. The tanks and jets that we sent made almost no difference. They were destroyed at long distance by Russian missiles which allowed drones to rule the battlefield. Portable missile technology has gotten so good that it is making jets and tanks obsolete. So why are we still purchasing jets and Tanks? Central planning, that’s why.
National militaries are great examples of central planning. A few people go into a room and make all the decisions. They buy jets and tanks because those technologies worked before and look good in parades. Our centrally planned military is just not nimble enough to respond to changing market conditions. That is not the case in the hyper capitalist world of drug trafficking.
They warned Kyiv that cartel members were infiltrating Ukraine’s foreign fighter cadres to learn how to fly first-person view (FPV) kamikaze drones, which give pilots a bird’s-eye view of the target as they close in with an explosive payload.
This is an odd but effective example of Capitalism vs state planning. Canada is still buying fighters when we should be buying drones. Conversely, Mexican drug cartels are working feverishly to leverage new technology. It is shocking how the Canadian government can be so deeply in bed with drug Cartels and still not see this. You can’t teach old socialists new tricks, I guess.











