|
>> The left can run a military, just not with any degree of efficiency. I don't agree that a left-run military is necessarily less efficient than
any other kind. The military, by its very nature is a huge bureaucracy, and will suffer the
inefficiencies that all huge bureaucracies do. All bureaucracies are effectively
localized socialist structures. This is why a market economy has a mixture of
small and large corporations. Smaller companies are more efficient, but
large companies (sometimes) have massive economies of scale. The real disadvantages that a left-run military has are
- that it is supported by a less efficient means (taxing a poverty stricken
socialist economy ain't that profitable)
- they have a poorer technological base (they can't buy quality goods from
local suppliers because there are none).
Both of these get worse over time because the capitalist economy has a
greater economic growth. Before these factors caught up with the Soviet military machine, I think
they were quite powerful.
| 
