Rick Kelo - Market Socialism

Ever heard the term "Market Socialism"?  It is a method Socialists invented to try and show their system could work.  Under "market socialism" citizens are given rationing tickets to redeem for extra goods whenever an excess develops.  Socialists believe this will allow shop managers to adjust the number of rationing tickets needed to buy a certain good.  The premise behind this argument was that it would establish a functioning market where the availability of goods was governed by a market with supply & demand.'

Market Socialism in action in Venezuela

Socialist Venezuela is using this method right now.  In 2014 they began issuing food cards to be used for all grocery purchases.  Rick Kelo, an outspoken advocate of human freedom, has examined Socialist's claims that this system can actually implement a market economy inside a Socialist system.

He responds that rationing tickets don't replace money because in a free market economy money is earned by satisfying the needs of others.  Also prices are not set by trial and error, as in Market Socialism, but rather by entrepreneurs who own businesses anticipating the price.  The way entrepreneurs anticipate prices is by already knowing the cost of all of their inputs.  In a Socialist economy where the State owns all the means of production there is no market for raw materials and factories and all the things that go into making a finished good.  So the grocery store operator in Market Socialist Venezuela has no way to approximate his cost of goods sold to decide what price to set for the things on the shelf.