But the alternative of having a state-planned economy isn't an attractive solution either.

Why do so many Germans spend their holidays - and Brits their old age - in France? Is it just the weather, or is it all the state-planned infrastructure, social safety nets, distributed activity, etc..?

There is a reason France has been so persistently demonised in the business press, and pushed to "reform": its largely State-coordinated system DOES provide an attractive alternative.

In the long run, we're all dead. John Maynard Keynes