My girlfriend and I just had a conversation about resource management that I thought was interesting because it touched on the similarities and differences between my point of view and that of communism.
The main difference and what I believe was the main problem with communism was that communism didn't take into account the natural aspect of human desire. Which is to say in communism there are these resource managers who monitor what's available to the whole of society and then try to ensure that everyone gets their fair share by dividing it evenly among the people.
The problem here is that people are different. So say you have a certain number of apples available to you, you can't just say everyone gets two apples a week because some people really like apples and will want ten apples a week and they're going to get upset at the lack of apples available to them. That's fine in the natural world because they can have ten apples a week and it works out because some people don't like apples at all and simply won't eat any.
With communism you enforce the ration with an iron fist, but those who manage the resources are not intimately aware of the individuals that are receiving the rations. It's not necessary that everyone get the same amount, I can see where in theory that might seem fair, but it's not because not everyone wants or needs the same amount of apples that others want or need. Some want ten apples a week, others want two apples a week and others still want zero apples a week and those who manage the resources have no way of knowing how many of each type of person there are.
It gets even more complicated too because there are times when one individual might want zero apples on this week, but 4 apples the next week and yet the following week want only 1 apple.
The thing is that believe it or not, and you probably believe it, there are those who actually enjoy counting apples, measuring availability and predicting future availability. I enjoy it too actually, not all the time, but I do.
So similar, but not exactly like communism, you would have those who fulfill the role of resource manager. These people count apples, resources, and predict future availability of apples. Then they make their recommendations to the public and the public is free to adhere to these recommendations to whatever ability they deem necessary for themselves.
People want to survive and if they know what's good for them then they'll do their best to pay attention to those who are managing the resources for the whole, all the while knowing that they can deviate from the prescribed recommendation should they so choose. Moreover they have no real reason to distrust the resource managers because they are not forcing anything upon the people, only making recommendations that they themselves either adhere to or deviate from to whatever degree. The resource managers hold no higher stature or influence than any other average joe.
And of course this works with far more than just apples. Say you want to build a road to your house with a bridge. You're certainly welcome to go ahead and do so, but if you know what's good for you then you'll seek the advice of a city planner first.
Why? Because the city planner enjoys planning out the layout of a city. He knows where best to put this road and where best to build this bridge. You certainly don't have to take his advice, but should you build your bridge and it fall then know that you should have taken the advice and hopefully next time you'll remember that.