Professor Friedrich Hayek: On Socialism

Source:Malthus- Professor Friedrich Hayek talking about socialism. I don't know the year or who he's talking to.

"Friedrich Hayek talks about socialism. For all major works on economic calculation see here:Google." 

From Malthus 

"Throughout his life Hayek criticized socialism, often contrasting it with a system of free markets. Although his earlier critiques were based on economic grounds, he later drew upon political, ethical, and other arguments in making his case.

His economic arguments themselves had many dimensions. Hayek noted, for example, that market prices, which reflect the appraisal of millions of market participants, are essential for entrepreneurial calculation; they allow firm owners to choose the most affordable combinations of technologically feasible inputs. Hayek asserted that in a world of constant change—in which every change of price causes market participants to change their demand and supply, which lead to other adjustments, ad infinitum—no constructed system can match the ability of the market process to adjust continually to the changes. He argued that the market system itself constitutes a “discovery procedure,” in that it provides incentives for the discovery of new products and processes while also disseminating information to market participants (e.g., consumers). This occurs because entrepreneurs have incentives to be alert to and to exploit newly discovered or created knowledge. Hayek maintained that a market system aids in the coordination of plans and the correction of errors in a world in which knowledge is dispersed, tacit, and specific to time and place and in which individual beliefs may be wrong. Obversely, price-fixing hinders coordination; attempts to gather knowledge centrally do not permit the best use of localized and tacit knowledge; and no system provides as much feedback and incentives for the correction of errors in perception as does a market system." 

From Britanica

I think Professor Friedrich Hayek's basic critique of socialism (democratic or otherwise) is that it assumes as a philosophy and Socialists assume as a political faction, that all of society's (free or otherwise) problems and ills can be solved through a large, centralized, national government. That all you need to do is centralize all of the society's resources, into this one, large, national authority. And then the national government will see to it that everyone is taken care of and that no one has to go with out or have too much. 

Professor Hayek's main problem with socialism, is also my main problem with socialism,  that it oversimplifies individuals and has too much confidence in what government can do for the people. And worries too much about what individuals can do for themselves, if only given the opportunity and knowledge to manage their own affairs for themselves.