>>4
First I ought to clarify, I'm not a central planning socialist (ie I don't think the USSR was a great place to live). I think that the means of production should belong to the workers themselves rather than the state (would that not make the state the biggest capitalist of them all?). I'm not sure if there would be markets in this society, though there could be. I suppose the ideal would be for money made to reflect the amount of time spent working and how valuable the work is to society. The state would do most of the things modern left-liberals want like healthcare, environmental regulation, and stuff like that. More radically there would probably be a national bank.
Second, lower prices? Sure. Better quality? Depends on the market for the product. If its going to get sold in a place like wall-mart then, no. China's (which is capitalist in all but name) products suck. If its being sold to rich people then, yes, better quality. Better in both cases than the USSR or Mao's China? Yes.
I have no opinion on Che.