Someone sent me this supposedly cautionary tale about capitalism vs socialism. It is based on black-and-white and false or unproved assumptions about human nature and motivations, etc, yet it seems so "commonsensical". So just enjoy the story...
With the "Occupy Wall Street" protest movement still fresh in people's minds, an American economics professor told a dinner gathering that, while he had never previously failed a single student before, he recently failed an entire class.
That class had insisted that socialism worked -- no one would be poor and no one would be rich, a great equalizer.
The professor then said, "OK, we will have an experiment in this class. All grades will be averaged and everyone will receive the same grade so no one will fail and no one will receive an A."
After the first test, the grades were averaged and everyone got a B. The typically A-grade scorers who studied hard were upset and the students who studied little were happy.
As the second test rolled around, the students who studied little had studied even less and a fair number of the ones who usually studied hard decided they wanted a free ride too so they studied little. The second test average was a D! No one was happy now.
When the third test rolled around, the average was now an F -- the rock bottom "failed" grade.
As more tests proceeded, the average scores stood at F and never increased. There was now much bickering, blame and name-calling among the students, amid accusations that no one was studying for the benefit of everyone else!
Eventually, everyone failed, ie, all the students in that class received an F grade because no one was studying. The professor told them that this was how an economy would end up under socialism, which would ultimately fail because when the reward is great, the effort to succeed is great, but when government takes all the rewards away, no one will try or will want to succeed.
The professor then summed up his classroom "findings", applying them to the economy:
1. You cannot legislate the poor into prosperity by legislating the wealthy
out of prosperity.
2. What one person receives without putting in work, another person would have worked without receiving his or her dues.
3. The government cannot give to anybody anything that the government does
not first take from somebody else.
4. You cannot multiply wealth by dividing it.
5. When half of the people get the idea that they do not have to work because the other half is going to take care of them, and when the other half gets the idea that it does no good to work because somebody else is going to get what they work for, that is the beginning of the end of any economy.
-----------------------------------------------
So, is there any professor, schoolteacher or policy-maker out there who wants to try out this "experiment"?
No comments:
Post a Comment