What, if anything, is wrong with socialism?

1. 60

   DrNajposted 14 years ago

   What, if anything, is wrong with socialism?

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2. 84

   rachellrobinsonposted 14 years ago

   An economics professor at a local college made a statement that he had never failed a single student before, but had recently failed an entire class.  That class had insisted that Obama's socialism worked and that 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 on Obama's plan"..
   All grades would be averaged and everyone would receive the same grade so no one would fail and no one would receive an A....
   
   After the first test, the grades were averaged and everyone got a B.  The students 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 the ones who studied hard decided they wanted a free ride too so they studied little.
   
   The second test average was a D!  No one was happy.
   When the 3rd test rolled around, the average was an F.
   
   As the tests proceeded, the scores never increased as bickering, blame and name-calling all resulted in hard feelings and no one would study for the benefit of anyone else.
   
   All failed, to their great surprise, and the professor told them that socialism would also ultimately fail because when the reward is great, the effort to succeed is great, but when government takes all the reward away, no one will try or want to succeed.

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3. 60

   Merlin Fraserposted 14 years ago

   Socialism like it’s bigger brother Communism are great ideas in theory, it’s just that neither of them work in practice.
   
   If someone gets something for nothing someone else has to pay twice. 
   If I work and you don’t why should I work to keep you  ?    Or Vice Versa ?

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   GNelsonposted 14 years ago

   Socialism in it's purest form probably doesn't work well.  Since all these ism's are made up to fit into textbooks, wouldn't it make sense too take the best of each and make one that works for all of us.  The United States is the richest country in the world yet we have millions of children that go to bed hungry every day.  Feeding them is socialistic but I don't think it is a bad thing.  Not everyone can afford an education.  Providing a education is not a bad thing.  Unregulated capitalism is boom and bust.  This is not a good thing.  It's recession and oil spills. 
   We need to use what works and ditch what doesn't and lose the dogma that is spouted in the halls of Congress.

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   Wayne Brownposted 14 years ago

   rachellrobinson gave an extremely good example below in her her discussion of the use of class grades.  The basic premise of socialism is that someone else knows better than you what your needs are and how your resources should be used.  Individual accomplishment is totally ignored yet those in power are exempt from the "equal sharing" that is essentially imposed. The inevitable outcome of socialism is a reduction or total loss of production due to a lack of inspiration on the part of the participants.  It sounds all warm and cozy from the outside and has a romance all its own that promises a utopian life for all.  The reality is that it hands all power to an elite group who control and make all the decisions regarding the redistribution of the products of individual efforts.  In the end, it demoralizes and demotivates.  A recent example of the USA slide toward socialism is the healthcare legislation. It is presented in the light that it will help everyone and provide better care.  In essence, what it really says is that there are now factions running our government who believe that the government knows more about your healthcare needs than you do and the government retains the right to decide it rather than you.  That is just one micro example of where socialism will take you. WB

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