An economics professor at a local college made a statement that he had never failed a single student before, but had once failed an entire class. That class had insisted that 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.” 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 studied even less and the ones who studied hard decided they wanted a free ride so they too studied little. The second test average was a D! No one was happy.
When the 3rd test rolled around, the average was an F. The scores never increased as bickering, blaming and name-calling all resulted in hard feelings and no one would study for the benefit of anyone else.
At the end of the term, all failed. The professor told them that socialism also ultimately would fail. 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.
It could not be any simpler than that.
- You cannot legislate the poor into prosperity by legislating the wealthy out of prosperity.
- What one person receives without working for, another person must work for without receiving.
- The government cannot give to anybody anything that the government does not first take from somebody else.
- You cannot multiply wealth by dividing it!
- 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 nation.
Week's End Wanderings 