Socialism
Posted Under: politics
Socialism
An economics professor at the University of Florida said while he had never failed a single student before, he had failed an entire class. That class had insisted that socialism worked and that under socialism no one would be poor and no one would be rich, a great equalizer. The professor said ok, we will have an socialism experiment.
All grades would be averaged and everyone will receive the same grade so no one should fail and no one should receive an A. After the first test all the grades were averaged and everyone got a B. The students who studied little were happy, while the students who studied hard were very upset. For the second test, the students who studied little studied even less and the students who studied hard decided they wanted a free ride too, so they studied less. The second Test average grade was a D! The entire class was upset. By the 3rd test the average grade was an F.
The scores never increased as blame, bickering, name calling all resulted in hard feelings. No one wanted to study for someone else. The entire class failed to their great surprise. The professor explained that socialism would ultimately fail, not because the harder to succeed the greater the reward principle, but because when a government or society takes all the reward away; no one will try or succeed.
-Joke Masters
Originally posted 2009-04-03 07:29:28.
Reader Comments
that’s because the class was still following the rules of capitalism, ie: beat your competition. if they all worked hard and studied together, they could have all got As the final tests if the douchebag professor hadn’t rigged the experiment…
Ya, but the teamwork thing doesn’t happen naturally. The only way it seems to happen in the countries that are superior to the USA is through extreme force.
Mr. Connor, with all due respect, there are NO countries “superior to the USA”. The teamwork thing is “communism” and we know how well that did in the USSR. Glad you enjoyed the joke.
-The Joke Masters
Dear Admin, there are no countries “superior to the USA” when we talk about military power at the moment, and even this is arguable. Remember a poorly populated country called China? There are many contries “superior to the USA” when we talk about other aspects of life. You know, little things like accessibility and quailty of the health system, education system, work benefits, etc. Check UNESCO reports, if you need to find out what countries those are.
The teamwork works with overhelming results, for example, in Japan, which is not a communist country. Results? What is the brand of your car? TV? Oh these are Chevy and RCA? Well, it’s your choice… But this is the product of competiotion when people are busy making their own careers and topping up their personal bank accounts, and not interested in having the “results”.
Also, “we know how well that did in the USSR”: teamwork and what was driving it in that country was not the reason of what happened to it.
At last, teamwork thing is “communism”, but I have a feeling somewhere it kind of works. Did I already mentioned China in some regard?..
Just because you make a great tv or car doesn’t make your country better than the USA. You have to consider all aspects of life. While China may be producing a lot of products and has a growing economy, certain aspects of life there are very restrictive, such as free speech, freedom of information, freedom of expression, human rights, etc. Remember the Tiananmen Square protest of 1989?
Here’s another example, if you live in a major city in China, you can only have one child.
Criticizing the Chinese goverment from within China could land you in jail!
I am NOT against China or the Chinese, all I am saying is in America we always think the grass is greener on the other side of the fence. Sometimes we need to step back look at everything and be grateful for what we have.
Regards,
-Joke Masters.
In addition, while other countries may be booming or make good products, the GDP of the United States is nearly double that of the second highest GDP. Socialism is great on paper, but has never succssfully worked in a country. China has boomed lately, but only time will tell if the economy of China does not collapse due to the extreme rapid growth
socialism is not this. it is a lie! only in socialsm there is no so big differences in the life standarts of people, but each of them do not take same fee. For example in capitalism, while one person is living in a palace, other person can live in dust; because, only dont have been born lucky, dont have education, healt resources and other things.
In socialsm conditions are only equal at the beginning.
And today the american economy relies to China. Now altough the economic crises occured in the world, China’s economy still increasing. And do not forgot the things we saw about socialsm in practical, were only the first step, because the world is still in capitalist system in majority.
Well, this is exactly how socialism worked, at least in East Europe.
After several years everybody gave a shit, because no matter how hard you worked, you’ve got the same as everybody else (who was giving shit from the beginning).
That’s how socialism really works, I know, I’ve lived in it for some time, and thankfully it’s over (at least I hope it’s over, because when I see some EU directives, I just want to puke).
As for education, you have scholarships, so I think the talented people can study even if they come from poor.
First off, there are always people who are slackers and there are always people who work hard. obama simply puts a good idea out there to get into the white house because it sounds good in words at first but then you think about it and realize that when put into simpler terms its actually a bad idea. here is an example. president obama said he would have the troops out of iraq but now hes finally gotten into the whitehouse and realized holy crap! His ideas will never happen. and if they do then we will all get severally screwed. hes already racked up a huge trillion dollar debt. socialism wont work simply because of peoples nature.
That is why socialism pails in comparison to Anarchy.
The students should have beaten the teacher to death and all forged A grades.
Just like capitalism.
“That is why socialism pails in comparison to Anarchy.”
Capitalism in not Anarchy. To suggest that is a straw man argument, which seems to be a hot favorite in socialist circles.
“The students should have beaten the teacher to death and all forged A grades. Just like capitalism.”
If they had beaten the teacher to death, not too many would have believed their forgery. Similarly, under Capitalism, you can get away with making crap without loosing customers for only so long, while under socialism, the government can force crap onto its citizens forever.
A system dat rewards success in it’s entirety, in reality is d best. We have 2 be sincere about all dis n truly call a spade a spade. When we advocate equal distribution of reward(regardless of individual input), then we are indeed faced wit d problem dat certain ppl are better at certain things than others. How then do we go about dat? It seems 2 me dat it’s a deliberate conspiracy 2 suppress creativity n even punish merit…d whole socialism idea as a counter theory 2 capitalism should just remaim as dat…a counter theory..
China was the superior country until about the colanial aera. Due to their lack of militaric strenght they couldn’t stand a chance against less developped but highly armed forces such as Great Brittain. They are about to rise and shina again and nothing can stop them. Especially not the USA with their toilet paper called Dollar. How will they support an army without oil reserves? China invests a lot more in alternative energy, which is only possible because of the control and foresight. If there are changes to be made, strict socialism/communism is better managed, if there are wise men at the top.
/intelligent joke
In all this stuff about capitalism v socialism one thing gets overlooked, and that is that even in capitalist countries most people actually work for large organisations, and large organisations are pretty much the same inside whether they are owned by government or by shareholders or whatever. What actually motivates most people is not profit but good management (including bonuses when/where appropriate), and there is no reason why good management cannot happen in government owned organisations as much as in any other. (Except of course that here in UK those who like to complain about inefficiency in public service habitually do their best to prevent such efficiency and to lower morale in every possible way.)
Socialism does work. If criticizing the government is banned in China, the same can be said for the USA. How many students were shot during anti-Vietnam rallies back in the day. If people believe the 9-11 conspiracy theories then the government murdered hundreds of people to keep you in fear and give up your rights…… A ‘great’ country indeed.
Americans fear socialism because the rich want to stay rich and keep the poor down. Bush and his cronies lined their pockets with oil money, invaded Iraq for more cheap oil, at the cost of how many allied lives, and to hand out contracts to their buddies. ….. A ‘Great’ country indeed.
At the end of the day no system is perfect, just as nop religion is perfect. Once humanity gets involved in anything, be it politics, religion or trade then greed and a lust for power take over. It happened in the USSR and it is happening world wide.
The teacher’s experiment has nothing to do with socialism! The catch here, and the corporatist’s propaganda tool, is the over-simplification for both Socialism and Capitalism, which, by the way, live in harmony in China and Canada, Sweden and Norway. Democracy, Socialism and capitalism are the earmarks of success for many progressive modern nations – the unfortunates are those who serve the one God, the almighty shareholder over all else – like the U.S.A.!
fearful as it seems, even the U.S.A. gives out corporate welfare to the likes of defunct capitalist regimes such as GM and Chrysler. With over 19% unemployment, America and corporatism have little to be proud of, and this alone is proof positive that unbridled Capitalism simply does not work. As for sharing down the wealth to the stakeholders, most Americans are in debt over their heads, underpaid, worked to death, and given shortchange on their holidays for the benefit of the corporate upper crust and their bonuses. The teacher of this class belongs to the most powerful union organization (socialist) in the free world! He can hardly preach anti-socialism and belong to a Union at the same time ! I call bull Shiite! He is a fraud or this ecerpt was written by semi-skilled illogical corporatist propagandists or worse.
All the squabbling is making my head explode. Obviously if you’re an American, your going to be thinking like the Admin who posted the dumb-ass comment in the first place. Everyone else can just sit back and laugh – like we usually do at stupid Americans.
To all those who think America is a great country I recommend the reading of “Confessions of an Economic Hitman” by John Perkins. It is a real eye opener.
As for being the “Best Country in the world”…sorry Australia is
Australia? AUSTRALIA??? What significant contribution has Australia made to the world? When has Australia taken the leadership role in resolving any global issue or conflict?
How short your memory is. If it wasn’t for America, you would be speaking Japanese right now.
Largely, everything hinges upon one’s presuppositional beliefs concerning the nature of mankind:
If you believe mankind is inherently good and selfless, prone to unselfishly work and contribute to society as a whole regardless of what he himself gains in return for doing so, then it is understandable why one would see Socialism as the ideal.
If on the other hand, you believe mankind is inherently depraved and selfish, motivated to contribute to society as a whole based upon what he himself hopes to gain in return for doing so, then it is understandable why one would see Capitalism as the ideal, or rather, the best of the worst forms given that all mankind is depraved.
I obviously believe the latter. Hence, though Capitalism is far from perfect, as I believe man will exploit man no matter what system you put in place, overall Capitalism at least allows for more individual freedom and arguably more “security” for the whole than Socialism ever has.
There are two undeniable “commodities” in this world: Individual Freedom and Social Security. The more you have of one, the less you have of the other. So as for those countries like Canada, or European Union, or China to a lesser extent who attempt to “mix” socialism and capitalism, what unfortunately happens in the end is that you have mediocre freedom and mediocre security across the board. Again, for those who believe mankind is naturally selfish, there is no perfect utopia, no perfect system that can fully grant both commodities of freedom and security in their entirety. Capitalism chooses freedom over security, in which there are those who will prosper more (whether due to inheritance, natural ability, hard work, or a combination of all three) and those who will prosper less. Like fingers on the hand, some are bigger and some are smaller. Communism chooses security over freedom, trying to achieve “equality” within society as a whole. European’s blend of Captialism & Socialism tries to have it both it both ways, having both full freedom and full security, when in reality both end up being compromised.
Like I said, if you believe mankind is inherently good, then an extreme socialism (communism) is the way to go. (Although ask yourself why in history such a system has never succeeded in the long term). But if like me you don’t, then free-market Capitalism is the way to go.
But for goodness sake, the European Union ideal of trying to have it both ways, of having both full freedom and full security, is the most pathetic form of all, as you end up gradually having less and less of both. How’s that European Union ideal working out? Not good at all. It won’t last another ten years unless it chooses to revert to either Capitalism or to Communism. Pick your poison: I’ll pick Capitalism thank you very much.
Obviously, my name states what i support.
In response to comment 19, Australia is THE BEST country in the world, Australia has not taken a leadership role in world politics, but when the USA have it causes more problems than it fixed, e.g. Taliban, Vietnam, Afganistan. How short your memory is, in an appeal to the stupid self-rightous yanks, Australia has backed the USA in every major war it has been in since WW2, and if your gunna play that way if it wern’t for the French you would be speaking English, funnily enough, and would have gone down in history as yet another rebellion of uneducated, arrogant, hypocritical colonials who were sick of paying taxes, and whilst fighting for freedom kept black people in chains for the next century.
That is why socialism pails in comparison to Anarchy.
The students should have beaten the teacher to death and all forged A grades.
Just like capitalism.