Socialism

[Eug]

An economics teacher at a local school made a statement that he had never failed a single student before, but had recently failed an entire class. That class had insisted that Gillard/Brown socialism worked and that no one would be poor and no one would be rich, a great equalizer.

The teacher then said, "OK, we will have an experiment in this class on the Gillard/Brown plan". All grades will be averaged and everyone will receive the same grade so no one will fail and no one will receive an A.... (substituting grades for dollars - something closer to home and more readily understood by all).

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.

To their great surprise, ALL FAILED and the teacher 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.

It could not be any simpler than that. (Please pass this on)

Remember, there IS a test coming up. The next election.

These are possibly the 5 best sentences you'll ever read and all applicable to this experiment:

1. You cannot legislate the poor into prosperity by legislating the wealthy out of prosperity.

2. What one person receives without working for, another person must work for without receiving.

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 nation.

[mottly crew]

Damn dole bludgers

[Angus]

Don't know why its in humour. Its all to true.

Angus

[haines490slc]

and who was it that bailed out the big banks in America? Capatilisim until it fails then socialism will bail you out.

[planetfonz]

this is why we'd need a benevolent dictator who rules the lands!

[Nitris]

Planetfonz gets it

[fishything]

Not sure 'dole bludgers' are the only ones we should have in mind when thinking about the target of these statements. Presumably we would want to include among '...those who receive benefits without working' the likes of people who benefit from inheritance of wealth, or those that benefit from homes that are bought and sold for a profit without paying capital gains tax, irrespective of whether the owners did any work on the property.

Here is another truism: "More equal societies equal are happier societies". Follow the link to a recent book that reviews the evidence on health, well-being and inequalities. http://www.amazon.co.uk/The-Spirit-Level-Societies-Almost/dp/1846140390

Not sure what any of this has to with fishing, but always fun to see the variety of political opinions among a fishing community. BTW, I reckon anyone who goes camping with friends draws on some basic socialist principles of 'the commons', otherwise we would all bring our own BBQ. Generally speaking, a fair bit of cooperation and communal use of goods goes into planning and being on a camping trip for a few days. I don't reckon a camping and fishing trip would work so well based on the principles of unfettered capitalism. Example, "What if Harry demands extra food because he is especially good at fishing, or Mary demands payment when she finds a good fishing spot. And maybe Harry, Sylvia, and Leslie decide to refuse to share any food without extra payment. And Morgan, whose father left him a well-stocked bass pond 30 years ago, gloats over having better food than the others". Does't sound like much fun to me. Sure, a camping trip is not the same scale as running a national economy and society, but I think we sometimes forget that it takes both cooperation and competition to push us to do our best and make the world go round. Or maybe I'm just a bleeding heart that happens to enjoy fishing

[jeff f]

this is why we'd need a benevolent dictator who rules the lands!

hey fonz, this little aussie novel from the eighties explores the benevolent dictator idea.

its well worth a read if you can get hold of it.

Title The Tallest Poppy

Author Robert Spicer

Publisher Animo, 1987

ISBN 095877790X, 9780958777902

[planetfonz]

thats what i like to see! cheers jeff, i'll look that one up

[sunnydays]

In my opinion, i think that the political system of any nation will inevitably fluctuate over time. It always has and it will continue to do so. When political actors come to power there are always a minority who's interests are not served. These minorities gain momentum whilst the political party in power loses efficacy. Left - right, labor - liberal, socialist - capitalist, the big silly game of 'tug of war' will never end.

Just look at how many regimes have been overturned in the middle east in the last century.

As for labor being ousted this elcetion - I reckon in a couple of terms the majority will get the sh*ts with the liberals and so on and so on...

Machiavelli's The Prince is a fun read!