Socialism

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Socialism

How does a country operating under that age-old system, the free enterprise system, deal with the problem of unemployment? What is the guarantee that a particular economy will provide enough jobs for all who need one? Might the problem of finding jobs in a country be similar to the game of musical chairs where the number of players is substantially greater than the number of chairs so that when the time comes for finding a chair a lot of people are left without a chair? i.e there are just not enough jobs for everyone to have one. From the beginning days of the industrial revolution, starting with the invention of the steam engine in the late 1700's, steam and gasoline powered equipment, inventions such as the spinning jenny and power loom, heavy machinery, computers, etc. have thrown a huge number of people out of work. Old manual methods of doing things have given way to modern, mechanized methods requiring far fewer workers. Assembly line workers have become replaced with robots. There is no doubt that the life of the average person today is far easier and more comfortable than that of the average person before the days of the industrial revolution. Yet there remains the problem of providing people with jobs — a means of livelihood.

This problem of inventions and machines throwing people out of work back in the late 1700's gave rise to socialist type thinking. People reflected over the solution to the problem. The socialist assumption is that if a person can’t find a job or is unable to work it is the moral responsibility of the rest of society to provide those without jobs with the means for living (food and shelter). To do this the government thus, in effect, takes from those who have and distributes to those who don’t have. It indirectly implements a type system where money is taken from those who have and distributed to those who don’t have through the mechanism of taxation.

The problem with socialist type systems is the perverse incentives that they give rise to. If some people are going to pull a cart and others are going to ride, everyone will want to ride and no one will want to pull. If something is offered for free everyone will get in line. People instinctively want fairness. It just doesn’t seem fair that some people have to pull the cart while others ride or that some people get things free while others have to work for them. And it is just part of human nature that most people will lie, deceive, and scheme to get something that is free or avoid pulling the cart. Few people really like working and all would love to be supported.

Socialist type thinking carries with it the tacit assumption that government action is the solution to all social problems. Politicians are expected to solve all problems through legislation or some social program. This results in politicians, in an attempt to garner votes, propose all kinds of social programs that cost a lot of money and don’t work. Politicians, probably while simultaneously enriching themselves in various ways, spend taxpayer money very irresponsibly and freely. And once a government program is brought to life it likely continues for eternity.

We thus today have huge numbers of people in this country living off welfare, from large numbers of single black mothers in all of our big cities to large numbers of laid off coal workers (and their families and grown children) living in the mountains of Appalachia. These people don’t have any real incentive to go out and look for a job if the government will support them.

Socialist ideas have serious defects. People just living off the government isn’t good for them or for the society. An abundance of idleness due to government dependence is not good. Much idleness in a society has bad consequences. Dependence on government hand-out destroys character. It destroys self-reliance and industriousness. It encourages laziness and drug use. The communist collectivist idea of everyone working for the good of all in some commune just doesn’t work. People will work hard for their own good but not very hard for the good of a group. Competition, self-interest and everyone working diligently is what makes an economy do well, what gives the most benefit for everyone. A good, healthy country is based on a population that is morally healthy, hardworking, and self-reliant.

For almost any decision that one makes in life, there are almost always pros and cons, pluses and minuses, trade-offs. In making a choice, one rarely gets everything he wants. The decision is almost always subjective and different people may disagree on the best choice. One set of people after a lot of discussion and consideration of many pros and cons decide to build a big dam at a gigantic cost (paid by the government) for all of the benefits it will give. Many years later another set of people decide to destroy the dam because of its adverse effect on the salmon run. President Lyndon Johnson’s Great Society program to eliminate poverty and racial injustice included welfare support for single mothers. Is it any surprise that after the enaction of such a law the number of single black mothers would dramatically increase and the marriage rate among blacks would dramatically decrease? This is just one of the perverse effects of the law — one of the cons in the case for the law, one of the trade-offs. Today the illegitimate birth rate for blacks is around 72%. At the same time the crime rate among blacks started increasing dramatically. It too, is just one of the trade-offs.

See

The welfare state. Is it wise in its shielding of the foolish from the consequences of foolishness?

Liberalism, socialism and the modern welfare state

Dilemmas. Societal problems. Socialism in America.

30 July 2023