An Interesting ‘Parable’ on Economics

I saw a story on economics on Facebook and thought it was quite well put. I figured it’d be interesting to share. It is posted from this website – Uncle Sam’s Misguided Children.

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

Can you think of a reason for not sharing this?
Neither could I.

Food for thought.

~Wald

6 thoughts on “An Interesting ‘Parable’ on Economics

  1. Spanish Version:

    “Un reconocido profesor de economía de la Universidad norteamericana de Texas Tech alegó que él nunca había reprobado a uno de sus estudiantes pero que, en una ocasión, tuvo que aplazar a la clase entera.Cuenta que esa clase le insistió que el socialismo sí funcionaba, que en ese Sistema, no existían ni pobres ni ricos, sino una total igualdad entre todos.El profesor le propuso a sus alumnos hacer un experimento en clase sobre el socialismo: Todas las notas iban a ser promediadas y a todos los estudiantes se les asignaría la misma nota, de forma que nadie sería aplazado y nadie sacaría un sobresaliente.Después del primer examen, las notas fueron promediadas y todos los estudiantes sacaron notable. Los estudiantes que se habían preparado muy bien estaban molestos y los estudiantes que estudiaron poco, estaban contentos. Pero, cuando presentaron el segundo examen, los estudiantes que estudiaron poco estudiaron aún menos, y los estudiantes que habían estudiado duro decidieron no trabajar tan duro ya que no iban a lograr obtener un sobresaliente; y, así, también estudiaron menos. ¡El promedio del segundo examen fue suficiente! Y nadie estuvo contento.Pero cuando se llevó a cabo el tercer examen, toda la clase sacó insuficiente; y todos los alumnos fueron reprobados.Las notas nunca mejoraron. Los estudiantes empezaron a pelear entre si, culpándose unos a los otros por las malas notas, hasta llegar a insultos y resentimientos mutuos, ya que ninguno estaba dispuesto a estudiar para que se beneficiara otro que no lo hacía.Para asombro de toda la clase, ¡Todos perdieron el año! Y el profesor les preguntó si ahora entendían la razón del gran fracaso del socialismo.Es sencillo; simplemente se debe a que el ser humano solo está dispuesto a sacrificarse trabajando duro cuando la recompensa es atractiva y justifica el esfuerzo; pero cuando el gobierno quita ese incentivo, nadie va a hacer el sacrificio necesario para lograr la excelencia.Finalmente, el fracaso será general. Pensamiento de A.Rogers (1931)Todo lo que una persona recibe sin haber trabajado para obtenerlo, otra persona deberá haber trabajado para ello, pero sin recibirlo…El gobierno no puede entregar nada a alguien, si antes no se lo ha quitado a alguna otra persona. Cuando la mitad de las personas llegan a la conclusión de que ellas no tienen que trabajar porque la otra mitad está obligada a hacerse cargo de ellas, y cuando esta otra mitad se convence de que no vale la pena trabajar porque alguien les quitará lo que han logrado con su esfuerzo, eso… mi querido amigo… es el fin de cualquier Nación. “No se puede multiplicar la riqueza dividiéndola”.”

    via Cita de Facebook: Al que le caiga el guante… | Transmillennium.

  2. Pingback: An Interesting 'Parable' on Economics | Viva La Manosphere!

    • Indeed – were they actually interested in learning the subject, they might have studied hard anyways. But unless the subject actually advances their knowledge in the field or topic they wish, the class is not but one mandated by college to pad degree requirements so they can have every student on the hook for four, profitable years.

      Wald

      • Yeah. Talk about the topic they wish – do you remember anything that sparked your interest in school?

        About the only topics I still remember and that were ever of use to me are basic math and physics. Stuff that you could learn within half a year probably.

        Well, and language. That is, until they stopped teaching you how to write and started teaching you how to interpret. Confident boy meets girl that a friend of his is interested in. My interpretation was that he is a badass guy and should do as he wish. Got a bad grade. The RIGHT interpretation, of course, was that he was cruel and should have let his friend have her. My teacher was fat and female.

        And do not even start about ‘ethics’ or ‘religion’ lessons. Barf.

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