Socialism is just not intelligent.

[SA Huguenot]

I read a few stories about Professors teaching socialism to the class, but the best one is this:

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 third 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.

It could not be any simpler than that.
Does socialism work? A classroom experiment - The Commentator
It is only a story, but the same happened in Russia, and 25 million people died of hunger.
And even in Cambodia with Pol POt, millions more died.

 

[Secret Chief]

It sure is a story.

 

[Stevicus]

I read a few stories about Professors teaching socialism to the class, but the best one is this:

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 third 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.

It could not be any simpler than that.
Does socialism work? A classroom experiment - The Commentator
It is only a story, but the same happened in Russia, and 25 million people died of hunger.
And even in Cambodia with Pol POt, millions more died.

So, there was no such experiment and the professor, students, and college here are completely contrived? That's rather convenient.

A lot of things happened in Russia, but nothing like this "experiment" you outline here.

 

[Left Coast]

Any story that starts with "Obama's socialism" is unlikely to contain much accurate information. This fit the mold.

 

[SA Huguenot]

Does anyone know about this Panera cares socialism experiment?
This is How Panera Found Out That Socialism Does Not Work - RTO

 

[Quetzal]

I read a few stories about Professors teaching socialism to the class, but the best one is this:

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 third 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.

It could not be any simpler than that.
Does socialism work? A classroom experiment - The Commentator
It is only a story, but the same happened in Russia, and 25 million people died of hunger.
And even in Cambodia with Pol POt, millions more died.

Hmm, this is a pretty weak example. Not because it is wrong, per se, but it is overly simplistic. In order to have this sort of discussion, can you do me a favor? Define what you believe socialism is.

 

[Father Heathen]

Any story that starts with "Obama's socialism" is unlikely to contain much accurate information. This fit the mold.

Exactly what I thought. As soon as I read that phrase I knew the whole post was one that should be stuffed back up from whence it was pulled.

 

[Tambourine]

All I am getting from that story is that you never actually put in the effort to familiarize yourself with socialist ideas or theories, or don't even recognize the difference between "not hardline religious conservative" and "socialist".

 

[Stevicus]

Does anyone know about this Panera cares socialism experiment?
This is How Panera Found Out That Socialism Does Not Work - RTO

I wouldn't consider this example to be socialism. It sounds more like charity, which is strongly encouraged in capitalist countries. In fact, capitalists make it a point of announcing to the whole world how much they care and how much they give back to the community. It's all just for show.

The fact that they shut this down because it was too expensive and vulnerable to scammers and abuse demonstrates that either they didn't plan it well, or they probably didn't really care as much as they said.

For what it's worth, socialists never looked kindly on those just looking for a free ride. ("He who does not work, neither shall he eat.")

 

[Father Heathen]

All I am getting from that story is that you never actually put in the effort to familiarize yourself with socialist ideas or theories, or don't even recognize the difference between "not hardline religious conservative" and "socialist".

That's one of the problems with U.S. conservatives; they define "socialism" as anything they don't like or understand. Most democrats, by global standards, are center right; a far cry from actual socialism. And judging by the political compass scale, those who identify as liberals tend to fall within the green quadrant, not the red one.

 

[exchemist]

I read a few stories about Professors teaching socialism to the class, but the best one is this:

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 third 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.

It could not be any simpler than that.
Does socialism work? A classroom experiment - The Commentator
It is only a story, but the same happened in Russia, and 25 million people died of hunger.
And even in Cambodia with Pol POt, millions more died.

First, it's a stupid non-analogy for socialism. Second, what was tried in Russia, China and Cambodia was not mere socialism. It was communism.

Socialism covers a wide spectrum and means different things to different people. In a mild form, social democracy, as practised in for instance the Scandinavian countries, is one of the most successful and harmonious forms of government on the planet.

Socialism, as a term of abuse by right wing people, is almost always based on assuming one of its extreme manifestations and then using that straw man as a way to dismiss or ridicule (as in the OP) any kind of collective provision by the state for its citizens.

 

[Nimos]

It is only a story, but the same happened in Russia, and 25 million people died of hunger.
And even in Cambodia with Pol POt, millions more died.

But that is a hell of bad example of socialism as it have nothing to do with it.

It was not what happened in Soviet union as they did not have socialism. They threw out the capitalist and replaced them with government officials instead. The workers had just as little to say in that as they had before. Besides that it was not a system where people were equal, people in power got a lot more than everyone else, because they couldn't settle with less. Those with little power were exploited. That is not what socialism say, so you might believe that it is, but it have nothing to do with what it actually means.

Its like me saying that "Capitalism is purely about making a small portion of people rich, while at the same time making sure that the rest suffers as much as humanly possible, because capitalism is just evil and the work of satan." I can say that, but it's just incorrect in regards to what capitalism is.

The assumption in the made up experiment is also that all people are lazy ******** that do not want to do anything. What about the students having a hard time asking the good ones for help? What about the good students offering to help them to improve their grades? Ohh no, because obviously the students have to be portrayed as selfish, lazy people, which have been forced to school. Because that is what socialism does to you, right?

 

[SA Huguenot]

What I did was to take a hoax, but a nice story that is highly plausable, then allowed socialists to complain about the "context and bad example", and then give them the reality of what socialism will do in a restaurant. Now, what will it do to a country?
Well, Russia, East Germany, Romenia, North Corea, and Venezuella learned their lesson, but it seems as if the socialists of this world dont even know about their restaurants failing because of socialist thinking.
Read for yourself.
Marxism on the Menu: Why This Communist Restaurant Failed | Abigail Hall

 

[Tambourine]

So you admit that the original story was a hoax you put here in an attempt to deceive us.

Why should I trust you that the second story is genuine, when you have outed yourself as an untrustworthy source of information who will actively deceive in order to push their agenda?

 

[columbus]

That class had insisted that Obama’s socialism worked

Obama was no socialist.
Personally, I despised ACA more and more the more I realized that it was still capitalist healthcare. It had most of the systemic flaws of the old healthcare system. Basically, it remains a healthcare system designed to generate corporate revenue, healthy citizens are a side effect.
And I can't help but notice, when Trump had a majority in both Houses of Congress they didn't change much.

As far as I am concerned, what we have now is TrumpCare. Any complaints can go straight to the White House.
Tom

 

[Father Heathen]

What I did was to take a hoax, but a nice story that is highly plausable, then allowed socialists to complain about the "context and bad example", and then give them the reality of what socialism will do in a restaurant. Now, what will it do to a country?
Well, Russia, East Germany, Romenia, North Corea, and Venezuella learned their lesson, but it seems as if the socialists of this world dont even know about their restaurants failing because of socialist thinking.
Read for yourself.
Marxism on the Menu: Why This Communist Restaurant Failed | Abigail Hall

The problem is that you refer to people and things that are not actually socialist as such, which exposes the fact that you have very little understanding of the subject. Also, most of those dismissing your post aren't even socialists or defending socialism itself. They just happen to be fans of accuracy and coherency.

 

[exchemist]

What I did was to take a hoax, but a nice story that is highly plausable, then allowed socialists to complain about the "context and bad example", and then give them the reality of what socialism will do in a restaurant. Now, what will it do to a country?
Well, Russia, East Germany, Romenia, North Corea, and Venezuella learned their lesson, but it seems as if the socialists of this world dont even know about their restaurants failing because of socialist thinking.
Read for yourself.
Marxism on the Menu: Why This Communist Restaurant Failed | Abigail Hall

Again, don't conflate socialism with communism.

Almost nobody, in democratic countries nowadays, advocates full ownership of the means of production, distribution and exchange by the state. Attacking that idea is attacking a straw man.

My experience has been that people who take pot shots at "socialism", without being specific as to what they mean by it, are people opposed to state provision of any kind. This is an extreme and, frankly, stupid position to take, as it is perfectly obvious that if you are not an anarchist you must believe the state has certain functions that it carries out on behalf of its citizens. Defence, maintenance of law, education, transport infrastructure, health and often provisions of utilities are typically core functions of the state.

At what point you think a state's activities start to become "socialist", and why you think that would be a bad thing, is a debate worth having. Sophomoric case studies, of mad experiments from a century ago that nobody dreams of repeating, are a waste of time.

 

[Valjean]

How are you defining socialism, SA Huguenot?

What is "Obama's socialism?"

 

[QuestioningMind]

I read a few stories about Professors teaching socialism to the class, but the best one is this:

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 third 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.

It could not be any simpler than that.
Does socialism work? A classroom experiment - The Commentator
It is only a story, but the same happened in Russia, and 25 million people died of hunger.
And even in Cambodia with Pol POt, millions more died.

You can always tell when someone ha been brainwashed by the right or is attempting to brainwash others for the right, if they try and use socialism and communism interchangeably. Hard core capitalists are scared to death that people will learn what socialism really is, so they have to pretend like it's something else. .

 

[exchemist]

You can always tell when someone ha been brainwashed by the right or is attempting to brainwash others for the right, if they try and use socialism and communism interchangeably. Hard core capitalists are scared to death that people will learn what socialism really is, so they have to pretend like it's something else. .

Aha, I agree and this is interesting, actually. What would you characterise as socialism and what are the key ways in which communism differs from it, would you say?

Perhaps we can get a decent quality discussion into this otherwise rather sterile thread.