5 Quick Reasons Why Socialism Fails.
With the rise of Jeremy Corbyn in the UK and Bernie Sanders
in the US, it seems that socialism is back and gaining large amounts of support.
In my previous
article, I was rather kind to Jeremy
Corbyn, highlighting the positives that may come from his Labour party
leadership. Within the article, the name ‘Corbyn’ could easily be replaced with
‘Sanders’, as they are both similar figures – they both are socialists. Although
socialism sounds attractive in theory (who wouldn’t want free stuff, hey?) in
reality socialism doesn’t work, hasn’t worked wherever tried and is a philosophy
that is doomed for failure time and time again. For those who don’t know, pure
socialism is a system in which the means of production are commonly owned,
rather than privately owned. Typical features of socialist economies includes a
large public sector, substantial welfare programs and high taxes. This article
lists five reasons, in order of importance, of why socialism fails. So without
further ado, here we go:
5. High Tax Rates – One of the typical features of a
Socialist system is the high levels of taxation that citizens are forced to pay
for the provision of the considerable public services. When a large percentage
of an individuals income is taken by the state, incentives to work
are diminished, particularly when the public services are poor in quality. When
socialists are questioned on who pays for the ‘free stuff’, the answer is always
the same – “the rich”. In a graduated income tax system, the richest pay a much
larger percentage of their income, which seems fair. However, at a certain point
these rich people simply leave the country, taking
their wealth with them, that would have otherwise been available for the public
services. As a result, less money is available for the state to spend and public
services suffer. Evidence of this can been seen in France, who adopted a 75%
super-tax on the super-wealthy. French President Hollande was eventually forced
to drop the tax as the richest either left the country or threatened strike
action.
4. Victim Mentality – A problem with the socialist philosophy
is that it encourages a victim mentality amongst its followers. Rather than
empowering individuals by encouraging ambition and
success, socialism instead blames the rich for all the problems of
the poor. In life in order to solve problems, attain goals and become
successful, traits such as self-awareness, self-discipline and personal
responsibility are essential. However, socialism teaches none of these
principles, and instead instills toxic characteristics such as envy and jealousy
which keeps poor people down, ultimately helping nobody.
3. Subsidises Failure, Punishes Success – In
this country, the government gives money to obese people. I don’t need to go
into the negative consequences on health that obesity has, we all know. Yet,
obesity is rising and the government is spending more and more on benefits to
the obese. If, all of a sudden, a person that is obese
starts making the right choices, becomes serious about losing
weight, starts to eat healthily and begins to exercise,
the benefits provided by the government are taken away. This takes
away the incentive for an obese person to lose the weight and become healthy.
And so, many obese people are simply happy to stay obese, so long as they keep
receiving the benefits from the government. This is one example of how welfare
programs actually subsidise failure and punish success, and it can be seen in
many welfare programs which causes dependency.
2. Economic Calculation Problem – A fundamental
flaw within the socialist centrally planned economy is the lack of
rational economic calculation that can take place. In a market
economy, there is a profit and loss system that provides signals based on
consumer satisfaction. If the business is making a profit, we can assume that
the consumer is being satisfied. However, if the business is making losses, then
the consumer is not being satisfied and the business needs to change their
strategy. A centrally planned economy, in which the state owns the means of
production, does not have a functioning price mechanism,
therefore information about desirability and abundance of a good is
unavailable, which can lead to shortages of desired
goods, and surpluses of unwanted goods. This
ultimately has disastrous economic consequences.
1. Leads to Tyranny – The main reason why socialism fails is
because it gives over too much power to the state. Not
only is the socialist state substantial in size, having large amounts of
control, but it is also coercive and incompatible with
freedom. The simple fact is that man is corruptible by
power, and power is what the socialist state most certainly has. Socialists
commonly argue that the socialism we have seen in the Soviet Union, in Communist
China and so on, is not ‘real’ socialism. This maybe true, however the fact is
that these ‘not really socialist’ countries certainly set out to be
really socialist. At some point somewhere along the line, these socialist
regimes where corrupted and became tyrannical, resulting in the deaths of
millions and millions of people. It is a pattern that we have seen time and time
again almost wherever socialism has been tried. Whenever a state has substantial
power, it almost always abuses that power. Which is why true and
functioning socialism is simply unattainable.
