Redistribution of wealth is for idealist hippies

Yeah, it is. Having just come from some ridiculous facebook page with talk of 9/11 being a hoax and evil corporations who are out to get us, I'd like to clear this up. Redistribution of wealth is what happens when the government takes the income that you have worked for and gives it to someone else, dividing all pieces of the pie into equal slices. Sounds great, doesn't it? Healthcare for all the children, food for all the mommies, top hats for all the daddies (or whatever it is dads are into in ideal-world).

Sure. It is great. Imagine that, no bums, no poverty, no starvation. The problem lies a bit deeper, though. Who's producing the food and the services to keep all of these people supplied with what they need? Well, the farmers don't bother to tend the crops today, because they don't feel like it and they'll get the same reward whether they deliver 20 bushels or 100 bushels. So, they deliver 20 bushels. The doctors suck, because if you're going to school for 8 years to get paid the same as a ditch-digger, you can bet your ass the smart guys are digging ditches.

The problem lies in ourselves. The ultimate goal, that is ingrained deep inside of each and every person, is to better their condition. Now, you're probably saying "Alex, you're dumb. The only reason we want to do that is because the evil corporations have turned us into a consumerist society." Bullshit. Consumerism is what happens when you move out of the cave and into society. Survival instinct tells you to gather food and supplies now, because the lean times are probably coming. When there are no lean times, we buy ridiculous crap like 60-inch television sets and 6 quarter-pounders with cheese. We know there aren't going to be lean times, but the little caveman deep down has no idea. He just wants to make sure we have accumulated enough stuff to make it.

This can be called greed. Greed is good. Greed drives even the most selfless among us in one way or another. Greed is why there is a polio vaccine. Greed is why Beethoven composed symphonies. Greed is why we have choices when we go to the store, and have affordable prices on the things we need and want. Greed is the invisible hand. Greed is what puts a scapel in the hand of a gifted surgeon rather than a shovel in his hand as he digs ditches. He makes more money. He puts food on his table. His basic needs are satisfied, but he's not. The little caveman says "what about the lean times?" So, he goes back to work, makes more money, and buys his little brat-children 60-inch TVs. He's not a mindless consumerist zombie controlled by the evil corporations, he's doing what humans have done since we existed.

This is where the problem lies. When we know that there is nothing out there to "gather," that all of our supplies will be provided to us no matter what, we have no motivation to provide utility for ourselves and society. Think about it logically. Are you going to go the extra mile if you know there's nothing in it for you? Are you going to dig 10 feet of ditch when you earn the same for 4 feet? You aren't, because the only way you have left to improve your condition is by doing less work. If you don't feel like doing less work, you can also take what others have. That's called stealing. Stealing is a type of crime. It tends to lead to a lot of other things that are not good, such as murder. It happens a lot when you're a communist or a socialist.

This seems harsh. You may think, but Alex, you're limiting opportunity to only a select few. Yes, yes I am. I'm limiting opportunity to those who can find ways to benefit society. They do that through providing the needs and wants of society, and society rewards them with money. It happens all the time. That being said, our system is imperfect and there are barriers to entry. That is bad, as it prevents new people from possibly developing a product which provides more utility for society, and limits opportunity. It is, however, still vastly superior to a socialist system in which there are opportunities for none.

What I'm describing is not the paranoid voodoo of Holocaust deniers, 9/11 conspiracy theorists or enemies of the evil corporations. This is really what happens. Look at Cuba. Look at the USSR. Look at North Korea. In an ideal world, wealth redistribution is great. In the world of the real, it ain't gonna work.