An economics professor at a 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 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 this 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." 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.
Now! Let’s substitute the student grades with ‘tax’ dollars and we can quickly see how a socialist style government fails us. The honest, hard-working, successful individuals; and small businesses and corporations provide the government with all the monies needed to fund the many social programs and assistance our communities, seniors, sick and unemployed receive. We must ensure we don’t kill the golden goose (all our tax payers)! A failing economy results in fewer tax dollars so governments borrow money to pay for the social programs and before long the interest on the money borrowed exceeds the income generated from taxes ... and then what ... Venezuela!
Here are some statements relative to Socialism and 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 anything to anybody that it does not first take from somebody else.
4. You cannot multiply wealth by dividing it.
Opinion ... our neighbors to the south have an egotistical, disrespectable and immoral leader but his capitalistic policies of cutting taxes for small businesses and corporations has stimulated and continues to fuel a healthy economy. In Alberta; we have a respectful, moral Premier but her NDP ‘socialist’ policies have and will continue to stymie any hope for our economic recovery.
This is your Alberta. Make the right choice!
Ken McMorris, St. Albert
