Russ Roberts on Socialism

Russ Roberts recently published two articles trying to explain Socialism through a thought experiment. The first part basically outlined what he "has" and how he got it. He then compares himself to a shoe shine woman who earns less and wonders if his income is justified.

In the second article he basically makes the case for socialism. He points out that if everyone was guaranteed the same income then nobody would probably sign up to be a garbageman. What he doesn't say, but I think it was implied, was that if there weren't enough garbagemen and the trash started to accumulate - the government would "compel" some people to be garbagemen and other professions that people wouldn't do if they weren't getting paid a decent wage. It wouldn't take long before there was a whole lot of "compelling" by the government and suddenly some pigs would also become more equal than others.

Looking forward to part three of the series.