20160217 (six-pack socialism)

My thinking on economics is even simpler

In popular thought there are 

Two theories of why people work.

They have no choice. Something

In their character drives them to

Produce whether it’s their own

Pleasure in making or whether

They have sublimated basic needs

Into a larger motive. Everybody

Else by nature prefers the comfort

Of not doing anything until their

Failure to provide discomfits

Them to pursue, capture, and eat.

If, in your childhood, your parents

Read you the Fable of the Little

Red Hen, you’ve gleaned the 

Basics of the statements above

As well as just about everything

In Adam Smith’s tome, The Wealth

Of Nations. And, if you have the

Stomach for it, you’ve internalized

All the economics you’ll ever

Get from a Republican Party 

Candidates’ Debate. Among

Them are some who believe the

First example of the self-motivated

Provider type are not classically

Selfish like the Red Hen but are

Archetypal Leader Kings, the first

Models of capitalists who through

Effort of their minds and bodies

Generate new huge wealth for

Others to share. That was the 

Rationale for supply-side or

Trickle-down economics: the

Wealthy can’t help but produce

More of whatever they touch,

Like modern day Midases. Let

Them have a larger share and

We’ll soon be buried in more

Goods and services than we’ll

Know what to do with. Were 

You to give that money to the

Poor, beer sales would increase

For a week but there’d be no

Lasting advantage for society

As a whole. As much as such

Theories exaggerate the talent

And generosity of the rich so too 

Do they belittle and minimize

The intelligence and integrity

Of the poor. I may be simplifying

But there’s a lesson here. If 

Society’s gains go solely to the

Wealthy, the result is a society

Top heavy with a few rich and

Numerous desperate poor. An

Ideal outcome would be one

Where, yes, the talented producers

Reap proper rewards, and everyone

Else benefits also to some degree

As recognition of their efforts to

Keep a people prospering from

Everyone’s labors not just a few.

If that makes me a socialist, then

I’m happy to bear the banner.

c. J.S.Manista, 2016