9 September 2008

We are  all governed by self interest.

What is discouraging is that young people today don't understand their own self interest.  A friend of mine recently had a discussion with Bosnian students in the United States, honestly questioning what was wrong with communism.   I suspect many young people might question the same.  What is wrong with communism?  It is not obvious to the young.

We all receive according to our needs.  Cool.  What they don't understand is the difference between what they consider needs and what a communist government might consider - and be able to provide - as needs.  Those  of us who remember the paucity of goods in USSR communist stores can understand, but how could they?  Even some people who previously lived in communist countries might have forgotten.  Needs are just that.

The problem, and this is most difficult for those who do not understand economics to grasp, is that when there is no incentive - call it by its real name: achieving beyond others -  there is little hope that any will .  So all are equal, but with very little.  Why produce more than what you need when there is no incentive to do otherwise?  Why spend wealth to develop something that will not yield profitable returns to the developer?  Some might; most will not.

Young people have difficulty understanding that.  What can be better than having all needs provided for without any effort on their part?  Jonah Goldberg (Liberal Fascism) suggested that the model is moving from 1984 to Brave New World.  I would suggest they read the books, but have no hope that they would or that they would connect.  Do we have to experience equality of shortages before  we can understand it?   Perhaps so.

And if so, we are moving in the right direction.