The main economic goal of socialists, egalitarians, and other Marxist sects is income or wealth equality. Or in other words, they would like to see everyone have access to the same products, services, and resources that improve the standard of our lives. The reason this goal has not yet been achieved is because of economic laws. Much like the law of gravity economics doesn’t alter to our wishes. The economic law, which is really no less of a physical law than gravity, that is preventing us from realizing this goal is scarcity. Resources are scarce, they do not grow on trees, they do not materialize out of thin air, or at least not yet. Not only is there a limited amount of resources but they also have to be produced, and this requires someone to produce them. The less resources that are produced, the more limited or scarce they are.
Scarcity will never totally be eliminated, it’s a physical law of the universe. However, with advanced enough technology, it could be made irrelevant for our purposes. Think of movies, music, books, or any information really. Just a couple of decades ago not everyone had access to these things. To acquire a song, book or movie actually required a significant amount of resources. Now everyone, even the least fortunate of us is carrying a device in our pocket that can instantly find you any song, movie or piece of information.
This could eventually be possible for the rest of the products and services. Think of the sci-fi series Star Trek. They possessed two advanced forms of technology that are currently in their infancy. Replicators or fabricators, and unlimited energy power plants. Technically the power source in Star Trek is not unlimited, however it is so abundant that it might as well be unlimited. The replicators use that energy source and convert the energy into matter. Not only that, but it converts the energy into matter in any configuration that you wish. With this technology, constructing a car for instance becomes just as easy as copying a Mp3 file. Its like having a genie, except with unlimited wishes, and the ability to wish for more genies. In essence, replicators can make more replicators or more power plants. Such technology would reduce scarcity to insignificant amounts, resource allocation would thus be mostly irrelevant. This would result in everyone essentially having equal access to any imaginable product or service. Sounds great, but first we have to get there.
The only way to get there, is through some old-fashioned production and resource allocation. There are only two ways resources can be allocated, through voluntary exchange, or political pull. The problem with the socialist ideology occurs here. The source of technological advancement and abundance is production. However, allocating resources through political pull destroys those who produce by stealing what they produce. Thus, the political allocation of resources is detrimental to technological advancement. Unfortunately, the political allocation of resources is what the socialists have predominately chosen as their means of achieving equality. As a result, they end up working against their own interests and goals.
If that was not bad enough, the situation gets even worse. In order to acquire the products from the producers in such a way, requires some justification. Such justification, if you have noticed usually comes in the form of moral degradation. Thus the producers are not only destroyed through the theft of their products but also through moral vilification.
” If the producer is not kept under a torrent of degrading, demeaning accusations, he might take a look around and put an end to the self-sacrificing. ” -Ayn Rand
What happens when laborers are degraded? Usually, they go on strike. What if however, rather than labor going on strike, the producers would. What if the competent men and women who invent, produce, and start businesses would go on strike? Not just the ones on the top, but also the ones currently moving up, and the ones just starting out. What if they removed their abilities from the economy? If you want to learn what happens then, there is an entire novel dedicated to that idea called Atlas Shrugged. I recommend it.
