10 Socialist Arguments Destroyed
8. Socialism is good for the working class
Income sharing reduces individual incentives to work. In any society where everyone holds equal wealth there can be no material incentive to work, because one does not receive rewards for a work well done. Incentives increase not only productivity for all people but give them an important sense of self-fulfillment. The loss of those effects would lead to stagnation and depression.
Countries where the means of production are socialized are not as prosperous as those where the means of production are under private control. Aiming for more equal incomes through state intervention leads to a reduction in national income and therefore the workers’ income. Consequently, the socialist system chooses a more equal distribution of income, on the assumption that the marginal utility of income to a poor person is greater than that to a rich person. This mandates a preference for a lower average income over inequality of income at a higher average income.
