There is much talk in Washington suggesting that the Federal Government should take over businesses and social programs based on the assumption that…

• equality of results is essential to the success of everyday Americans
• equality of opportunity – “the pursuit of happiness” – is inappropriate for the 21^st century

An economics professor once faced a group of students that insisted that equality of results, not equality of opportunity, would create a better society and economy.  They insisted that an economic model of big government, big union, and big bureaucracy for redistributing wealth, like the one the Obama administration seems to be promoting, would work better than and that promoted by the Founders.  They believed that such a model would create a society where no one would be poor and no one would be rich – a great equalizer.
The professor then said, “OK, we will have an experiment in this class based on a plan by which big government redistributes the wealth of the country to create equality among its citizens.  In this class – our country for this experiment – grades are the wealth.  We will average all of your individual grades and everyone will receive the same average grade.  You will all be equal. No single student will fail.”
The class agreed to the experiment.  After the first test, the professor averaged the grades of all the students and everyone got a B.  The students who studied hard were somewhat upset while the students who studied little were happy.  However, all of the students accepted the outcome and felt the experiment proved the case for redistribution.

As the second test rolled around, many of the students who studied little studied even less and the students who studied hard decided they wanted a free ride too so they studied less.  The second test average was a C-!
No one was happy.  Doubts about the efficacy of the program crept in.
When the third test rolled around, the class average was F. The scores never increased after that.  Bickering, blaming, and name-calling created hard feelings.  The professor was demonized. The students, disincentivized to achieve at a high level, would not study for the benefit of everyone else. Every single student failed.

The professor demonstrated to the students that redistributing wealth – grades in this case…

• failed to create benefits for any individual student
• penalized every student

The experiment demonstrated that a socialist society would also ultimately fail. We have seen the results of these kinds of governments many times over during the past one hundred years in failed socialist countries around the world.  When the reward is great, the effort to succeed is great.

“When government tries to make everyone equal instead of assuring that everyone has equal opportunity, government imprisons individual liberties, shackles incentive, and no one can succeed.”

- Dr Agon Fly

As the late Adrian Rogers said, “you cannot multiply wealth by dividing it.”

EUREKONOMICS^TM rests on the solid principles laid down in the Founding Documents and the two hundred fifty years of the demonstrated success of free enterprise that transformed America and other free societies into economic, social, and moral leaders.

These principles have endured, successfully overcome abuses along the way, and currently recognize the failures in the system that need attention…

• Some businesses grew and prospered on the backs of slave labor but failed for the same reason.
• Some businesses abused capital and took advantage of workers, and free enterprise America corrected for these errors by creating competing businesses that honored the work of their employees.
• Unions began as advocates for employees and morphed into empires that exploit their members.
• Groups like Acorn and AARP masquerade as advocates for members but act in their own interest or as the pawns of political groups.
• Elected officials seem to lose their moral and ethical compasses as well as the memory of who elected them once they achieve office.

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