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To: econjack; vanilla swirl
An example I used with my kids was waiter/waitress tips.
We'd had good and bad waitpersons over time and I usually asked them if they had earned their tips. For the good ones they naturally said yes. I once asked them if they thought it was fair for the tips to be split equally for the whole shift and they almost instinctually knew that it wasn't right because the bad waitperson hadn't put in the work for a good tip and still got the same reward.
Simple but effective.
15 posted on 10/13/2010 4:31:52 AM PDT by philman_36 (Pride breakfasted with plenty, dined with poverty, and supped with infamy. Benjamin Franklin)
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To: philman_36

Good one! The key to get across is the impact that Socialism (and its variants) have on economic incentives. I like the story about Thoreau and some of the socialists societies he was involved with. All day, Thoreau sits under a tree writing poetry while a counterpart is out plowing the field, sweating his brains out while staring at the East end of a West-bound horse. At the end of the day, they retire to the lodge for dinner...to share equally in the efforts of the day. How long does it take the field hand to get PO’ed at Thoreau? Indeed, it is precisely because of the disincentives that such societies (New Harmony, Owenism, etc.) create that causes them to ultimately break down and fail.


17 posted on 10/13/2010 4:43:45 AM PDT by econjack (Some people are as dumb as soup.)
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To: philman_36
There's a similar story where a father has a daughter who gets straight A's. But she also has been brainwashed into thinking that everyone should make the same wages - share the wealth and all and they all should make the same equal "lots of money" and then things would be fair.

The father then asked her if she would be willing to have grades earned that same way. Did she think that the students who didn't study and flunked tests should get an A also. Or would she be willing to give up some of her grade point average and get a C or a B so that the D and E students got C's and B's also.

She wasn't so willing to do that because she studied hard and gave up social events to get good grades and he said, well that's exactly what you are expecting good workers to do with their hard earned money.

Then she saw the light.

20 posted on 10/13/2010 4:50:50 AM PDT by 3catsanadog (If healthcare reform is passed, 41 years old will be the new 65 YO.)
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