Why Socialism Doesn’t Work

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Clarissa

October 27, 2017

The owner of my super successful famous salon retired two months ago and gave the salon to her employees as collective ownership. And it is dying already. I arrived for my appointment today and nobody is here, nobody knows where anyone is, the place is a bloody mess. Everything looks like it’s aged decades. The workers are almost Soviet-like in terms of grumpiness. I feel like a regular Rip Van Winkle. The same decor, the same people, the same services, but it’s like it dropped off a cliff in matter of weeks. It’s clear the place will close down completely before the year is out.

I’ve been using this place for 8 years, and it has existed for 27. It’s a local institution. Nothing but collective ownership could have run it into the ground this fast.

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23 responses to “Why Socialism Doesn’t Work”

Z

October 27, 2017

It sounds like a bad committee.

Collective projects work if the synergy between the people is good and they really see eye to eye. This is rare. And it really is true that many people really need their own business (or to work for someone else’s) — only their own business sustains creativity, and only working for someone else sustains discipline.

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Alex the Physicist

October 27, 2017

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.theonion.com/marxists-apartment-a-microcosm-of-why-marxism-doesnt-wo-1819566655/amp

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David Bellamy

October 27, 2017

I belong to a member owned food co-op which has been providing excellent food and service for more than 40 years.

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1. Clarissa
  
  October 27, 2017
  
  That hardly helps me in my situation, though.
  
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  1. Dreidel
    
    October 28, 2017
    
    “That hardly helps me in my situation, though.”
    
    Find another salon.
    
    What did the retired owner expect, giving the business to a bunch of Indians with no chief? If no one’s in charge of a tribe or an organization, the consequences are inevitably chaos.
    
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    1. Clarissa
      
      October 28, 2017
      
      It’s clear that you have no idea what life is like for a person with an uncontrollable Jewfro.
      
      Let them eat cake, indeed.
      
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      1. Dreidel
        
        October 28, 2017
        
        “Jewfro” ?
        
        :-))))))))))))
        
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      2. Spiderbaby
        
        October 28, 2017
        
        This is a shot in the dark, since I don’t know your city and I’m not even american, but… are there any african-american hair salons where you live? They should be specialized in treating type 3 and 4 hair (curly and kinky).
        
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        Clarissa
        
        October 28, 2017
        
        Of course, but imagine the reaction if I just walk in and claim to have “African American hair.” The next thing I know the social media will demolish me for Nazism, cultural appropriation, and God knows what else.
        
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        Z
        
        October 28, 2017
        
        Well, just say you have curly hair and can they work with it.
        
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        Shakti
        
        October 28, 2017
        
        Just ask if they can cut your hair. They’ll tell you.
        
        Here: Hair types, with pictures Do you air dry your hair? Or use the finger attachment with your hair dryer when you blow-dry, if at all? Would your hair snap a bunch of regular hair elastics if you tried to tie it back?
        
        You could try going to DevaCurl salons if you want to maintain the curl… but those are hideously expensive.
        
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        Clarissa
        
        October 28, 2017
        
        “Do you air dry your hair? Or use the finger attachment with your hair dryer when you blow-dry, if at all?”
        
        No, no, never. That would be a total disaster. I wash it (as rarely as I can), then untangle it for about 90 minutes. Then pour copious amounts of coconut or argan oil on it to keep it from frizzing.
        “Would your hair snap a bunch of regular hair elastics if you tried to tie it back?”
        
        Of course. Yesterday I climbed on a trampoline to fetch a ball and the hair snagged on a hook. Took me 10 minutes to detach it, tearing out huge clumps while kids wailed for the ball.
        
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2. Z
  
  October 28, 2017
  
  Yes, those work but they have an executive board or something. I’ve belonged to a great food co-op and now I am in one for electricity.
  
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  1. TomW
    
    October 28, 2017
    
    I also belong to a member owned food co-op. It has an executive board and a general manager who is in charge of running the business on a day-to-day basis. The members do volunteer shifts, mostly stocking the shelves and cleaning things, but there are many full-time, paid employees and the paid employees supervise the members volunteer work. I can’t imagine what a mess the place would be if they left it up to the members to run everything.
    
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    1. Jonathan Mayhew
      
      October 28, 2017
      
      I belong to a food co-op too but it is run by professional staff. There are no volunteers, I think, except in the board of directors. We buy stock in the company and are owners and elect the board. It is not socialism in the least. It is just a store that happens to be owned mostly be people in the community who also shop there.
      
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      1. Clarissa
        
        October 28, 2017
        
        “I belong to a food co-op too but it is run by professional staff. There are no volunteers, I think, except in the board of directors. We buy stock in the company and are owners and elect the board. It is not socialism in the least. It is just a store that happens to be owned mostly be people in the community who also shop there.”
        
        This sounds like a completely different model than the one I’m describing.
        
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    2. Clarissa
      
      October 28, 2017
      
      “It has an executive board and a general manager who is in charge of running the business on a day-to-day basis. ”
      
      Just what I suspected.
      
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bimonoliberationfront

January 27, 2018

Sorry about your hair. I assume your post is tongue in cheek, and you know that none of this has anything to do with socialism whatsoever, but in case I’m wrong, and in case you care, you might find this article illuminating:

https://stalinsmoustache.org/2017/11/17/discovering-chinese-socialism-a-personal-account/

https://polldaddy.com/js/rating/rating.js

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1. Clarissa
  
  January 27, 2018
  
  I detest condescending pricks so either change your tone and bugger off.
  
  It’s ridiculous how ill-mannered some people are. Were you raised by coyotes?
  
  https://polldaddy.com/js/rating/rating.js
  
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  1. bimonoliberationfront
    
    January 27, 2018
    
    My sympathy about your hair is sincere. If your post is not tongue in cheek, though, you really ought to find out something about socialism, and the article I linked to has some great information and insights about socialism in an economy with lots of capitalist enterprises. And, no, I was raised by bears. You have no idea what a struggle personal grooming is when you live with bears.
    
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    1. Clarissa
      
      January 27, 2018
      
      Only a completely clueless and excruciatingly rude person tells complete strangers what they ought to do.
      
      I was born and raised in a socialist country. I know more about it than you ever could find on your childish Google searches.
      
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      1. bimonoliberationfront
        
        January 27, 2018
        
        You make many false assumptions, but I will leave you to them.
        🙂
        
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        Clarissa
        
        January 27, 2018
        
        Your vocabulary seems very limited, too. There is nothing that can be called “assumptions” in my post. The place of my birth is a statement of fact. There’s nothing to assume. The fact that I’m a stranger to you is also part of objective reality.
        
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