Why Socialism Doesn’t Work

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. 

23 thoughts on “Why Socialism Doesn’t Work

  1. 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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      1. “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.

        Liked by 1 person

          1. 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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            1. 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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              1. 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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              2. “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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    1. 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. 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.

        Liked by 1 person

        1. 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. “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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      1. 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. 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. 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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