> Socialism just works to get a happy compromise where you have the chance of making more through your efforts, but less people get a huge head start and fewer

> Socialism just works to get a happy compromise where you have the chance of making more through your efforts, but less people get a huge head start and fewer fall through into poverty That, or leads to a repressive state and economic ruin. You can't pretend that Denmark is socialist but not many of the failed South American countries. Paul Graham has an interesting perspective of inequality: > Economic inequality is not just a consequence of startups. It's the engine that drives them, in the same way a fall of water drives a water mill. People start startups in the hope of becoming much richer than they were before. And if your society tries to prevent anyone from being much richer than anyone else, it will also prevent one person from being much richer at t2 than t1. He acknowledges that people don't do things just for financial reward. People build products because they love building things. The things you have to pay founders for is doing the mundane operational support that is required for most projects. No one likes doing that. He goes on to argue that inequality is the result of people being able to more effectively use their talents. The "10x programmer" isn't paid 10x as much, but few programmers could argue that he should not get paid a lot more than just an average programmer despite being much more effective. I get that inequality is distasteful, but I would rather be richer in a less equal economy that be poorer but average. [0] http://www.paulgraham.com/inequality.html http://www.paulgraham.com/inequality.html