Socialism

[crazy canuck]

I wasn't suggesting that.  For one thing, there weren't enough places at the imperial court to permit such a mass elite migration.  Also a not uncommon pattern seems to have been stints at a regional court interspersed by time at home.  But the flight from curial office, if not from the physical location, is pretty well documented IIRC.

Fair enough, I misunderstood your first post.

[CountDeMoney]

I propose that another defining characteristic of socialism is the belief that income and wealth equality is a desirable end in and of itself.

Is market abolition part of that package?

[Berkut]

I propose that another defining characteristic of socialism is the belief that income and wealth equality is a desirable end in and of itself.

Hmmm. I don't think that too many people would accept that when it is taken to the extreme that is implied by it's statement without qualification.

[Admiral Yi]

Is market abolition part of that package?

If you mean is it an indispensable part of socialism, I would say no.

If you mean is it a desirable end in and of itself, I say absolutely not, but feel free to throw a handful of retarded Occupy slogans at me.

[derspiess]

[crazy canuck]

I propose that another defining characteristic of socialism is the belief that income and wealth equality is a desirable end in and of itself.

Hmmm. I don't think that too many people would accept that when it is taken to the extreme that is implied by it's statement without qualification.

Non socialists would not accept it but it is very much an underlying goal of socialists (using the term as it is usually defined and not in the manner you have defined it in this thread). 

[CountDeMoney]

If you mean is it a desirable end in and of itself, I say absolutely not,

Why not?  Explain.

[crazy canuck]

If you mean is it a desirable end in and of itself, I say absolutely not,

Why not?  Explain.

Because then everyone would be equal but dirt poor.

[Eddie Teach]

I propose that another defining characteristic of socialism is the belief that income and wealth equality is a desirable end in and of itself.

I think most are willing to give out unequal slices where they know that means more pie for all.

[crazy canuck]

I propose that another defining characteristic of socialism is the belief that income and wealth equality is a desirable end in and of itself.

I think most are willing to give out unequal slices where they know that means more pie for all.

Again, most non socialists but that is not the socialist view.

[Eddie Teach]

It's not the communist view. Socialists accept the private market and the inequality that comes with it.

[crazy canuck]

It's not the communist view. Socialists accept the private market and the inequality that comes with it.

I wish that was true.

[derspiess]

It's not the communist view. Socialists accept the private market and the inequality that comes with it.

I wish that was true.

Yeah. 

[Admiral Yi]

It's not the communist view. Socialists accept the private market and the inequality that comes with it.

True.  But I think countries like the Scandinavians view equality as a goal as well.

And as an aside it's relatively easy to maintain functioning markets redistributive government simultaneously.

[Admiral Yi]

Why not?  Explain.

Because history has abundantly shown that the profit motive and the price mechanism are the most efficient way of allocating resources to create the goods and services that maximize human satisfaction, and a more efficient way of incentivizing productive behavior than ballets about tractors or bayonets and gulags.