Its per capita income was double that in the Ivory Coast. But, after a couple of decades under different economic systems, the bottom 20 percent of people in the Ivory Coast had higher incomes than 60 percent of the people in Ghana. Halfway around the world, it was much the same story in Southeast Asia. Burma once had a higher per capita income than Thailand, until Burma went socialist. Today, Thailand's per capita income is five times that of Burma.
Economic inefficiency is by no means the worst aspect of socialistic government.
Trying to reduce economic inequality by increasing political inequality, which is essentially what Marxism is all about, has cost the lives of millions of innocent people under Stalin, Mao, Pol Pot and others. Politicians cannot be trusted with a monopoly of power over other people's lives. Thousands of years of history have demonstrated this again and again and yet again. While my desires for a better life for ordinary people have not changed from the days of my youthful Marxism, experience has taught the bitter lesson that the way to get there is the opposite of what I once thought. Member Groups 60 Plus Assocation Accuracy in Academia Accuracy in Media Acton Institute Agape Press American Conservative Union Amer.