Here's a simple way to think of this mess:Goodies have this tricky feature that economists call a downward sloping demand curve. When the price is low, we want more of them.
To make some goodies, certain other goodies must be spent. For instance, when you go to work to build housing projects for your fellow happy workers, you spend leisure. Make the equivalent observation that you buy leisure when you don't go to work, and get the respect any intelligent person deserves. But I digress. Anyway, you buy the said leisure for the price of the forgone wage. And guess what, when it's cheap, you buy lots of it.
When flats in housing projects come free, lots of them are wanted, nay, needed, the working classes will argue. They will demand them. And it is their right, is it not?
When wages building those flats are low (and how could they possibly be high, since flats are given away?) lots of leisure will be wanted, nay, you guessed it, needed. It is therefore quickly bought -- by not going to work.
The result is that there are never enough flats. The more goodies you resolve to make available for free, the longer the list of goodies in chronic shortage. Communism is one giant such list.
Capitalism, on the other hand, is the best way we know right now for feeding, housing, clothing, and entertaining people. Like it or not. But if you don't, the good news is that in capitalism you're always welcome to set up your alternative shop. Try that in Cuba.
Happy bitching.
