Yesterday in my diversity class, the teacher was talking about stepping outside our paradigms of hierarchy and capitalism, suggesting, hey, what about socialism? A student raised his hand and said, "Yeah, I mean, right now, communism's doing better than capitalism anyway." I think I will always hold a secret shame for being the little economist who was called on to testify but was Not Prepared. Time to go re-memorize Mankiw's Articles--er, Principles of Economics.

(Seriously, it drives me nuts how many articles we've read suggesting that we should have open immigration, equal education spending, universal health care, and free translators, and how we need to end cycles of oppression like denying credit to high-risk applicants. You have my sincere respect if you want to send all of your money beyond the bare minimum to the impoverished masses, but maybe you should try it for a few years before advocating that it be compulsory.)