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Spoiler alert for you kids out there flirting with socialism: it ALWAYS ends with a very rich, very privileged elite ruling everyone else like peasants. The elite see no upper limit to the compensation they "deserve" for their superior intellect and morality.
You may have noticed that every socialist, communist, and fascist state on Earth is loudly obsessed with "fighting corruption," declaring an endless series of crusades against it. No matter how many offenders are jailed or killed, they always have more corruption to rail against.
This is partly because charges of corruption are a convenient way to get rid of political enemies. Socialism is an endless, vicious battle between powerful elites for a seat at the high table. The squabble for power and wealth never ends.
It is partly because corruption is endemic to socialism. When the State controls everything, it is genuinely difficult to say where "fair dealing" ends and "corruption" begins. Everything socialists do is politicized, and therefore tends toward corruption.
The third reason for endless crusades against corruption in authoritarian collectivist societies is the most subtle, and most interesting: because the ruling elite is terrified citizens will begin doubting they "deserve" their vast wealth and fabulous privileges.
The whole socialist system comes crashing down if people begin doubting the elite deserve their fantastic lifestyles - if they begin doubting the system is fairly distributing wealth based on "merit" and moral supremacy.
Of course the socialist elite is greedy as hell - they tend to be among the most money-grubbing people on Earth, even as they claim to be wise and selfless - but they also understand the link between money and power. The trappings of power sustain their illusion of virtue.
If the socialist elite lived frugal lives on modest salaries and maintained the tiny carbon footprint they demand of peasants, people would stop believing they were special. They would no longer be WORSHIPPED. They need worship for both egotistical and practical reasons.
Certainly, there is plenty of greed in capitalist systems, but at least the greed is often fulfilled through productive ambition. Socialists have nothing productive to offer. They don't create anything or cleverly fill any voluntary needs for profit.
In a socialist system, you can only get more by DEMANDING it or TAKING it. Healthy ambition is perverted into widespread corruption, from the most destitute slums to the halls of power. Organizing and demanding more becomes a defensive survival skill.
The socialist ruling class has a great deal of power to take more for itself, a nearly infinite view of its own value, and a great deal of insulation from the consequences of its policies. It will keep giving itself raises long after the rest of the economy collapses. /end
