For those who grew up in the city or in the era after television and computers, you missed one of the greatest thrills of all–riding in you grandfather’s wagon. The wagon was usually made of wood, about 6ft wide and 12-15 ft long and four huge wooden spoke wheels. In the fall in the rural south, we use to have hayrides and if you were lucky you might be able to steal a kiss from your sweetheart.
The wagons were usually pulled by two horses or mules who had no trouble with the weight of the riders. However, have you ever wondered how many it would take to push the wagon.
1–Let’s say there are 20 average size people and 3 are riding and 17 are pushing. No problem the wagon rolls smoothly.
2–Now assume three get tired of pushing so it is now 6 riding and 14 pushing. A little straining but still it rolls.
3–4 more decide to get on the wagon and join their friends. 10 riders-10 pushers. Now the pushers are really straining. The weight of 10 plus the wagon.
4–The 10 riders are having a party and not excerting any effort except to drink beer and party. They convince 5 more to ride and have fun. Don’t worry the 5 pushers left will take care of all of them.
5–Now we have 15 riders and 5 pushers. The five pushers are really strong and do their best but the wagon only moves a little and it causes great strain on the pushers.
6–Finally, the 5 pushers lose their strength and can’t make the wagon move an inch. At this point the 5 stop trying and sit under the tree.
7–So the 15 riders now are sitting still and wondering why in the hell is somebody not pushing the wagon so that they can continue to party. But the wagon just sits in the road and everything comes to a halt.
Too many riders and not enough pushers will make any wagon come to a halt. Same as with the US government spreading the wealth around. When there is no incentive for the pushers to push because there are too many riders, our economy will come to a halt. It does not matter if the 5% are the strongest and the richest because there is no incentive to work to support those who just want to ride.
An article in today’s Wall Street Journal tells this story more elequently than I can. If you want to read it, just copy and paste.
Pookie
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB122463231048556587.html
