Suppose everyone had an economic and social status indistinguishable from anyone else’s. Suppose everyone valued everything similarly - work, play, health, family, friends, entertainment, education, skills, property.

Utopia or nightmare?

I maintain that the closer we get to such a state, the closer we get to a complete collapse of our economies and of civilization.

Economic activities, trade and specialization of labor depend on differences in peoples internal valuations of things —different skills, resources, likes, dislikes, and preferences. Erase all such differences, and economies would flatline, and governments would collapse.

Far too many people view such differences as evidence of evil, or the source of all problems in the world. They may be idealists, but they are dangerous.

I believe in equality of opportunity as an ideal, but not in equality of results.