ok, so I read this on Ebaums the other day as a "joke" and well I have another scenario for Socialism.  Yes it doesn't work, however, look at it from this point of view.  First, read the joke, then my alternative. 

Socialism - Good on Paper, Not in Reality

An economics professor at Texas Tech said he had failed very few students but had, once, failed an entire class. That class had insisted that socialism worked and that no one would be poor and no one would be rich, a great equalizer. The professor then said, "Ok, we will have an experiment in this class on socialism."

"All grades will be averaged and everyone would receive the same grade meaning, obviously, no one will receive an A." They all agreed to this. After the first test the grades were averaged and everyone got a C. The students who studied hard were upset and the students who studied little were happy.

But, as the second test rolled around, the students who studied little had studied even less and the ones who studied hard decided they wanted a free ride too, so they studied little. The second test average was a D! No one was happy. When the 3rd test rolled around the average was an F.

The scores never increased as bickering, blame and name calling all resulted in hard feelings and no one would study for the benefit of anyone else. To their great dismay the professor failed them all. Then he sent all of them this note: "A socialistic government will also ultimately fail - because when the reward is great, the effort to succeed is great, but when government takes all the reward away, no one will try or want to succeed."

My Scenario

As pointed out above socialism doesn't work, agreed, but let's rearrange the classroom in say a hierarchy structure.  Instead of one classroom, separate the students by floor level.    

The A-students on the 4th floor, B-students on the 3rd floor, C-students on the 2nd floor, and the lower than average, failing students on the first floor. 

Over the course of these 4 tests, the students shuffle between floors depending on their grades. 

On the 4th floor the students have the best professors, books, computer equipment, anything their heart desire.  The 3rd floor has a little less quality then the 4th floor but nevertheless, not as good.  By this time, you have probably figured out that the last two floors don't have much, so use your imagination. 

A fire breaks out on the first floor.  Panic rises and students are yelling up for help.  The 2nd floor of students try to help, but they don't have the resources or means to help.  The 3rd floor is too busy studying to try to advance to the 4th floor and ignores the first floor and the 4th floor points and laugh thinking the 1st floor is too stupid to figure out how to put the fire out.   

The students on the 1st floor yell out to the 4th floor for just a fire extinguisher to help put out the fire.  The students on the 4th floor tell them no, that they have earned this fire extinguisher and refuse to toss it down. 

All of the sudden the building collapses.  

Moral of the story?  You figure it out.....

Man should not consider his material possession his own, but as common to all, so as to share them without hesitation when others are in need

All the good things of this world are no further good than as they are of use; and whatever we may heap up to give to others, we enjoy only as much of as we can use

Of a rich man who was mean and niggardly, he said, "That man does not possess his estate, but his estate possesses him.