Reader Drew wants to know if the Khan Academy’s free education policy is socialistic.
Although unasked, the same question seems to apply to me.
Reader Drew writes …
Hi Mish
I know you are a fan of Sal Khan and Khan Academy. I’m wondering if you were aware of his background, his brilliance, and his decision to give away his courses for free.
My question is do you consider what he is doing socialism? How does one explain his decision not to use his brilliance for personal gain and instead to donate his time and energy on something he gives away for free? Isn’t that a contradiction of capitalism?
Many thanks.
Drew
Definition of Socialism
What’s contradictory about it?
To address that question, please consider a Definition of Socialism.
Socialism: a way of organizing a society in which major industries are owned and controlled by the government rather than by individual people and companies.
In the modern era, “pure” socialism has been seen only rarely and usually briefly in a few Communist regimes. Far more common are systems of social democracy, now often referred to as “democratic socialism,” in which extensive state regulation, with limited state ownership, has been employed by democratically elected governments (as in Sweden and Denmark) in the belief that it produces a fair distribution of income without impairing economic growth.
In general, socialists believe in higher taxes and equatable distribution of wealth via government ownership, wealth redistribution schemes, and higher taxes on the wealthy.
Giving away things for free does not make one a socialist.
My blog is free. ZeroHedge’s blog is free. So is the Acting Man blog. None of us are remotely socialistic.
Yes, we make money off our blogs from advertising.
Ironically, making money off blogging was never my intent. I launched my blog in hopes of being discovered a writer. It never happened. No one wanted me.
The Motley Fool turned me down for an opening they had for a writer even though I had a very popular forum on that site at the time.
For me, making money at blogging required 18 hour days, nearly 365 days a year, for three years before I made more than a few hundred dollars a month off Google ads.
ZeroHedge is a master. He took things to the next level, very quickly.
Let’s go another level higher. Quarter after quarter Amazon.Com loses money or makes little. Is Amazon a socialistic company?
Losing money or giving things away for free while making money is not socialistic in and of itself.
None of us promote government ownership of things or massive wealth redistribution schemes. At least I don’t.
Neither I nor Khan make demands of others. We do not propose robbing from the rich to give to the poor. We do not whine for higher taxes. We do not whine for government takeovers.
Don’t confuse either “free” or “nonprofit” with socialism. Neither term is in the definition.
Government and Fed interference has driven up prices. Everything government touches drives up costs.
Free market capitalism reduces costs. Free is the ultimate in capitalism but the Fed and public unions fight free vehemently.
Mike “Mish’ Shedlock
The difference is Khan says his Academy is free for those who attend, a socialist would say that too but also demand that the government take $25-50k from other people and give it to Khan.
And only after it skimmed off about 40% of it
When government tells us that something is free, it is simply a complete lie! They can never deliver anything free; even their abundance of promises and hot air all end costing the taxpayer.
The ignorance of some is simply bind boggling. The difference between a coercive and a non-coercive delivery system is so poorly understood that it doesn’t even register as meaningful to many.
Capitalism got Kahn (and Mr. Gates-a contributor) into the enviable position of being able to offer this wonderful augmentation to public education.
The Khan academy is disruptive technology like a blog. Cut out traditional barriers, middlemen and “deciders” of good writing or education. It’s meritocracy, not socialism. In a free market the good blogs succeed and the crappy ones go into ether. Khan academy could easily turn into a profit model. Google search is free too…they make money in a tangential way.
is that mish..or ernie els…..
Yeah, it’s called a free market. You’re free to set any price you want. Yes, you can set this price at $0. No setting your own price is not socialism.
A disgruntled #BernieBot dealing with a “cold” reality.
The definition of words is generally where discussions fall off a cliff. Capitalists rely on government coercion just as much as socialists do. The end goal of Marxist Socialism is for government to completely go away. Which he thought would naturally happen when workers owned the means of production. That’s because Marx believed the only purpose of government is to maintain property rights for the capitalist overlords. The ultimate coercion in his mind.
Leninist Socialism was just the opposite, where the government controlled the means of production and the workers essentially became slaves.
Of course, the Khan Academy has nothing whatsoever to do with capitalism or socialism.
ZeroCred a master? Ouch!
Well maybe in the way the Enquirer is masterful. You do yourself a disservice Mish by giving accolades to someone that focuses on hyperbole with Zero proof or references.
I avoid any article by Zerocred, or even ones that reference him. He is mostly just noise and a distraction. If something he reports is real, it’ll show up in more credible sources.
Take care
ZeroCred a master? Ouch!…
Been to ZH several years now, hearing the site as though Tyler were some real individual person is still an amusing picture. Regardless, the articles themselves are merely the springboard to where the real news takes place, imo.
Responses to the “doom and gloom” and otherwise provocative submissions by Tyler quickly reveal the ho hum nature of the criminal conduct being exposed and probably if anything, goes about setting the initial tone of acceptance.
I personally prefer filtering my news through ZH first but then, that’s just me, I’m too cheap to buy a newspaper.
ZH is a master at making monetizing his blog
That is what I meant
I love how the reader’s question has an underlying assumption that anything done as a charity could not come from capitalism, but only socialism.
Good reply Mish. Wowever I think that the quoted definition of socialism is outdated. The heart of the quote is as follows:
“in which major industries are owned and controlled by the government”
I think that most socialists, especially in Europe, have given up on the “owned” part. Now they realized that the “controlled” part is the safer and easier way to run a society.
…and that is called fascism, at least in the traditional use of the word.
1. The most basic idea in socialism is economic democracy, i.e, what people need to live and thrive is democratically controlled and not monopolized through heirarchical power.
2. In addition, socialism is convinced that public goods will be to the advantage of all, lowering the costs of doing business. That is why all wealthy countries have a lot of public assets (roads, schools, educational capital, libraries, public transit, communications, electrical grids, sewers, etc.). This distinguishes them from poor countries and lends them a competitive advantage over low cost labor elsewhere.
3. The dividends of social and technological progress should accrue to all of us, just as the inventions, intellectual treasure, and capital improvements bequeathed to us by prior generations benefit mankind as a whole.
4. Taxes and other measures are a means to an end, and not any goal of socialism. In successful countries with social values, scale tends to determine the amount of private control there is: roads, transit and infrastructure are public, clothes and houses are private, utilities are private but regulated, hospitals are private/public ventures, specialists run their own businesses, etcetc.
Contrary to what many assert (socialism is giving away stuff for free or dispossessing the wealthy), the basic idea in socialism is to empower people to be productive and to free the economy from monopoly interests that expropriate income without adding to production. Taxes, tax credits, subsidies, tax deductions, public ownership, etcetc, are all details of implementations that differ widely. In most socialist counties people are obliged to contribute (work, go to school, pay taxes, and social insurances) unless that is impossible for them.
At its most basic, socialism is an attempt to abolish inherited privilege and to erase the prerogatives of conquest, viewing all infants as equal inheritors of a society’s means of existence.
I wish all of the readers of Mish’s blog would read webej’s summation of the ideals of socialism and think about it. Socialism just doesn’t work unfortunately, but webej’s post puts in the best light possible. This is best summarized by the quote:
Socialism …”empowers people to be productive and to free the economy from monopoly [and other special] interests”
Of course it doesn’t. The people aren’t productive in Venezuela and other socialist lands because they don’t have to be productive to live or even prosper. Free enterprise takes the other approach, which is to incentivize people to be productive, work hard, and consider and tend to needs others. The incentive is that then they will prosper and live a good life. If they don’t, then they will be relatively poor or, in the case of businesses, go bankrupt.
Have you ever visited/lived in countries like Sweden, the Netherlands, Germany or even Italy? Countries with a strong social democrat tradition. Countries with stronger export sectors than the USA. Countries without the blight of poverty. Countries without falling apart infrastructure. Countries with better government balance sheets than the USA. And one tenth the crime. Or go to Canada (medicare and 500 crown corporations).
Do people work here? Why yes. Just observe a road maintenance crew at work here and compare how little passive agressive slouching and doing nothing is going on compared to anywhere in the USA.
(Even here, debt and wealth are increasingly concentrated with the advent of neo-liberal policies. But of course a trend such as increasing concentration of wealth can never continue ad infinitum without something breaking or reversing.)
Many profitable capitalist businesses give free stuff as a loss leader. The free stuff attracts attention, foot traffic, and enhances the image of the business. Sales are a variety of free stuff that we see every day.
…
Kahn is a more effective teacher than all the teachers in the Chicago school system put together. Kahn could teach Chicago kids to perform above average for one tenth the cost. Free Kahn lessons for parents may attract the attention of Mayor Rahm. But Rahm will have to pay.
Khan Academy needs to take it to the next level. The accounting profession has a CPA certification. KA should begin to offer KA certifications in various subject matters be it math, engineering, computer sciences, etc. Keep it reasonably priced and fairly difficult so that a certification actually means something Imo, it would quickly become the standard for hiring employers.
I think Khan academy and the free blogs like yours are doing a good deed for the public. Keep it up.
Don’t confuse “non-profit” organizations with non-profit either. Many organizations, like colleges, are “non-profit” because the organization itself does not make a profit but many MANY of the people working there do (check out the salaries of college administrators and presidents these days.) The government itself is certainly “non-profit” but an AWFUL lot of politicians retire wealthy despite decades of “low paying” “public service.”
It’s loco to charge for something that can be readily reproduced by a user, viewer, or consumer … re: copyrights (not), piracy, 3D printing, or classes
I got my degree from Khan University. Dressed up in my gown and presented myself with my diploma. Don’t understand why no one will recognize my degree and give me a job.
Its called philathropy, and Khans is true philanthropy. Unlike Rockefellers and and the other oligharck’s self serving schemes.
Actually, if this was a purely socialist world, Mish would have to apply for a license and get state approval before starting a blog. However through hard work Mish took a blog to produce income. A free market option currently still available to the masses. However as we move further left this can disappear. Good Job Mish.
Really interesting