There are many ways to demonstrate the failure of socialism. One very effective way is to compare similar countries, such as North Korea and South Korea. But another way is to compare a city that was cut in half. I mention both examples in my booklet on socialism and suggest you watch a recent YouTube video on “The Simple Questions Socialism Couldn’t Answer.”

The first half of the video gives some history of feudalism, capitalism, and Marxism. But then it points to what happened after World War II when Germany and Berlin were divided. People began leaving East Berlin for West Berlin, so the East Germans built a wall across the city. It also provided a social and economic perspective on the differences between a socialist economy and a capitalist one.

The video tells the story of two grocery stores, twenty miles apart. In East Berlin, there are 3,000 items and just one form of mustard (not even spicy mustard). In West Berlin, the grocery store has 7,000 items because it is competing with three other grocery chains. The store in East Berlin has its prices determined by the Politburo in Moscow who determine what products they want for their population. Prices and the supply of products in the West Berlin grocery store are determined by what people buy with the store manager occasionally adjusting prices.

As you might imagine, the citizens in West Berlin enjoyed a better standard of living and lived longer than the citizens in East Berlin. They also enjoyed more freedom, had more consumer choices, and had less government corruption. We need to remind the young people who are promoting socialism of this social and economic experiment in the city of Berlin.