Having known too many university professor socialists, I think their socialism and their jibes like "you didn't build that" are more rooted in their own personal needs for superiority than in their incoherent economic philosophies. I've referred to it as the "If you're so smart, why aren't you rich?" complex. They really do believe that they are so smart that they should be rich -- and since they aren't, there must be something illegitimate about being rich. Thus, that money should be confiscated, because it isn't where it should be. *Although* -- a few, like Liz Warren or Bernie Sanders, try to have it both ways, by denigrating the rich and also trying to get rich themselves.
There's likely an insecurity there - a notion that not being rich despite being so smart, while "lesser" people become richer, is an invalidation of their brainpower, and/or 'proof' that the system must be broken.
Cue the "we have to fix it by taking charge" conceit.
Having known too many university professor socialists, I think their socialism and their jibes like "you didn't build that" are more rooted in their own personal needs for superiority than in their incoherent economic philosophies. I've referred to it as the "If you're so smart, why aren't you rich?" complex. They really do believe that they are so smart that they should be rich -- and since they aren't, there must be something illegitimate about being rich. Thus, that money should be confiscated, because it isn't where it should be. *Although* -- a few, like Liz Warren or Bernie Sanders, try to have it both ways, by denigrating the rich and also trying to get rich themselves.
There's likely an insecurity there - a notion that not being rich despite being so smart, while "lesser" people become richer, is an invalidation of their brainpower, and/or 'proof' that the system must be broken.
Cue the "we have to fix it by taking charge" conceit.