In some place like the Twilight Zone, ten men were standing in a circle. Between the men were ten piles of sand, with each sandpile belonging to the man on whose left side it lay.
A voice from on high boomed, "Redistribute!" Upon hearing this, each and every man in the circle simultaneously bent toward the sandpile on his RIGHT--thus, toward sand that belonged to his neighbor--scooped up a double handful of sand, and tossed it onto his own pile. An instant later, each and every man saw to his disappointment that his pile had not grown any larger despite his taking from his neighbor. So, without need of an order now, each man leaned over the pile on his right again, took more sand, and tossed this on his own pile. Their own piles, of course, had been depleted by the same amount.
Now all ten men went berserk, grabbing and flinging and grabbing and flinging, each trying to steal MORE sand than was being stolen from him. Sand circulated around and around the circle, to no purpose.
All at once, then, one man in the circle stood erect...thought for a minute...and walked fifty yards to the beach, where he could get his own sand.
The others cursed him for not caring about the People's Collective.
