Pffft, "encourage mediocrity", you might think walking around with a whip beating people half to death makes them work harder, but it doesn't. This isn't the middle ages, we don't need such barbaric principles guiding us. Get into the sciences and talk to some psychologists, psychiatrists about what motivates people to be more efficient. It isn't jail time, threats, negative stimulus, its positive stimulus, its help, a safety net, security, a helping hand when you're down. Positive reinforcement is far more powerful than negative.
This is what the exploiters want, us to stab each other in the back over fear of losing something. Fear that part of my paycheck is going to somebody else that doesn't deserve it, rather than the possibility that it benefits us all greater than our individual input would otherwise.
