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Full Idea
It is useless to distribute insufficient resources equally, because the equal distribution of insufficient resources may result in the even worse outcome that no one's reasonable expectations are met.
Gist of Idea
Equal distribution is no good in a shortage, because there might be no one satisfied
Source
John Kekes (The Human Condition [2010], 01.5)
Book Ref
Kekes,John: 'The Human Condition' [OUP 2010], p.22
A Reaction
He gives a shortage of oxygen tanks as a persuasive example, but that is hardly typical of the sorts of things that we normally want to distribute.