Wish I could take credit for this one. This appeared in the May 16, 2001 Washington Times as unsourced.

What rules the world in simple two cow terms.

Socialism: you have two cows. You keep one and give one to your neighbor.
Communism: you have two cows. The government takes them both and provides you with milk.
Fascism: you have two cows. The government takes them and sells you the milk.
Bureaucracy: you have two cows. The government takes them both, shoots one, milks the other, pays you for the milk, and then pours it down the drain.
Capitalism: you have two cows. You sell one and buy a bull.
Corporate: you have two cows. You sell one, force the other to produce the milk of four cows then act surprised when it drops dead.
Democracy: you have two cows. The government taxes you to the point that you must sell them both in order to support a man in a foreign country who only has one cow which was a gift from your government.