Posted on 01/12/2010 6:08:53 AM PST by TigerLikesRooster
North Korean Money Troubles
Kim Jong Il's currency revaluation is on the verge of sparking a hyperinflation.
By NICHOLAS EBERSTADT
The past month has seen an extraordinary spectacle in North Korea: the failure of a hastily announced "currency reform" and the subsequent collapse of the won, the official domestic currency. These developments are of more than numismatic interest. Pyongyang's currency move marks the end of an era of hesitant economic experimentation and ushers in a new era of greater economic, and perhaps political, uncertainties.
The seeds for this crisis were sown long ago. The North Korean state has always had a deep philosophical problem with money—in anyone's hands but its own. Money allows ordinary North Koreans to make economic choices about their own lives, decisions the leadership takes to be its purview alone. In the North's "golden era" (before the end of the Cold War, into the 1980s), total wages and salaries ultimately accounted for barely one-fifth of national output. Apart from Pol Pot's Cambodia, no other modern government has come so close to completely demonetizing a national economy.
Pyongyang's alternative model provided a direct government supply of household goods through a public distribution system. This gave leaders near-total control over the consumption patterns of their subjects, but it also left the people almost totally dependent on what the state deigned to provide them.
(Excerpt) Read more at online.wsj.com ...
To be fair, I doubt that this was Kim Jong-eun's initiative. Senior officials, on the order from Kim Jong-il, just drew up and carried out the policy and pass it as Jong-eun's achievement, a move to bolster his resume. Too bad, it failed badly.
The reason behind this poorly thought-out move could be that they all have to meet the 2012 deadline set by Kim Jong-il. By that time, N. Korea should have everything in order, operational nukes & missiles, and stabilized economy, ultimately paving the way for smooth succession. However, in reality, they are hastening their demise. This time, they are racing against the clock, now that Chia Head' health has become a big question mark.
Ping!
It couldn’t have happened to a more despicable bunch of sociopathic slimedogs.
Include The Democrat Party?
There in lies the problem for ZerO, when people have money they make their own choices. Money must be replaced with putting your name of a list for the things you want, assuming it among an approved item. You want a ticket to a rock concert, you put your name on a list and the government tells you how long you have to work. Of course, the only approved concert is by an approved artist like Kanye West. Mr. West will be told how many concerts he will perform, assuming Mr. West has put his name on a list for something. Yes, this money thing has no place in a DumBO world. The Norks will be the laboratory for the One's economy.
Damn! I always wondered what that meant!
Coming soon, a New York Times article explaining why North Koreans are all happier without the stress of having to worry about money.
They’re too impoverished to even worry about money. I’m a tough guy mentally but if I had to take a tour through the back roads of North Korea and look at all the malnourished people, I would probably hurl a few times right after breakfast.
God help the average North Korean. This will be a brutal year.
Bump.
Thanks for the ping.
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