Posted on 04/03/2010 5:34:03 AM PDT by TigerLikesRooster
North Korean prof says private markets must go
‘Markets will be removed. People are buying daily necessities in them.’
April 03, 2010
PYONGYANG - North Korea will phase out private markets and rely on state-controlled outlets, a senior economist said in a rare interview, amid speculation the country’s reclusive leader could soon visit China to secure much needed investment.
Impoverished yet nuclear-armed North Korea has in recent years allowed some free markets for food and consumer items, while others not sanctioned by the state have sprung up as the public turned to private enterprise to cope with declining living standards and food shortages. The government has had little choice but to tolerate the nascent capitalism, though its patience appears to wearing thin.
Ri Ki Song, a professor at the Institute of Economy at North Korea’s Academy of Social Sciences, told APTN in an interview in the North Korean capital that markets are helping improve the lives of the country’s citizenry, but their days are numbered.
“Markets will be removed in the future, by reducing their numbers step-by-step, while continuously expanding the planned supply through state-run commercial networks,” Ri said. “This is our official position on markets. Now, markets are used as a subsidiary means to offer convenience in people’s daily lives.”
(Excerpt) Read more at joongangdaily.joins.com ...
P!
They’re trying to give the American version of dear leader an example to follow.
NO. I think that NK is following our lead.
Coming soon to a location near you. ObaMarkets!
Oops, for a second there I thought I was reading a statement from the White House.
Sounds like one of Zero’s appointments...
Bet he's tenured.
Who knew they even had them?
There is a big catch though: the state reserves the right to terminate his life.
Geesh. Even Lenin and most of China accepted the fact that this wouldn’t work.
The Slave Masters of NK can say this all they want, but the reality is that a command economy cannot supply the true needs of the people. The masters may wish it so; even have concern for the people (while they, of course, get the first and continuous shipments of delicious food and luxury goods). But all the demanding in the world does not encourage the individuals in the mass of the proletariat to work harder, plant more, or become more efficient in their efforts. No, an individual works when a benefit is the direct result, such as extra cash, a good wage, and a chance to better the lives of their family. All these things are provided in a market economy. A state-run or controlled economy cannot generate such efficiency.
For example, farmers motivated by the whip will work hard to produce what they can, but if the factory worker at the fertilizer plant has no ammonia to make the fertilizer because the state planners allocated that to the arms factory, then the farmer gets no fertilizer, period. The rice doesn't grow, and the crop is a failure. You can execute all the farmers for not meeting their production goal, but that still doesn't grow the rice.
So once again people will starve, and a greater burden of misery will be foisted on them.
What would happen if the USSR conquered the Sahara?
Nothing, for ten years. Then there would be a shortage of sand.
He gets to eat.
North Korea is a latrine... with very few floaters.
Wasn’t aware there were any private markets N Korea.
There’s a lamppost in this joker’s future.
So is NK the worst country in the history of the world? At least nationalits would show some form of compassion for their own people, and communists would want some form of industrial progress. These people seem to be the purest form of futile dictatorship.
It was done because they learned people were saving money earned on the black market. They weren't being fair and re-distributing it around. And it usurped state authority.
I think it set off some panic and riots. So, to (don't quote me on this I'm too lazy to search) save face I believe Dear Leader had the economic genious (scapegoat) that came up with the idea; arrested. I think executed too.
I’m reminded of the true story of the Soviet shoe factory that was required to produce 20,000 mens shoes that year, and they produced 20,000 size 9 left shoes.
If people truly understood that command economies mean starvation, no one would ever vote Democrat.
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