----- Original Message ----- From: "Dave Land" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: "Killer Bs Discussion" <[email protected]> Sent: Wednesday, December 21, 2005 4:46 PM Subject: Re: My annual Xmas tirade... Was RE: An armed society ...
> On Dec 20, 2005, at 8:57 PM, Dan Minette wrote: > > > From: "The Fool" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > > > >> Ineffiencies *are* the economy. Perfect efficiencies would lead > >> to 0% > >> employment and complete economic collapse. > > > > Ah, so that explains why the economy of the Soviet Union > > outperformed the > > US for so long. :-) > > I venture that the problem with the Soviet economy was not simply a > matter of inefficiency. It may have had something to do with a small > cadre of power-hungry, greedy bastards who manipulated the system > for their benefit. Actually, they didn't live rich, compared to a US millionaire at the time. The GDP of the Soviet Union went backwards during it's last 10 years or so.. Interviews after the war indicated that many in the upper echelons of the Communist party still believed in their ideals. Or, take East and West Germany for comparison examples. North and South Korea also do well. Or how about Japan....they have much stronger relationships between the government and business than the US, yet their standard of living is far better than the USSR was. Central planned economies have done far worse than economies where markets exist, set prices, etc. In a central planned economy being politically correct is critical; efficiency is less critical. Dan M. _______________________________________________ http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l
