The Economic Millstone Called Communism

I was in a youth hostel in the mid or late 80's where I met another traveller from Mozambique. He was of Portugese decent whose family had been colonials there, but he had personal knowledge of Mozambique before and after the withdrawl of the Portugese and the arrival of the communists. He described a land where the Portugese provided decent administration and there was an abundance of food, although not other kinds of material wealth. I came away with a vision of Mozambique were the Portugese provided competant Western-style administration, left the agriculture sector to the benefit of the people, and organized the rest of the economy, especially mineral extration and the supply of goods, for the benefit of Portugal. The second part of the story involves the post-Portugese situation, where the communists, assisted by the Soviets, take over. The economy was re-organized and became more concerned with extraction than investment, and the people became poorer and poorer. Rather than investing in the long term productivity (capital investment) it was about giving the worker a boon. This didn't last, as the neccesary inputs went unput. The most striking example of this was the brutal fishing conducted by the Soviet fishing fleet. The coral reefs, the home to so many fish, were dynamited to give the fisherman quick access to huge stores of fish. This example of over-exploitation combined with ecological destruction is the legacy of communist economics. Over and over again communists kill the goose that lays the golden eggs because they want the proletariat to have a goose dinner now.

The news now is that Venezuela's communists, under Hugo Chavez, are looking forward to some goose dinner, and the recent example of Zimbabwe (and the countless examples from farther back) aren't disuading them one bit. Mmmm, can't you just smell that goose cooking, who can think about golden eggs at at time like this? Capitalists intuitivly know that money invested well pays out far more than the original investment. Apparently this is some kind of esoteric knowledge unavailable to the uninitiated. According to the American Thinker, "The government of Venezuelan dictator Hugo Chavez will expropriate its first farm, taking Venezuela straight down Zimbabwe road." Mmmmm, goose, aarrrrhhhh.

Stay tuned for the inevitable D'oh!