Re:North Korea’s fabric made from stone
by gwbas1c on Thursday January 18, 2018 @01:02PM
(#16179532)
I find all these stories of North Korea fascinating. The USSR and China both realized that free markets are a better system and adjusted accordingly. North Korea just seems to keep betting on a system that's broken.
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Re:North Korea’s fabric made from stone
by throwawayfinal on Thursday January 18, 2018 @01:58PM
(#16180139)
Unfortunately, it's not that simple. North Korea is under incredible sanctions, and South Korea's embracing of the free market is considered to be an economic miracle made possible only by multiple headwinds, and some solid good luck.
China can hardly be called a free market, by the way.
Re:North Korea’s fabric made from stone
by gwbas1c on Thursday January 18, 2018 @02:08PM
(#16180266)
Well, we can debate the definition of a free market forever. We (in the US) tend to define "free market" as whatever benefits the corporations that buy the lobbyists. They sometimes like to slip in silly protectionist laws.
Read up on the chicken tax and the incident with Kerrygold butter in Wisconsin.
More recent examples are how the telcos got net neutrality repealed, the media companies strengthening copyright, and Trump loosening EPA restrictions. Those aren't really "free market" moves, but called free market by the parties who benefit from them.
Hmm, this seems relevant: http://fpif.org/kicking_away_the_ladder_the_real_history_of_....