Give up ? Robert Mugabe.
Following independence in 1980, Zimbabwe was second only to South Africa in economic production.
In the first two years after independence, the economy grew by 24 per cent. This was followed by 5 per cent annualised growth in the next 15 years. The highest inflation rate was 12 per cent.
Then the old Marxist got hold of the place and, today, only the Palestinians are worse off. His land “reform” in 2000 decimated the agriculture sector which had been a large source of foreign exchange and export income. Now, the country is starving. Life expectancy for a woman is 34 and it isn’t just due to AIDS.
This Wikipedia article is as sympathetic to Mugabe as anyone could be and it describes a horrendous situation.
Will no one ever learn ?
And what does this tell you about the UN ?
Tags: Marxism, Mugabe, United Nations, Zimbabwe
>>>>And what does this tell you about the UN ?
That no matter how bad things are, they can always get worse.
From one of the links:
>>>>Mr Mugabe, who famously despises “bookish economics”, has sent the police in to order shopkeepers to slash their prices, forcing them to sell at a loss. The predictable result is huge crowds waiting outside shops to rush in and grab whatever they can while the going is good. Factories are threatened with being taken over if they stop production. Hundreds of shopkeepers have been arrested, accused of not lowering their prices enough.
I think this is what hospitals and clinics would be like under Hillary/Obama care.
Southern Rhodesian farmers were really productive, probably the most productive in the world. They had tremendous constraints from their government: mandatory hiring quotas, incredible taxes (in some cases 75% of the GROSS income). Yet they still turned a profit, and were proud of it. It is sad to see it all get flushed.
The triumph of ideology over practicality.
This episode reminds me of Stalin’s purge of the Kulaks. These wise Marxists lost not only the people, but the institutional memory that these agriculturists carried with them. In Rhodesia it was not only the application of cutting edge agronomics, but an impressive pipeline and warehousing of parts and machinery, all done on the incredible cheap. It was a system I’m not sure the modern world could replicate, something like the Apollo program: we now wish we would have kept it in place and built on it, ’cause it is hard to catch that lightning in a bottle again.
Along these lines I’m watching to see the results of another brilliant Marxist, Hugo Chavez, as he guts his oil service industry.
But remember, Dr. K., that you are a warlike and evil person, not intelligent and sophisticated at all, if you think that the UN should be ejected from this country.
I’m just sayin’
No, I think they should be invited to move a more congenial place. Like Harare, for example. There they will have excellent access to the new chairman.
Indeed, Dr. K. That is exactly what they deserve. I am so tired of the blatant hypocrisy of the UN. And then making despots in charge of important committees!