North Korea has a new up and coming ruler, Kim Jung Um. Will there be any changes, or will most of the population still be starving, diseased, dying young, and under the rule of omnipresent government and military, who regularly goose step in front of their ruler? The goose stepping military are all so thin and emaciated looking, that it is a wonder that they can do their stuff. And it is the military who are treated well and fed well it is said.
The difference between North and South Korea is literally night and day. South Korea, is a relatively free nation, and openly trades with other nations, manufactures, invents, sells, buys, grows, plants, reaps, and makes a profit on most of what it does. That’s not what the government does, but what individual Koreans and Korean corporations do, and that is practice capitalism.
A pretty good definition of capitalism, from the dictionary is, “An economic system in which all or most of the means of production and distribution, as land, factories, communications, and transportation systems, are privately owned and operated in a relatively competitive environment.” Ayn Rand’s definition is even better: “Capitalism is a social system based on the recognition of individual rights, including property rights, in which all property is privately owned.” The late Murray Rothbard defined capitalism as, “Capitalism is a network of free and voluntary exchanges in which producers work, produce, and exchange their products for the products of others through prices voluntarily arrived at.” (Sentences should not end in prepositions, other than that, it is great.)
The above definition of capitalism, is everything North Korea doesn’t practice. All land and means of production are owned by the state, and the word freedom is an unknown word. The North Korean masses are so addicted to non-freedom, and harsh state rule, that they know nothing else. Starvation, short lifespan, and subjugation are all thy know, and have been taught since birth. They have been taught that free nations are evil, and must be destroyed. Wouldn’t it be a wonderful thing for a South Korean to kidnap a North Korean, and expose him or her to the typical lifestyle of a South Korean, with super markets, appliances, cars, electricity, heat, television, radio, comfort, and prosperity? When South Korea threatened to light a large Christmas tree in plain view of the North, the North could only threaten with violence, so threatened are they with capitalism, prosperity, freedom, and happiness.
Unfortunately, capitalism is fading in America. Medicine, transport, and much of our civilization is run by, or controlled by government, with absurd rules, regulations and bureaucracy. Bureaucracy continues to increase, and yearly rules and regulations by the tens of thousands, are given by edict, not law, and Americans are blinded by them, because they supposedly are designed to ’help’ them. Newt is correct when he says that five cabinet positions and bureaucracies should be immediately eliminated, with more to follow. A small plane crashes and the TSA takes a year to find the cause? Maybe it ran out of gas, as should the TSA.
More and more handouts are given, and now one doesn’t have to work for close to two years, and get a regular check for not working. Over 50% of Americans are on the dole of one type or another, making them incapable of caring for themselves. The Federal Reserve prints and prints, and is lowering the value of the once sacrosanct dollar, so that it is worth but a penny’s worth or buying power, compared to a hundred years ago. The Congress, with a 10% approval rating, has kept passing out more freebies to the undeserving, which has resulted in a huge depression, comparable to the so called ’great depression’ of the 1930’s. In the 1930’s depression, the buck was backed by gold and the coinage was silver, so there may have been a depression, but there was no inflation. We now have both, the if the trend continues, the dollar will become ever more worthless as each month passes.
I don’t know what currency North Korea uses, or much about their economic system. I know they would all starve if it weren’t for continual handouts from China and of course the U.S. believe it or not. They are starving, gloomy, unhappy, and severely ruled by their government and military. Wouldn’t be great if their new 29 year old ruler, who supposedly speaks English, and who went to school in Switzerland, would have an understanding of what North Korea could be like, if the slavery ended and people were allowed to grow, sell, make a profit, and practice capitalism? Wouldn’t it also be wonderful if in America, government would get the hell out of the way, and leave us alone? How grand it would be if governments at all levels, simply protected us from crime, fraud, and dishonesty, and punished criminals? That’s it. Nothing else need be done. Turn D.C. into a ghost town, with hundreds of thousands of bureaucrats, lobbyists, hangers on, and other rabble, suddenly being out of work. All the regulations thrown into the trash can, and let freedom ring.
Is North Korea so blinded by government, and its 24 hour a day thought control, that they really believe their rulers are sort of divine…even though they are the epitome of evil? Could North Koreans, who have been blinded and enslaved for so long, possibly understand why their neighbors to the South are so prosperous? Have Americans been feeding at the public trough for so long, and been told how wonderful government rules and regulations are, and how they help and protect us so, that we would be unable to understand real freedom if it were thrust upon us? We are so far in debt, that we long ago passed the point of no return, because the debt and commitments can never be repaid, other than with endless printing press money, which will gradually become more and more worthless. Do not save in depreciating dollars. Any interest made in dollar investments is far lower than the actual inflation rate, and you ’investors’ are being slowly destroyed. Since the North Koreans have no concept of investing, interest, happiness, freedom, capitalism, and sound economics, we are in far better shape than they are, but if we can’t take back the White House and Senate in 2012, we may be knocking on their door.
If you love to read, as I do, a wonderful book to obtain and cherish is Tom DiLorenzo’s, “How Capitalism Saved America.” When I read a book, in the front I always write a date and a comment. In the front of this book I wrote, “Outstanding! One of the best books I have ever read.”
From the December 31, 1899 Gladstone Kibosh: “Mason & Mason, of the Angel of Mercy Saloon, wish to apologize to the public for their failure to serve good eggnog on Christmas as heretofore. Their new bar boy used a bottle of hair restorative instead of bay rum. In consequence, a great many of our citizens are afflicted with fuzzy kidneys.”