There are no more Communists

[Undertoad]

80 years ago, the best and brightest minds were wondering whether Communism might be an improvement to the evils of Capitalism.

And so many countries began social experiments and harshly controlled their economies. Political leaders declared which goods would be made, which plants would be built, which crops would be sowed. The triumph of order over the disorder of markets, they announced, would "bury" the west.

It didn't work. In fact it was generally disaster wherever attempted. And we should occasionally remind ourselves of this fact, because eastern economies have learned it well. China was putting in free markets in the 80s. So one recent IotD might be labeled:



Now, today, we have the nail in the coffin: the last of the central planners threw in the towel.

North Korea lifts free market ban to prevent famine

Bowing to reality, the North Korean government has lifted all restrictions on private markets -- a last-resort option for a leadership desperate to prevent its people from starving.

In recent weeks, according to North Korea observers and defector groups with sources in the country, Kim Jong Il's government admitted its inability to solve the current food shortage and encouraged its people to rely on private markets for the purchase of goods. Though the policy reversal will not alter daily patterns -- North Koreans have depended on such markets for more than 15 years -- the latest order from Pyongyang abandons a key pillar of a central, planned economy.

With November's currency revaluation, Kim wiped out his citizens' personal savings and struck a blow against the private food distribution system sustaining his country. The latest policy switch, though, stands as an acknowledgment that the currency move was a failure and that only capitalist-style trading can prevent widespread famine.

Too bad about the many, many millions starved and killed to try to make planned economies work.