<Oil or Mobile Phone Minutes.. It's all the same. Controlling supply is an integrel part of maintaining a stable economic environment.
You call it extortion, I call it smart.>
PCSTEL, In New Zealand, we used to have almost everything controlled because it was smart. The only trouble was, it wasn't. The place became totally bureaucratic and plummeted in per capita income compared with other countries. Then, we adopted crazy welfare policies which have created a huge, burgeoning underclass of hopeless, criminal people which is rapidly expanding.
We used to have to have a doctor's prescription to buy margarine [because it was smart not to have competition with farmers' butter which was totally locally-produced; machinery notwithstanding]. NZ was nicknamed the Land of the Long Pink Shroud [the original was Land of the Long White Cloud]. Socialism was rampant. The government owned great tracts of the economy and controlled the rest.
Here are some more products you could apply your Kremlin Kontrol Koncept [KKK] to:
Tomatoes, eggs, wheat, pine trees, fish farming, corn, hay, cows, sheep, pigs, grapes, washing machines, reinforcing steel, boat-building, doctors, dentists, lawyers, engineers, toothpaste, combs, hairdressers, petrol stations, oil companies, milk, deer, kiwifruit, apples, pears, timber, paint, pharmaceuticals, concrete, chefs, truck-drivers, taxis, airlines, television, radio, movie theatres, land agents, car salesmen, car dealers, oh heck, there is a LOT of stuff.
The government still controls most of that stuff, deciding who can and can't do it, the prices and maintaining supply to ensure things are 'balanced'.
It stinks!
But so it goes,
Mqurice |
