The Fall of the Berlin Wall: A 20-Year Adventure Nov 12, 2009
That allowed me to escape my fate as an overpaid slave at a New York law firm and I happily went off to Eastern Europe to pursue my idealistic mission of "dismantling centrally planned economies.". The early 1990s were heady times in Eastern Europe. (Human Events Online)
Europe.view: Lostpolitik Oct 2, 2009
By showing that capitalism worked better than planned economies, West Germany helped win the cold war. East Germans kept trying to escape, forcing the Soviet-backed regime to build the Berlin Wall, destroying communism s claim to be popular. (The Economist)
East Germany Still Lags Behind the West Sep 1, 2009
Hope, however, soon gave way to disillusionment as the collapse of the Socialist planned economies saw millions of people lose their jobs and many became nostalgic for their old way of life. In Germany, despite the pumping of massive funds into the former Communist East, the stark divisions in income and employment between the two halves of the country rapidly undermined the initial wave of enthusiasm for reunification. (BusinessWeek)
Cold War Without End Jul 1, 2009
While the former Warsaw Pact nations dropped their planned economies in search of fresh free-market identities, the collapse of communism failed to inspire a similar civilizational stock-taking on the part of the United States. Might the past two decades years fraught with wars of sanctions, occupations, and terror have been different if it had. (The American Conservative)
Central and Eastern Europe: No panic, just gloom May 15, 2009
All the former planned economies remain capital-thirsty. But otherwise they are all different. (The Economist)
Michael Tortorich: Government meddling stifles economy Apr 11, 2009
Planned economies and socialist actions are not going to work. Bailouts and stimulus plans only make the situation worse, and politicians posing as economists are feeling around in the dark by touting such efforts. (Medfield Press, MA)
It's fiscal meltdown that's feared Apr 6, 2009
There is a reason why nuclear plants only flourish in centrally planned economies, such as those of France or the Soviet Union: They lose money. Today the industry's hopes are pinned on subsidies and loan guarantees otherwise only used to prop up toxic bank obligations that should have been avoided. (Boston Globe -- Editorial)
Ex-communist economies: The whiff of contagion Feb 27, 2009
This is indeed the worst economic crisis since the collapse of the communist planned economies and the wrenching process of privatisation, liberalisation and stabilisation that followed. The main ex-communist economies are likely to contract by 3% this year, according to Capital Economics, a consultancy. (The Economist)
Danquah-Busia Dinosaur 111, The Volta virus and Confusion Feb 20, 2009
Socialists inspired by the Soviet model of economic development have advocated the creation of centrally planned economies directed by a state that owns all the means of production. Others, including Yugoslavian, Hungarian, Polish and Chinese Communists in the 1970s and 1980s, instituted various forms of market socialism, combining co-operative and state ownership models with the free market exchange and free price system. (Ghana Web, Ghana)
Capital wisdom from the East Feb 13, 2009
Picking specific industries or firms to subsidize is something better left to planned economies. When governments start picking industries and companies to subsidize, inefficiencies are created, leading to higher costs, lower competitiveness and ultimately a loss of jobs. (Asia Times Online)
