Parallels between Obama’s green economy plans and, well, other governments’ economic changes

Obama plans to use brute force legislation to turn America into a green economy.  To do this, he is going to use the government’s police and economic power to break the backs of the oil and coal industries.  It occurred to me that (at least) three other governments have used brute force to change their country’s economies.

Stalin decided to break the backs of the farmers, and to industrialize the Soviet economy.  Estimates are that 35 million died.  Mao decided to break the backs of the farmers, and simply reallocate resources “equally.”  Estimates are that 50 to 100 million died.  Mugabe decided to reallocate Zimbabwe’s farm wealth from whites to blacks.  Overnight, Zimbabwe went from being Africa’s bread basket to being just another African basket case, with people starving in the streets.  (I don’t know the mortality rates arising from Mugabe’s policies.  Do any of you?)

Economic changes work wonderfully when driven by market forces.  When driven by government ideologies, the results, so far as I can tell, are invariably death, despair and poverty.

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