Aiding the Bottom 10%

... A Recipe for Economic Decline

by John Tamny - February 26, 2009 - Real Clear Markets

In the aftermath of the Korean War, North Korea imposed the notion of “songbun” on its citizenry. The poor and shiftless for being poor and shiftless had “good” songbun, and today they are the privileged class for having failed most impressively. The successful in North Korea were demonized for being that way [they had "bad" songbun], and today they are the bottom caste in a society that has committed economic suicide right before our eyes.

So while it’s surely a reach to suggest the U.S. is going the way of North Korea, it’s also true that bad policy has a way of slowly wrecking societies over time. At present, with the federal government creating incentives whereby companies will be rewarded by the tax code for not laying off unproductive employees, and just the same where irresponsible homebuyers are being sanctified for being irresponsible, the U.S. political class is imposing its own, minor form of songbun; these actions signaling our nation’s long-term economic decline.

I think the author should have more confidence in the point that he is making. I think that America is, without question, headed down the road to economic disaster that Korea has pioneered. After making a powerful point he sums up with the waffling "surely it is a stretch to suggest the U.S. is going the way of North Korea". I think it is a stretch to suggest that the history of failed societies that have adopted socialism is not proof beyond doubt of the certain consequences of our doing so. It is those who want to say the situation is bad but not catastrophic who are the major contributors to the problem. Failure is not a "stretch" at all. It is a certainty.

Obama and his socialist supporters are an evil that will come back to haunt those who refuse to see how serious a problem they are creating. We are headed to disaster.