The introduction to the above-titled post, October 18, 2019:
One of the rules of politics is "if your country goes communist you want to be as far up the apparatchik totem pole as you can get."
Preferably a commissar or above, putting you and yours closer to the commissary.
In a socialist paradise all pigs are equal but Hugo Chavez's daughter is a billionaire.
(actually $4.2 billion)
If one is so inclined here is the article for your perusal.
If not, keep an eye out for folks attempting to ingratiate themselves with the communists and understand the meaning of duplicitous: two (dup)-faced.
And from 2021:
Tips For Doing Business In Totalitarian Countries
As this will be an ongoing series I'll keep this introduction brief..
Your overarching goal must be to achieve invisibility. Be the grey man/woman. As Chairman Mao said:
"The guerrilla must move amongst the people as a fish swims in the sea"
One of the easiest things to do, if you are a citizen, is join the party. You don't have to be ostentatious about it, just join. And as we learned studying the Nazis, an earlier number was better than a later one.
***above intro***And whether or not you can join the party, get a political fixer. The cost is sometimes onerous but remember they can keep you out of trouble and open doors, two very important considerations.Plus from a pragmatic point of view, any expense that you can meet is not a problem, just a cost of doing businessAs to where you might find opportunity, if your country goes full Weimar with the money printing, pull your beach chair up to a spot beside the fire hose and let the splashes of the sweet, sweet trillions refresh you.
Also smuggling is always a good choice, command-and-control economies tend to create huge distortions in supply/demand dynamics.
Much more to come including case studies from the former East Bloc and the pros and cons of joining the nomenklatura.
Related, February 2023 - Speaking of The New York Times, Did You Ever See Their Obituary For Joe Stalin?
And some of the links in August 2024's "The Haves and Have-Nots at the Center of America’s Inflation Fight":
"Redefining the Working Class Beyond white men in hard hats"
There
seems to be something akin to an actual plan to charge the plebs
everything they earn to cover food, shelter, and basic necessities and
further, to drive them into debt servitude to the tune of 5% - 10% of
annual income per year....
Unless You Deeply Understand How Inflation Hits Different Groups, You Don't Understand Inflation
When I say 'deeply' I mean having the empathy and imagination to actually 'feel' the emotions that result from having to comparison-shop food prices and then food prices vs other necessities."Evidence – And an Explanation – For the Recent Surge in Inflation Inequality"
It all comes down to financial assets and whether a person benefits from rising asset prices.
Lower income households feeling pressure: Campbell Soup CEO
Canned soup.
The laptop warriors who treat inflation as some sort of political game of 'gotcha' and one-upmanship are a bunch of sick mofos.
Is More Or Less Income Inequality Better For Market Returns?
Mesdames et Messieurs, welcome to Le Théâtre de l'Absurde...
"The Fed’s 2% inflation target is a source of growing liberal discontent"
This seems odd. The people most damaged by inflation are those without
assets, the poor and working classes, traditional Democrat
constituencies. If interested see Fed Vice-Chair (now director of the
National Economic Council) Lael Brainard after the jump....
Class War: Fed Governor Lael Brainard On "Variation in the Inflation Experiences of Households"
We've been observing this dynamic for many years:
As Commended To Our Attention By The World Economic Forum: Pods For Poor Plebs To Live In
One of the things that stands out about price increases is their disparate impact on various income levels and wealth classes. Some of our comments on this brutal reality:
December 2011
...One way to foment social unrest and even violence is to promote policy's that contribute to the rising costs of necessities, food, fuel etc.
I'm looking at you Professor Krugman.
It doesn't matter to people who are getting squeezed that the iPhone 4's price is dropping or that the BLS's hedonics say they're getting better quality in new cars when the price of gas refuses to go below $3.00.
June 2022
There seems to be something akin to an actual plan to charge the plebs everything they earn to cover food, shelter, and basic necessities and further, to drive them into debt servitude to the tune of 5% - 10% of annual income per year.
September 2022
The laptop class and above are impervious to price hikes for food, it just doesn't register.
Whereas for the working class this winter there will be no spending beyond food, fuel and housing.
With maybe a shared subscription to Better Huts and Gardens for some survival tips.*
And not to put too fine a point on it:
Understanding The Practical And Political Effects Of Inflation
with these back-links:
"The Cantillon Effect: Because of Inflation, We’re Financing the Financiers"
....As noted earlier today in the outro from "The Cantillon Effect and Populism":
There are currently no pure-play pitchfork manufacturers and it has been a long-cherished dream (since 2008!) to fill the void and/or live up to my junior high school personal file description: the instigator was....October 10, 2023
"China Considers Stimulus, Higher Deficit Spending To Counter Property Bust"
I smell
OscarCantillon.In which case the thing to do is determine who will get the money first and be that person. If it is not possible for you to quickly become a member of the Chinese nomenklatura determine how to make a portfolio bet on those who are already members of the privileged class. As noted a few years ago:
One of the rules of politics is "if your country goes communist you want to be as far up the apparatchik totem pole as you can get."
Preferably a commissar or above, putting you and yours closer to the commissary.
In a socialist paradise all pigs are equal but Hugo Chavez's daughter is a billionaire.
(actually $4.2 billion)
March 2021: If interested see also any number of posts on Mr. Cantillon's revelation*:
Cantillon Effect: Why Wall Street Loves Fiscal Stimulus (and you should too)
That is, you should if you have financial assets.
If not, you're doomed to a life of poverty at whatever level the powers-that-be think they can get away with....
*****
*...The key episode in Cantillon's life was his involvement with John Law and his monetary schemes. Cantillon was opposed to the inflationist theories of Law, but he understood how the schemes worked and what their fatal flaws were. Thus, he was able to create a large fortune from the Mississippi System and South Sea Bubble. In the aftermath of these financial debacles, Cantillon wrote his famous Essai, breaking out of the muddleheaded mercantilist thinking of his day to make a pathbreaking contribution to our knowledge of method, theory, and policy. Shortly after writing the Essai, Cantillon was murdered under mysterious conditions, and his Essai remained unpublished for more than 20 years....
