Socialist Planning Failed from the Very Beginning

That the planned socialist economies of the USSR and Eastern Europe suffered from serious dysfunctionalities was revealed already in the 1950s  by American scholars based on interviews with former managers. The Hungarian economist, Janos Kornai, was the first to reveal in 1957 from within the Soviet bloc that the socialist planned economy was not even planned. Kornai went on to study the pathologies  associated with planned socialism, such as soft budget constraints and shortage economies that threaten to bleed over into  contemporary market economies.

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A shaman unnerves Vladimir Putin: Shades of Rasputin surround a mystical figure attempting to ply his trade in Moscow

Russian President Vladimir Putin has deliberately cultivated the image of a macho guy, a man’s man, who fears nothing. He rides a stallion bareback; he dives for underwater treasure (and conveniently finds some). He fires assault rifles with deadly accuracy. Mr. Putin is tough. Do not mess with him.

A shaman, from sparsely-populated Northeastern Russia’s Yakutia (also called Sakha), has a quite different view: Mr. Putin is possessed by the devil, and the shaman has been called by higher forces to drive out his evil spirits. Mr. Putin may be able to annihilate his judo opponents, but the evil forces in his body stand no chance against the supernatural powers that the shaman can unleash on him.

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