The UN is a Joke

A sick, twisted, astronomically expensive joke. Further evidence (as if we needed any more):

The 66th session of the UN General Assembly (UNGA) on Thursday observed a minute's silence to mourn the death of Kim Jong Il, leader of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK).

Nassir Abdulaziz Al-Nasser, president of the 66th General Assembly session, asked the representatives of 193 UN member states attending a plenary session on economic and financial affairs to pay tribute to the late DPRK leader, who died on Dec. 17. 

The move was at the request of the DPRK, said the president, and the one-minute silence was observed before the start of the plenary meeting of the General Assembly.

Seriously?  "Mourn the death of Kim Jong Il"?  "Pary tribute to the late DPRK leader"?  The man starved millions of his own people to death, enslaved the rest and terrorized his neighbors, and these people think it's appropriate to mourn and pay tribute to him?  

Don't get me wrong, I'm not surprised.  This is the same organization that's had countries like Cuba, Libya and Iran on its "Human Rights Commission".  It just never ceases to amaze me that some Americans continue to have faith in this decomposing corpse of an organization.

Government Control & Poverty

Dan Mitchell of Cato presents the facts.

One hopes that the dictator of North Korea suffered greatly before he died. After all, his totalitarian and communist (pardon the redundancy) policies have cause untold death and misery.
But let’s try to learn an economics lesson. In a previous post, I compared long-term growth in Hong Kong and Argentina to show the difference between capitalism and cronyism.
But for a much more dramatic comparison, look at the difference between North Korea and South Korea. 

One could make a similar comparison of East and West Germany; same people, same culture, different political and economic systems, vastly different outcomes.

Here's that comparison between Hong Kong and Argentina mentioned in Mitchell's paragraph above.

Argentina used to be one of the wealthiest nations on Earth, but successive "administrations" (if one can call them that) decided to go the route of cronyism.  The Argentinian government picks economic winners and losers instead of allowing markets to do so, which is their purpose.  Hong Kong, on the other hand, has one of the most free, least regulated economies on Earth, and went from being one of the poorest to among the richest countries (if one can call it that).  Do you suppose there's a correlation?

There's more.  The following chart compares income growth in Chile, Argentina and Venezuela.

After Pinochet's dictatorship ended, Chile began reforming its economic policies.  Today, Chile ranks as the 4th most free economy in the world; embarrassingly ahead of the United States.  Consequently, Chile, which used to be the poorest country in the group, is now the wealthiest.  Venezuela, which used to be the wealthiest, is now essentially a Communist dictatorship under Hugo Chavez.  Consequently, they are now the poorest country in the group.  Argentina, which continues its cronyism, is in the middle. 

Do you think we could learn a lesson from these comparisons?  Do you think we will? 

From Tiberius to Caligula?

Could Kim Jun Eun (I guess we're spelling it with an "E" now) possibly be worse than dear old dad?  From the Wall Street Journal:

North Korea's new leader is depicted in U.S. intelligence assessments as a volatile youth with a sadistic streak who may be even more unpredictable than his late father, according to U.S. officials.

 A senior U.S. official said intelligence analysts believe, for instance, that Kim Jung Eun "tortured small animals" when he was a youth. "He has a violent streak and that's worrisome," a senior U.S. official said, summing up the U.S. assessments.

Apparently, we now have a nuclear armed, terrorist state run by Dexter.

Kim Jong-il is Dead!

The tune they sing in "The Wizard of Oz" when the witch melts keeps running through my head.  "Kim, Jong, the Il is dead!"  From the BBC:

North Korean leader Kim Jong-il has died at the age of 69, state-run television has announced.

Mr Kim, who has led the communist nation since the death of his father in 1994, died on a train while visiting an area outside the capital, the announcement said.

It's always good news when an evil, sadistic, megalomaniacal dictator dies, and Kim Jong-il was among the worst, but there's a dark lining around this silver cloud.

1. The Kim dynasty is still in place.
2. This could lead to a power struggle between the Kim brothers.

Kim chose his youngest son, Kim Jong-un, to succeed him.  The youngest Kim has two older brothers, and he's widely considered weak.  Could one - or both - of the older Kim brothers make a power play?  How will this affect the people of North and South Korea?  

UPDATE 1: Oh, crap.

Following the death of Kim Jong-il, the North Korean leader, China is moving quickly to deepen its influence over senior officials in North Korea and particularly with those in the military to try to ensure stability in the isolated nation, according to Chinese and foreign former government officials and analysts.

Mr. Kim’s death “means that China will have to assume a heavier responsibility over the relationship in order to maintain peace and stability on the Korean peninsula,” said Xu Wenji, a professor of Northeast Asian studies at Jilin University and a former Chinese envoy to South Korea. Shi Yinhong, a professor of international relations at Renmin University in Beijing, said, “The death significantly enhances uncertainty on the peninsula.” He added: “In my personal view, the succession is very hastily arranged and Kim Jong-un is very ill prepared to take over.”

 “Frankly speaking, there is a substantial chance of political instability in North Korea,” he said. “This is based on the nature of the regime, the inadequate process of succession and economic hardships in the country.” 

UPDATE 2: Little Kim seems to be flexing his (military hardware) muscles.

North Korea test fired two short-range ballistic missiles off the country's eastern coast just before midnight Sunday, the same day leader Kim Jong Il's death was announced, a senior US defense official told FOX News Channel.  The unnamed official said both landed in the sea and posed no threat to anyone.