Communism Landed In Eastern Europe, Un-Announced and Un-Invited

How communism works

Socialism is Communism in disguise. Give the socialists the police power of government and you have Communism.

Communism has done more damage to humanity than the World War II and is still doing it. Just look at Africa and now Venezuela, not to mention Cuba.

I was born in 1941, in Rumania, right in the middle of the war. I escaped communism in 1969, arrived in the United States in 1970 and became US citizen in 1976. I grew up under communism till I could not bear it. I was 28 years old when I left. I am retired. Now I have time for reflection.

In 1947 King Michael “abdicated’ and was sent into exile. The communist party, with the help of Soviet Union was immediately installed.

The dictatorship of proletariat was running the country. Within few months, the newly empowered government, nationalized (confiscated) all sizeable private properties: Factories, big buildings, big homes and large land holdings used for farming.

In short order, everything became the property of the “people”. As a matter of fact, that includes the people. Proletarians owned the people.

Displaced people were relegated to some small residences to make room for the newly empowered “Leaders of the People”, the party functionaries.

Compassionate Communists

My father had a small business employing two people. His equipment was confiscated and the business closed. He was placed as a worker with one of the large companies, now owned by the “people”, or rather the state.

My grandfather was a farmer. He owned few parcel of land in the foothills and the house he built. He had two dairy cows, a pig, and for commercial use, 300 heads of sheep. The government confiscated his herd of sheep and one of his parcels on a hilly land with a good size orchard. In return, the government employed him, on a small salary, to run the orchard he previously owned. He had no choice, but to accept it.

Fiscal Reform – Communist Style

After the war, the inflation was out of control. After taking over the responsibility of feeding the “people”, the communist government faced the problem of setting prices and salaries.

The communists are equalitarian. No-one can have more than the rest. Here is how they did it:

The government printed new currency and made the old currency worthless. I was 9 years old. Over night, everything was really cheap. What used to be 10,000 lei, now it was only 10 lei.

What I did not know at the time, was that the government provided every family with just 1,200 lei in exchange, regardless of how much money anyone had in the previous currency. All cash owned by individuals just disappeared over night. Individual bank accounts were closed and credit disappeared. Everyone had a new start, and equally poor: 1.200 lei period.

All this reallocation of wealth, created a lot of resentment and the communists couldn’t allow any enemies to be around. The communist leadership considered anyone not supporting communism as an enemy of the state and had to be controlled and monitored very closely. The borders were closed and the police was employed in full force to register every individual by issuing ID cards. This was just a short term solution. A policeman was assigned to each residential sector. He was in charge with inspecting each private residence. He would enter the residence any time he wished, looked around and left. The long term solution was through full employment.

Full Employment – Communist Style

The communist regime assured full employment. In fact, it was against the law not to work, except for the disabled and housewives raising children.

Here is how they did it:

Immediately after taking control of the government, the communists had to control the individuals: where they lived, where they worked and so on. The main purpose was to monitor and eliminate the “enemy of the state”.

They issued individual ID cards resembling a small passport with personal information, place of residence, and pages for police notes.

Most towns were deemed by the government as “closed towns” to nonresidents.

People needed a special dispensation or approval from the government to even apply for a job in those towns. Companies would not accept a job application if you were not a resident.

Each individual had a personal file maintained by the employer. When you moved, your personal file was transferred to your new employer. You never had access to your personal file.

It was against the law not work. The government assumed, absent private enterprise, that you must steal from the government to make a living, unless you were employed by the government.

The next key element in population control was education.

Free Education – Communist Style

High level education was provided for “free” by the communist government. Educating the population was very important for the communist doctrine. Communist expected to develop a society free of worries for its individuals.

Here is how the free education worked:

Upon graduating high school, the students had only two options: get admitted at high level education institution (there were no colleges) or get drafted in the army for two years. The stakes were very high and competition for the best schools was fierce. The admission exams required a range of extensive written and oral tests, lasting several days. Only the very top performers were admitted, based on the number of seats available at that particular school. In 1962, for instance, the medical school had 350 seats available and 5,000 to 10,000 applicants. Technical schools were a bit easier to get into but not by much.

Upon graduation, the degreed students were provided immediate employment by the state. Various ministries provided a list of job opening matching the number of graduates from a particular school. The placement was managed by the education ministry. In the order of highest scores, students picked up their job offering in front of a ministry commission. The graduates could not opt out of the list. It was mandatory to take those assignments, even if you had to move hundreds of miles away from a desired location. This was a contractual forced agreement for at least five years.

As I mentioned earlier, even if another job was available elsewhere and the employer wanted it you, your present employer had to approve the move (release you from the contract).

The problem here, most of the highly educated hated their jobs, especially the doctors sent to some remote villages for five years.

Economic Impact

The economic impact was immediate. The food just disappeared. No milk, no meat and even the black bread had to be rationed. You needed a coupon to buy a loaf of bread. Even during the war, there was more food available. This state of affairs lasted for many years. It got better for a while, and then it got worse again. At one point, people were happy when they could find chicken feet on the market. And that was after 15 years of communism.

Small farmers, with their lots turned into collective farms did not feel compelled to work their previously owned lots for pennies. Many were arrested. The communists did not know how to run the farms, and at harvest time there weren’t enough helping hands to collect and distribute the crop. They employed the army and the school students as volunteers. I was one of them.

In the fifties, the communist leadership decided to undertake a major construction project. It was a bypass of the Danube river delta, to shorten the distance to the Black Sea. Reputable engineers, deemed it unfeasible due to potential flooding of a large area south of the delta. The party leaders found some engineers willing to do the work. This was a massive undertaking requiring large number of laborers. The communists turned this construction project into a labor camp.

After few years, the canal came close to the Black Sea and everyone realized that it was a technology blunder. The communist leadership promptly stopped the project, had a brief trial and executed the top project management. The ruins of this boondoggle is still there today.

Communists are paranoid

Communists closed the borders to keep their own people in. Anyone caught at the border, trying to escape, was arrested and all his rights suspended.

There were no roadmaps available to be purchased.

The military manufacturing plants were built inside the mountains with a front manufacturing name, making bicycles for instance.

The fall of communism has been attributed to President Ronald Regan by taking a strong stand against communism and calling it The Evil Empire, which it was. However, the collapse of the Soviet Union was due to common sense of the new and educated leaders who could not bear to lie and mislead their own people and the world community.

Communism collapsed on its own from top down. There was no one to support it.

Note from the editor

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Computer Security

As a computer/internet user you already know how important the security of your computer is. I am a retired computer designer, had computers in my house for more than 25 years. For most part, I didn’t have to worry much about the safety of my computer, except in the last few years. Presently, I am evaluating and changing my computer security program every six months.

Here is the latest: Netcom3 Internet Security.

Better feel safe than sorry.

Feel Good Laws Hurt Everybody

Do-Gooders Never Did Anything Good

Just today, I heard in the news that a woman had a car accident because she was holding a cat in her lap. Within two day, a Sacramento lawmaker introduced legislation to make it unlawful for people to hold cats in their lap while driving. How stupid is that?

Take the Americans with Disability Act, signed by Nixon, a Republican, in 1973.

Nixon years were interesting. Being a Republican, Nixon tried to appease or rather get his political enemy to like him. He almost succeeded, if it wasn’t for Watergate. The three-day war in the Middle East triggered an oil shortage. He aggravated it by placing price controls on gasoline and oil. Would you believe it, he taxed old oil higher and new oil lower. All of this was a big mess that hurt America. In his mind, this was supposed to encourage new oil exploration. His executive order, within weeks created artificial shortages of fuel. You had to wait for hours to get to the pump. It didn’t do anything to correct the prices.

To add insult to the injury, he put a limit on wage increases of 5% per year, to curb inflation. He limited your earnings potential.

Nixon’s actions were so typical liberal. Had he had the power of a totalitarian dictator, he would have turned this country communist in no time. The Democrat Liberals loved him so much, that there was a bill in congress at the time, to amend the Constitution to allow Nixon to run for a third term.

The Americans with Disability Act on its face makes sense. Help the disabled by providing facilities to make it easier to access public buildings and businesses. A closer parking spot and a ramp if the disabled was on a wheelchair.

This feel-good law, over the years, has turned into a monstrosity.

I work part time for an architectural/construction printing company. I deliver construction prints. There is a large construction site with heavy earth moving equipment, a lot a gravel, and a small patch of temporary pavement right in front of two large construction trailers. These two trailers have a two-spot parking space for disabled and a long ramp. This is ridiculous. No one in these trailers could remember any handicapped person ever visiting the site.

I saw a large distribution center (a warehouse) with a huge loading dock. Only trucks could even get to the dock. On the side, there were several parking spots for disabled. How many disabled people drive to this kind of dock is a mystery to me.

In a well publicized case in California, a woman in the wheelchair sued Squaw Valley Ski resort for not providing accommodations for the handicapped. She wanted to have access to the mid-station accessible only by gondola to watch people skating on a small ice skating ring. The mid-station was built to be the base for skiers while using the lifts to get to higher elevations and ski back to the station. It has a nice restaurant were the skiers can eat and rest between runs. The ice skating ring was built mostly for children who were not ready to ski yet.

Lately, it’s been reported in the local papers, that litigation attorneys are hiring handicapped people in wheelchairs and go around targeting small businesses for compliance. If they find an inch worth of violation, they threaten to sue in exchange for a payback.

This is public robbery and the Government, is the enabler.

One of the most intrusive laws is The Fair Housing Act enacted in 1968. It was intended to eliminate discriminations of all sorts. It was a good intended act.

Look at it today. It comes very close to confiscating your property. It dictates what you can do with your private property, personal or rental.

There was a case in the news recently. A resident of Newport Beach placed an add, something like this: “One bedroom apartment fully equipped with an office and Internet connection. Perfect for a professional couple”.

A self-appointed policing agency, paid by the government, called the owner and told him that the add violated the Fair Housing Act because “professional couple” implied that he did not want any kids in the rental. He took his case to the city and the city agreed that there was no violation. However, the city told him to pay $4,000 and all charges will be dropped although he was in no violation.

Do you think this law protects discrimination? Last time I applied for rental, I had to provide a background check report, credit report, earnings proof, etc. etc. Think about how idiotic this law is. Furthermore, it’s been on the books since 1968 and nobody complained about it. Maybe it’s the time to do it.

The potential of abuse of such a law is endless.

Communism had a simple solution: It confiscated your property.

Note from the editor

Paying too much for gas? Use foreign exchange trading to pay for it.

Worried about gasoline prices being too high? Get used to it. Oil is priced and traded in Dollars which is 20% devalued against major currencies. Pay for your gasoline by trading foreign currencies. Automatic trading system can make you $100 to $200 per week with as little as $500 trading position. It does it 24 hours a day, 7 days a week while asleep or traveling.

If it doesn’t work for you, there is a 60 day money back satisfaction guaranty and you get to keep the software.

More information at Currency Trading

Computer Security

As a computer/internet user you already know how important the security of your computer is. I am a retired computer designer, had computers in my house for more than 25 years. For most part, I didn’t have to worry much about the safety of my computer, except in the last few years. Presently, I am evaluating and changing my computer security program every six months.

Here is the latest: Netcom3 Internet Security.

Better feel safe than sorry.

Liberalism Is About Empty Promises And No Deliveries

One year after settling in New York as an immigrant (legal, mind you), I applied and was accepted at Columbia University, Graduate Program evening classes. This was a three credit class. Each point of credit cost was $110. My salary at the time was $135 per week. I figured, it was well worth it and I could afford it.

My course was in computer programming. The home-work required writing computer programs and submitting them to my professor. The only way I could test my programs was at the university using their terminals. Although the class was held only once a week, I spent every evening at the university, in the computer room, to learn and get my program right.

The year was 1972. The students took over the Mathematics building due to something happening in Venezuela. Columbia University closed the computer building for safety reasons. For six weeks I could not do my homework. This was my first exposure to the liberalism in America. Columbia University couldn’t care less about me learning.

Columbia University, like most universities, had an internal employment program that paid a little bit of money and allowed you to attend day classes. When I applied, I was told the positions were only available to minorities and I did not qualify because, and I quote: “there are not enough of you”, whatever that means. Figure this thing out. I thought liberalism was about helping people in need.

Note from the editor

Paying too much for gas? Use foreign exchange trading to pay for it.

Worried about gasoline prices being too high? Get used to it. Oil is priced and traded in Dollars which is 20% devalued against major currencies. Pay for your gasoline by trading foreign currencies. Automatic trading system can make you $100 to $200 per week with as little as $500 trading position. It does it 24 hours a day, 7 days a week while asleep or traveling.

If it doesn’t work for you, there is a 60 day money back satisfaction guaranty and you get to keep the software.

More information at Currency Trading

Computer Security

As a computer/internet user you already know how important the security of your computer is. I am a retired computer designer, had computers in my house for more than 25 years. For most part, I didn’t have to worry much about the safety of my computer, except in the last few years. Presently, I am evaluating and changing my computer security program every six months.

Here is the latest: Netcom3 Internet Security.

Better feel safe than sorry.