Vietnam was finally independent and unified, but it fared no better than the Soviet Union, North Korea, or Cuba–and almost everyone knew it, including many in the Communist leadership. In the mid-1980s, a fight broke out between those who wanted to continue with the old system and those who had already benefited from quiet micro-capitalist reforms enacted in 1979 and wanted to expand them. Southerners made noise about returning to the pre-Communist system that they knew, from personal experience, worked much better. The relative economic success of other Southeast Asian nations, especially Thailand, was obvious even to the ideologues.
The advocates of change won the argument, and in 1986, the government officially abandoned Marxist-Leninist economics and announced the Doi Moi reforms, defined as an attempt to create a “socialist-oriented market economy.” Presumably, party leaders left the word “socialist” in there because they were embarrassed by Marxism’s failures and couldn’t admit that they’d been wrong. Or perhaps they feared that their remaining supporters were allergic to the word “capitalism.” No matter. Vietnam officially junked Communism a mere 11 years after imposing it on South Vietnam.
Too bad that raptor Hanoi Jane was on the wrong side.
United States armed forces
Casualties as of 4 June 2015:
58,307 KIA or non-combat deaths (including the missing & deaths in captivity)[50]
153,303 WIA (excluding 150,332 persons not requiring hospital care)[51]
1,627 MIA (originally 2,646)[52]
766–778 POW (652–662 freed/escaped*,[53][54] 114–116 died in captivity)[53][55]
During the Vietnam War, 30% of wounded service members died of their wounds.[56]
Maybe Hanoi Jane can now admit that capitalism has benefited not only herself but millions of Vietnamese north and south. But oh no, now oil producers in Canada are ‘evil’…
So are we to conclude that the Greater Vancouver area is analogous to, in Hanoi Jane’s mind, North Vietnam?
Cheers
Hans Rupprecht, Commander in Chief
1st Saint Nicolaas Army
Army Group ‘True North’
Being a socialist means never having to say you’re sorry.
The Chinese and Vietnamese are Communist capitalists, while Canadians are capitalist Communists.
Bruce Herschenson would take issue with Michael Totten’s assertion that the Vietnamese won the war. According to Herschenson in ‘American Amnesia’, the Americans won, but the US Congress gave it all away (including Cambodia) to the Communists in the treaty process.
While I have not been to the north of Vietnam, I have spent some time in the south. What I found was an overcrowded, infinitely corrupt kleptocracy which keeps the ordinary citizen under its iron fist. With a minimum wage of US$1 per day, the underground, illicit economy flourishes, as does petty crime. The numbers of luxury cars – mostly, from my observation – Rolls Royces, is stunning.
Certainly, the method by which one crosses the road (in our case in Saigon) is well described by Totten. The only thing he missed was that you should cross in the middle of the block – never at an intersection.
As for food, we found Vietnamese food in North America to be superior in many cases because of the lower (relative) cost of meat. Meat – of any kind – is costly in Vietnam. Perhaps that was why seeing barbecued dog was not uncommon.
By contrast, Taipei, with roughly the same population as Saigon (about 9 million) is a study in organization, well thought-out roadways, efficient mass and rapid transit, even bullet trains to the south of the island. Its cuisine is a fusion of cultures, including Formosan, Chinese, Japanese and European.
Maybe the Hanoi government contains some intelligent men. Once one understands that communist states have no pricing mechanism, the props are knocked out from under any possible case.
One of my favorite authors is the humorist P.J. O’Rourke.
In his book All The Trouble In The World, he took a trip
to Vietnam and found himself (A Reaganite conservative)
being lectured on the benefits of capitalism by a
economics minister in a communist country.
He reported that before the economic reforms, rice was
selling for 10 Dong per kilo. At this time they were
importing about a half-million metric tons of rice
per year. After the reforms, it was 1 Dong per kilo
and they were exporting the same half million tons,
yet rice was so cheap people were using it to feed
their hogs.
One observation by O’Rourke was that if Vietnam wanted to
be taken seriously on the world stage, they should consider
changing the name of their currency!
Great book, I highly recommend it!
“153,303 WIA (excluding 150,332 persons not requiring hospital care)”
I suspect that more than 2,971 required hospital care. I suspect maybe 2,971 did not require hospital care including all 3 of John Kerry’s 3 Purple Hearts.
Oops – read incorrectly. There were 303,635 wounded in total. 150,332 did not require hospital care. I assume.
So … can we revise all the leftist-authored US textbooks to declare US as WINNER of the Vietnam War ? Right … never … gonna … happen. Not … even … a … footnote
Bought a new pair of runners the other day. The salesman informs me that ”Made in Vietnam” shoes are very reliable, and about one tenth of the problems that ”Made in China” were giving them. Of course they were more money than what I normally pay at Walmart. So far–so good. I also have a bike that’s ”Made in Vietnam.” Runs nice, if I could just get more ambition to pedal it every day!
So, if the American war mongers would of just let nature takes its course, millions of innocent people would not of died an unnecessary death.
But of course there was nothing in it for the war mongers if that had happened.
That’s something to thing about when looking at what’s going on today. They’re up to their same old murderous ways.
So, Russia, China, and Vietnam have dumped communism and some of our politicians want to try it here. No doubt they will get it right next time.
Vietnam Lost the War
Hey, hey, ho, ho, Ho Chi Minh has got to go!
The Americans left and the commies took over in 1975. Forty years later, the average Vietnamese still must live on about $3 per day.
It took a very long time for Canadians to realize that a people who will not die for liberty will not have liberty. I hope that one day the Vietnamese will realize this. Grinding poverty, political persecution, floods of boat people, and early death are the rewards for capitulating to communism.
The Vietnamese economy is growing, but at this rate it will take a very long time for Vietnam to achieve prosperity.
Worldwide, the fastest growing and most successful economies are based on democracy and free enterprise. Vietnam must dump the commies entirely if it really wants to succeed.
Search terms (copy and paste into google):
tradingeconomics.com
markhumphrys.com/third.world.html
Sure, and if the Americans would “of” left Korea to their own devices then they too would be better off living under the tyranny of Kim Jong Il. And now with the benefit of retrospect, you indulge in silly anti-US dogma attempting to convince everyone the motivation was purely nothing more than bloodlust and evil capitalism.
It’s that simple for the one dimensional.