The Most Correct Policy Is a Responsible Policy, Not Populism

The situation that developed in 1989-91-when demand exceeded supply, prices were fixed, employment was full, the surplus money supply was consumed in regulated distribution in queues, black market prices differed sharply from official prices, and savings were of a forced nature-was by no means a purely socialist phenomenon. Such phenomena are also characteristic of market economies, but under wartime conditions. The bane of any economy operating under conditions of suppressed inflation is the crisis of its state regulatory mechanism. If the market is cut off from day-to-day regulation and does not help the interrelations of economic agents, there must be a strict authoritative power capable of redistributing resources as it sees fit.