Stardate 20010903.1108 (On Screen): There's a flip side to freedom, and that's responsibility. Part of being free is that you're free to screw up. Economic freedom includes the freedom to starve. For people who have lived in highly regimented societies where the reins have been loosened, we see this happen again and again: they sometimes don't have the experience to deal with all the consequences of their new-found freedom. For instance, there was a really huge Ponzi scheme in Bulgaria about ten years ago, which inevitably collapsed and ruined a lot of people. And I recall that during the 1970's, when the USSR loosened the gates a bit and let Jews emigrate, some older Russians who ended up in NYC decided they didn't like it, and went back home. In the USSR (before it collapsed) there were people to look after them and make sure they were OK. In the US they were on their own.
Of course, it's a lot easier to deal with it if you grow up in it, but even such folks screw up all the time. But in a country like China, which has introduced a stock exchange, it's hardly a surprise that it's rigged and there's a lot of stock manipulation going on, which means that small investors are getting taken. The best defense when you're free is to develop a healthy skepticism about things -- but when it's a new experience, where are you to learn that? (discuss)
