Capitalist Free World = Yugo Filled World
This morning on the way to work I saw a woman driving a brand-new quad cab Ford F-150 with four-wheel drive. But what got me about this vehicle was her bumper sticker, which read something like "A Capitalist Free World."
It probably never dawned on that woman that capitalism is the very economic model that allowed her to afford that pickup, but maybe she just wasn't happy with the vehicle.
Maybe she would be happier with a Yugo, which ranks as one of the 50 worst cars of all time according to Time Magazine. Time states, the "Yugo had the distinct feeling of something assembled at gunpoint" – and it probably was. It has achieved this notorious distinction due, no doubt, to the fact that it was built in Yugoslavia during the final moments of communism, an economic system that fails to reward hard work and innovation ... even at gunpoint The Yugo, as a result, has become synonymous with the word "junk."
If the Yugo doesn't float her socialist boat, then perhaps the driver would like the Ambassador. This car has faithfully served the Indian people for fifty years; its design and technology haven't changed since its inception. During the peak of India's command economy, Hindustan motors was only able to churn out a few thousand a year despite waiting lists that were decades long – not a surprising outcome for an economic system that curtails competition and despises market forces.
While India has since opened its markets to competition and capitalism, the Ambassador should remain as a warning to anyone who wants to look inward and oppose international trade and enforce socialism.
While I'm very interested to know which car that driver might prefer under her "socialist utopia," the burning question in my mind is: Where on earth was she educated?
