Weird: Russia Pushing Privatization of Business – Updated

This is weird. If socialism and communism were such great “isms,” why on earth would Russia be pushing for privatization of business?

Gateway Pundit: It’s an Obama world. Up is down. Square is round. Trucks are jokes. And, losing 20,000 jobs actually brings down the unemployment rate.

And, now this… Russian leaders are ordering the government to privatize successful companies and will punish bureaucrats who hamper investment. At the same time Obama and democrats continue to attack America’s capitalist system.

The sky is green and the grass is blue. The science is settled, yet the scientists who declared it settled say its unsettled. No wonder people are so confused.

And now we have this, from the nation that tried and failed at central economic planning.

Moscow Times: President Dmitry Medvedev on Thursday ordered the Cabinet to sell off more government stakes in successful companies to private investors over the next two years.

The Cabinet must submit proposals for increasing the number of “major … strategic companies that are attractive for investment” in its privatization plan by March 15, the Kremlin said on its web site.

The current plan, which Prime Minister Vladimir Putin signed in November, already seeks the sale of stakes in several strategic companies, such as shipper Sovkomflot. Medvedev has the responsibility of striking these companies off the list of strategic assets for the stakes to change hands. He hasn’t approved their exclusion as yet.

Medvedev’s order for a greater sale of key assets comes after he conferred with officials last week about ways to encourage investment — and as the government is facing a budget deficit for a second straight year.

Medvedev also instructed the Cabinet to come up with a proposal to punish more severely those bureaucrats that hamper investment, probably targeting those engaged in corruption. The Kremlin didn’t elaborate on the measure.

While the rest of the world is beginning to understand that socialism fails wherever it’s been tried, the US government is doubling down on socialism and central planning. It’s pure insanity.

We’re now living in Bizarro World.

Regular readers of this blog probably aren’t surprised by this news.

Update: A reader commented below, but it’s worth noting here:

This is nothing more than Vladi mimicking Obama’s plan. Vladi knows that outright Socialism doesn’t work so he’s going for the next best thing, the government not owning businesses but controlling them. This is Fascism plain and simple; The Third Reich did this as well, so Putin will encourage investment through the investment of assets of others to set up a system where he steps in and controls through regulation, taxation and executive orders. Sound familiar?