Vietnam: apparently a real casualty of the global financial crisis

WORLD NEWS: "Hanoi Weighs Price Controls, Tightens Grip: Foreign Investors Grow Concerned as Conservative Factions in Vietnam Reverse Liberalization Trend Amid Downturn," by James Hookway, Wall Street Journal, 23 December 2009.

Vietnam is planning price controls and cracking down on all manner of personal (e.g., access to social networking sites) and political activities. All of this scares off business and investment, naturally.

All of this bodes ill for the next Party congress next year.

As usual, the Party wants a rapid economic expansion "without spurring any grassroots clamor for more freedom."

Good luck capturing that unicorn, dumbass!

A sign of concern? You bet. Everything was cool so long as Vietnam hit the magic 8 ball every year, like China, but now with growth projected more in the 5-to-6% range, the freak-out begins.

Comments

[Jimmy J.]

I was in Ho Chi Minh City in November. I was not too surprised that most of the people are covertly contemptuous of the government in Hanoi. There is a lot of unrest stirring below the surface. Those southerners have always been a feisty group. Hard to keep so many hard working, enterprising people toeing the line forever.