Socialist “Economics”

Are giant rabbits the answer to starvation in North Korea? Lots of people seem to think so: “North Korea Eyes German Roaster Rabbits.” After all, the rabbits are really huge. But it turns out….they’re not very economical as a food source. Huge rabbits require huge amounts of food to make them so big. The socialist planner wants a big rabbit. The entrepreneur asks whether there is a positive difference between the cost of feeding the rabbit and the value of the rabbit. For the giant ones, it seems that the difference is negative. But that wouldn’t stop a good socialist. After all, if you have a giant hunger problem, the answer must be giant foods.

Fortunately, at least one reporter understands some economics: Craig Whitlock of the Washington Post Foreign Service, as he showed in his story, “A Colossal Leap of Faith In Fight Against Famine: North Koreans See Potential in German Breeder’s Giant.”

The Koreans’ choice of rabbits has other German breeders scratching their heads.

Karl-Heinz Heitz, chairman of the State Association of Rabbit Breeders in Berlin-Brandenburg, said that German gray giants are hard to beat for size but that they aren’t cheap to fatten up. It takes wheelbarrow-loads of hay, vegetables and rabbit chow to bring them to maturity.

“Let me say this: There are certainly breeds that are more economically profitable; I do not know why the North Koreans wanted this one,” said Heitz, who introduced the Korean officials to Szmolinsky.

Breeds such as New Zealand red or big light silver or Vienna blue are only half as big but are more cost-effective to raise. “You do not have to put in as much to get out a fair amount of meat,” Heitz said.