[SmokingJoe]

For an answer to that question, just think China pre Nixon, and China today . Personally, I think the model for North Korea could be China, where the Communist Party is still in power, and yet has managed to produce(by some reports) as many billionaires as the US, a significant number of them like Jack Ma by founding tech companies and some of the most advanced bridges, airports, tunnels etc on the planet.

[robroys woman]

I was a photo nut back in the day. When the first Chinese trade ship entered Eliot bay in Seattle, a friend of mine and I went to magnolia bluff and took tons of pictures of it on its way in.

Kinda funny. Before that day, there were no Chinese goods in the US. I can tell you that our standard of living has drasticaly increased since then regarding goods bought from China. And those industries have collapsed in the US.

We didn’t realize just how historic that event was.

BTW, that was around 1980.