Accounting, Finance and Economics jobs under Communism

[Bast]

Hi guys,

I'm exploring Communism and I'm wondering how Finance related jobs operated or can operate under Communism. Of course, a lot of those jobs would simply cease to exist but I'm sure there can still be some like fund accountants for government and treasury positions. If any of you know any examples, please show me.

What do you think? Let me know...

 

[amadeus]

I think it's funny you're flirting with a system that is anti-aristocracy while at the same time you romanticize 19th century European royalty.

 

[Bast]

I think it's funny you're flirting with a system that is anti-aristocracy while at the same time you romanticize 19th century European royalty.

What makes you think I'm flirting?

 

[Winner]

My mother first used to do accounting, before she became a nurse. In communist Czechoslovakia, it meant doing the necessary paperwork for state-owned companies. Obviously there were no things like buying stocks etc. Your personal finance consisted of checking up on your savings book and stacking money in your drawer hoping that one day it would be your turn to buy a car.

Oh, and there were "veksláci" - illegal moneychangers from whom you could obtain foreign currencies (West German marks, mostly) for which you could buy imported stuf from the West in special shops (of course owned by the state too). I guess that counts as a finance job

 

[Verbose]

Hi guys,

I'm exploring Communism and I'm wondering how Finance related jobs operated or can operate under Communism. Of course, a lot of those jobs would simply cease to exist but I'm sure there can still be some like fund accountants for government and treasury positions. If any of you know any examples, please show me.

What do you think? Let me know...

If you try to run a Planned Economy, you are going to need a lot of bean-counters, since literally everything the market would otherwise take care and match up has to be planned in advance by someone. Someone has to set the production targets (place the order) and monitor things as they unfold.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Planned_economy

 

[Verbose]

My mother first used to do accounting, before she became a nurse. In communist Czechoslovakia, it meant doing the necessary paperwork for state-owned companies. Obviously there were no things like buying stocks etc. Your personal finance consisted of checking up on your savings book and stacking money in your drawer hoping that one day it would be your turn to buy a car.

Someone described the situation as everyone having plenty of money, technically. The trick was finding something you were allowed to buy with it.

 

[Snorrius]

Someone described the situation as everyone having plenty of money, technically. The trick was finding something you were allowed to buy with it.

It is called "hidden inflation" - lack of necessary good was equivalent of price rising which were fixed under planned economy. At the other side, you could buy you need from black dealers but for a price several times higher than official one.

A good thing was that there were no stock traders and finance bubbles .

 

[Winner]

Someone described the situation as everyone having plenty of money, technically. The trick was finding something you were allowed to buy with it.

Exactly

You see, the currencies were not freely convertible and the communist regime maintained an exchange rate which was totally out of touch with reality. In order to buy some quality Western goods, you had to be

a) "inner party" member, which gave you the privilege of being allowed to exchange Czechoslovak korunas for coupons (effectively representing Western currencies) for which you could buy stuff in Tuzex.
b) willing to buy these coupons on the black market for substantially higher price.

(an important function of Tuzex was to get western currencies out of circulation, both because they could become an unofficial currency (like, say, US dollar in many countries today) and because the state wanted western money so that it could buy some things that were unavailable in the Eastern Bloc)

So, usually you had enough money in Czechoslovak currency, but little to buy for it. When new goods were delivered to a store, people used to stand in queues to get it. Like when Christmas was approaching and deliveries of oranges and bananas became (briefly) available. Crazy times

 

[amadeus]

Your personal finance consisted of checking up on your savings book and stacking money in your drawer hoping that one day it would be your turn to buy a car.

Hard to believe there's anyone that still thinks communism is a good idea, isn't it? I mean, I'd rather have my money in the Dow at any time than have it sit in my dresser drawer indefinitely...

 

[Snorrius]

Hard to believe there's anyone that still thinks communism is a good idea, isn't it? I mean, I'd rather have my money in the Dow at any time than have it sit in my dresser drawer indefinitely...

Well, if you are to lose your job and have to live homeless, you may change his mind - after all, one was guaranteed to have a job, a home and income. Free education is another thing. So there were good things as well. And, as I already said, there were no finance traders, this parasites of modern society, and finance people were kept in check .

 

[Winner]

Hard to believe there's anyone that still thinks communism is a good idea, isn't it? I mean, I'd rather have my money in the Dow at any time than have it sit in my dresser drawer indefinitely...

OTOH I can partly understand the "ostalgia" that some older people suffer from - although this system looks crazy to us, for them it meant stability and security.

For example, I keep hearing from older people how terrible the inflation is - they haven't really grasped the concept because they still think in the communist-era terms - fixed costs of products, fixed rents, fixed salaries, everything was stable and predictable. I keep explaining to them that although the prices are now 10 times higher, their salaries/or pensions) are now 15 or 20 times higher so their overall living standard is now higher (and they can actually buy things for their money), but they won't listen.

 

[RedRalph]

Hard to believe there's anyone that still thinks communism is a good idea, isn't it? I mean, I'd rather have my money in the Dow at any time than have it sit in my dresser drawer indefinitely...

Even this time last year?

 

[amadeus]

Well, if you are to lose your job and have to live homeless, you may change his mind - after all, one was guaranteed to have a job, a home and income.

All of which may have (and often were) meager... I'd rather live in a society with a somewhat higher degree of tolerance for risk yet be able to receive a far greater number of benefits.

Free education is another thing.

I was under the impression that more Americans ever managed to get degrees of higher learning than any Soviets did.

So there were good things as well. And, as I already said, there were no finance traders, this parasites of modern society, and finance people were kept in check .

Even this time last year?

Ask me that question ten years from now.

 

[REDY]

People had sureness of work (and except few communists with similiar salary). People made school and went to company, sometimes they realy only went to work and were doing nothing in it. I often hear experiences that right after come new employers were doing nothing first months and after it hour or two per day. Raise of salary was automatically according years and almost independently on perfomance. While food and rent were almost free, lack of goods realy wasnt that issue as is now perceived.

 

[really]

I imagine there were plenty of administrative type jobs but that they were called other things.

How hard could economics be under communism?
What is the unemployment rate this month? 0% again, great.

 

[Verbose]

I imagine there were plenty of administrative type jobs but that they were called other things.

How hard could economics be under communism?

Well, if you were one of the economic planners in charge of planning production: VERY.

In fact, since they tended to make the plans based of insufficient information, and no market to provide even the data to help you, the plans consequently didn't quite work out most of the time, meaning in order to fulfill production goals people might resort to all kinds of funny business to technically comply.

Mythical or not, there was a story circulated about an outfit set to produce beds, with production quotas specified as weight, which then turned out cast iron beds next to impossible to budge, but meeting their production goals quite handily. Now, it might not necessarily be a strictly true story, but it was something circulated as the kind of thing that might happen.

 

[RedRalph]

AFAIK Yugoslavia's system was somewhat driven by demand, while still being planned by the state (I don't know the details)

 

[Eretz Yisrael]

My mother first used to do accounting, before she became a nurse. In communist Czechoslovakia, it meant doing the necessary paperwork for state-owned companies. Obviously there were no things like buying stocks etc. Your personal finance consisted of checking up on your savings book and stacking money in your drawer hoping that one day it would be your turn to buy a car.

Oh, and there were "veksláci" - illegal moneychangers from whom you could obtain foreign currencies (West German marks, mostly) for which you could buy imported stuf from the West in special shops (of course owned by the state too). I guess that counts as a finance job

In China, there are loads of illegal moneychangers at the customs - just go to any shop (doesnt matter what they sell) show them the cash and say in Chinese , I need to change money.

 

[Yeekim]

If you try to run a Planned Economy, you are going to need a lot of bean-counters, since literally everything the market would otherwise take care and match up has to be planned in advance by someone. Someone has to set the production targets (place the order) and monitor things as they unfold.

Fixed this for you.
Although true Communists on this forum would mention that, strictly speaking, the system we describe should be called State Capitalism, rather than Communism.

 

[bhsup]

People had sureness of work (and except few communists with similiar salary). People made school and went to company, sometimes they realy only went to work and were doing nothing in it. I often hear experiences that right after come new employers were doing nothing first months and after it hour or two per day. Raise of salary was automatically according years and almost independently on perfomance. While food and rent were almost free, lack of goods realy wasnt that issue as is now perceived.

So if the ALF-CIO ran America....