Rebirth of Rural Literary Life

Chapter 504

If you ask the common people in 1985 what their most personal feeling was in this year, 99% of the people would talk about prices.

Since the Government Council promulgated the "Interim Regulations on Further Expanding the Autonomy of State-owned Industrial Enterprises" last year, it has opened a system that implements two prices within the plan and outside the plan.

It is very clear in the "Regulations" that unplanned products produced by state-owned enterprises have independent pricing power, and the scope of independent pricing by enterprises is 20% of the national pricing basis, and the 20% limit will be removed later.In this way, two prices are gradually formed for each product, one is the price of supply and demand managed by the state; the other is the price of commodities beyond this part of supply, whether produced by state-owned enterprises or private enterprises, enterprises set their own prices, and the market will form prices according to supply and demand.

In this way, the original planned commodities also have market prices, and the original planned and unplanned commodities have evolved into two new types of commodities, one is most of the national planning, and a small part of the market arranges pricing; the other is a small part of the national planning, Most markets arrange pricing, and each commodity has two prices in parallel.

In October 1984, the Third Plenary Session of the Twelfth Central Committee proposed to establish a "planned commodity economy". This system is the dual-track system.

There is no doubt that the dual-track price system is a transitional system.Before the 90s, the overall supply of commodities was in short supply, and prices themselves had upward pressure.However, the purchasing power of residents' savings outside the vouchers is not as good as that within the vouchers. This part of the currency that cannot be absorbed by the supply will chase new unplanned commodities.

At the same time, the unplanned sector mainly produces subsistence materials such as agricultural and sideline products, daily necessities, and household durable goods, so the pressure on the rising cost of subsistence materials will be even greater.

Therefore, starting from this year, the domestic price increase began to rise at an annual rate of 10%, and by 1987 the annual increase was even closer to 30%, and this increase was seriously underestimated by the Bureau of Statistics, because here is a dual-track system According to the price statistics, the price of the shortage of energy and raw materials is planned to be partly controlled, and the market price part has risen sharply.

As a result, the dual-track system has created two contradictions.

The first is the contradiction of distribution among economic sectors.A dual-track system is favorable for transactions in which goods flow from planned to unplanned business sectors.Commodities in the state-owned sector are mainly industrial products, which belong to the means of production, and the unplanned sector needs to purchase these commodities for investment and production.The price of these commodities is low but the purchase is limited, so there is a direct opportunity for arbitrage, which leads to the phenomenon of downfall and corruption.

As the price rises, this transaction can enjoy the continuously expanding arbitrage space inside and outside the plan.There are even situations where state-owned enterprises transfer too many products to the market for sale, so that the planned tasks cannot be completed.Unplanned departments can share the arbitrage inside and outside the plan; at worst, they can also obtain profits from price increases, anyway, demand is not a problem.

However, all the pressure of rising prices is concentrated in the residential sector. This system creates an imbalance in social distribution, and the imbalance in distribution increases the economic pressure on the residential sector.

The commodities produced outside the plan are mainly agricultural by-products and light industrial products, bringing about an increase in the supply of means of living.At the same time, the income of residents is within the plan, resulting in the contradiction between "the income of residents remains unchanged and the price continues to rise". Simply put, it is the continuous deviation of income/price.

The vast majority of urban residents, including workers, intellectuals, and cadres, work within the system. The production and pricing of state-owned enterprises have been liberalized, but income has not been liberalized, and the low-wage system is still within the plan.Under the attraction of arbitrage, the planned supply is still shifting to the unplanned, and the supply pressure is even greater. From time to time, out-of-stock and panic buying incidents also occur.

Most importantly, wages have not increased for many years, while prices continue to rise at a rate of 10% per year, and ordinary people are under great pressure.

It took a year for the dual-track price system to gradually reveal its oppressive force on the people's livelihood and the common people, especially in the spring of 85.

In reality, whether it is daily necessities in ordinary people's lives or industrial products produced by factories, the prices have risen a lot compared to before.

The most obvious change is the increase in the cost of building materials. Hantun has been the most sensitive to this aspect of the large-scale construction projects in the past two years. The increase in the cost of building materials will inevitably lead to increased investment.

He Ping is aware of this period of history, and he cannot change and decide major national affairs alone, so he has no complaints about this aspect.

The old captain was very worried because of this, and coupled with the news that his second daughter-in-law suddenly came from Yangzhou, the old man was so worried that he collapsed directly.

"Tell me about you, what a big deal, our village gets so much money a year, is it still short of hundreds of thousands?"

The old team leader lying on the hospital bed was weak and melancholy.

"Money is earned penny by penny. How much money can we earn in a year? This means that if the price rises, the price will rise. A year's hard work will be in vain."

"It's not as exaggerated as you said. This is a national policy, and we can't change it, so you can relax. Think about it, our company in Hantun also sells things outside, and we also increase prices when others increase prices. Have you come back? Why did our profits jump so high last year? Isn’t it also related to this. Old comrades, don’t be so greedy, you can’t have your cake and eat it too.”

He Ping was joking with the old captain, but was stared at twice by the old captain. The old man is relatively weak now and can't move his hands.

"I used to think that the reform and opening up was good, so why the hell are you going back to it?" the old captain complained.

He Ping reassured: "Reform must go through a period of pain. Think about the revolution decades ago, how could the new China come without bloodshed and sacrifice, and it is the same now."

The old captain was noncommittal, but the resentment in his heart might not be eliminated for a while.

"Okay, don't be angry."

The old captain suddenly gave He Ping a sideways look, "Did you already know about your second brother's broken shoes?"

When the old captain made a surprise attack, He Ping felt a little guilty and touched his nose, "I don't know where to go, I don't go to Yangdong once a year."

"Make it up, keep making it up, you two bastards are wearing a pair of pants to fool me." The old captain knew from He Ping's appearance that this kid must have known early on.

He Ping saw it but didn't hide it any more, "I'm afraid you'll get angry. Besides, I've already made him break up with that little girl, and that's for his money. Who let this kid be infatuated, Promise well, and do nothing behind the scenes."

At the critical moment, He Ping resolutely dumped the pot. Anyway, Han Zhaokun's dirty water was not worse than his own pot.

(End of this chapter)