[Mike]

Yeah, strategy is key.

[Redsand11j]

Well, yes, I admit that it would be effectively impossible to have total autarky, but we should keep in mind that that is our goal. And slowly raising tariffs (Or whatever it is that we will use to make out CSCS self sufficient) is probably a good plan.

[Mike]

The other big idea is that the CSCS could essentially become a microcosm of the world economic trade system at large. But I'll talk more about that later.

- Mike

[Mike]

I guess there are at least two significant variables here:

1: The difference between the cost of buying the good from the world market and the cost of producing the good locally.

And 2: The internal economic risk of relying on the external market for the good.

If 1 is big while 2 is small, then you can probably get away with importing your good for a while.

But in all other cases, yes, you'd probably aim to produce the good yourself.

- Mike

[Mike]

Well, I wouldn't argue that it is impossible. You can emulate virtually anything. Certainly, you could grow your own cocoa trees and build your own chocolate plants if you really wanted. But is it worth it when your external supplies of chocolate are really really cheap? And even if you ran out of it, would you really be worse off than another country crippled by drought and famine? Definately economic self-sufficiency is something that you will strive for, but like any investment activity there would be a cost / benefit analysis.