The PRC (People’s Republic of China - talk about a misnomer…) only uses one part of communist dogma these days - the part about the dictatorship of the proletariat (well, the dictatorship part, anyway…), which was supposed to be temporary, until the people got the greed of capitalism out of their psyches…
of course, communism is inherently unstable because it only takes one greedy person to ruin the whole system…
China now seems to have an economic system based on the worst of capitalism run amok, with a political system based on the worst of communism run amok.
Zev.farkas, are your comments intended to explain why China is doing so poorly? It seems to me that whatever China is doing, it appears to be working pretty well, for China anyway.
In terms of raw economic performance, China is doing quite well.
What concerns me is the concentration of power and wealth, and the true human and environmental costs China and the world will be paying for a long time for this seeming economic miracle.
The Chinese are making many of the same mistakes that Europe and the US made in the 18th - 20th centuries - effectively enslaving their people and destroying their land, in order to make a very small fraction of their people nauseatingly rich.
Most of the rest of the world can’t compete with the coolie wages paid to Chinese workers, nor can they get away with the sweatshop conditions they labor under.
It wouldn’t surprise me if China has to go through the whole labor-union-class-struggle deal that the West suffered through. Orwell’s “Animal Farm” seems to parody early 21st century China even better than it did the mid-20th century USSR…
It appears that China will have to work out their theory of Communism in much the same way as we had to work out our theories of Capitalism. We’ve gone from Adam Smith’s “invisible hand” laissez-faire Capitalism of enslaving our people and destroying our land in order to make a very small fraction of our people nauseatingly rich to enslaving our people and destroying our land in order to make a very small fraction of our people nauseatingly rich. That’s real progress. The Chinese may even be able to do better. Time will tell.
BRUCE - I don’t approve of borrowing from China, my point is that so many of you still support the GOP after all of the things they did, including barrowing billions from China to pay for their war.
My question is why do you continue to support the GOP?
]”I feel your pain Ken. But…….just one question…….if you truly feel this way why are you in complete support of an administration that continues to follow in the footsteps of the hated Bush administration creating more debt that we will have to pay more interest on?”
Who would you have us vote for? And don’t just spiel that stuff about “Out of Our House”. We have to have somebody responsible who cares about the country and has the guts to do what is right. Suggestions?????
toasteroven about 14 years ago
Does anyone really believe that China is communist anymore? Do the Chinese even believe it?
kennethcwarren64 about 14 years ago
And using our Tax Money to do it! 4.5 Million in intrest per day.
zev.farkas about 14 years ago
The PRC (People’s Republic of China - talk about a misnomer…) only uses one part of communist dogma these days - the part about the dictatorship of the proletariat (well, the dictatorship part, anyway…), which was supposed to be temporary, until the people got the greed of capitalism out of their psyches…
of course, communism is inherently unstable because it only takes one greedy person to ruin the whole system…
China now seems to have an economic system based on the worst of capitalism run amok, with a political system based on the worst of communism run amok.
levymoore about 14 years ago
Zev.farkas, are your comments intended to explain why China is doing so poorly? It seems to me that whatever China is doing, it appears to be working pretty well, for China anyway.
zev.farkas about 14 years ago
@levymoore -
In terms of raw economic performance, China is doing quite well.
What concerns me is the concentration of power and wealth, and the true human and environmental costs China and the world will be paying for a long time for this seeming economic miracle.
The Chinese are making many of the same mistakes that Europe and the US made in the 18th - 20th centuries - effectively enslaving their people and destroying their land, in order to make a very small fraction of their people nauseatingly rich.
Most of the rest of the world can’t compete with the coolie wages paid to Chinese workers, nor can they get away with the sweatshop conditions they labor under.
It wouldn’t surprise me if China has to go through the whole labor-union-class-struggle deal that the West suffered through. Orwell’s “Animal Farm” seems to parody early 21st century China even better than it did the mid-20th century USSR…
levymoore about 14 years ago
Zev.farkas -
It appears that China will have to work out their theory of Communism in much the same way as we had to work out our theories of Capitalism. We’ve gone from Adam Smith’s “invisible hand” laissez-faire Capitalism of enslaving our people and destroying our land in order to make a very small fraction of our people nauseatingly rich to enslaving our people and destroying our land in order to make a very small fraction of our people nauseatingly rich. That’s real progress. The Chinese may even be able to do better. Time will tell.
babka Premium Member about 14 years ago
Oh yes.
Jaedabee Premium Member about 14 years ago
I’m entertained that ANandy makes a reference to “Death Panels” and then vehemently defends the Arizona bill as not even remotely racist.
GJ_Jehosaphat about 14 years ago
China has to deal with poisoned Air & Water instead of U.S. They’ll soon learn the down side of the Industrial Revolution.
BTW - I’m not a big fan of Cap & Trade. Pollution Sucks (the Life out of you).
lonecat about 14 years ago
zev – I think you have made some good points. They need a good leftist critique and some grass roots leftist organizing to move them into the future.
Dtroutma about 14 years ago
China just has a different version of the Enron/AIG/Goldman-Sachs complex.
kennethcwarren64 about 14 years ago
BRUCE - I don’t approve of borrowing from China, my point is that so many of you still support the GOP after all of the things they did, including barrowing billions from China to pay for their war.
My question is why do you continue to support the GOP?
MurphyHerself about 14 years ago
Bruce said about 6 hours ago:
]”I feel your pain Ken. But…….just one question…….if you truly feel this way why are you in complete support of an administration that continues to follow in the footsteps of the hated Bush administration creating more debt that we will have to pay more interest on?”
Who would you have us vote for? And don’t just spiel that stuff about “Out of Our House”. We have to have somebody responsible who cares about the country and has the guts to do what is right. Suggestions?????
CorosiveFrog Premium Member about 14 years ago
China is the worst of communism (no human rights) teamed up with the worst of capitalism (sweat shops).
zekedog55 about 14 years ago
Balance the budget.
Then Tax and Spend will heal.
The deficit is a monster that ingests indiscriminately.
Borrow and spend feeds the monster.
bobpeters61 about 14 years ago
For that urelated canard thrown in by an a-hole, we’ve had death panels for decades, ministered by Wellpoint, Blue Cross/Blue Shield, etc.
But if you want to help Communist China take over the US faster, just keep shopping at Mao-Mart.
grampaspot about 14 years ago
Is China contoled by Unions? Think about it!
zekedog55 about 14 years ago
^^ Surprise surprise! ANandy, he run off and hide!