Li,Chanchun wrote:


"Jim" wrote

Economic freedom, of course. As in, they have money and are buying
things.

Well, I wouldn't call that "freedom" in any sense of the word.
I would call that simply "wealth". Or in our discussion wealthier.

China's economy has been growing at near double digit rates for the
last 20 years.

Well Jim, that is certainly very arguable in the strict numeric sense. Of
course China's double digit growth started from a base of, for all practical
purposes, Zero. So that alleged double digit growth for the last 20 years
only sounds spectacular. However, there are serious conflicting statistics
related to energy consumption which doesn't support this phenomenal growth.
In fact the energy statistics refute this "double digit" growth. But if I
were a Central Government cadre I to would use smoke
and mirrors to attract as much foreign "Capitalist" investment as possible.
Considering that my Central Government owned banks are all technically
bankrupt... and my currency is not freely traded on the open market... and
the average monthly salary is less than US$400 month...

There are only one type of statistics available and those are government
allowed statistics. ALL statistics from the Beijing government are to be
considered highly suspicious. Think Soviet Union. Not simply because it IS
a Communist government, although that fact alone should raise the, ahem, red
flag. The problem is that the central government sets a goal and the local
cadres will never disappoint the central government. So these local
cadres, in fear of losing their cushy socialist welfare state
livelihood, will in every instance "massage" the statistics that are then
forwarded to Beijing.

So, you see Jim in a free society statistics are simply statistics. In
Communist China they are a "way of life".

This from a guy who blindly accepted some far right wing Newsmax
columnist's assertion about Chinese molecular nano superweapons that was
based on claims by the CCP? Get it straight, Li. Either the CCP is lying
or they are not. I tend to think that they're lying. I doubt they have
molecular nano superweapons. I doubt that anything that any dictatorship
claims can be trusted. In fact, I'd be willing to bet that even the US
govt lies outright a good percentage of the time.

You claim that double digit growth starting from zero is not impressive.
But considering how backward China was 30 years ago, much like the
Soviet Union was in the 80s, China's progress is remarkable indeed.
Russia hasn't managed to turn things around as well as China has (at
least economically speaking). Yes, salaries in China are low compared to
the US. But in China, it takes a lot less money to live large than in
the US. In India, many workers earn US$70 a month, but in India, that
puts them solidly into the middle class. Meanwhile, Americans who make
$50k a year struggle to pay their bills. It's all relative.


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