Do You Think That China’s Transition To A Market Economy Was Positive Change?
Posted by China Sourcing CommentatorNov 8
My old economics teacher said surprisingly everyone had different opinions on this topic… i want to see if thats true =P
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Of course it is true – it all depends on your values.
China’s transition to a market economy has generated tremendous economic growth.
If you are concerned about the plight of Planet Earth, this is terrible news: China has surpassed the U.S. as the largest producer of greenhouse gases and is expected to continue producing ever more of them; it has been building dams, ripping gaping holes as it mines, tearing down forests, etc.http://www.nytimes.com/2007/08/26/world/…
If you want to continue seeing the U.S. or even Western Civilization as the dominant power in the world, this is also not good news. With a growing economy comes growing power. China has already started becoming more aggressive militarily and has increased expenditures on modernizing its armed forces.http://www.comw.org/cmp/
Right now, China’s GDP is (on a PPP basis) about half that of the U.S.http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_cou…
but even at only 7% growth per year (the current expectation is 9%)http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2008/09/2…
it economy will double in 10 years, and surpass that of the U.S. in less than 20. This scares people who believe that America has a God-given right to be the strongest country on Earth.
Even you don’t think that’s something to worry about, considering how the U.S. government has started suppressing Constitutional rights and individual liberties based on the almost negligible threat from Al Qaeda, just how much further will they go when they have a real power rival?
Then there are the older and rural Chinese. They are not benefiting from this economic growth and they are being hurt by the inflation it causes, the elimination of the government cradle-to-grave protection, etc. They are going so far as to revolt – an extreme step in authoritarian China:http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/con…
Then there are the other Chinese, the young, educated, urban dwellers. They are seeing a major improvement in their standard of living. They applaud the transition.
Ditto for the rich company owners and managers in the West. They are seeing profits rolling in, both from selling to the newly richer Chinese and from the lower manufacturing costs now that they can invest in China.
Most Americans are ambivalent. They like the lower prices on Chinese-made goods; but they associate the Chinese transition with a major loss of jobs in the U.S. (not true), poorer working conditions for the remaining jobs (true), and the general lack of confidence in the future (partially true).