Posted on 01/15/2011 4:58:24 AM PST by Cardhu
Exports fueled the initial stages of China's ongoing economic boom. Now, however, the government in Beijing is placing a greater emphasis on domestic consumption. The Chinese middle class, it would seem, are more than happy to toe the line.
The crowds jostle as they push forward. Men in black uniforms survey the scene as they stand guard. A Communist Party convention? Hardly. Rather, it is the official opening of the first Gap store on Chinese soil.
By 10 a.m., the crowds of people jamming into the store in Shanghai had grown thick. In a building down the street, the German consumer electronics chain Media Markt had also recently opened its first retail outlet in the People's Republic. The expansion plans of its parent company Metro include more than 100 additional stores by the end of 2015.
The arrival of Western chain stores symbolizes the beginning of China's next revolution. The country's rising middle class has embarked on a collective spending spree, at least in the affluent belt along the country's east coast, from Beijing to Shanghai and down to Shenzhen in the south.
China's party leadership is setting an example -- albeit on a much larger scale. Last week, Vice Premier Li Keqiang, seen as a rising star among Beijing's power elite, made a trip to Europe during which he praised German industriousness and discipline as well as the quality of goods "Made in Germany." Li spent three days in Germany alone, and German Economics Minister Rainer Brüderle was undoubtedly pleased with the outcome: orders worth a total of €8.7 billion ($11.4 billion) for Volkswagen, Daimler and other corporations.
Shopper-in-Chief
A top-ranking communist on a shopping spree. Shortly before his visit to Germany, Li promised the Spaniards that Beijing would buy €6 billion ($8 billion) worth of government bonds.
(Excerpt) Read more at spiegel.de ...
In addition to name-brand labels from the West, Chinese consumers are buying cars so in unprecedented numbers. Volkswagen saw
Chinese sales rise 37 percent in 2010
China and Hong Kong together are already home to more than 100 billionaires, four times as many as Japan.
Capitalist communism. Weird bedfellows.
“Capitalist communism. Weird bedfellows.”
It’s bull. Russia & China have adopted free market policies because they work, and because their mumbo jumbo wouldn’t fly.
That’s great. But could someone please explain to me what the HELL the cold war was actually ABOUT then?
And why we are STILL at non-hot war with these people, when the ENTIRE BASIS of the episode is junk?
The fact is, it was NEVER about ideology. Of course not! History NEVER changes. It was about national/ethnic interest, same as it EVER was. The “ideology” bullcrap was just to win hearts & minds. It kept their economy in the toilet for 100 years though, dumbasses.
Problem the Communist Chinese will have is that wages will have to rise for the ChiComs to get the consumer numbers needed....which means that prices on Communist Chinese goods in the USA will rise greatly
Which, in turn, could stimulate the economy....forcing manufacturers to return to the USA because of cost and profit.
I bet the Commie Free Traders will work hard to keep the Communist Chinese from expanding domestic consumption....the Commie Free Traders can only make money if the Commie Chinese are paid super low wages
Capitalist communism. Weird bedfellows. ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, Different strokes for different folks. Some times they work. Take the best of what each offers and put them together. If it works, good.
Somehow China has managed to become a great influence in the capitalist world, while capitalists tend to forget Russia is even there unless there is an event like their incursion several years ago into Georgia.
The descriptive I use is Chicaps.
Increasingly the old Chinese entrepreneurial tendencies are bubbling up alongside the diminishing communist thought. The Overseas Chinese scattered around the world in Singapore and Taiwan and Manila and Jakarta and Kuala Lumpur and San Francisco are able to reconnect with the mainland. They are a powerful force and source of both entrepreneurial brains and money.
To say there is no communism is wrong but there is massive change. The leaders of China threw off the most oppressive tenets of Maoism and allowed business and academics and life to flourish. Unlike Russia where corruption took control and quenched the sparks of personal initiative, China did not.
I think it unnecessary to worry about militarism when the forces under fantastic change are those of business. Freed from the shackles of European colonialism and Maoism, business can only grow and prosper. The people would rather do business than fight wars
There are many other countries to take up the slack before they will think of returning to the USA.
The promoters of China try to convince us that money equals freedom. If you look at documents leading up to the American revolution, you’ll see that that the british tried the same with the colonists. Basically, “Why would you want to split from us? We give you pretty things.”
Ben Franklin’s final answer to being questioned by the House of commons was a beautiful example of freedom over funds.
>>Q. What used to be the pride of the Americans?
A. To indulge in the fashions and manufactures of Great Britain.
Q. What is now their pride?
A. To wear their old clothes over again till they can make new ones.<<
http://www.bartleby.com/268/8/10.html
make money not war will make sense to china as long as it can keep its economic house propped up. if that fails china will get desperate and all bets are off.
Under totalitarian states, the people's say doesn't MATTER.
And there's this little thing called "fascism" which has a racist, xenophobic flavor called "National Socialism"; it'd fit right in with the cultural pride of China.
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