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Cake day: July 2nd, 2023

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  • Arcturus@kbin.socialtoMemes@lemmy.mlChina bad, USA good
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    1 year ago

    We do business dealings in China, and let me tell you that American workers are compensated more for their efforts than the Chinese workers are. That’s why we do business in China lol. Its also why we do business in the Philippines. Mainly because we can profit, and Chinese owners can host an elaborate party for us (mainly because their margins are larger than ours). They feel compelled to because it’s a prestige thing, to be able to flaunt wealth. But it’s not exactly aristocratic, which is my background. One of the wives for example showed us their plate collection for example, which easily breaks over $100k in value, they had some interesting pieces, such as Queen Elizabeth state sets (my family has one of those somewhere), but they won’t understand the difference between all the plates, or what they are (that’s what the servants are for). It’s literally just meaningless consumption, more bourgeois capitalist than you can ever imagine. I’ve had Chinese businessmen literally call me while they’re in France, asking what kind of watch they should buy. It’s never under $5,000 at least. One of them bought an Extra-Plat Squelette 5395 in Hong Kong. And these aren’t workers lol. Chinese workers aren’t meeting with American billionaires, owners of big pharma, literal royalty. It’s a class that has been built and expanded under Xi Jinping’s reign that has. Just look at Feng Shui, and how the focus is on raking in money, and more importantly, keeping it.


  • But he does. Sending your kids to Harvard isn’t exactly cheap. His personal wealth is only beaten by his political power. Marxism and Leninism are political ideologies, not just economic. Xi also nods his head to Mao, but that doesn’t mean anything. Donald Trump also nods his head to Lincoln and Washington.

    You don’t seem to understand the difference between the party propaganda line, and the actual reality. A lot of urban educated in China do understand this, and know how to toe the line.


  • In theory, when it’s working, yes it will. Only after being over a decade late and being everal times over budget. They’ll probably keep it going for as long as humanly possible, until the cost of maintaining it is no longer economically feasible. They’ll try to claw back as much of that investment as possible. But as we know with nuclear projects, they never will. It’s why China is betting big on renewables.

    You think nuclear powerplants don’t require parts replacements, maintenance, or shut down over the weather either? France, US, and Finland had to delay the opening of their latest plants because they already had to replace parts before they even started. This isn’t Finland’s first nuclear reactor. Their next one has been cancelled because of the war in Ukraine (Rosatom) The others are being throttled down for maintenance, and it won’t be long until this new one also requires it. As it is, they’re already understaffed.


  • The Chinese state is cracking down on billionaires and the wealthy, to some extent, mainly as they are a challenge to the states own power. Not as a result of much else. Loyal ones, particularly close to Xi, are left alone.

    China continues to be highly neoliberal in business practice, supported and subsidised by the state, if you’re in a key industry, particularly as China faces economic downturn. Chinese workers are pliant, and educated. Which is why Elon Musk is there.

    The proletariat do not hold the power in China, they are seen as a threat by the Chinese elite. Hence a heavy surveillance state, and large propaganda arm.

    The transition from socialism to capitalism, in theory, does not include a devolution back to capitalism lol. Xi Jinping has created more wealth for the Chinese elite than any other previous Chinese President. Unless you think the Germans were also socialist during the 30’s and 40’s.






  • The US could definitely do that, their logistics capabilities are immense. On top of that you have the submarine fleet, as well as assistance from regional allies. Probably not enough to take the entire country, but enough for it to capitulate through conventional means.


  • Perhaps an exaggeration?

    Life expectancy did increase, with a few blips in the 1930’s, but this doesn’t seem particularly out of the ordinary, it also increased during the Tsarist government if you look outside of the Sino-Japanese War and WWI era. There really isn’t much consensus here, as well as a marked increase in living standards.

    Other countries during that time period also had significant life expectancy increases over that period, which I think is just attributed to better infant mortality rates.

    The only metric that that could be demonstrably better than than the Tsarist regime was education levels and literacy as a whole.

    It was really from mid-1930’s that Soviet Russia was actually pulling away from the Tsarist regime. But who’s to tell that, had not WWI happened that gradual development would happen under the Tsar, or even the Provisional Government?

    Germany had been worried about Russia’s potential since both the German Empire and the Third Reich.

    Similarly, you do see a different rate of industrialisation from post-WWII China and Japan.