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The CCP is not interested in progress, its interested in maintaining permanent, absolute power at any cost.
by zanny 9y ago
The CCP is not interested in progress, its interested in maintaining permanent, absolute power at any cost.
- walterbell 9y agoLike every other country, they want a healthy economy, which requires innovation. China's proposed social credit system would be counterproductive to innovation, i.e. the cost may be too high.
- Mvandenbergh 9y agoPeople have been hoping for this link between freedom and economic development for years about China. It turns out that it's just wishful thinking. China is much richer and no more free than it was decades ago.
- walterbell 9y agoChina has benefited from external IP/technology "inspiration" which is about to result in new trade barriers with the US. If their future growth depends on homegrown (instead of foreign) innovation, they could experiment with freedom within economic development zones.
- pishpash 9y agoThe eras of growth have been the most free in the history of China. People allowed to own land, allowed employment of their choice, allowed to move, and allowed to start private enterprises. There is a one-to-one correlation between how much people are allowed to do and ... what they do.
- scrumption 9y ago>most free >People allowed to own land Not sure the mental gymnastics you have to go through to convince yourself private ownership of land == freedom American by chance?
- SamReidHughes 9y agoIf you own land you can do what you want with it.
- cornholio 9y agoActually, that's not a surprise; throughout history, dictatorships often failed when economic conditions where dire, see the Eastern block, while economic prosperity always consolidated strongmen - Hitler and Putin for example. But the social changes technology and development produce are far reaching, and usually well correlated on the long term with a democratic society. It's hard to care about liberty when you don't have food on the table, and a lower educated and poor person is much more likely to accept authoritarianism as an acceptable compromise. I'm very hopeful for China's future and Hong Kong's peaceful resistance is a model that wil spread.
- api 9y agoThere's an easy solution to this: create a two-tier society in which the wealthy, highly educated, and highly productive / inventive are permitted to exist under relative freedom in "economic development zones" or similar while the rest of the population is kept under totalitarian rule. In other words create comparatively free theme parks for the professional class.
- rm_-rf_slash 9y agoNot too far off from the rural/urban divide in America. New York City is a great place for a person with an upper middle class backgrobud to become a millionaire. Yet in the Southern Tier of upstate NY you have people who have lived for decades without electricity at home. There is straight-up Hunger Games poverty up here and it’s rarely reported on by the big newspapers downstate that would rather talk about tech and Trump.
- gwenzek 9y agoInterestingly, in 19884 the government do the opposite. The workforce have some leeway (booze and sex) while the middle class (the one that could see through the party lies and revolt) is under permanent surveillance.
- KerrickStaley 9y agoThat's not really true. Progress and upward economic development increase the faith of the public and the Communist Party rank-and-file in the Communist Party leadership. The Communist Party leadership has a strong incentive to promote growth.
- JumpCrisscross 9y ago> the Communist Party leadership has a strong incentive to promote growth But Xi Jinping does not.
- rm_-rf_slash 9y agoHow so? Isn’t unprecedented growth and prosperity the bedrock which supports the Communist Party? Wouldn’t continued growth then be an affirmation of Xi’s policies? What’s in it for him if the economy stagnates or recesses?
- deleted 9y ago[deleted]
- justicezyx 9y agoHe does want growth. Otherwise he wont have power... I mean, the dictator is not stupid.
- darawk 9y agoYes he does. Growth makes people wealthier, which makes them happy with the government. If China's growth stops, you better believe there will be serious civil unrest.
- JumpCrisscross 9y agoMy point isn't that Xi Jinping doesn't want growth. It's that he doesn't want growth as badly, nor on the same time horizons, as the CCP. If he has to cause permanent harm to China's productive potential to hold on to power for a few more years, history suggests he will. This is the reason dictatorships trash countries and why Deng Xiaoping wisely implemented term limits.
- rcao 9y agoActually for CCP, a major source of legitimacy comes from making economical progress all the time.
- deleted 9y ago[deleted]
- meganibla 9y agoCPC. Not interested in progress? Hahaha. Ok. Keep living under that rock. Compared to other nations Chinese are much more interested in progress. And hence it developed in the last seven decades. And I think you should consider that every state is interested in maintaining power. That is the nature of state.