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> Regardless, if you start making any money, it will probably be taken from you. [...] you have absolutely no legal protection for anything. Zero. If anything,

> Regardless, if you start making any money, it will probably be taken from you. [...] you have absolutely no legal protection for anything. Zero. If anything, the courts are your enemy, because they side with whoever has the most influence and that's not you. Your employees embezzle from you? Your competitor (or a partner) steals all of your equipment? Government officials demand "protection" money? Too bad! If this is all true (and I'm not saying it isn't), how come China has had 10% growth rates for the last quarter century?

megaduck 17y ago
The growth is mostly because they're selling a lot of exports. They've been building up domestic consumption, but it's still pretty weak. Almost all the growth is from foreign money flowing in one way or another, and once money is in China, it tends to stay under Chinese control. Regardless of how the general economy does, the question is: who benefits? The answer is usually government officials, or people that have relationships with them. There's a general assumption here that anyone with money must be corrupt. While that's not exclusively true, it's certainly true enough to discourage entrepreneurship.