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I visited China for the first time last year. I went to Guangzhou with a friend of mine. My friend from there left to study in the US in 2010, and he could bare

I visited China for the first time last year. I went to Guangzhou with a friend of mine. My friend from there left to study in the US in 2010, and he could barely recognize his own city with all the new districts and buildings. I ultimately came to the conclusion that the growth in China is real, unlike how it's routinely described in the news in the US. Though I did meet an Irish business owner (who lived there for nearly two decades) who expressed doubt that these buildings would ever be filled to sufficient capacity. Ultimately we don't have access to all of the data which would shed light on China's current affairs. Regardless, I live in the Boston area now. The MBTA is a complete embarrassment compared to what is in Guangzhou. Even so, the MBTA is purchasing the next supply of Red Line trains (which are several decades old now, and routinely breaking down) from China. It's been planned for several years, yet it's still going to take until 2017 to get these trains rolling in Boston! Even if the doomsayers are correct and the Chinese economy crashes in the next year or so, it should be noted that (a) this would be a global economic recession and that the US would not be immune to this (since many of the buildings in China are funded by Wall Street speculators), (b) they have the capital to actually help their recovery (as opposed to the bulimic fiscal policy we had in 2008 and still have in the US today, funding billion-dollar military campaigns and social programs created with the 1930's and 1960's in mind, while routinely gutting our own tax revenue), and (c) they'll have already built a modern infrastructure to empower their recovery (instead of the US's aging infrastructure that nobody want to pay to fix).

drzaiusapelord 11y ago
>social programs created with the 1930's and 1960's in mind Its these social programs that help cushion the fall during a recession. Countries without them often are the receiving end of a peasant revolution or coup when the economy goes sour. I'd say this is very much a feature, not a bug. Meanwhile, China's affluence doesn't percolate to the rural area and a serious economic downturn would hurt the most vulnerable, which in autocratic states are poor children and the elderly. >In one study of 1,800 infants in rural Shaanxi province in China’s north-west, 49% were anaemic and 40% were significantly hampered in developing either cognitive or motor skills. >About one in three Chinese elderly report having poor health, and nearly one in four have consumption levels below the poverty line I don't mind my tax dollars feeding poor children in rural USA, supporting seniors, etc. These programs made sense in 1930, 1960, today, and in the future.
- anthony_romeo 11y ago
  Sorry, I didn't mean to imply that I am against social programs. On the contrary, I'm a supporter of universal health care in the US. This is the sort of thing I was alluding to when I said "created with the 1930's and 1960's in mind." Anyway, these systems, like our other infrastructure, have not been properly maintained (I quickly wrote an article about one example on my blog a while back (which I haven't updated in forever), should be the first article: http://boldboldness.com/ http://boldboldness.com/) and should be modernized in some manner. I'm not under the illusion that the Chinese health care system is better than in the US, and I'm aware that my observations were limited to the city. I was actually able to visit a local hospital in Guangzhou while I was there (interestingly, it was the hospital where the first SARS patient was treated), and I was surprised at how old and chaotic it was compared to the extravagance built in the remainder of the city. Very dark, loud, full of people, and run like a bad DMV in the US. Hopefully when China slows down they'll attempt to focus more on the health of their citizens.

drzaiusapelord 11y ago

>social programs created with the 1930's and 1960's in mind Its these social programs that help cushion the fall during a recession. Countries without them often are the receiving end of a peasant revolution or coup when the economy goes sour. I'd say this is very much a feature, not a bug. Meanwhile, China's affluence doesn't percolate to the rural area and a serious economic downturn would hurt the most vulnerable, which in autocratic states are poor children and the elderly. >In one study of 1,800 infants in rural Shaanxi province in China’s north-west, 49% were anaemic and 40% were significantly hampered in developing either cognitive or motor skills. >About one in three Chinese elderly report having poor health, and nearly one in four have consumption levels below the poverty line I don't mind my tax dollars feeding poor children in rural USA, supporting seniors, etc. These programs made sense in 1930, 1960, today, and in the future.

anthony_romeo 11y ago
Sorry, I didn't mean to imply that I am against social programs. On the contrary, I'm a supporter of universal health care in the US. This is the sort of thing I was alluding to when I said "created with the 1930's and 1960's in mind." Anyway, these systems, like our other infrastructure, have not been properly maintained (I quickly wrote an article about one example on my blog a while back (which I haven't updated in forever), should be the first article: http://boldboldness.com/ http://boldboldness.com/) and should be modernized in some manner. I'm not under the illusion that the Chinese health care system is better than in the US, and I'm aware that my observations were limited to the city. I was actually able to visit a local hospital in Guangzhou while I was there (interestingly, it was the hospital where the first SARS patient was treated), and I was surprised at how old and chaotic it was compared to the extravagance built in the remainder of the city. Very dark, loud, full of people, and run like a bad DMV in the US. Hopefully when China slows down they'll attempt to focus more on the health of their citizens.