May 28, 2023·edited May 28, 2023Liked by Godfree Roberts
Professor Wen of Renmin University did create a 10 lecture series about how China has actually handled economic crises and development if anyone is interested. He's also worked quite a bit with the esteemed Michael Hudson.
One running theme was that the countryside was the source of both obtaining economic surplus and absorbing extra labour but I think that China is finally getting around to giving back and developing the countryside with its poverty alleviation program.
Wages as % of GDP is an interesting metric. So in effect as far as people are concerned China gets a 50% wealth boost on top of PPP.
And PPP understates the real effect too. Some products are priced similarly, some at a PPP ratio to US$ prices and some a lot or even a lot lot cheaper. Those cheap products are often very important. So Chinese and Russian hypersonic missiles are very cheap relative to the nearest US equivalent. That proportion of GDP is working really well for China. Food I would guess is similar. 1000km of high speed railway will also be much cheaper relatively than PPP ratios.
The measure I would like to see is 75% Wealth. I have never seen it calculated, and I guess it would take a lot of effort. 75% Wealth to me would be the Income of the bottom 75% of the population (on the grounds that the top 25% can take care of themselves and any gains for them make little difference to the country as a whole).
My intuition is that 75% Wealth in US has been static or slight negative since the 1980s, and only slightly positive here in UK or much of W Europe.
Russia on the other hand has been sharply growing, and China will have shown quite staggering growth. Indeed it must now be close to catching up to US levels.
Gordon Chang, for one, has made a career out of predicting China's collapse. He's never been proven right, but that hasn't affected his career or reputation, as he tells his (largely American?) audience exactly what they want to hear. Funny how these things work.
Whenever I see 'bad news' stories about Russia or China (do we ever see any others?) in Western legacy media nowadays I just assume that the 'problem' they are talking about is actually being more acutely experience by the West. e.g. I think there was a Chinese youth 'quiet quitting' one doing rounds a few months ago.
Professor Wen of Renmin University did create a 10 lecture series about how China has actually handled economic crises and development if anyone is interested. He's also worked quite a bit with the esteemed Michael Hudson.
One running theme was that the countryside was the source of both obtaining economic surplus and absorbing extra labour but I think that China is finally getting around to giving back and developing the countryside with its poverty alleviation program.
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLW2w8_H08pM0eoxrS2cxbwdcCPjPK9A12
Wages as % of GDP is an interesting metric. So in effect as far as people are concerned China gets a 50% wealth boost on top of PPP.
And PPP understates the real effect too. Some products are priced similarly, some at a PPP ratio to US$ prices and some a lot or even a lot lot cheaper. Those cheap products are often very important. So Chinese and Russian hypersonic missiles are very cheap relative to the nearest US equivalent. That proportion of GDP is working really well for China. Food I would guess is similar. 1000km of high speed railway will also be much cheaper relatively than PPP ratios.
The measure I would like to see is 75% Wealth. I have never seen it calculated, and I guess it would take a lot of effort. 75% Wealth to me would be the Income of the bottom 75% of the population (on the grounds that the top 25% can take care of themselves and any gains for them make little difference to the country as a whole).
My intuition is that 75% Wealth in US has been static or slight negative since the 1980s, and only slightly positive here in UK or much of W Europe.
Russia on the other hand has been sharply growing, and China will have shown quite staggering growth. Indeed it must now be close to catching up to US levels.
But it's really gonna happen this time! Super serious!
A simple way of telling an important story.
The truth shall set you free or are you really free when you are not being told the truth?
Gordon Chang, for one, has made a career out of predicting China's collapse. He's never been proven right, but that hasn't affected his career or reputation, as he tells his (largely American?) audience exactly what they want to hear. Funny how these things work.
Whenever I see 'bad news' stories about Russia or China (do we ever see any others?) in Western legacy media nowadays I just assume that the 'problem' they are talking about is actually being more acutely experience by the West. e.g. I think there was a Chinese youth 'quiet quitting' one doing rounds a few months ago.