[simplisticelk]

Yes, their system has lifted hundreds of millions out of poverty, but government policy is now making Chinese consumers poorer than they otherwise would be in order to support domestic industry. It seem’s to be for geo-strategic reasons rather than in the interests of the Chinese people, it’s also probably unsustainable.

[shunia_huang]

WOW the classic yes...but..., where's these statement coming from? I'm Chinese and I don't get the point here at all, you guys seem living in vacuum with biased news, and know much much better than we people living here, that's really confusing everytime I see/read comments lie this.

China now is open freely for almost everyone, come and see by yourslef, if you not living poverty.

The world itslef does not work the propaganda way whether you dislike or hate the gov for whatever reason. And yes you can criticize the gov as you like with the news you read otr the party you pro with, but never assume how the people feel and belives if you are not the people, and if you do then that's the same mindset as Trump or any other war-bringing president the US had, and you know what they did and still doing.

[AuthorizedCust]

Tell your neighbors, friends, and government bureaucrats about the 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre.

Let me know how that goes.

[holoduke]

Is that all you can find? Pretty empty list. I can probably create a long list of atrocities done by the west last 5 years alone.

[graemep]

That is the point. You can create the list openly and without fear.

You can create a long list of Chinese atrocities, but mentioning even one will get you into a lot of trouble.

[coldtea]

Probably about as well a if you told them about ICE. Or if you complained against the war at Kent state university.

[killerpopiller]

China interns a million Uigurians and other people with beliefs.

[vkou]

> government policy is now making Chinese consumers poorer than they otherwise would be

Right, that sort of thing never happens over here. We don't give the rich tax breaks while robbing the middle class (and saddling it with mountains of debt that will be coming due in their future), we don't print money hand over fist to fund idiotic wars and other vanity projects, and we don't do everything in our power to prevent workers from organizing for higher wages and better working conditions.

Congress and the executive is hard at work to make the American consumer richer than they otherwise would be. Everything they do is with that goal solely in their minds. It's all they live for, not for making their backers and friends richer and more untouchable.

[QuesnayJr]

If governments introduced a whataboutism sin tax, they could solve budget deficits overnight.

[vkou]

Let's look at the thread of discussion.

> Assertion that China has brought incredible prosperity to its people.

> Complaint that actually, China's economic policies that brought that prosperity are... Structurally robbing its working class.

> Observation that America, which, presumably, is the model for the best, most evolved, and un-improvable structure for its economy is also structurally robbing its working class, with no roadmap for course-correction from it. (And it's doing it for purposes that are not exactly developing the nation!)

> "That's Whataboutism!"

The complaint in #2 is only relevant as a relative comparison. China's economics structurally rob its working class? Okay, let's all agree that's the case - but rob it compared to what? The unchecked late-stage corporatism that we're practicing? The excesses of the industrial revolution in past centuries? It's bad compared to what, exactly? Some idealized strawman utopia, where no economic planning or monetary policy or deficit spending or consolidation of economic power exists? Do you have a roadmap for getting to that one?

The observation in #3 incredibly relevant. If you're not making a relative comparison of China's economy, you need to make an absolute analysis of it... And on an absolute analysis, it has done an incredible job of lifting hundreds of millions of people out of crushing poverty, and into first-world lifestyles, in only a few decades. All the central planning - control of its exchange rates, its monetary and debt and lending policy, it's focus on exports and fundamentals and R&D and education is exactly what has brought that prosperity about.

Meanwhile, the only thing our central planners, here at home are good at figuring out [1] is how to widen the gap between the haves, and the have-nots.

---

[1] I am being a bit too harsh, the Fed does a good job given its mandate.

[thephyber]

> but government policy is now making Chinese consumers poorer than they otherwise would be

What country has perfect government policy?

The US has atrocious government policies. Costs of college, cost of healthcare insurance, the reason so many uninsured people use the ER as their primary medical usage, tax policy prioritization of capital reinvestment over wage earnings, caring for the environment over affordable housing, etc are all problematic policy outcomes which make the average person poorer.

They are also unsustainable.