Why China Works

China spent $40 billion plus on the olympics and we should all be outraged? Lets put it in context, $40 billion is what is lost by just one bank, Citibank, for subprime. Where is the outrage? In China tax payers ended up with upgraded infrastructure such as a subway lines and roads and new sports facilities at most of the universities in Beijing. US tax payers ended up having to bail out the banks and left with a trillion dollar bill. No outrage anywhere I can see.

"I'm always struck by the ability of the Chinese state to move in a coherent manner and to marshal its people and the resources of the country to a common target," noted David Murphy, head of CLSA's China Reality research division.

Quite similiar to Singapore's style and I am very confident that China will succeed.

Cheers Chinese ~!!!

@ DrewCAENG

The billions of dollars spent on the Beijing Olympics isn't entirely on Olympic venues but mainly in infrastructure and environmental cleanup. Because of the Olympics Beijing now has one of the most modern airports in the world and the largest. It built new freeways, and several new subway lines. It constructed Highspeed railways to Tianjin and Qindao, it also moved over 200 factories around Beijing to somewhere else. The Olympic was basically the engine for these huge changes in such a short time and the result was positive, and the money was well spent.

China set its official poverty line at 668 Yuan or $81 USD according to these standards the number is 90 million, under many other commonly accepted standards used which is currently at $1.25 a day the number grows to 200 million for East Asia which represents mostly just China. In 1981 the number was 800 Million below the poverty line. I don't know why we are debating this the fact that the gov. spent 48 billion on the Olympics is just sad. As a victim of it (we all are) I know about government wastefulness. For example London is spending an est 13Bil. on the 2012 Olympics, the 1996 Atlanta Olympics cost $1.6 bn ( Hmmm a little bit of a difference there) The building was an example don't put words in my mouth. The article I read from NY Times (would post the link if I could be bothered) said that this was the norm in many Chinese cities . Dont get offended I have nothing against the Chinese buddy. Try researching its fun and easy !

And where did you get the 200 million? from 30, 40 years ago????
There's a new building in ShangHai which is put in use recently and it's very high, of course, very new, many companies don't even have to the time to move in yet, and I believe some floors are not even sold yet, so this building is picked to represent the general situation?
And the Olympics, LOL. Geez.

Sorry, not 800 million 200 million, my mistake, still thats only on $1.25 a day, so ughh anyway
19% occuapncy got that out of a story in the NYtimes about a new office tower in Shaghai, actually most of those new towers have low occupancy. Just look at the situation if any western country spent that much on the olympics with all of our social problems their would be outgrage, and it was obviously an attempt to impress lets not be niave.

Christianamerican this might be a little over your head for someone who probably thinks creationism is a good thing to teach in schools and Im just guessing but I think I know what chads you punched in 2000 and 2004 thanks for that

There are some fascinating historical lessons to be learned from China, it is worth studying to gain insights about what has gone wrong here and vice versa over the past century. I think when faced with enormous problems and destitution as China was coming out of World War II that pragmatism from government was not just necessary but imperative for it to have any chance of rising from the ashes. I can't think of a better situation than to have engineers running the government as opposed to attorneys. It is the same as having scientists rather than idealists running the country. I am convinced that the chief flaw of the last executive administration was its idealism and the destruction it wrought to foreign policy, budget , trade deficit and the economy. Arguably the idealism that led to the seriously worsening trade deficit began during a previous administration. The old addage that if something works, don't change it certainly applies to the NAFTA like "Free Trade" deals, deregulation of the markets, and avoidance of pre-emptive wars. The sacking of executives and criminal prosecution of executives and board members involved in the melamine scandal demonstrates that these people and enterprises are not above the law and held responsible for their actions by the governemnt and thereby the people. This sentiment is sorely and inexplicably lacking in western nations. While 30 percent skimming might seem excessive and certainly needs to be improved upon, I would argue that just as much if not more is lost in western nations due to insider trading, inappropriate expense write-offs, inventive bookeeping and exploitation of strategic tax loopholes. At least it can be said that there can be benefits to more government oversight when its done appropriately as opposed to having the inmates running the prison so to speak that is common in western corporations and financial instiitutions. As the subprime mortage scandal proves, the board of directors is not always aware of what their executives are doing or dont care to protect the integrity of the corporation. Perhaps these boards do not represent adequate oversight of these institutions behavior and the government needs to provide it. The first step would at least be to at least draft legistlation intended to punish those who abuse and exploit the system for personal financial gain by civil suit or with prison time. The second would be to fund and expand organizations such as the SEC in order to give them some teeth and clout instead them looking like political appointees just collecting checks in exchange for their donations like the SEC did with regards failing to detect to Bernie Madoff's massive ponzi scheme.

RayG 01:

Your last sentence in your comment here would be more fitting if you were describing India, the largest democracy in the world. I can give a long list of nations whose economies are far worse than China's despite their democratic badges. Please use your brain to think on your own; don't regurgitate racist rants of other fire-throwers of American ultranationalists and neocons.

and they're "trying to hard" to develop the economy to impress other people, people like you?
you need help

"I read that 800 Million Chinese live below the poverty line", "massive sky scrapers with only 19% occupancy", and I read it again to make sure I didn't read it wrong...
where did you read that?
800 million under the poverty line, I mean, for Christ's sake! you don't even have to read to see what's so wrong about that sentence

Posted By: DrewCAENG @ 01/12/2009 7:15:48 AMI dont think people in the west are jelous or fearful...but just see it as kind of lame the way China tries so hard to impress everybody else, massive sky scrapers with only 19% occupancy and billions spent on olympic games. I read that 800 Million Chinese live below the poverty line (I dont think westerners are jelous of that). China is acting kind of fake and hungry - from a western perspective.
---------------------------------------------
800 million of Chinese live in poverty?! What have you been smoking? I know CA legalizes "medical" weed - I am sure you are taking full advantage of it.

controlled governance is always good for any country . If the leaders are 50% pragmatic and atleast 90 % patriotic, definitely The country flourishes. They can take bold steps at difficult times. chinese leadership prooves this and this is a model for leaders (for being more patriatic and pragmatic) and peasants ( for allowing the leaders to take bold steps)

Gaddipati Sreekanth

I dont think people in the west are jelous or fearful...but just see it as kind of lame the way China tries so hard to impress everybody else, massive sky scrapers with only 19% occupancy and billions spent on olympic games. I read that 800 Million Chinese live below the poverty line (I dont think westerners are jelous of that). China is acting kind of fake and hungry - from a western perspective.

Westerners tend to think that the current state they're in has always been so and that anyone who isn't at their level of development must be backward. They harp about freedom and human rights but they forget that all these things were won over 100s of years of progress. My father was a peasant in China, in his youth he only had one pair of trousers and if he had wet the bed during the night, thats just tough because thats all he had. His family couldn't afford to send all the kids to school so they devoted their funds to send his edler brother to school while my father used to listen to lessons outside the school window. I myself am a software enginner earning over $US150,000 a year. What progress we have made in a generation. There is no doubt in my mind that China will be pluristic, tolerant, democratic in the future. AND this is despite the noise and empty rhetoric in the west, not because of it. Noone in China doubts we have made progress and will continue to make progress. Noone, not even the politicians in China, deny that we are progressing on the road to more freedom and more tolerance. The only ones who fail to see it are the westerners who are jealous and fearful of our progress.

See what happened with Japan after similar years of tremendows gtowth. China i son the brink of the similar critical level, and you will write again about free market advantages. What will be the next "lesson", Russian future miracle?