China's Superior Economic Model -- Andy Stern
The free-market fundamentalist economic model is being thrown onto the trash heap of history.
Andy Grove, the founder and chairman of Intel, provocatively wrote in Businessweek last year that, "Our fundamental economic beliefs, which we have elevated from a conviction based on observation to an unquestioned truism, is that the free market is the best of all economic systems—the freer the better. Our generation has seen the decisive victory of free-market principles over planned economies. So we stick with this belief largely oblivious to emerging evidence that while free markets beat planned economies, there may be room for a modification that is even better."
The past few weeks have proven Mr. Grove's point, as our relations with China, and that country's impact on America's future, came to the forefront of American politics. Our inert Senate, while preparing for the super committee to fail, crossed the normally insurmountable political divide to pass legislation to address China's currency manipulation. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, former Gov. Mitt Romney and President Barack Obama all weighed in with their views—ranging from warnings that China must "end unfair discrimination" (Mrs. Clinton) to complaints that the U.S. has "been played like a fiddle" (Mr. Romney) and that China needs to stop "gaming" the international system (Mr. Obama).
Read more ...
My Comment: Regular readers of this blog know that I have been a regular visitor to China since the mid 1980s. In fact .... I lived there in 1988 as a guest of the Federal Chinese government in the province of Fujian (Quanzhou city is where I stayed) .... and with this history I would like to believe that I have a certain background and experience on knowing what China was .... is .... and a good guess on where it is going.
It is with this background and experience that then permits me to critique Andy Stern's above opinion piece .... and to put it bluntly .... what I read just makes me shake my head. It is so packed with errors and lies that I do not even know where to begin. He clearly has no clue (or he chooses to be ignorant) on what is happening in China .... and more importantly .... on the type of life that the common person must live under in China. The idea that theirs is a "superior" system .... please .... if given the chance the mass majority of the country would deport themselves willingly to any Western country that would accept them in a heart beat. Do I see Andy Stern or anyone like him deciding to immigrate to China .... no .... in fact ... no one wants to go there (with the exception of the impoverished North Koreans) .... and that should say volumes of what is happening there.
On a side note .... Andy Stern is a close ally and confidant of President Obama .... and that should say volumes of where President Obama is coming from.