bobotheclown

China: Exactly Where Japan Was in the 1980s?

In response to part b) I'm not sure why people keep referring back to communism, why not socialism. What are the similarities to Stalin's Soviet Union that you're talking about, what do you mean when you say communism for that matter? That could be a question for a lot of people that bring up communism when describing the economy though.

Other things I feel should be pointed out not directed at anyone in particular:

There is significant government involvement in large companies from overseas who have divisions in China. However, this is as much about protectionism as it is about a controlled(doesn't have to be communism) economy.

There's a pretty significant degree of small business startups in China in the past several years. This really isn't a characteristic of a communist country. Increased lending encourages consumption and corporate investment, supply side economics. Whether it works or not is debatable, but hey many people here in hte US seem to be really behind the idea. The relevance to japan is that China has an extremely low rate of consumption, I can probably guess that japan had a much higher consumption rate in 1989. A lot of the policies that are in place are to stimulate consumption. These are things the Fed and treasury( through tax cuts) does in the United states. The only difference is China has more control over how to do these things and is more efficient at getting them done because of that. Is that more socialist, probably. But stimulating consumption is very capitalist, communists would probably not be concerned with increasing consumption at all.


On Aug 24 12:01 AM nova wrote:

> To compare today China with Japan in 1980s is outright stupid. <br/>
>
> Let me mention just a few items:
>
> a). Japan is a country with US military bases all over its territory.
> Japan is a semi-independent country who depends on US military to
> protect it. Consequently, back in 1980s and now, Japan is too dependent
> on the USA. During the last 20 years, Japan did not have a depression.
> Japanese did not stay in lines to soup-kitchens. Japan just 'lost"
> the last 20 years. It aws a terible for Japan loss. Now, it finds
> itself in a bad situation:
> - America "military umbrella" is very much questionable
> - Access to &amp; supply of outside natural resources also is questionable
>
> - Historically unfriendly to Japan China is becoming a superpower
>
> - Japan trade reliance on US markets (in light of US financial/economic
> catastrophe) does not promise anything good
>
> b). At the same time, China is an independent country. It has nuclear
> weapons to protect itself. China is rapidly moving in a position
> similar to the Soviet Union was in 1930s, i.e., China is moving in
> a superpower country status. Remember, China is a Communist country.
> The present China uses very similar objectives and methods used by
> Stalin's Soviet Union in 1930s when it became a world superpower.
>
>
> c). The present world geopolitical situation is very unstable
> - US military and economic might is rapidly declining. US military
> commitments are terribly overextended
> - Russia is very unstable
> - Chinese economic &amp; military capabilities are growing very rapidly
>
> - EU is also in a crisis
> - Do not forget Brazil, India and other rapidly developing countries
>