I occasionally listen to public radio – not “in spite of” the fact that they have turned into the public relations arm, not just of “today’s left”, but of the “progressive” upper middle class. It reflects their angsts; I imagine a drinking game involving taking a shot whenever there’s a mention of Covid, January 6, climate change and white supremacy being very short and very chemically lethal.
It reflects their conceits; the traditional “NPR Voice”, the ofay upper-middle-class accent of the Oberlin poli-sci graduate, is being supplanted by very audibly African-American and, how shall we say this, accents of males with alternate lifestyles – the sort of stuff things that upper-middle-class white progressives demand from their entertainment.
And it reflects their ignorance, over and over, in so many ways.
One that I caught yesterday while driving across the Northern Plains, on the syndicated “New Yorker Radio Hour” – an episode which has not yet gotten onto the website – involved a woman, a reporter if memory serves, saying with what sounded like a straight face:
China has changed so much in recent years – economically, and socially.
And yet, the political system just doesn’t seem to change…
Huh.
You’re saying a communist kleptocracy, which knows fiull well that the only alternative to being in power in a Communist dictatorship is a bullet in the back of the head, a system that is more similar to the Mafia than anything else we know of, doesn’t “change with the times?”
I often – very, very often – say that Democrats can say pretty much anything they want to their audience, since they – whether they dropped out of high school, or have a PhD in Women’s Studies – are so universally gullible and ignorant.
Sometimes I feel like I’m speaking too broadly.
Then, I hear things like this, and I get back on track.
So . . . isolating China economically didn’t turn it into a democracy, and neither has opening China to world trade.
Same thing re: Cuba.
Maybe economics isn’t the engine of history the neolibs think that it is?
So the capitalists will say that, sure, China is an oppressive one party dictatorship, and the introduction of capitalism into the Chinese economy hasn’t led to greater freedom . . . Yet!
Or maybe they will say that Chinese capitalism isn’t true capitalism.
These arguments should sound familiar.
Libertarians, and the capitalist wing of the GOP, believe that you can’t have prosperity without personal and economic liberty. At least they used to believe that, don’t know how they talk about China these days.
MP, I’m not certain personal and economic liberty is the foundation of prosperity. I suspect it may be property rights.
Imagine a system where you can say anything you like, vote for anybody you like, earn as much as you like, but I can swoop in and take everything you have at any time for any reason or no reason. How much time and effort will you invest in your job, your home, your business?
Life, liberty and property.
Well if you lock up half your citizens then the economy tanks. This sharp downturn is entirely self inflicted and the zero-Covid policy is all about Xi’s quest for a third term in office. China has had 18 months to vaccinate its population with mRNA vaccines but it has refused to do so either out of national pride or some secretive deal with local pharmaceutical companies. That in itself is a failure of governance.
MP – We Don’t Talk About China.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GfJOh25Enco
Interesting how EI doesn’t think Red China, a commie dictatorship, couldn’t mandate that everyone be vaccinated. I mean, while they’re welding shut the doors to apartment buildings when some residents get the Kung flu. Couldn’t they make a trade-off, get vaccinated or be locked in? I wonder what it is about that (Red Chinese) vaccine?
So what is Xi’s aim with all this? Is re-election really the primary driver?
Why are these lockdowns good? Does China/Xi fear that widespread Omicron deaths could lead to social unrest when they control all media outlets?
Is it a convenient break for an overheating economy to have a few lockdowns here and there?
Are lockdowns a good reminder for citizens that the state is the most important?
Does economic stagnation have any benefits for the state? Could it be that the state gains in importance during lockdowns? Are the companies that fall into distress being subsumed into state enterprises?
I would urge SiTD to do a deeper dive into the motivation of the state/Xi on why lockdowns may be a useful tool, not only to temper Covid, but potential other benefits for the state or for the “common good”, etc.
Does China/Xi fear that widespread Omicron deaths could lead to social unrest when they control all media outlets?
There are no deaths.
Adding a link close tag. Sorry about that.
Hopefully the West will get its act together and bring home as much of our manufacturing and supply chains away from China and preferably closer to home. In the meantime — brace yourself for more supply chain disruptions and higher inflation.