Is China Communist? Pop Quiz of Modern China 101

[spsk]

No you are wrong, USA can be identified by capitalism and nothing else. USA can do anything if that is profitable. Indo - USA nuclear deal is a great example.

 

[jeypore]

Why Americans can not leave China alone?

There are several reason for this, the main ones have to do with:

1. communism
2. Lack of transparecy
3. Nuclear aresnal
4. History has shown more chinese spies (based on caught)
5. Military rise without any transparecy

Other American can probably add more to this list.

 

[kungpaochicken]

There are several reason for this, the main ones have to do with:

1. communism
2. Lack of transparecy
3. Nuclear aresnal
4. History has shown more chinese spies (based on caught)
5. Military rise without any transparecy

Other American can probably add more to this list.

1. Check the previous posts or spend 2/3 month in China, if you still believe that, you are no better than Lou Doubbs
2. False, China is no worse than US on military transparency
3. US has the largest the Nuclear Arsenal (a thousand time larger than China) and so far is still the only country in the world that actually use it during a war
4. False, list the number, name and year all the Chinese spy being caught and all the US spy being caught, do a compare before you make false statement here
5. Chinese Military spent/cap is far behind countries like Japan, India, Korean...

"Other American can probably add more to this list"
I won't be surprised for that, just like how they add the story of Jessica Lynch fighting to death to save her partner and how US intelligence identified WMD from satellite pictures

 

[chauism]

No you are wrong, USA can be identified by capitalism and nothing else. USA can do anything if that is profitable. Indo - USA nuclear deal is a great example.

Those people may have a strong disagreement with you and have some really good reasons too.

11 reasons America's a new socialist economy
How free market ideology backfired, sabotaging capitalistic democracy
By Paul B. Farrell, MarketWatch

ARROYO GRANDE, Calif. (MarketWatch) -- Welcome to the conservative's worst nightmare: The law of unintended consequences. Why? Nobody wants to admit it, folks, but the conservatives' grand ideology is backfiring, actually turning the world's greatest capitalistic democracy into the world's newest socialist economy.

A little history: The core principles of conservative economic ideology are grounded in Nobel economist Milton Friedman's 1962 classic "Capitalism and Freedom." Too late to stop President Lyndon Johnson's Great Society, those principles became the battle cries energizing conservatives since Reagan: Unrestricted free markets, free enterprise and free trade; deregulation, privatization and globalization; trickle-down economics and trickle-up wealth to an elite plutocracy destined to rule the new American capitalist utopia.

So what happened? Are you guys nuts? Hey, I'm talking to all you blind Beltway politicians (in both parties) ... plus the Old Boys Club running Wall Street (into the ground) ... plus all you fat-cat CEOs (with megamillion parachutes) ... and all your buddies scamming everybody else to get on the Forbes 400. You are proof of Lord Acton's warning: "Power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely."

It's backfiring! You folks turned our America from a great capitalistic democracy into a meddling socialist economy. Still you don't get it. You're acting like teen addicts tripping on an overdose of "greed-is-good" testosterone while your caricature of conservative economics would at best make a one-line joke on Jay Leno.

Here are 11 reasons your manipulations are sabotaging the great principles of leaders like Friedman and Reagan:
1. Dumber than a fifth grader with cognitive dissonance

Kids know what it means. They know most adults today can't see past the end of their noses. Liberals tune out candidate McBush for being lost in the past. Conservatives can't hear Obama without seeing that turban.

Cognitive dissonance simply means most brains cannot see past their own narrow ideologies. They dismiss any data that contradicts their old ideologies. Whether you're a conservative Republican or liberal Democrat, you only hear what you already know is "true." All else is tuned out.
2. Where did all the leaders go with their moral character?

Friedman's economics requires leaders of moral character. Did it run into Lord Acton's warning: "Power corrupts, absolute power corrupts absolutely?" Former Ford and Chrysler CEO Lee Iacocca said yes in "Where Have All the Leaders Gone?"

Friedman's great conservative principles have been commandeered by myopic ideologues whose idea of leadership is balancing the demands of self-interest lobbyists with the need for campaign donations. Unfortunately, a new "change" president won't be enough; there are 537 elected officials in Washington controlled by 42,000 special interest lobbyists.
3. Fed and U.S. Treasury adopted Enron accounting tricks

Bad news: Enron failed several years ago because of its off-balance-sheet accounting scam. The Fed's doing the same thing: Dumping Bear's $30 billion liabilities onto the taxpayer's "balance sheet." Next Treasury proposes adding $5.3 trillion more from Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

Unfortunately clever accounting tricks by Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson and Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke aren't going to fool foreign lenders analyzing America's creditworthiness. Worse-case scenario: U.S. Treasury bills with less than a triple-A rating.

With 90 banks on the brink and already too many bail-outs, our so-called leaders are running out of magic bullets. So now the taxpayer's "balance sheet" has become the all-purpose "dumping ground" and it's overcrowding fast as our leaders raise the white flag of socialism.
4. Deregulation creating new socialist housing system

Back in 1999 a Democratic president and Republican Congress were in love with a fantasy called the "new economics." Enthusiastic lobbyists invented the brilliant idea of dismantling the wall between commercial and investment banking: They killed the Glass-Steagall Act that was keeping the sleazy hands of short-term hustlers out of the pockets of long-term lenders.

Flash forward: We lost 85-year-old Bear Sterns and $32 billion IndyMac. Lehman's iffy. And 90 banks. With the virtual takeover of Freddie and Fanny, Wall Street's grand experiment with free-market ideology is backfiring, having socialized the housing market. They have nobody to blame but their self-centered greed.

5. Trade deficits outsourced more of America's wealth than jobs

One look at Forbes lists of fat cats and you know the 21st Century doesn't just belong to Asia, it belongs to everyone but America. Why? Once again, remember Warren Buffett's famous "Farmer's Story" in Fortune: "We were taught in Economics 101 that countries could not for long sustain large, ever-growing trade deficits ... our country has been behaving like an extraordinarily rich family that possesses an immense farm. In order to consume 4% more than they produce -- that's the trade deficit -- we have, day by day, been both selling pieces of the farm and increasing the mortgage on what we still own."

Friedman was right: Congressional spending is the biggest cause of inflation, and, wow, those conservatives sure did love blank-check deficit spending the past eight years!
6. Banking system in meltdown, minting penny stocks

The Friedman conservatives apparently understand Joseph Schumpeter's "creative destruction." Yet, our free-market ideologues can't seem to accept that America is now on the "destructive" downside leg of the cycle, in the economy, markets, trade, politics and, yes, sadly, even with their conservative ideology.

You don't have to be smarter than a fifth grader to figure out that our leaders are clueless about the reality of our crumbling banking system, with many banks trading as penny stocks, while the Fed still panders to conservative pre-election politics rather than getting serious about inflation.
7. Ideologues preach savings, but still push spending

A core principle of conservatism is frugality, saving for the future. Grandparents raised me, struggled during the Depression, passed on strong ideals.

Somewhere over the past generation conservatives forget frugality. This distortion peaked in 2003 when consumers were told to spend, not sacrifice, and fuel the economy even as government spent excessively on war. That was a clear breach of every conservative leader's position in earlier wars.

As a result, in one brief generation, as the power of conservative ideologues grew, America's savings rate dropped precipitously from 11% in 1980 to less than zero today.
8. Warning, the market's under 2000 peak, losing money

Imagine you're on Jeff Foxworthy's fabulous show competing to see if you really are smarter than a fifth grader. Question: "If you put $10,000 in the market in March of 2000 when the Dow peaked at 11,722, how much money would you have today if the market's 10% under 11,722?" So you guess $9,000.

But then two fifth graders raise their hands: One asks if the CPI inflation rate should be considered? If so, maybe $5,000 is closer to the right answer. The other kid wants to know if you're buying stuff in Chicago or Singapore.

The truth is, the best answer for most adults is: "You've lost a hell of a lot of money in the market under the grand conservative ideology the past eight years."
9. Inflation and dollars: Is Zimbabwe the new model for the U.S.?

The Los Angeles Times ran a photo of a Zimbabwe $500 million bank note, worth $20 at noon, less at dinner. Why? Inflation's there is running 32 million (yes million!) percent annually. The German company printing their banknotes finally cut them off.

Things may be worse in America, psychologically. Our ideological obsession with "growth" is not working because there is too much collateral damage, namely inflation. Our dollar has lost substantial value to the euro because our dysfunctional leaders are convinced that a trade policy funded by debt makes sense.

Now we owe China $1.3 trillion, sovereign funds want equity not cheap dollar IOUs, and still our clueless Treasury and the Fed continue debasing our currency, printing money like Zimbabwe.
10. Free-market health care failing 47,000,000 Americans

Big Pharma loves free-market conservatism and no-compete Medicare drug programs. Nobody else is happy. Taxpayers get stuck with the bill.

"The Coming Generational Storm" tells us that without massive reforms and big lifestyle changes for taxpayers (especially retirees), within a couple short decades America's entitlement programs will eat up the entire federal budget. Medicare is the biggest cost item in your future, over $50 trillion in unfunded liabilities.

Conservative ideologues naively believe the answer is more pay-out-of-pocket insurance plans, even with 47 million already uninsured because they can't pay. Here as in so many areas of our economy, free-market junkies really are suffering a severe case of cognitive dissonance, as blind to the facts about the uninsured as they are to their outdated free-market fantasies.
11. Conservative free-market policies inflated oil 300%!

Yep, oil inflated 300% in eight short years under the "leadership of two oil men." But, you can't blame them. We put the foxes in the henhouse, knowing full well "real" oil men love digging holes on the supply side, supporting ethanol subsidies and blaming speculators -- it's in their genes! Talk about cognitive dissonance; real oil men thrive on cowboy images of Marlboro Men in Hummers, Navigators and F-150 trucks.

Net result? Another perfect example of "creative destruction" in action as conservative ideology meets "law of unintended consequences," driving GM, the symbol of America capitalism, closer to bankruptcy ... while turning America into a socialist economy.

11 reasons America's a new socialist economy
A socialist America?

 

[spsk]

USA has no other options left right now but to socialize, But once the economic crisis resolved they will definitely be back on track.

But I think nobody can ignore this that US does anything if its profitable to them, They will sell the nuclear technology to Iran if Iran agrees to open their Oil market , anyone disagree ?

Definitely India/China cannot have this kind of relationship , Not only us let it be any other country, But US can do that.

 

[chauism]

USA has no other options left right now but to socialize, But once the economic crisis resolved they will definitely be back on track.

But I think nobody can ignore this that US does anything if its profitable to them, They will sell the nuclear technology to Iran if Iran agrees to open their Oil market , anyone disagree ?

Definitely India/China cannot have this kind of relationship , Not only us let it be any other country, But US can do that.

If you read the article, you will know this was written before the financial crisis, and the problems it talked about were there way before that too.

Tell me a country does not do anything that is profitable to them, and so selflessly contributes to the well being of others.

 

[spsk]

China - as by one of a last update of our Chinese friends, Sure chauism knows whose that

 

[gambit]

It’s foolish to adhere to a particular ideology, be it communism or capitalism or whatever-ism.

It is equally foolish to label a country with a particular –ism label.

China is a country with mixed –isms, so is USA; so are many other countries in the world.

Take USA for example:

Social welfare/Affirmative action – socialism
Progressive tax rate/Free 12 year education/Labor union – communism
Wall Street and Corporate America – capitalism
Corporate culture - despotism
Pro-abortion/stem cell/gay lesbian– liberalism
Viet Nam War / Iraq War – imperialism
Selective Service System – militarilism
Hospital must admit dying beggars – humanitarianism
Near extinction of Native Indians– fascism
Guantanamo Bay/ Abu Ghraib – authoritarianism
China-towns – feudalism
Two-party monopoly – bi-dictatorship
Popular election – democracy
Electoral voting system – unfair-but-accepted-ism

…

The bottom line: it never makes sense to use one label to describe a country. Nonetheless, when you hear calling China communism, it is propaganda; when you hear calling USA imperialism, it’s propaganda; when you hear the Indians calling themselves democracy, it’s propaganda.

As much as I disagree with your list above, you are basically correct in that there is no nation-state that operate under a pure form of any ism.

A nation is a group of people with a shared heritage.

A country is a geographical locale that may or may not have distinct borders.

A state is a political entity that rule over both nation and country.

For example...The Navajo Tribe in the US is a nation without a country and whose state is subservient to the larger state, the US Federal government.

That said...For every nation-state there is a dominant ideological-political foundation that will characterize that nation-state to other nation-states. That ideological-political foundation is not an empty set and whatever this set contains characterize the set as an ism. For humanitarian reasons, the capitalist society will endow its non-productive citizens with a mean of living, call it 'social security' or a 'pension' or a 'welfare' stipend. Out of the need for discipline, order and efficiency, corporate structures are authoritarian in nature, and by corporate structures, I mean hierarchies and that include the military, the highest form of authoritarian-ism.

All of these distinct isms must subjugate themselves to whatever is dominant. Even under communism, the state recognize the reality of one aspect of human nature -- greed -- and grudgingly accommodate, to as little as possible, some measure of capitalism among the people. Socialism acknowledged greed but seeks to restrain greed in many ways, notably through high taxes. Capitalism openly celebrate greed and grudgingly accept restraints such as regulations, taxes and unions. The recurring theme here is what the dominant ism REJECT: communism reject greed, socialism rejects unbridled greed and capitalism rejects restrictions on greed.

On the political front, authoritarianism, and that include communism, reject ideological-political competition while democratism reject statism -- "basic concept that sovereignty is vested not in the people but in the national state, and that all individuals and associations exist only to enhance the power, the prestige, and the well-being of the state. The fascist concept of statism repudiates individualism and exalts the nation as an organic body headed by the Supreme Leader and nurtured by unity, force, and discipline." -- and celebrate diversity of opinions. Under authoritarianism, diversity of political opinions are allowed only to an extremely select few and they are always in positions of power and authority where each can leverage political powers and form alliances to counter other alliances in this select group.

So it make eminent sense to label a nation-state with an ism whenever we can recognize a dominant ideological-political theme being applied. It is intellectually dishonest to deny the natural tendency of man to label just as it is futile for communists to deny the greed within the same nature of man.

 

[freeman]

China not a communist country? How come the government calls itself Communist Party of China (CPC) or Chinese Communist Party (CCP)?

Maybe you should let me government know, they may not be aware they are not communists

Maybe one day the Chinese people will be able to choose themselves who they want ruling their country.

 

[chauism]

China - as by one of a last update of our Chinese friends, Sure chauism knows whose that

Huh???

China?

I won't think so, China just like other countries still do things based on its self interests, the profit may not be short term, it can be long term profit as well.

 

[spsk]

Huh???

China?

I won't think so, China just like other countries still do things based on its self interests, the profit may not be short term, it can be long term profit as well.

" First, China doesn't export Revolution; second, China doesn't export hunger and poverty; third, China doesn't come and cause you headaches, what more to be said? "

Do you remember who said this ?

 

[chauism]

China not a communist country? How come the government calls itself Communist Party of China (CPC) or Chinese Communist Party (CCP)?

Good question, why is China being called People's Republic while it is definitely not a republic?

Maybe you should let me government know, they may not be aware they are not communists.

Trust me they know. Will any communist put “To get rich is glorious.” as national slogan?

Maybe one day the Chinese people will be able to choose themselves who they want ruling their country.

I hope not, at least not by universal suffrage. If you knew the results from Super Girls(A popular TV show in China, which everyone can vote for his or her own favourite contestant to be the winner), you won't trust them for choosing anything for you.

 

[chauism]

" First, China doesn't export Revolution; second, China doesn't export hunger and poverty; third, China doesn't come and cause you headaches, what more to be said? "

Do you remember who said this ?

So any profit has to be based on others' misfortunes? To achieve one's interests one has to cause others suffer? What a horrible world we are living in!!! My hands are full of bloods of the others, since I am more fortunate than the others and made more for myself.

 

[spsk]

So any profit has to be based on others' misfortunes? To achieve one's interests one has to cause others suffer? What a horrible world we are living in!!!

It was no one but you to say this, so it was your question and it was your answer, Hope you understood who lives in a horrible world.

May be next time before posting something you can think once if that at least can convince you.

 

[chauism]

It was no one but you to say this, so it was your question and it was your answer, Hope you understood who lives in a horrible world.

That is what I have said:

Tell me a country does not do anything that is profitable to them, and so selflessly contributes to the well being of others.

I don't know how to address you flawed logic in this anymore, someone please help. Clearly you don't understand the concept of win-win and mutual benefit. In your mind for someone to gain something, someone has to loose something in return, right?

My advice to you, don't ever engage in any trading activities, because you are either exploiting others or being exploited by the others.

May I ask how old you are?