Creeping Socialism in Communist China

Jesse Walker | November 10, 2008

Time reports:

China announced a huge economic stimulus package on Sunday, pledging to spend some 4 trillion renminbi — or around $586 billion — on a wide range of moves designed to boost an economy starting to feel the effects of the world financial crisis....

Xinhua, China's official news agency, reported that the package's spending over the next two years would be aimed at ten major areas, including "low-income housing, rural infrastructure, water, electricity, transportation, the environment, technological innovation and rebuilding from several disasters, most notably the May 12 earthquake."

Comments

Brian Sorgatz|11.10.08 @ 1:51PM|#

Your headline reminds me of signs that say "No children allowed in the maternity ward," or the line from Dr. Strangelove: "No fighting in the war room!"

Engineer|11.10.08 @ 1:54PM|#

While I still disagree with government "stimulus packages", there's worse things they could spend on. Like nationalizing banks.

Engineer|11.10.08 @ 1:54PM|#

Then again, China's banks are already nationalized. Bad example.

The Democratic Republican|11.10.08 @ 1:59PM|#

those bastards...spending money on infrastructure, water and recovery from disasters....

The world will never be free until we learn that liberty means the freedom to dig your own water wells without the tyranny of public utilities.

:)

xx|11.10.08 @ 2:00PM|#

Really? F*ck china.

ed|11.10.08 @ 2:00PM|#

It's nice that China isn't distracted by pesky elections as we are in the decadent West.

concerned observer|11.10.08 @ 2:08PM|#

OF course the wingnuts saythat improving infrastructure is creeping socialism. Seriously you people need to stop smoking the pot for a while.

|11.10.08 @ 2:18PM|#

"The package proposes to do this by, among other things, cutting taxes and abolishing existing limits on commercial banks' credit lending."

concerned observer remains immune to irony.

concerned observer|11.10.08 @ 2:21PM|#

@DM-That's right and when the post mentions infrastructure improvements and calls it "creeping socialism" I shouldn't call them out for the bullshit?

|11.10.08 @ 2:27PM|#

Predictions were for Chinese GDP to grow 6% for the next few years. Huge, but they've got charts that say 8%'s the minimum to avoid unrest. The increase in commercial lending is great, but a lot of cities have office towers at around 40% vacancy.

Their stock market dropped 60% from Dec. to the Olympics. The (relatively) high cost of labor has shuttered factories in the boom cities Zhenzhen, Dongguo and elsewhere.

This will not end well.

|11.10.08 @ 2:27PM|#

Xinhua, China's official news agency, reported that the package's spending over the next two years would be aimed at ten major areas,

I see no reason to take claims made by Total State's "oficial news agency" at face value.

Jesse Walker|11.10.08 @ 2:28PM|#

concerned observer remains immune to irony.

"concerned observer" is an exercise in irony.

Kolohe|11.10.08 @ 2:52PM|#

The nominal GDP of china is around $4 trillion, so this $586 billion is a staggering amount, even if spread over two years. The US equivalent stimulus package would be at least 1 trillion, and possible as much as 1.8 trillion, depending on how one did GDP and PPP conversions.

|11.10.08 @ 2:57PM|#

So, China's bailout and our bailout are about the same relative size?

|11.10.08 @ 3:41PM|#

At least they haven't opted to just kill off the surplus population, this time.

Joel|11.10.08 @ 5:14PM|#

I read that and went, "4 trillion what? I thought China's currency was called Yuan." A quick google gave me:

The renminbi (literally people's currency ) or the yuan is the official currency in the mainland of the People's Republic of China (PRC).

So thanks, Reason. I learned something useless today! Now I can settle down to drinking myself unconscious.

猪|11.10.08 @ 5:15PM|#

It's nice that China isn't distracted by pesky elections as we are in the decadent West.

Pesky elections or not, at least "communist" China has the right to private property explicitly enshrined in it's constitution.

Let's see you get an amendment like that passed here.

rhywun|11.10.08 @ 6:07PM|#

at least "communist" China has the right to private property explicitly enshrined in it's constitution

There are lots of rights specified in China's constitution that are completely ignored by the government.

TallDave|11.10.08 @ 6:09PM|#

Please don't let Obama see this.

Obama|11.10.08 @ 6:29PM|#

See what?

David Rollins|11.10.08 @ 10:37PM|#

Didn't someone tell them Keynesianism is dead? Except in the US, of course.

Y'all need to back off "concerned observer". He's like the LP reformer who gets pilloried in the LP radicals club, and in this case he makes a good point.

|11.11.08 @ 4:40PM|#

Let's see you get an amendment like that passed here.

Already taken care of, thanks. Eviscerated by the Supreme Court, of course, but there it is in the Fifth Amendment:

nor shall private property be taken for public use, without just compensation