• RedCat
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    10 months ago

    I can guarantee you that the average Chinese citizen is happier than the average American.

    • _NoName_@lemmy.ml
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      10 months ago

      That’s kind of a loaded statement, since China is currently booming due to its adoption of capitalism, and participation in the global economy.

      The US is currently experiencing late stage capitalism, while China is currently enjoying its golden years, though it did just experience a pretty bad housing market crash I hear.

      • RedCat
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        10 months ago

        China is not capitalist though.

        • _NoName_@lemmy.ml
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          10 months ago

          China allows anyone to start a business and many large firms within China are privately owned. While China does have many state-owned enterprises, provides a UBI, and has many socialist mechanisms in place, it does also implement capitalism.

          • RedCat
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            10 months ago

            Sure. If we are taking about “Has China capitalist elements?” The answer is without a doubt yes. But this doesn’t make China capitalist. They are squarely in the transitional stage between capitalism and socialism and show elements of both (as was already described by Lenin). With the overall trajectory of the country clearly steering towards socialism so I personally don’t think it’s fair to call China capitalist. Adding to that, China’s current wealth isn’t build upon the blood of the third world which also makes them quite different to America or Europe.

            • _NoName_@lemmy.ml
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              10 months ago

              I did not say “China is capitalist”, I stated “China has adopted capitalism to benefit its economy” which it absolutely has, both in it’s in-state strategy and it’s global strategy.

              • RedCat
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                10 months ago

                I am sorry then. I must have misunderstood you because I agree with you.

          • axont [she/her, comrade/them]@hexbear.net
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            10 months ago

            This only works if you say capitalism is the existence of private businesses, rather than a qualitative distinction of how resources and political representation are distributed. I’m kind of on the side that for a socialist country to re-adopt capitalism would require a total dissolution or rearrangement of its former state, and nothing like that happened in China. The socialist infrastructure and mechanics are still there.

            You might have less pushback if you said it more like “China has adopted market liberalization and is involved within the global capitalist economy” which is more undeniable. I’d be with you on that one. To say China is capitalist would be making a very distinct claim about how those privately owned businesses you mentioned have state representation and how much political authority they wield. Those business owners you mentioned don’t possess the same sort of unilateral authority in the same way as in a capitalist economy, the Chinese state is not designed to primarily protect the capitalist class, and that’s a major distinction.

            Oh, ok. Read your other comments. You mean to say China has capitalist elements, which I’d more likely call economic liberalization