Wednesday 19 January 2022

From tuition ban to Evergrande collapse, is China tripping over its chase for ‘common prosperity’? | SCMP

Article by Donald Low. Interesting two reasons:

1. It's in the South China Morning Post, Asia's prestige English language paper on China issues, Hong Kong-based — where we are assured by foreign media that free speech is dead, post Beijing's National Security Law — and yet it is criticising a key policy goal of Xi Jinping, to reach "common prosperity". The SCMP is thus far navigating those treacherous post-NSL shoals rather well.
Sure there's been arrests and closures: I keep hoping the other shoe doesn't drop and am heartened whenever I see robust articles like these in our local media.

2. Donald Low’s analysis may well be right. When you try to reduce inequality by giving a greater role to state enterprises, you end up "levelling down" (as Socialism does) rather than "levelling up" (as Capitalism does — or at at least tries to).

Click above photo to go to the article.