the_dunk_tank

China does something:

Western media: “The red moon risen, The technology panda, the nuclear tiger, the economic noodle king, the supercondumpling”

Damn Communism must be awesome if China managed to go from failed tech revolution to tech superpower in a single day.

He did it, Xi pressed the big science and technology button!

the only way to escape economic stagnation is to give more power and property to landlords.

We're so back

It's not actually the worst economist article I've ever read

Instead Mr Xi wants state power to accelerate advanced manufacturing industries, which will in turn create high-productivity jobs, make China self-sufficient and secure it against American aggression. China will leapfrog steel and skyscrapers to a golden era of mass production of electric cars, batteries, biomanufacturing and the drone-based “low-altitude economy”.

Not only will China escape dependence on Western technology, but it will control much of the key intellectual property in new industries and charge rents accordingly. Multinationals will come to China to learn, not teach.

However, Mr Xi’s plan is fundamentally misguided. One flaw is that it neglects consumers. To restore confidence amid the property slump and thereby boost consumer spending requires stimulus.

A legitimate problem hence the approach to dual circulation

To induce consumers to save less requires better social security and health care, and reforms that open up public services to all urban migrants.

This is also true - China's healthcare system is grim (thanks ) and the hukou system is in dire need of reform. But the healthcare system has been steadily improving since 2012 and particularly with Covid. There is also talk of hukou reform but this would be very significant and not something to undertake before the real estate market has been stabilised.

"Sure, China is becoming a global superpower and displacing the US, but at what cost!?"

That telescope is a nice metaphor for the trajectories of the US and China. The Arecibo Telescope was similar. Built in Puerto Rico on indigenous land and against locals' wishes, it was eventually abandoned to decay there, defunct. No cleanup. It's just there, slowly collapsing, a danger to anyone that would tread on it. The local population has never been compensated. The Five-hundred-meter Aperture Spherical Telescope, on the other hand, was built recently by China, is larger, is fully functional, and just plain performs better. It incurred the relocation of the people there to nearby towns, but they were very well-compensated, and in fact the costs for relocation were greater than building the telescope itself. They moved from villages without running water or electricity to nice apartments.

but it will backfire

dang that sucks, sorry to hear that