In Communist China, People Buy Ten Million Cars
OK, OK, enough with the Yakov Smirnov references. China is no more communist than, say, California. And its vehicle sales prove it. With already-strong demand for passenger vehicles growing by 15 percent this year, Xinhua reports that Chinese automakers are set to sell 10m cars during 2008. According to information from the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers (CAAM), the demand is partly a product of falling car prices; a trend under threat from high steel costs. Moreover, as its car market matures, the Chinese government is poised to "move forward the industry restructuring by detailing standards on security, environment protection and energy saving," according to CAAM vice-chair Dong Yang. "We should keep a clear mind of the overall industry competence lagged behind that of the multi-national companies." Bringing domestically-produced Chinese cars up to international snuff will doubtless prove difficult. As the Chinese market matures and regulatory barriers to ownership increase, sales growth should level off. At some point, the People will bias the market towards home-grown products. Until then, it's double-digit growth as usual.
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John Horner: "How many state owned manufacturing companies are there in California? Zero. In China, the vast majority of companies are partly or wholly owned by one or more levels of government." True but CARB has more power than all the corps in CA combined. With their rulings they can make or break you. "China blocks a large fraction of the internet from it’s citizens to keep the peace. Here is one list of what they have routinely blocked: http://asp-cyber.law.harvard.edu/filtering/list.html Besides the obvious porn sites, such treacherous websites as that for the BBC and the Record Industry Association are forbidden fruit." True again, but Google here also filters the information you see here in good ole' 'Merica. It depends on the politics of the site. Like the media they will slant things. "China forces women pregnant with more than their one approved baby to have an abortion." Here in America we [s]encourage[/s] pressure women to have abortions and make sure if they're underage the moms and dads have no clue what is going on. After all we wouldn't want them to be "punished" with a baby. "China routinely jails people for speaking out against the government or for belonging to unapproved religions." Here in America, we raid religious compounds, take away the children, including babies (with no probable cause) from their mothers, and hold them indefinitely. Oh and sometimes we just burn the compound to the ground. "I could go on, but you get the point." I will with one more: In China the government can seize your property if it deems it for the good of the government/people. In America, they can do that too, but they can also seize your land and give it to a private entity if they think they can get more tax money in return. Looks like America has one over on China! I have to stop watching Fox News. At this rate I won't feel like celebrating "Independence" day.
China's looming demographic disaster is locked in. Look at the birth rate, the imbalance between boys and girls, the inevitable aging of the population, and the lack of social safety nets. Much as it may hurt some people to admit it, the United States is still a remarkably open, free and prosperous nation that people across the globe long to come to. Another little detail: when you go to college in China, the state decides your field of study. You may want to be an engineer, but get placed in pre-med. You may want to study history, but are told to major in math. That's authoritarianism.
Windswords: "True but CARB has more power than all the corps in CA combined. With their rulings they can make or break you." They only have power to promulgate broad rulings that apply equally to all companies. That's a power every government on Earth has. That may transform and industry, but it's hardly comparable to the state entanglement with direct ownership of companies and the conflicts of interest and corruption that promotes. "True again, but Google here also filters the information you see here in good ole’ ‘Merica. It depends on the politics of the site. Like the media they will slant things." Evidence please to support your claim. The only filtering I'm aware of is child porn and potential phishing sites. Furthermore, if you're not happy with Google, you can use MSN Live Search, or yahoo, or Ask etc. I've certainly never had trouble accessing sites ranging from white supremacist to communist/marxist/black nationalist. There is no country on Earth that protects free speech more thoroughly than the US, though there are a couple of European nations like Denmark that are comparable. You're really grasping at straws here. "Here in America we encourage pressure women to have abortions and make sure if they’re underage the moms and dads have no clue what is going on. After all we wouldn’t want them to be “punished” with a baby." Huh? There is no national policy like that on abortion, and many states keeping pushing the envelope to try to ban abortion completely. Many states have passed laws to mandate parental notification. "Here in America, we raid religious compounds, take away the children, including babies (with no probable cause) from their mothers, and hold them indefinitely. Oh and sometimes we just burn the compound to the ground." I can count on one hand the number of religious compounds that have been raided in the past couple of decades, and they involved credible suspicion of illegal weapons, child abuse etc. Furthermore, we have independent courts that can order the mothers and children to return based on insufficient evidence. When has that ever happened in China? Oh, and evidence strongly suggests that the Branch Davidians started the fire. Why would federal agents who were using gas to try to get those nuts to come out peacefully and unharmed start a fire? "I will with one more: In China the government can seize your property if it deems it for the good of the government/people. In America, they can do that too, but they can also seize your land and give it to a private entity if they think they can get more tax money in return. Looks like America has one over on China!" Except we have something called the 5th Amendment that requires that the government pay you for the value of the property seized, and we also have courts who actually step in sometimes to ensure that the seizure is proper and compensation is just. "I have to stop watching Fox News. At this rate I won’t feel like celebrating “Independence” day." Yes, you should stop watching Fox "News." What you shouldn't do is surrender your critical faculties to that sophistic crap about how the US is no different than China, Russia, North Korea etc. We definitely have plenty of flaws, but in terms of respect for rule of law and general liberal policies, China is not comparable to the US despite the best efforts of Bush to erode our liberties and respect for rule of law.
How many years before they surpass the US market in size? The demographic disaster is already here. Estimates of Chinese population statistics range from about 11 men for 10 women to as high as 12 men for 10 women. The discrepancy may come from different age cohorts being measured, but either number implies tens of millions of 'excess' males. Lotta potential for trouble right there. Cruisin' in their new cars won't fix it. Communism = socialism for the masses Fascism = socialism for the bourgeoisie