This is a nutty conservative meme that is going around lately – China is more capitalist than the US!
China is not more capitalist than the US.
The stock market is tightly controlled.
And most importantly, all land is still owned by the state and it needs to stay that way. No one owns one inch of land in China. It’s all being rented or leased from the state. China recently turned over most of its rental state housing to its tenants, giving them effective title to their homes. In other words, China told most Chinese renters that you now own the place you are renting. Do you think the US would ever do that?
The state owns and controls almost all the banks and in a way, it controls most of the economy. Sure it lets the capitalists do their thing but it reserves the right to shut them down anytime it wants to, and it even shuts down whole industries.
Also the state plays a vast role in society, spends an incredible amount of money, and really tries hard to help the poor.
In addition, 45% of the economy is still state owned or owned by local municipalities.
Unfortunately, in some ways the meme is true.
China’s health system has been effectively privatized and Mao’s great achievements in public health have been for all intents and purposes reserved. Everyone – including almost all commenters on this blog – supports China’s “move to capitalism,” but do they realize how many people it killed? Millions of people die in China from lack of healthcare every year. You guys are cheering for this? What’s wrong with you if you are? All medical clinics are private now, and all prescription drugs must be paid for. Most people cannot afford to go to the doctor or pay for prescription drugs. The state has introduced health insurance that covers 85% of costs, but it costs too much for most Chinese to afford. It is state health insurance – does the US have any state health insurance?
China has no social security. The idea is that Chinese society says children must take care of their parents so there is no need to social security.
Workers have effectively zero rights and all independent labor unions are banned. The Communist Party labor unions are useless and support the capitalist exploiters.
