Print This Post

Problems With Chinese Investment Strategy? Yes.

I spied this Washington Post article on Mish’s website (he has a good write up on China, too).  This article cites several examples of why I disagree so vehemently with people who believe that China has "capitalist tendencies", or that they will ever be a capitalist super power.  The Chinese government is a Communist government, and communism DOES NOT WORK!

At 3 a.m. on most Olympic nights, a bus with a few reporters would return to the Beijing Tibet Hotel. A dozen security officials met us to make sure we had credentials. During the day, knee-high tape outside the hotel created lanes for entering and exiting — a reasonable way to keep things organized.

But in the middle of the night in a sleeping city, the tape was irrelevant. So, exhausted, we’d step over the tape and take the direct route to the front door. And every night the security people objected, insisting forcefully that we obey the stupid tape maze.

Finally, a Chinese solution was devised. Instead of stopping by the front door, our bus continued to the side of the hotel so, even though our walk was longer, the direct route now obeyed the tape.

Though we were the guests and they the hosts, we didn’t matter. Common sense was irrelevant. The tape — symbolic of a decision made by somebody somewhere in an unknowably complex and security-conscious control structure — was all that mattered. They had uniforms. We didn’t. That’s big everywhere. It’s huge here.