On Sun, 17 Feb 2013 19:18:39 -0500, "F.O.A.D."
wrote:

There's not much "economic freedom" in either Vietnam or China.
What has
happened is that one form of economic exploitation of workers has
been
exchanged for another. A relatively few people in both countries
are
doing well, and the rest are working for near slavery wages. They
got to
where this country is headed before we did, that's all.


==============================

More like the USA is heading toward where China *was* before the
1980's.

Prior to China's great experiment in capitalism, the government
provided all necessary commodities, including food and clothing to the
general population on a ration basis. Everyone lived, ate and dressed
alike. It was an existence, although a meager one. Then, in the
1980's, certain provinces in China were opened to industrial
modernization as an experiment in controlled capitalism. Foreign
countries (including the USA and Canada) were invited to establish
manufacturing and to enter into "joint ventures" within these regions.
I participated in one of them in 1986 in a remote area of China
called Wuxi .... about a three hour drive on mostly dirt roads (back
then) northeast of Shanghai. I saw very few cars but thousands of
Chinese pedaling bicycles, both in the rural areas outside of Wuxi and
within the city itself. Very few of the industrial plants that we
visited (and their associated restaurants) had any form of modern
toilets. I remember the "facilities" consisted of an inclined trough
along a wall that exited through a hole in the wall and simply drained
outside.

Fast forward to today and Wuxi is a modern, active city with
automobiles everywhere, replacing the bicycles. The standard of
living for the average Chinese worker has risen dramatically. People
live in clean, modern apartments with wide screen TV's (unheard of in
the 1980's) and shops selling consumer goods have sprung up
everywhere, replacing the government rationing. Wages may not
compare to the "middle class" of the USA, but that's a relative thing.
Most important is that the experiment in capitalism has been a
resounding success and the quality and standard of living for more and
more Chinese people has grown by leaps and bounds. It's not a
"relatively few people" that are doing better. A growing number in
the millions are doing better. Sure, some remote areas have not yet
benefited, but the trend has been established.

Here, we seem to be moving in the other direction with the government
being expected to provide more and more for the population's needs.