This is why US establishment has so much fear and loathing towards China.
Imagine if Americans say, “Whoa, whoa! Wait a minute! The Chinese retire at 54?”
“What’s going on here in the capitalist paradise where 70-year-olds are forced to work at Walmart?”
sigh…
The Economist, this is the last time im gonna bring this card.
54 sounds wild man. I’m allowed to retire at 67 and my current employer the Union is at least fixing my retirement plan for me. Unfortunately many people aren’t that lucky and have to live of meager pensions after working for 40+ years.
This is how you get thanked in our glorious Western capitalist paradise. You work your ass of for decades and afterwards you can fuck off and preferably die quickly.
I will have to work till I can’t then die in a gutter after everything I own is sold in order to pay for medicare.
What’s the matter, Economites? Worried that eventually, Amerikans will demand that kind of leniency at gunpoint?
I’ve always tempered my expectations by reminding myself “they have their own issues”, and that they are similar to America in living standards (in the present. I obviously expect them to surpass in the near future).
But is it wrong to think China is just straight up superior as a country in nearly every facet to America? The infrastructure, the home ownership, poverty alleviation, health care access.
Of course part of this is my privilege as I wouldn’t be affected by any social rights shortcomings were I to move to China (I’m not LGBTQ). And those sort of attitudes take longer to resolve through culture than economic ones (as the economic progress informs social progress). But I also understand that China is making real steps towards progress there.
Usually to engage liberals I try to use some form of equivalence of China to the US (ex they have problems like us such as xyz). And imo this is a great way of having a real conversation. But is it factually correct anymore? If not, it seems pretty soon then that China will blow the doors open and it will be simply better for living.
To add to that, I don’t see any evidence to support the notion that social issues in countries like China have anything to do with the economic model. The reason China is more conservative when it comes to things like gender identification are cultural and historical. If western countries adopted a socialist model, then it would necessarily be rooted in western values and culture. I think liberals intentionally conflate the two things to paint the socialist model as being repressive while they portray neoliberal model as the progressive one.
The major urban centres that have all the cutting edge infrastructure and ‘treats’ aren’t in actuality much better than major Western cities when it comes to cost of living, there isn’t an enormous gap in any direction (positive or negative) when it comes to living in Shenzhen vs Seoul or even NYC. (I think, I haven’t actually been to major American cities.) The majority of these improvements when it comes to affordability, home ownership, poverty alleviation etc. are mostly happening in ‘Tier 2’ cities which are still big by western standards but don’t really have the same amenities. I’d say it’s worth it, and in general yes China is making more progress than the West but it’s important to understand where specifically and for which demographics these improvements are actually occurring for.
Source: Some of my family are Chinese.
re: poverty alleviation
a lot of it is still happening out in the boonies but it’s been slow going since local governments are still trying to pick the low hanging fruit and de-povertize ie their extended family members to satisfy quotas because actually alleviating poverty is extremely difficult. a lot of the stay-behinds don’t trust the government to not just take their land after they leave (for good reason) and housing/facilities for people willing to move are expensive. add to it that these areas were poor to begin with (obviously) and have fewer job opportunities and lower ability to attract investment and it becomes a negative feedback loop that requires a shitload of money to break. they’ve been doing decent work out there and there are a lot of policies in place to attract capital, but like with all things it’s been a real mixed bag.
From what I understand about America (though I’ve not lived there nor in China), all of those problems are present as well depending on where you live. Both nations are massive and people’s experiences will be incredibly varied based on where they live and how much money they make.