European Tribune

Display:
Oh, and Wiki's Gini index graph isn't even up to date: by 2006, China's grew further to 46.01% according to government figures, while according  to the CIA Factbook, it was 47 in China and 46 in the USA in 2007.

*Traitor*, n.
A benighted individual who perceives an illusory distinction between serving his nation and abetting the criminals who govern it.
by DoDo on Tue Apr 8th, 2008 at 07:47:31 AM EST
[ Parent ]
Including Roumania, and Luxambourg, and all others in between?

That is the fair comparison. Not the US.

"C'est un scandale !"

by redstar on Tue Apr 8th, 2008 at 07:53:41 AM EST
[ Parent ]
LOL, why? The USA, just like China? is one country with more than 60 years of history as one economic area, the EU is not.

*Traitor*, n.
A benighted individual who perceives an illusory distinction between serving his nation and abetting the criminals who govern it.
by DoDo on Tue Apr 8th, 2008 at 07:58:40 AM EST
[ Parent ]
Define "economic area". What exactly does this mean?

"C'est un scandale !"
by redstar on Tue Apr 8th, 2008 at 07:59:23 AM EST
[ Parent ]
If it doesn't mean anything for you, that shouldn't keep you from giving your reasons to see China as more like the EU-27 than the USA economically.

*Traitor*, n.
A benighted individual who perceives an illusory distinction between serving his nation and abetting the criminals who govern it.
by DoDo on Tue Apr 8th, 2008 at 08:01:45 AM EST
[ Parent ]
I've already given them, elsewhere.

It's really pretty obvious though, at least to me. Give all everyone seems to know hereabouts on Tibet threads on this site, it should be pretty clear that economic development patterns in the PRC are, shall we say, a bit different than in the neo-liberal EU...

"C'est un scandale !"

by redstar on Tue Apr 8th, 2008 at 08:09:22 AM EST
[ Parent ]
Your reasons given elsewhere don't make much sense to me. You don't elaborate on "far more socio-economically diverse", except for a strawman on Tibet (a few million Tibetans won't explain a high, and growing, Gini index). You write about the big regional difference in that growth, as if it were some unexpected development, rather than direct result of the government's policies, and if one didn't depend on the other. Arguments about "socio-economic diversity" also nicely ignore economic factors like trade flows and centralised redistribution -- something the USA does (for lots of years), something the EU-27 does (for a year), and something China did in the past and would have been free to do properly (but the announced big West China development projects come late, are insufficient, and as such may only achieve forestalling the growth of local unrest into a revolution, not to really even things out).

Back again to my original point, the trend is of a skyrocketing Gini Index, growing faster than in the neoliberal US or EU, which means the growth of a miniature elite and a small middle-class at the expense of peasants (who are also threanteded by the new Enclosures) and exploited migrant workers (the neoliberal EU is still much more labour-friendly than your "communist" PRC, in fact even the USA is).

For what it's worth, here is a source on EU ( -6, -9, -12, -15, -25, -27) Gini index [pdf!], tough it is based on a 2004 study that possibly uses even older numbers: it has the USA only at 39.4%. EU-27 comes in very close, 39.9%.

*Traitor*, n.
A benighted individual who perceives an illusory distinction between serving his nation and abetting the criminals who govern it.

by DoDo on Tue Apr 8th, 2008 at 10:55:48 AM EST
[ Parent ]

Display:
Login
. Make a new account
. Reset password
Recommended Diaries
The Purpose of Education
by rdf - Nov 20
27 comments

In Defense of the Electoral College
by danps - Nov 22
11 comments

LQD: NATO as 'convenient threat' for Russia
by marco - Nov 21
30 comments

Computational simulations in science
by tiagoantao - Nov 20
20 comments

jitter noise rumble
by emilmoller - Nov 19
18 comments

LQD: The real orgasmic Puritans
by Ted Welch - Nov 20
36 comments

The Puritan Edge
by rg - Nov 20
122 comments

Early Friday Photography Blog No. 62
by LEP - Nov 20
58 comments

Debates
Campaigns
Occasional Series