May 26 Part 2 -as Communist as my foot

"A public sign above the street in the capital of communist China: 'Use Wisdom
to Create Wealth in Wangjing [a Beijing district]'. Today's China is about as
communist as my foot. As others have told me, it is much more capitalist here
than in the US b/c there are very few rules to protect consumers in terms of
health, binding of contracts, traffic rules and the consequences of a vibrant,
chaotic society. As Jim G said, it's like the Wild Wild West.

However, it IS authoritarian; this is by no means a democracy. You have to be
careful what you say about the government, Taiwan, Tibet, and other sensitive
topics. The govt does not like dissent and will tolerate only so much of it.
Plus, every citizen and ex-pat must register with his district's police station
each time they move. I did that when I arrived at my hotel and will do it again
when I sign my new apartment lease. And everytime you leave the country, when
you return, you have to inform the police."

"Still, in many ways the authoritarianism seems benevolent to me. I look at the
extremely expensive & inefficient way we have done health care in the US plus
the decades-long debate about how to change it, that only recently culminated in
a major change. I can't speak personally about the health care system here in
China, but I don't think the massive changes that have occurred recently in this
country such as the many billions spent modernizing Beijing would have happened
as easily in the US. The key is as long as it's done for the benefit of the
general population as opposed to enhance some government official's power or
line someone's pockets. I know that does happen, but I believe there can be
definite benefits to central planning."