The Chinese government has spent massive amounts on vanity projects. A lot of government funds have also been looted by CCP honchos.
Thanks but no. I’ll take American capital allocators over the Chinese any day.
Most importantly, I don’t want to live in a dictatorship.
Billionaires get to invest however they want because it's their property. What you see as a vanity project actually employs workers, feds families, and generates tax revenue. They are massively contributing to the economy.
I think it'd be good, is why. Non-intervention with private property is extremely low on my list of moral priorities. If someone's starving, I don't think you really have a right to keep food away from them.
> What you see as a vanity project actually employs workers, feds families, and generates tax revenue.
…and are they actually making anything useful? Or are they wasting everyone's time? Workers could be employed doing any number of things. For a rich person to "creating jobs" means nothing if those jobs are pointless. We could easily take that money away and create jobs doing something more important.
I believe in private charity, which would solve this. But I do not believe the state gets to steal from some people to give to others. The only reason for taxiation is to fund public goods.
> …and are they actually making anything useful? Or are they wasting everyone's time? Workers could be employed doing any number of things. For a rich person to "creating jobs" means nothing if those jobs are pointless. We could easily take that money away and create jobs doing something more important.
Who gets to define importance? This argument always devolves into state controlled economies which are charactetized by deadweight loss, corruption, and poor incentives. I'll take my access to private property every time.
As an aside, do you also believe in private knocking-you-on-the-head-to-take your-food-you-don't-think-they-deserve?
As an exercise, I invite you to trade without money: barter your goods or services with others. It's more work but completely doable. But remember the state is still expecting taxes on that transaction. And then ponder upon whether state-issued money is truly the source of private sector asset accumulation.
The public sector produces plenty of wealth - security, public goods, law and order, environmental protections, public health measures...
Nobody is obliged to accumulate state pegged money, yet most people do. Feel free to accumulate cheese if you wish.
Yeah, because they're corrupt and undemocratic. I certainly don't endorse China. But they do put to rest the idea that the freer the market, the stronger the economy.
Unfortunately Xi is now focused on saber-rattling about national security and bullying neighbors. He has cracked down on free markets, and China’s economy is suffering due to his incompetence.
China is strong because of its massive population combined with an economy that performs better than the only other country with a similarly massive population.