Despite the US’s economic success, income inequality remains breathtaking. But this is no glitch – it’s the system
The Chinese did rather well in the age of globalization. In 1990, 943 million people there lived on less than $3 a day measured in 2021 dollars – 83% of the population, according to the World Bank. By 2019, the number was brought down to zero. Unfortunately, the United States was not as successful. More than 4 million Americans – 1.25% of the population – must make ends meet with less than $3 a day, more than three times as many as 35 years ago.
The data is not super consistent with the narrative of the US’s inexorable success. Sure, American productivity has zoomed ahead of that of its European peers. Only a handful of countries manage to produce more stuff per hour of work. And artificial intelligence now promises to put the United States that much further ahead.
This is not to congratulate China for its authoritarian government, for its repression of minorities or for the iron fist it deploys against any form of dissent. But it merits pondering how this undemocratic government could successfully slash its poverty rate when the richest and oldest democracy in the world wouldn’t.
I visited Hong Kong SAR and the PRC numerous times for business, which included several 6 to 7 week stays in Guangdong (Shenzhen area). I always looked forward to the weekend in Hong Kong, because I considered the city to be far more civilised than the shit I saw in the PRC. Japan, South Korea, Hong Kong, Taiwan and Singapore are far superior to anything under CCP rule.
I mean, yes I agree that CCP sucks, but please don’t “West Taiwan” under a serious news article lol. You’re not gonna convince any Mainland Chinese when you argue like that.
Usually when you say stuff like that, people double down on their beliefs, so you’d just inadvertently make someone more pro-ccp rather than making them more open minded.