[quote=gandalf]Some of the comments on this thread make no sense whatsoever. China is not a model of laissez-faire capitalism. China is a communist country. It’s not free market capitalism. It’s tightly managed and heavily subsidized by a powerful, central communist government that has its hands in everything.[/quote]
China is state-capitalist if you wanted to be accurate. Interestingly, the libertarian gold bugs that preach the evils of state controlled economies all advocate investing in China. Most notably Peter Schiff, Ron Paul’s economic advisor.
There has really never been a laissez-fair economy – every time the world tried we wound up in a world war. Laissez-fair was planned and it failed. Early capitalist economies were called the “political economy” for a reason. It did not separate to political and economic sciences until the 19th century, which is when they came up with Laissez-fair.
[quote=gandalf]
If the tables were turned, and labor costs were cheaper outside China, everyone on this board knows full well the Chinese government would outright prohibit Chinese companies from exporting jobs (and money) from China. There would be tariffs and nationalization of plants, contracts and resources. People would be jailed or disappear. China isn’t a free market.[/quote]
Well, I think there is a difference between being despotic and having government stabilization and interventions of markets. And nationalized critical industries. Every government in the world intervenes in markets, otherwise they trend towards disequilibrium and run into problems. This does not make one communist. Nor do protectionist measures or nationalization.
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