Marx,
OK, Marx. I know that you’re in love...with a woman, her country, and her country-men...so I don’t know how my points will be received. But, in the interest of truth I think a few important points must be made.
First. I am not a “conservative.” I am a laissez-faire capitalist. I am registered Independent. On economic issues, neither party promotes my view: Democrats are socialists. Republicans talk about free markets, but they aren’t laissez-faire capitalists. Taxpayer money is not used to bail out failing banks, for example, in a capitalist economy. Businesses, like individuals, are free to succeed and free to fail. Politicians play no role whatever in the economy. That is economic justice. True capitalism existed in this country only briefly...in the 19th-century. Economic freedom has been undermined in this country consistently over the past 120 years. Every economic problem we have was caused by politicians [people who produce nothing] and government intervention in the economy. On social issues, I disagree with the “conservatives” on every single issue, except gun control. My views on social issues are far more liberal than even the Democrats. My list of “things government should be doing” is a very short list.
Second. Modern medicine was invented in the United States in the early 20th Century, early efforts largely funded by endowments set up by the great capitalist, JD Rockefeller. Life expectancy in China in the 1960s was 40-years-old! Traditional Chinese Medicine [TCM] may have discovered a cure for the sprained ankle, but it utterly failed to cure the diseases that actually kill us. My father was a physician and a healer. He cured thousands in his 30-year career. My sister, L, is a Duke-Johns Hopkins-educated pathologist saving lives daily in rural North Carolina. “Whores to the pharmaceutical industry” is just laughable, communist propaganda. [I’m sure your doctor was born before the 1976 revolution in China’s politics.] Since then, China’s Right has been growing the number of individuals who practice Western medicine along with their nifty TCM remedies. As I write, thousands of Chinese nationals are enrolled in American medical schools, the best medical schools in the world. Every important break-through in life saving medicine can be directly attributed to capitalism, economic freedom...before capitalism, even in the West, life expectancy was under 50.
Third. Free people grow the world’s knowledge and wealth. Did you know Americans are awarded over 50% of the worlds patents annually? Chinese researchers—all 1.3 billion of them—are awarded less than 2%. Tiny, more-or-less-capitalist Japan next door pulls in nearly 20%. Over the past several decades China has dedicated most of her efforts in this area to stealing the protected property of Western innovators. I have agreed with you, that China is moving in the right direction. I only wish you would acknowledge what that means: China is adopting Capitalism, economic freedom. Socialism, even in the health care system in China is on the way out. China is dismantling her welfare state, even as Obama Democrats argue in favor of creating these failed institutions in this country under the guise of “change.”
I thought your car accident story was interesting. I carry liability insurance because I can’t afford to replace some-guy’s $50k Beamer if in fact I am at fault. And how are these public tribunals conducted when one of the drivers is dead? Do they kill the surviving driver right there on the street if the crowd determines he was at fault and liable for the other guy's death? ...I think I’ll keep paying my premiums.
I agree with you...our Congress [in fact, the mainstream political debate in this country] is crap. Both Republicans and Democrats are statists, Republicans primarily on social issues, Democrats in the economic realm. Both sides are a threat to my liberty. When ever I vote, I am choosing the lesser of two evils.
I think it’s dishonest for a teacher to claim to present both sides fairly. I’ve heard this many times before....an American history teacher who claims to present history without bias...then I find out they spend two weeks covering FDR, a president they call great, a man they argue saved America during the Great Depression. When, in fact, FDR’s socialist policies did nothing to alleviate the depressed economy. The unemployment rate remained above 14% [usually higher] throughout FDR’s entire reign. The stock market had not recovered from its 1929 losses until 1954! [Clearly, Bush’s policy of cutting taxes and telling Americans to go shopping was a better remedy. The stock market recovered from the 9/17/01 crash—ten times worse than the ’29 crash—in a year.
Since I am neither a Republican nor a Democrat, I am free to trash both parties when I think they are wrong, and that’s exactly what I do. You see, I don’t think communism and socialism are just “bad ideas that don’t work.” I think they are pure evil. I don’t think Republican-religionist positions on social issues are just “wrong.” I think their positions are a threat the liberty of all Americans. I think their positions are irrational, anti-man and anti-man’s rights. I think they too are a dangerous evil. I will not present both sides equally if I know and can prove that one side or the other holds views that are pure evil. People, of course, are free to have whatever opinions they choose, however irrational, but I will never teach “all opinions are equal.” There is such a thing as a wrong opinion.
A Pastiche? Anything less than the truth is a lie. Any movement away from pure, social and economic freedom is movement in the direction of statism...pure evil. America is moving in the wrong direction. We may be doomed. China is presently moving in the right direction. I wonder if the Chinese will ever be able to shake that mammoth they’ve created, the state?
Donn
Sunday, November 30, 2008
Sunday, November 23, 2008
Yellow Dog [Part 3]
Donn,
Yes, you’re right. It’s NOT US against China, it’s our children against the world’s children and we already knew were behind the European Education system, and now I can tell you were way behind the Chinese educational system. I really don’t see how our children will be able to compete. I think we are setting up our fall from world dominance and, the truth is, I don’t see a way to fix that anymore. It's not the teachers and it’s not the system. It’s the children and their parents. It’s their feeling that somehow and for some reason, they don’t need to work hard. I told my class what I told you and their response was, who cares if they’re ahead of us, we want to be able to relax and have fun. Those kids will grow and we'll be poorer, and they'll teach their children the same lazy attitudes, and it will gradually inch down.
Mind you, yes, what you heard about China in 1989 and Tianamen Square was true but we had OUR Tianeman Square in Kent State in the 60's. The truth is that was turbulent time in China's history. If you read and talk to them about Tianamen, you get a different story than we got. The China of today is so far divorced from the China of 1989 that it’s almost two different countries. Now, if you think that’s because they’re embracing conservative ideology, you’re wrong. It's because they’re trying to find a workable mixture of political style and I think they’ve found something that truly works. They call in "Market Based Socialism". What does THAT mean? It means that the socialist structures are still in place, everyone that CAN work DOES work and that means there’s a lot of stupid jobs out there, the old man that operates the automatic elevator in an older building, the woman the sweeps the streets, the man that drives the airport shuttle bus from the airplane to the terminal 30 ft away, and jobs that are fairly useless to anyone but the guy or girl that has them.
Medical care is available to EVERYONE for what they can pay. I went to doctor in China a couple times and they fixed the problem for very reasonable costs and, apparently, they charged ME more than they would charge a Chinese construction worker. I was also amazed at HOW quickly they addressed the problems and fixed them. I sprained my ankle, severely the first year I was there. It got so bad I couldn’t walk, but I was afraid to go to a Chinese doctor because of all the stuff I'd heard from OUR medical system. I finally gave in when I couldn’t walk anymore and my ankle was the size of grapefruit and completely black and blue. The Chinese doctor looked at it, said something to my wife in Chinese (basically, she told her I was simply too fat and kept re-injuring it by walking...by Chinese standards I’m HUGE, I’m actually a little smaller than I was when you last saw me) wrapped it up in some evil smelling brown paste and hooked me up to an IV. I asked her how many weeks until I could walk again and she said "weeks??? You'll be healed in 3 days." I was shocked...3 days? No way, I’ve done this to my ankle many times and it takes about 6 weeks. She laughed and said come back here in three days and you'll see. I did, and guess what? Three days later, it was healed, completely. I was shocked and she told me "American doctors have no interest in "healing" anyone, they’re ONLY interested in getting you on some treatment or chronically hooked to some drug." She said: "American Doctors are nothing more than whores for the pharmaceutical industries. Here in China, if I don’t get you back to work as soon as I possibly can, I may not get paid." Remember, in China, Medical School is free. However, Art School costs money. They say, "we NEED a lot of doctors and not so many artists." Certain professions educational requirements are subsidized according to societies needs. American doctors are there because they want money. Who can blame them? They spend hundreds of thousands of dollars GETTING an education.
See, the conservative approach to education is costing us all way too much. They refuse to adequately fund education and we're paying for it on the back end. Just like insurance is a joke, too. Do you know how it works in China? I saw it and it amazed me. I saw a car accident: the two people got out of their cars and pleaded their case to the crowd on the side of the street. The crowd listened to both impassioned speeches, they conferred, and they, the crowd, decided who was at fault. THAT person accepted their fate and is responsible for paying ALL damages. No insurance needed and no one trying to game the system.
As for "no dissension," I’m telling you, they’re lying to you. I saw plenty of protests and PLENTY of people espousing they’re radical ideas. In fact, IN Tianamen Square is where protests ARE allowed and you see people there, standing on soapboxes, airing they’re views. They’re just a very ordered society and they do NOT like "personal attacks." You can say: "The government doesn’t work well" but you cannot say "Hu Jintao is a jerk." They’re also VERY proud of their version of Congress. They say that they have far more diversity in theirs than we have in ours. They have hard, hard right arguing passionately with those on the extreme left and every shade in between. They say OUR Congress has a lot of people that are all pretty much in the middle, they don’t think we have ANY true liberals or ANY true conservatives in our congress, just a lot of people with no firm convictions about anything.
As for you thinking you would be in prison in China, I have to say, not unless you broke the law. They NEVER restrict what I teach but they do plead that you present BOTH sides equally. If I say: "I think Barack Obama is the best," they would like me to also say "but SOME people disagree with me..." and list some reasons WHY they disagree. I personally think they’re VERY even handed about the whole thing. I HAVE, IN class, criticized Chairman Mao, but they also wanted time to rebut or they asked if I would present THIER side too. I was happy to do both, it only seems fair.
As for guns and violence? They go hand in hand. There is practically NO violent crime in China. You can walk down the street, in the worst ghetto, at 2 am on Friday night and the only thing that might happen is you might have a confidence man or a pickpocket. Try THAT in Overtown and see how far you get. Mind you, in Hong Kong, gun ownership is allowed and THEY have a violent crime problem and a HUGE gang problem with the Triads. I'll tell you a story. I went there my second summer and I got there around 12 am. I went to a restaurant to eat. I looked out the window and I saw my favorite student from the year before. Ika, a beautiful, talented, creative and musical 12-year-old girl. She was alone. I asked: "Ika, why are you out so late at night? Where are your parents?" She said: "I told them you would come tonight and they told me to come and say hello." -- "ALONE!!!???" on a Saturday night, in a big city like Shenzhen," and she said, "yes?" and "why not?" The next day I saw her dad and I asked him about it and he said: "Of course she can come alone. There is no danger." I was shocked and told him about all the things that could happen to a pretty 12-year-old in America in a situation like that. He said: "No one would hurt a child here. The government would find them very quickly and execute them also very quickly. I don’t know how you raise children in America,” he said, “there's so much fear. I would like to live in America for a while but, I wouldn’t raise a child there."
One last note: The first year I went, another teacher from my school came with, an ardent conservative. He was shocked and he told me he will never believe another thing the government tells him about other countries. He said he felt like he was totally lied to, that everything he had read or heard was wrong. He has tried to go back every summer but he hasn’t been as lucky as me. Fortunately, for me, they LOVE me there and practically beg me to stay every year. They liked him...just not as much as they loved me. He said, if he could get them to take his wife, he would go and, maybe, never come back. You'd be surprised that THAT’S the overwhelming opinion of almost every ex-pat I met there regardless of their political inclinations.
Finally, we'd better learn and realize that NO political ideology works by itself very well that, there's good in almost all the ideologies and the countries that move ahead in the new millennium will be the ones that adopt a "pastiche." We'd better learn to stop fear mongering and learn to look, objectively, at what each political system has to offer and take the best of ALL ideologies.
Marx
Yes, you’re right. It’s NOT US against China, it’s our children against the world’s children and we already knew were behind the European Education system, and now I can tell you were way behind the Chinese educational system. I really don’t see how our children will be able to compete. I think we are setting up our fall from world dominance and, the truth is, I don’t see a way to fix that anymore. It's not the teachers and it’s not the system. It’s the children and their parents. It’s their feeling that somehow and for some reason, they don’t need to work hard. I told my class what I told you and their response was, who cares if they’re ahead of us, we want to be able to relax and have fun. Those kids will grow and we'll be poorer, and they'll teach their children the same lazy attitudes, and it will gradually inch down.
Mind you, yes, what you heard about China in 1989 and Tianamen Square was true but we had OUR Tianeman Square in Kent State in the 60's. The truth is that was turbulent time in China's history. If you read and talk to them about Tianamen, you get a different story than we got. The China of today is so far divorced from the China of 1989 that it’s almost two different countries. Now, if you think that’s because they’re embracing conservative ideology, you’re wrong. It's because they’re trying to find a workable mixture of political style and I think they’ve found something that truly works. They call in "Market Based Socialism". What does THAT mean? It means that the socialist structures are still in place, everyone that CAN work DOES work and that means there’s a lot of stupid jobs out there, the old man that operates the automatic elevator in an older building, the woman the sweeps the streets, the man that drives the airport shuttle bus from the airplane to the terminal 30 ft away, and jobs that are fairly useless to anyone but the guy or girl that has them.
Medical care is available to EVERYONE for what they can pay. I went to doctor in China a couple times and they fixed the problem for very reasonable costs and, apparently, they charged ME more than they would charge a Chinese construction worker. I was also amazed at HOW quickly they addressed the problems and fixed them. I sprained my ankle, severely the first year I was there. It got so bad I couldn’t walk, but I was afraid to go to a Chinese doctor because of all the stuff I'd heard from OUR medical system. I finally gave in when I couldn’t walk anymore and my ankle was the size of grapefruit and completely black and blue. The Chinese doctor looked at it, said something to my wife in Chinese (basically, she told her I was simply too fat and kept re-injuring it by walking...by Chinese standards I’m HUGE, I’m actually a little smaller than I was when you last saw me) wrapped it up in some evil smelling brown paste and hooked me up to an IV. I asked her how many weeks until I could walk again and she said "weeks??? You'll be healed in 3 days." I was shocked...3 days? No way, I’ve done this to my ankle many times and it takes about 6 weeks. She laughed and said come back here in three days and you'll see. I did, and guess what? Three days later, it was healed, completely. I was shocked and she told me "American doctors have no interest in "healing" anyone, they’re ONLY interested in getting you on some treatment or chronically hooked to some drug." She said: "American Doctors are nothing more than whores for the pharmaceutical industries. Here in China, if I don’t get you back to work as soon as I possibly can, I may not get paid." Remember, in China, Medical School is free. However, Art School costs money. They say, "we NEED a lot of doctors and not so many artists." Certain professions educational requirements are subsidized according to societies needs. American doctors are there because they want money. Who can blame them? They spend hundreds of thousands of dollars GETTING an education.
See, the conservative approach to education is costing us all way too much. They refuse to adequately fund education and we're paying for it on the back end. Just like insurance is a joke, too. Do you know how it works in China? I saw it and it amazed me. I saw a car accident: the two people got out of their cars and pleaded their case to the crowd on the side of the street. The crowd listened to both impassioned speeches, they conferred, and they, the crowd, decided who was at fault. THAT person accepted their fate and is responsible for paying ALL damages. No insurance needed and no one trying to game the system.
As for "no dissension," I’m telling you, they’re lying to you. I saw plenty of protests and PLENTY of people espousing they’re radical ideas. In fact, IN Tianamen Square is where protests ARE allowed and you see people there, standing on soapboxes, airing they’re views. They’re just a very ordered society and they do NOT like "personal attacks." You can say: "The government doesn’t work well" but you cannot say "Hu Jintao is a jerk." They’re also VERY proud of their version of Congress. They say that they have far more diversity in theirs than we have in ours. They have hard, hard right arguing passionately with those on the extreme left and every shade in between. They say OUR Congress has a lot of people that are all pretty much in the middle, they don’t think we have ANY true liberals or ANY true conservatives in our congress, just a lot of people with no firm convictions about anything.
As for you thinking you would be in prison in China, I have to say, not unless you broke the law. They NEVER restrict what I teach but they do plead that you present BOTH sides equally. If I say: "I think Barack Obama is the best," they would like me to also say "but SOME people disagree with me..." and list some reasons WHY they disagree. I personally think they’re VERY even handed about the whole thing. I HAVE, IN class, criticized Chairman Mao, but they also wanted time to rebut or they asked if I would present THIER side too. I was happy to do both, it only seems fair.
As for guns and violence? They go hand in hand. There is practically NO violent crime in China. You can walk down the street, in the worst ghetto, at 2 am on Friday night and the only thing that might happen is you might have a confidence man or a pickpocket. Try THAT in Overtown and see how far you get. Mind you, in Hong Kong, gun ownership is allowed and THEY have a violent crime problem and a HUGE gang problem with the Triads. I'll tell you a story. I went there my second summer and I got there around 12 am. I went to a restaurant to eat. I looked out the window and I saw my favorite student from the year before. Ika, a beautiful, talented, creative and musical 12-year-old girl. She was alone. I asked: "Ika, why are you out so late at night? Where are your parents?" She said: "I told them you would come tonight and they told me to come and say hello." -- "ALONE!!!???" on a Saturday night, in a big city like Shenzhen," and she said, "yes?" and "why not?" The next day I saw her dad and I asked him about it and he said: "Of course she can come alone. There is no danger." I was shocked and told him about all the things that could happen to a pretty 12-year-old in America in a situation like that. He said: "No one would hurt a child here. The government would find them very quickly and execute them also very quickly. I don’t know how you raise children in America,” he said, “there's so much fear. I would like to live in America for a while but, I wouldn’t raise a child there."
One last note: The first year I went, another teacher from my school came with, an ardent conservative. He was shocked and he told me he will never believe another thing the government tells him about other countries. He said he felt like he was totally lied to, that everything he had read or heard was wrong. He has tried to go back every summer but he hasn’t been as lucky as me. Fortunately, for me, they LOVE me there and practically beg me to stay every year. They liked him...just not as much as they loved me. He said, if he could get them to take his wife, he would go and, maybe, never come back. You'd be surprised that THAT’S the overwhelming opinion of almost every ex-pat I met there regardless of their political inclinations.
Finally, we'd better learn and realize that NO political ideology works by itself very well that, there's good in almost all the ideologies and the countries that move ahead in the new millennium will be the ones that adopt a "pastiche." We'd better learn to stop fear mongering and learn to look, objectively, at what each political system has to offer and take the best of ALL ideologies.
Marx
Sunday, November 16, 2008
Yellow Dog [Part 2]
Marx continued:
In China, there's an air of optimism and a feeling that they can and will control the world one day. Everyone feels like their best is ahead of them. Here? We seem to be struggling just to hang on. I'll show you the difference. Florida cut our salaries this year. I lost about $300 a month. In China, as I left, ALL their teachers got a 10% raise. They were told, with inflation, it’s the least we can do. AND, teachers get a bonus every quarter plus a "Chinese New Years Red Envelope" filled with about a thousand US dollars. Taxes seem to be voluntary. I worked there every summer and they don’t seem to want it. They get three months off every year plus a month during the Spring Festival. Teachers only work half a day in China. Students go to school from 7 am until 9 pm but, a new set of teachers rotates in every 6 hours. They have an extremely close society. The grandparents always live with their kids and take care of the grandchildren. Every morning, their outside in the courtyards with the babies and doing Tai Chi. Friday and Saturday nights, the whole city heads to the city square for dancing, singing and just hanging with friends. In my wife’s hometown, they even have a band-shell. In my mind, it looks like the America we are all told about of the 1950's. Everyone goes out all the time for get-togethers with friends or maybe to the local bar or karaoke place. I'll tell you, every year I go, it gets harder and harder to come back. Last year, they offered to make me the principal of a school if I would please stay. My wife wants us to move to Guilin, a pretty, beautiful, picturesque town, open up a bar and I could play every night. Who knows? Maybe one day.
Finally, their medical system is head and shoulders above ours. I have NEVER had to wait to see a physician and, when I get in, they fix the problem for an extremely low cost. Apparently, the Chinese decided that they need a lot more doctors than anything else, so, it’s free to go to med school and it costs a lot to go Art School. I went to a dentist in Guangzhou. The dentist here said I need $7,000 in work. They did EVERYTHING, in two visits, for about $350. Their offices are all shiny and new with the BEST, state of the art equipment.
I really wish everyone would go there, they'd realize EVERYTHING we've been told about them is a flat out lie. I have met MANY Ex-Patriots there and not one of them wants to go back home. What does THAT tell you?
Marx
Marx
About China:
That's a damn shame about the Internet porn filters!
Seriously, I don't doubt at all what you said about China's educational standards. I know we're dangerously behind, but this reality doesn't shake up my world view too much. In the global economy, as within these United States today, national borders [like state borders] will mean very little. It's not, the US v. China. It will be individual Americans v. individual Chinese. People with ability, people who can adapt to the changing global economy, will win, globally. The people who cannot will continue to squeak out their existence working one of the evermore fragmented local economies, repairing cars, stocking shelves in Walmart, cutting hair, waiting tables...and [if the left has their way] their existence will continue to be subsidized by the producers.
I also don't doubt the hospitality of the local Chinese...particularly for teachers, particularly for an American English teacher. Weren't the Mandarin teachers? Didn't the government spend the last decade preparing China to show its best face for the international community during the Olympics? Local people across the globe [particularly in formerly authoritarian states] have great reverence for people they been taught to consider "their betters." In America, everybody thinks they're "the sheet," even if they're a know-nothing, low-life, thug-rapper. In this respect, I wish we were more like the Chinese.
The fact that you report everything is shiny and new, confirms my point that China's growing middle class is a relatively recent phenomenon. For the past couple of decades China's government is communist only in name. A kind of state-capitalism has grown China's economy... government-approved entrepreneurship, currency manipulation, protectionism, and trade created the China you are witness to...not communism. The regime could not ignore what free markets created in Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, Hong Kong...good for them. They did the right thing. They moved away from socialism even as Europe sinks deeper into their own pool of sloth, tangled-up in their own, unsustainable, social safety nets. And half of America wants to follow Europe's lead into the very same disaster. China is definitely moving in the right direction.
Of course there are no guns in China. The first thing authoritarians do when they take over a country is disarm the people. It's a lot easier to control an unarmed populace. "No Free man shall ever be debarred the use of arms," Thomas Jefferson. "Americans have the right and advantage of being armed--unlike the citizens of other countries whose governments are afraid to trust the people with arms," James Madison.
I'm quite sure, Marx, that everything I've read about China is NOT a lie. Tiananmen Square DID happen in 1989. Political and religious dissidents are imprisoned in China, denied liberty because of their thinking and "im-permit-able" speech. If I taught there I would probably be joining their ranks.
But none of that matters. Clearly, YOU have found a woman and a country you love. If you're happy, then that is all that matters. I've heard stranger truths. I wish you nothing but the best.
Donn
In China, there's an air of optimism and a feeling that they can and will control the world one day. Everyone feels like their best is ahead of them. Here? We seem to be struggling just to hang on. I'll show you the difference. Florida cut our salaries this year. I lost about $300 a month. In China, as I left, ALL their teachers got a 10% raise. They were told, with inflation, it’s the least we can do. AND, teachers get a bonus every quarter plus a "Chinese New Years Red Envelope" filled with about a thousand US dollars. Taxes seem to be voluntary. I worked there every summer and they don’t seem to want it. They get three months off every year plus a month during the Spring Festival. Teachers only work half a day in China. Students go to school from 7 am until 9 pm but, a new set of teachers rotates in every 6 hours. They have an extremely close society. The grandparents always live with their kids and take care of the grandchildren. Every morning, their outside in the courtyards with the babies and doing Tai Chi. Friday and Saturday nights, the whole city heads to the city square for dancing, singing and just hanging with friends. In my wife’s hometown, they even have a band-shell. In my mind, it looks like the America we are all told about of the 1950's. Everyone goes out all the time for get-togethers with friends or maybe to the local bar or karaoke place. I'll tell you, every year I go, it gets harder and harder to come back. Last year, they offered to make me the principal of a school if I would please stay. My wife wants us to move to Guilin, a pretty, beautiful, picturesque town, open up a bar and I could play every night. Who knows? Maybe one day.
Finally, their medical system is head and shoulders above ours. I have NEVER had to wait to see a physician and, when I get in, they fix the problem for an extremely low cost. Apparently, the Chinese decided that they need a lot more doctors than anything else, so, it’s free to go to med school and it costs a lot to go Art School. I went to a dentist in Guangzhou. The dentist here said I need $7,000 in work. They did EVERYTHING, in two visits, for about $350. Their offices are all shiny and new with the BEST, state of the art equipment.
I really wish everyone would go there, they'd realize EVERYTHING we've been told about them is a flat out lie. I have met MANY Ex-Patriots there and not one of them wants to go back home. What does THAT tell you?
Marx
Marx
About China:
That's a damn shame about the Internet porn filters!
Seriously, I don't doubt at all what you said about China's educational standards. I know we're dangerously behind, but this reality doesn't shake up my world view too much. In the global economy, as within these United States today, national borders [like state borders] will mean very little. It's not, the US v. China. It will be individual Americans v. individual Chinese. People with ability, people who can adapt to the changing global economy, will win, globally. The people who cannot will continue to squeak out their existence working one of the evermore fragmented local economies, repairing cars, stocking shelves in Walmart, cutting hair, waiting tables...and [if the left has their way] their existence will continue to be subsidized by the producers.
I also don't doubt the hospitality of the local Chinese...particularly for teachers, particularly for an American English teacher. Weren't the Mandarin teachers? Didn't the government spend the last decade preparing China to show its best face for the international community during the Olympics? Local people across the globe [particularly in formerly authoritarian states] have great reverence for people they been taught to consider "their betters." In America, everybody thinks they're "the sheet," even if they're a know-nothing, low-life, thug-rapper. In this respect, I wish we were more like the Chinese.
The fact that you report everything is shiny and new, confirms my point that China's growing middle class is a relatively recent phenomenon. For the past couple of decades China's government is communist only in name. A kind of state-capitalism has grown China's economy... government-approved entrepreneurship, currency manipulation, protectionism, and trade created the China you are witness to...not communism. The regime could not ignore what free markets created in Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, Hong Kong...good for them. They did the right thing. They moved away from socialism even as Europe sinks deeper into their own pool of sloth, tangled-up in their own, unsustainable, social safety nets. And half of America wants to follow Europe's lead into the very same disaster. China is definitely moving in the right direction.
Of course there are no guns in China. The first thing authoritarians do when they take over a country is disarm the people. It's a lot easier to control an unarmed populace. "No Free man shall ever be debarred the use of arms," Thomas Jefferson. "Americans have the right and advantage of being armed--unlike the citizens of other countries whose governments are afraid to trust the people with arms," James Madison.
I'm quite sure, Marx, that everything I've read about China is NOT a lie. Tiananmen Square DID happen in 1989. Political and religious dissidents are imprisoned in China, denied liberty because of their thinking and "im-permit-able" speech. If I taught there I would probably be joining their ranks.
But none of that matters. Clearly, YOU have found a woman and a country you love. If you're happy, then that is all that matters. I've heard stranger truths. I wish you nothing but the best.
Donn
Sunday, November 9, 2008
Yellow Dog [Part I]
[Per my friend's request, I have changed his name.]
Marx,
I guess you've figured out by now, I'm in Nashville. I've been a teacher here for the past 5 years. A lot I'd like to tell you, but I don't know if you even care to know. We didn't part company on the best of terms, but I've never been bitter about it...
Anyway, how are you? How's your daughter? Did you re-marry? Do you have anymore kids I should know about? How's MDCPS?
Donn
Donn,
That's great. I hope you like Nashville. It's a mess here in Florida. Tallahassee has cut education again and so deeply that we’re now officially, dead last in per capita expenditures on education. I did re-marry. I married a beautiful woman I met in China 4 years ago when I was teaching English there. Since then, I have spent the last four summers working in China and I love it. Maybe one day, I'll move there. My wife would be happy...she really isn’t all that impressed with America.
Trust me...I have a MILLION stories about China. As a Social Studies teacher, you'd be interested in this. EVERYTHING you’ve heard, read or been told about China is untrue. I was completely shocked when I got there. They’re wealthier than we think they are. They have modern, shiny, new everything. Their medical system is completely affordable and their dental system is the same. This summer, before I went to China, I went to a dentist and she told me I needed $7,000 in work done on my mouth. I went to China and got the whole thing done for about $350. I also met a LOT of ex-pats in China and you know what’s strange? Not one of them is in any hurry to come here. In fact, every year it gets harder and harder for ME to come back and if I didn’t have a daughter, I would probably be living there.
Marx
Marx,
You don't disappoint, Marx. China! I would like to know more...particularly about civil liberties. I realize China adopted capitalism on some level over the past two decades, that its economy has grown at a staggering rate, that it aspires to become First World, that it owns a half-trillion of our debt, but are the Chinese free? Are you free when you live among them?
Donn
Donn,
You'd be completely surprised. China is amazing ... civil liberties? I’m not really sure what they DON’T have. No, that’s not true, I DO know what they don’t have.
1. They can NOT criticize the government publicly. Actually, you CAN do that, you can’t PUBLISH it...hmmm...no...you can do THAT too...IF you ask for permit first. They SAY you can’t protest but you can...you just have to ask for a permit first. I saw a lot of protests. Ok, let me amend that, you can’t protest without a permit. Sounds like here, doesn’t it?
2. It’s hard to find porn online.
That’s about the only restrictions I saw there. I am free to go anywhere and do anything in China. I went to ghettoes and some of the nicest areas too AND I had no fear of anyone doing anything. There are NO guns in China. Even the police are unarmed. Only the military has weapons. I saw people selling anything and everywhere...they have FAR less restrictions than we do. In the last four years [I have been there for a total of about a year], I have never seen the police give anyone so much as a ticket and I have NEVER seen anyone arrested. Contrast that with Miami, where I see tickets given every day and I probably see someone getting arrested about once a month.
The free market is COMPLETELY unregulated and they set up shops anywhere and sell anything and you can bargain for a price practically everywhere. They set up restaurants anywhere. This last summer, the new hip restaurant was one that some family set up in alleyway, between two shops. Apparently, it was "illegal" but I saw many policemen eating there. Their subways are spotless and efficient and their bus system can take you anywhere for a VERY reasonable price. Most bus trips cost about 15 cents. The subway costs about 20 cents. A car is completely unnecessary. The people are extremely helpful and happy. I get smiles and nods from everyone and people walk up to me and engage me in conversations anywhere I go, just to practice their "English". I get taken to dinner so much its crazy. Every time I offer to pay I’m told "you are a guest in my country...one day...I will be a guest in your country and you can take me for a meal." I TRY to tell them that's unlikely but they don’t want to hear it.
Their students are amazing. Any question I ask and I get EVERYONE’S hands up. They get upset if you don’t call on them. Every word I say there is treated likegold and gets written down in their notes. Parents take the teachers out to dinner at least once a week. They tell you "the teacher is the most important person in a child’s life and YOU are an expert" They defer to anything I say. Millionaires defer to teachers. They'll say, "I make a lot of money...but it’s only money...you are far more valuable than I am to society." EVERY student they have is about 3-4 years ahead of ours. They’re doing Algebra in 4th grade, required. I tell people all the time. They’re students are miles above ours. We don’t realize that they have already passed us. They’re just waiting for their kids to grow up. Our kids can NOT compete. They don’t work hard enough and don’t care...
Marx,
I guess you've figured out by now, I'm in Nashville. I've been a teacher here for the past 5 years. A lot I'd like to tell you, but I don't know if you even care to know. We didn't part company on the best of terms, but I've never been bitter about it...
Anyway, how are you? How's your daughter? Did you re-marry? Do you have anymore kids I should know about? How's MDCPS?
Donn
Donn,
That's great. I hope you like Nashville. It's a mess here in Florida. Tallahassee has cut education again and so deeply that we’re now officially, dead last in per capita expenditures on education. I did re-marry. I married a beautiful woman I met in China 4 years ago when I was teaching English there. Since then, I have spent the last four summers working in China and I love it. Maybe one day, I'll move there. My wife would be happy...she really isn’t all that impressed with America.
Trust me...I have a MILLION stories about China. As a Social Studies teacher, you'd be interested in this. EVERYTHING you’ve heard, read or been told about China is untrue. I was completely shocked when I got there. They’re wealthier than we think they are. They have modern, shiny, new everything. Their medical system is completely affordable and their dental system is the same. This summer, before I went to China, I went to a dentist and she told me I needed $7,000 in work done on my mouth. I went to China and got the whole thing done for about $350. I also met a LOT of ex-pats in China and you know what’s strange? Not one of them is in any hurry to come here. In fact, every year it gets harder and harder for ME to come back and if I didn’t have a daughter, I would probably be living there.
Marx
Marx,
You don't disappoint, Marx. China! I would like to know more...particularly about civil liberties. I realize China adopted capitalism on some level over the past two decades, that its economy has grown at a staggering rate, that it aspires to become First World, that it owns a half-trillion of our debt, but are the Chinese free? Are you free when you live among them?
Donn
Donn,
You'd be completely surprised. China is amazing ... civil liberties? I’m not really sure what they DON’T have. No, that’s not true, I DO know what they don’t have.
1. They can NOT criticize the government publicly. Actually, you CAN do that, you can’t PUBLISH it...hmmm...no...you can do THAT too...IF you ask for permit first. They SAY you can’t protest but you can...you just have to ask for a permit first. I saw a lot of protests. Ok, let me amend that, you can’t protest without a permit. Sounds like here, doesn’t it?
2. It’s hard to find porn online.
That’s about the only restrictions I saw there. I am free to go anywhere and do anything in China. I went to ghettoes and some of the nicest areas too AND I had no fear of anyone doing anything. There are NO guns in China. Even the police are unarmed. Only the military has weapons. I saw people selling anything and everywhere...they have FAR less restrictions than we do. In the last four years [I have been there for a total of about a year], I have never seen the police give anyone so much as a ticket and I have NEVER seen anyone arrested. Contrast that with Miami, where I see tickets given every day and I probably see someone getting arrested about once a month.
The free market is COMPLETELY unregulated and they set up shops anywhere and sell anything and you can bargain for a price practically everywhere. They set up restaurants anywhere. This last summer, the new hip restaurant was one that some family set up in alleyway, between two shops. Apparently, it was "illegal" but I saw many policemen eating there. Their subways are spotless and efficient and their bus system can take you anywhere for a VERY reasonable price. Most bus trips cost about 15 cents. The subway costs about 20 cents. A car is completely unnecessary. The people are extremely helpful and happy. I get smiles and nods from everyone and people walk up to me and engage me in conversations anywhere I go, just to practice their "English". I get taken to dinner so much its crazy. Every time I offer to pay I’m told "you are a guest in my country...one day...I will be a guest in your country and you can take me for a meal." I TRY to tell them that's unlikely but they don’t want to hear it.
Their students are amazing. Any question I ask and I get EVERYONE’S hands up. They get upset if you don’t call on them. Every word I say there is treated likegold and gets written down in their notes. Parents take the teachers out to dinner at least once a week. They tell you "the teacher is the most important person in a child’s life and YOU are an expert" They defer to anything I say. Millionaires defer to teachers. They'll say, "I make a lot of money...but it’s only money...you are far more valuable than I am to society." EVERY student they have is about 3-4 years ahead of ours. They’re doing Algebra in 4th grade, required. I tell people all the time. They’re students are miles above ours. We don’t realize that they have already passed us. They’re just waiting for their kids to grow up. Our kids can NOT compete. They don’t work hard enough and don’t care...
Sunday, November 2, 2008
Work and Welfare
Altruist-collectivists’ schemes to redistribute “the wealth” sacrifice justice and reward sloth and indifference to reality. Socialism destroys economic freedom, destroys liberty, and ultimately enables the politicians to destroy the producers.
Wealth doesn’t just “exist.” Wealth is created. Individuals have an absolute right to the wealth they create. In a free, capitalist system individuals come to the market place to trade with other individuals, value for value. My paycheck represents real work, real value that I have created. I can not morally consume more than I produce.
Economies are driven by production. Production is the cause of wealth. It is production that makes consumption possible. One who produces nothing has nothing to trade, nothing to consume. What do these unproductive souls bring to the market place? 1. their tears [the moochers] to beg you to sacrifice the wealth you have created, or 2. their guns [the looters] to force you to hand over the wealth you have created. Looters and moochers offer nothing of value in exchange for your productivity. Looters steal you wealth by force; moochers count on your acceptance of the altruist code and “guilt you” into handing it over.
The vintage 1960s welfare state currently being sold to this nation as “change” by Barack Obama is actually a combination of the two: politicians will use the tools of the looter [force through the progressive tax code] to achieve the immoral goal of the moocher [to consume the values created by others].
Imagine the consequences of Obama’s immoral “spreading the wealth” principle applied to my high school American Government class. The just system in place today and always in my class is simple: students receive the grades they have earned. If I were to introduce the “change” endorsed by Obama after my next test, I’d tell my students that I’m going to add up all of the points everybody made and divide them evenly among all students. Students who slept in class, failed to study, made Ds and Fs will think this is a fine idea. They’ll be getting something of value for nothing. I’m the government in my classroom, so of course I can force the A and B students to hand over the points. I will argue that this is the policy of our likely, president-elect. They will grumble that my system is unjust, but I have the power to suspend them from school, so they’re not going to give me too much of a fight. They’ll get permits and protest a bit, here and there, but they’ll never attack me personally. I’ll get the school news paper to write a wonderful story about me and my “progressive” classroom, how I’m working hard every day to lift up the little guy. After a while the producers, the A and B students, will stop trying so hard to get ahead. What’s the point? As a result there will be fewer points to go around. The D and F students will demand more. They believe they are entitled to it...Good grades are my RIGHT! There are more of them than A, B, students by this time...I’ve done the math...There are fewer points to go around, less wealth to be spread. I’ll try to persuade my former A and B students to work harder “for the greater good,” for the “mother-school,” for their brother-men. Before long that empty promise will fail, too. [A producer’s right to keep the A he earned is the greater good. Justice is the greater good.] Eventually, I will have to crack down on the dissidents, start detaining my former A and B students, force them to study after school, set quotas based on their pre-experiment test scores. Finally, I will announce my Four Year Plan, force my change on the entire school of classrooms, and promise that if everybody does their DUTY to the STATE that all will be better for it on graduation day four years hence.
After graduation, our former A and B students will either:
>flee to some place on the globe where one can still keep the products of their labor;
>join their former oppressors, become card-carrying members of the collective elite, and take the club to the next generation of suckers...er...ah...brothers.
Wealth doesn’t just “exist.” Wealth is created. Individuals have an absolute right to the wealth they create. In a free, capitalist system individuals come to the market place to trade with other individuals, value for value. My paycheck represents real work, real value that I have created. I can not morally consume more than I produce.
Economies are driven by production. Production is the cause of wealth. It is production that makes consumption possible. One who produces nothing has nothing to trade, nothing to consume. What do these unproductive souls bring to the market place? 1. their tears [the moochers] to beg you to sacrifice the wealth you have created, or 2. their guns [the looters] to force you to hand over the wealth you have created. Looters and moochers offer nothing of value in exchange for your productivity. Looters steal you wealth by force; moochers count on your acceptance of the altruist code and “guilt you” into handing it over.
The vintage 1960s welfare state currently being sold to this nation as “change” by Barack Obama is actually a combination of the two: politicians will use the tools of the looter [force through the progressive tax code] to achieve the immoral goal of the moocher [to consume the values created by others].
Imagine the consequences of Obama’s immoral “spreading the wealth” principle applied to my high school American Government class. The just system in place today and always in my class is simple: students receive the grades they have earned. If I were to introduce the “change” endorsed by Obama after my next test, I’d tell my students that I’m going to add up all of the points everybody made and divide them evenly among all students. Students who slept in class, failed to study, made Ds and Fs will think this is a fine idea. They’ll be getting something of value for nothing. I’m the government in my classroom, so of course I can force the A and B students to hand over the points. I will argue that this is the policy of our likely, president-elect. They will grumble that my system is unjust, but I have the power to suspend them from school, so they’re not going to give me too much of a fight. They’ll get permits and protest a bit, here and there, but they’ll never attack me personally. I’ll get the school news paper to write a wonderful story about me and my “progressive” classroom, how I’m working hard every day to lift up the little guy. After a while the producers, the A and B students, will stop trying so hard to get ahead. What’s the point? As a result there will be fewer points to go around. The D and F students will demand more. They believe they are entitled to it...Good grades are my RIGHT! There are more of them than A, B, students by this time...I’ve done the math...There are fewer points to go around, less wealth to be spread. I’ll try to persuade my former A and B students to work harder “for the greater good,” for the “mother-school,” for their brother-men. Before long that empty promise will fail, too. [A producer’s right to keep the A he earned is the greater good. Justice is the greater good.] Eventually, I will have to crack down on the dissidents, start detaining my former A and B students, force them to study after school, set quotas based on their pre-experiment test scores. Finally, I will announce my Four Year Plan, force my change on the entire school of classrooms, and promise that if everybody does their DUTY to the STATE that all will be better for it on graduation day four years hence.
After graduation, our former A and B students will either:
>flee to some place on the globe where one can still keep the products of their labor;
>join their former oppressors, become card-carrying members of the collective elite, and take the club to the next generation of suckers...er...ah...brothers.
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