Web Letters: Class Struggle in the New China

Anyone who subscribes to the notion that China will ever be an open and free market that even vaguely resembles what we have in this country has smoked to much wacky tobacky. They will never be an open and free society. That was an admirable fantasy, but it has failed, and we have mortgaged our kids' future in the experiment. They have a state run economy that is growing at 25 percent, while ours barely can sustain 1 percent, why would they change? To make matters even worse, we support their lack of human rights by buying up all that they can produce; that we have created a class of consumers that are forced into a work/consumption mode further expands China's manufacturing base. We are not going to escape the cycle anytime soon. You can't support an economy of any size without manufacturing. You can't be upwardly mobile by becoming a greeter at Wal-Mart. We can't keep borrowing from other countries to sustain our military power. The fantasy from Nixon's ping-pong diplomacy to Clinton's most favored nation... Even Reich has given up on the dream.

James Pinette

Caribou, ME