Tuesday, December 04, 2007

A Free-[gerund], [abstract-noun]-based Economy

In the West, there are tensions between government and business elites. In China, these elites are part of the same social web, cooperating for mutual enrichment.

-Boobs in the Times
Dear Boobs,

"Everyone pervasively applies state power for economic purposes. And everyone, to one extent or another, regulates expression both by economic and political means.

And the overall movement is toward a convergence of all these systems in centralized polities dedicated to rapid and regulated economic expansion. The Chinese and American systems grow more similar at every moment, but neither one of them is becoming more free-wheeling, more open to criticism, more entrepreneurial, or more creative.
"

Love,
IOZ

12 comments:

puppylander said...

he meant to write:

"In the West, there are tensions between the people, as 'represented' by 'government', and their corporate overlords..."

la Rana said...

I'm reminded of Robin Williams imitating a Russian commenting on Ethel Merman jamming their radar. "What the hell was that?"

Ultima Ratio said...

Yes, but what if the yellow hordes dump the dollar, IOZ?

TGGP said...

Don Boudreaux gives a hilarious takedown of the scare-story ultima ratio brings up here.

Anonymous said...

OUTING A CIA AGENT IN TIME OF WAR IS TREASON AGAINST THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. Call Nancy Pelosi @1-202-225-0100 and DEMAND IMPEACHMENT.

Mike Meyer

IOZ said...

Outing a CIA agent in a time of war is the best thing the Bush Administration ever fuckin' did, spammo.

Anonymouse said...

Ha ha, spammo. Take that.

TGGP said...

I forget, is it the CIA that went after anti-war and civil rights groups in the 60s, or were they just restricted to torturing and murdering foreigners? Either way, all right-thinking peoples must rally around stopping the Bush admin's war on federal bureaucrats!

For anyone who bothered to click that last link, I briefly discussed some of the other topics present at my blog.

The Promiscuous Reader said...

It was the FBI that went after anti-war and civil rights groups in the 60s. The CIA was doin' some spyin' on us citizens, though.

But Boobs's quoted comment reminded me of an old joke about socialism. His remark might work better if it paraphrased that joke thusly: In the West, there are tensions between government and business elites. In China, it's the other way around.

Woody (Tokin' Lib'rul/Rogue Scholar & O'erall Helluvafella!) said...

I am delighted to learn there are others who find irony in the defense of the CIA by the Pwog/Left...

Keifus said...

I clicked on a link called "boobs" and got an essay by a precocious tenth grader. (What a country!)

samuraiblogger said...

To give him credit, he has perfectly described my own country, Singapore, and not China. China is far too complex a country to be described the way he does. And boy, he even had to go out and insult the Chinese language and writing system. It's not that those are hard to remember, it's that he's too stupid to grasp the culture and principles that underlie them...