[extropy-chat] Futurist priorities was ex-tropical

[Rafal Smigrodzki]

The Avantguardian wrote:
 But I can
> solidly conclude from analysis of the following data
> that China is definately NOT a failure.
>
>    Population: US = 290 million, China = 1.29 billion,
> Winner = China
>    GDP: US = $10.45 trillion, China = $5.99 trillion,
> Winner = US
>    GDP per capita: US = $36,300, China = $4,700,
> Winner = US
>    GDP real growth rate: US = 2.4%, China = 8.0%,
> Winner = China
>    % below poverty: US = 12.7%, China = 10.0%, Winner
> = China
>    %GDP held by poorest 10%: US = 1.8%, China = 2.4%,
> Winner = China
>    %GDP held by richest 10%: US =30.5%, China = 30.4%,
> Winner = US?
>    Inflation rate: US = 1.6%, China = -0.8%, Winner =
> China
>    Unemployment: US = 5.8%, China = 10.0%, Winner = US
>
> data source:
>
>  http://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/geos/ch.html
>
>> From these 9 economic indicators, I have to conclude
> that China is beating us 5 to 4. I therefore would not
> by any means call China a failure. I find some of the
> more interesting results of my analysis to be that
> despite a higher percentage of unemployment in China,
> a smaller fraction of their population is
> impoverished. There seems to be less of a discrepancy
> between richest rich and the poorest poor in China.
> Moreover by my calculations, assuming that growth
> rates remain unchanged, China's GDP will exceed ours
> in 10.4 years.

### Tellingly, all these numbers came *after* the end of communist economic
policies in China. If anything, China is a poster boy for the free market,
not central planning.

-----------------------------

>      Under the unethical way that so called "free
> enterprise" is allowed to flourish in this day and
> age, Adam Smith's proverbial invisible hand has become
> a sinister tool of the ruling class that
> surreptitously picks the pockets of the middle class,
> squeezes the life blood from the poor and pummels its
> dissenters.

### Yeah, yeah, we heard it before, silly commie rhetoric.

Rafal