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China is in Trouble
May. 13th, 2010 10:05 amBizarre school killings. Buildings which collapse in earthquakes. Poison products. Consumption of a *third* of the world's cigarettes. Major environmental problems (some of them caused by all those butts). The people who buy China's stuff and whose loans they hold are in financial crisis. A government which postures and poses but never seems to address the actual problems.
(Yeah, I know; most of those apply to many countries right now. Read on.)
A guy was recently freed from prison after eleven years, when the man he was supposed to have killed returned home. Not only did they not keep him in prison for lying to police (he confessed under torture) and interfering with the investigation, they paid him substantial compensation money! Yeah, that was the least any decent government could do, but China's rulers aren't a decent government. This smacks more of a payoff by timid, weak people than an apology from folks who are genuinely regretful. If the nation's rulers are timid and week, that would go a long way to explain why so many of the shortcomings by locals are going unnoticed and - when they become obvious - only given cosmetic attention.
Seriously, there's substantial incompetence and corruption at all levels of government and substantial dissatisfaction at all levels of civil life.
Is this good or bad? It depends on which way the apparently inevitable collapse goes.
(Yeah, I know; most of those apply to many countries right now. Read on.)
A guy was recently freed from prison after eleven years, when the man he was supposed to have killed returned home. Not only did they not keep him in prison for lying to police (he confessed under torture) and interfering with the investigation, they paid him substantial compensation money! Yeah, that was the least any decent government could do, but China's rulers aren't a decent government. This smacks more of a payoff by timid, weak people than an apology from folks who are genuinely regretful. If the nation's rulers are timid and week, that would go a long way to explain why so many of the shortcomings by locals are going unnoticed and - when they become obvious - only given cosmetic attention.
Seriously, there's substantial incompetence and corruption at all levels of government and substantial dissatisfaction at all levels of civil life.
Is this good or bad? It depends on which way the apparently inevitable collapse goes.
