[lbo-talk] Superprofits

Michael Dawson -PSU mdawson at pdx.edu
Wed Nov 5 15:50:30 PST 2003


Why was the Soviet elite so corrupt(ible),
> and the Chinese not?
>
> Doug

Great question. My guess is some combination of: - capitalist road being taken within the CCP/without political parties that would have invited in the IMF - China having watched Japan from next-door and learned the proper lesson (see Baran, _Political Economy of Growth_): success requires strong early state incubation - the lack of the Yeltsinists' Europeanist illusion that long noses, white skins, round eyes, and close histories would get them a ticket into Bohemian Grove - the more rural nature of China, which reduces unrest over industrial restructuring - China's comparative lack of industrial and retail bosses wanting to convert the factories and stores they managed immediately into personal property - fewer illusions about the dispensability of a strong state in a land of 1 billion people



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