Today's capitalism approaches zero sum as the pie shrinks. The middle class loses while the ruling class get wealthier. It's just wealth transfer at this point.
Disagree. The free enterprise system is TOTALLY fair in that you get to keep (the majority) what you earn. The notion that "it's not fair if the distribution of wealth is not equal"... is total BS! If you are a "non-doer" or "can't doer", why should you expect to share equally in the riches of those who will and can?
Doesn't that prove that 9 Zhangs work for one Joe, which means that Joe can make 9 times more than one Zhang---You remember my point about margins? It could also suggest that those Zhang's skills are commodities, while the Joe who employs them is a strategic asset.
Even 2nd best is not guaranteed, since one may end up copying not the best in class or outclassed by a better copier.
Huh? This commie is talking about idle bums on welfare for years, taking pay at the same or similar levels to what they earned during employment, taking 1-2 years maternity or even paternity leave on full pay, and other ridiculous socialist nonsense. They aren't working at all, let alone working hard. Besides, working smart is just as important as working hard. If you make bad choices, working hard at them won't help too much and may even exacerbate the problem.
I think many of the things the outside think are the result of the population are the result of the Government. The reason it is difficult to work longer hours is legislative. Human rights to the extreme. This is not something people can do themselves. Governments have to relax the legislation.
The west is rich because it operates a system of liberal democracy with property rights, rule of law, relatively low corruption, reasonable business freedoms, and protections for individual and minority rights. China is not rich because it operates a repressive dictatorship with weak property rights, corrupt courts and public officials, and lack of protection for individual and human rights etc. Numerous studies and surveys, such as the HDI index, Legatum, UN surveys etc, show a very strong correlation between individual and business freedoms, and the level of prosperity, social development, and overall happiness in a society. The reason these two systems are operated is because the people living in and governing the different societies have chosen it. The people in the west choose it by their votes every 4-5 years, and the people in China chose it by either supporting, or failing to successfully overthrow and replace what is a very ineffective, unstable, and repressive form of autocratic rule. If the current generation of Chinese really believe that the west just won a lottery ticket, rather than being a model to copy (as Singapore's leaders and people realised and implemented very successfully), then they will continue to miss the opportunity to achieve parity or superiority to the west. Considering they have the Hong Kong example in their own back yard (Chinese people living under a western system for a century, totally outperforming Chinese people under a Chinese system over the same time), it is even more inexcusable folly. The appropriate response is "Europe to China: you're too damn blind and foolish"
Globalization is capitalism - if you restrict international trade, you are restricting capitalism. Also, google 'comparative advantage'.
Yes, 9 Zhangs work for 1 Joe but used to be 50 Zhangs for 1 Joe. Joe is the uber wealthy American global capitalist, while the rest of America is jobless and debt-ridden and Joe has no interest in lazy money-less people. Joe thought I can make a billion dollars employing cheaper labor while waving the carrot stick of good old fashioned capitalism. But suddenly, about a decade ago, Zhang said, why we need Joe. Joe is just avg Joe and really offers nothing to us Zhangs. So lets make stuff for other Zhangs and make money off other Zhangs. Hence, rise of China and the shrinking of the global pie that Joe's neighbors used to feed on. Margins are a function of productivity, technology competition and velocity of supply. As population rises in billions and labor goes on line, prices naturally fall. Western central banks worry about a deflationary supercycle. Now why do we have wars I wonder.....