Billionaires: United States 359, China 130
Edited by Andy Ross
China ranks second only to the United States in the
number of billionaires, according to an annual report. The Hurun Rich List
counted 130 billionaires in China this year. An additional 825,000 people
had personal wealth of more than $1.5 million, said Rupert Hoogewerf, who
has compiled the list since 1998. He says that the real number of
billionaires in China may be twice as high, since many of them avoid
publicity.
A separate list, released in June by Capgemini SA and
Merrill Lynch Wealth Management, found that China's economy grew by 9
percent last year, and the combined riches of China's millionaires surpassed
that of millionaires in the UK.
A Forbes magazine tally of the
world's richest people, released in March, counted 359 billionaires in
America.
China's Class Ceiling
By Ian Buruma
Los Angeles Times,
October 11, 2009
Edited by Andy Ross
Educated people with a
cosmopolitan style are doing all right in modern China. There is money to be
made, a lot of money. But at a price. And that price is playing the game:
knowing how to stay out of politics. Let the technocrats rule China with a
velvet glove, and an iron fist for those who refuse to play the game.
Because most foreign journalists, businessmen, diplomats and academics
tend to meet educated, privileged Chinese, most reports from China reflect
their views. But the main argument for technocracy is that it is more
efficient. Once the rulers put their minds to something, nothing and no one
stands in the way of success.
People who like the idea of strong
central government and top-down change are often attracted to the Chinese
model. China is often favorably compared with India, with its gross
inefficiencies, dire poverty, and huge problems with illiteracy, corruption,
and organized crime. Messy democracy, it might seem, is holding India back,
while China is forging ahead with ever more impressive statistics.
But government by experts is singularly bad at solving conflicts of
interest. Individual liberties have increased without the benefits of
political liberties. This leads to what old-fashioned Marxists called
contradictions.
To justify its monopoly on power, the Chinese
technocracy relies on the promise of order and constant economic growth.
Criticism is unpatriotic. China's rulers cannot be punished by the ruled for
their incompetence. China's technocracy is unlikely to last without basic
political reform.
People's Republic of China's 60th Anniversary
Defense Update, October 1, 2009
Edited by Andy Ross
A total of 108
missiles, many of them new, were displayed in Beijing at a military parade
celebrating the 60th anniversary of the founding of the People’s Republic of
China. A sampling:
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AR I'm impressed — but who's the enemy?
