• Black_Mald_Futures [any]@hexbear.net
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    33
    arrow-down
    1
    ·
    2 months ago

    what a hilariously unironic “um, akshually, sweaty,” comment

    “Um actually the Chinese Hive Mind in Beijing doesn’t direct the actions of every facet of the economy like TRUE central planning would do” lollllll china keeps winning some-controversy

      • Black_Mald_Futures [any]@hexbear.net
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        10
        arrow-down
        2
        ·
        edit-2
        2 months ago

        The “be fair” bit comes off as quite libbish and not making a real point, it smacks of “um china is actually capitalist” because they misunderstand that dengist market reforms haven’t changed the subordination of the bourgeoisie in China to the CPC which they constantly demonstrate (most basedly when they execute a corrupt billionaire). Like who cares about some arbitrary strategic/ tactical dichotomy?? China stay winning

        • SchillMenaker [he/him]@hexbear.net
          link
          fedilink
          English
          arrow-up
          6
          ·
          2 months ago

          I interpreted it as a Soviet exceptionalist take as in “Real communism is when the entire economy is planned using Excel, anything else is just sparkling socialism.”

          • destroyamerica@lemmygrad.ml
            link
            fedilink
            English
            arrow-up
            16
            ·
            edit-2
            2 months ago

            no the point is that china isn’t totally reliant on central planning, and freagle is right, they have central planning but it really isn’t what seperates them from capitalist countries because for instance japan and occupied korea have used central planning to great effect but still ultimately fell to the same woes as other capitalist countries, what makes china different is that they are controlled by a communist party.

            • GarbageShoot [he/him]@hexbear.net
              link
              fedilink
              English
              arrow-up
              4
              ·
              2 months ago

              what makes china different is that they are controlled by a communist party.

              Concretely, what difference is this, though? That it’s more democratic and thus the way it directs its comparable level of oversight is more pro-social?

              • Sodium_nitride@lemmygrad.ml
                link
                fedilink
                English
                arrow-up
                3
                ·
                2 months ago

                Concretely the difference is that the economy isn’t run for the benefit of landlords and oligarchs. Xi’s common prosperity, anti-corruption and modernisation campaigns have been run smoothly and successfully because the CPC faces no significant internal coercion from the bourgeoise.

            • CarmineCatboy2 [he/him]@hexbear.net
              link
              fedilink
              English
              arrow-up
              4
              ·
              edit-2
              2 months ago

              I think the initial misunderstanding can be explained by how weird capitalism has gotten.

              The initial point being made is that ‘the market model the west keeps peddling’ is less efficient than ‘state driven central planning’. To counter that with ‘to be fair, China doesn’t just rely on central planning’ is, I think, a fundamentally wrongheaded way to go about it. It assumes that the market model proposed in China has anything to do with the market model proposed in the west. They are completely different models. Precisely because the state planning (which is not just central, political power and action in China is, as it historically has been, also very decentralized) is done under a communist party.

              The market model of the west is a form of romantic capitalism which can be deemed libertarian. It has no empirical basis in the history of capitalism or the industrial age. It is nothing more than an excuse to financialize and speculate away while production and transportation chains rot. There has been other forms of capitalism. The american school, the german school, developmentism, colonialism, and so on. All of them concerned themselves with more than just the interests of virtual capital speculation. That the japanese and the south koreans were once closer to China than the washington consensus simply places them in that historical spectrum.

              • destroyamerica@lemmygrad.ml
                link
                fedilink
                English
                arrow-up
                6
                ·
                2 months ago

                It has no empirical basis in the history of capitalism or the industrial age. It is nothing more than an excuse to financialize and speculate away while production and transportation chains rot

                I don’t really understand this. this is the natural evolution of capitalism, there’s no where else for it to go as the rate of profit continues to fall.

                Regardless, I don’t think freagles comment actually disagrees with anything else in your comment. If you wanna say it’s too open-ended and unclear sure but like I’ve said elsewhere if it’s someone on hexbear or grad you should just ask them to clarify instead of jumping straight to a dunk

                • CarmineCatboy2 [he/him]@hexbear.net
                  link
                  fedilink
                  English
                  arrow-up
                  3
                  ·
                  2 months ago

                  this is the natural evolution of capitalism

                  Because that is not what I am describing. One thing is the logical conclusion of the economic system. Another entirely is the worldview which sustains said system.

                  Regardless, I don’t think freagles comment actually disagrees with anything else in your comment.

                  Nor does my comment disagree with the people who perceived freagle’s comment to be fundamentally wrong. Which was the point.

            • freagle@lemmygrad.ml
              link
              fedilink
              English
              arrow-up
              2
              ·
              2 months ago

              I do think the central planning does separate China from other countries that use market forces. It’s not the only thing that separates them, but it is a line of demarcation. My point was more nuanced which was that things like product quality and prices couldn’t be attributed to central planning directly because China is using markets to develop and coordinate those aspects of the economy. Without that direct attribution, we run the risk of saying “China product quality good and prices and low” and being met with libs saying “because market capitalism works”.