2017-08-07

People's Daily Discusses Decline of Western Democracy, It's All About Credit

Global Times: Democratic rights and freedoms in West on decline
A commentary in the People's Daily, the flagship newspaper of the Communist Party of China, said that the democratic rights and citizens' freedom in Western countries have witnessed a continuous declination, in a bid to prove the superiority of socialism over capitalism.

Luo Wendong, a scholar from the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, wrote in the People's Daily on Sunday that the political dilemma and retrogression of democracy in Western countries are no coincidence but a sign that the crises of modern capitalism have spread from economic fields to politics.

Luo wrote in the article that the co-existence of both manipulation and rejection of populism has brought democracy in Western nations to a dead end. He noted that the multi-party system - with rotation in power, their fights over benefits and their attacks on one another - has caused continuous political instability.

"From the perspective of the system of government, party competition often leads to political infighting. The separation of powers has transformed into a system of political impediments. 'Veto politics' repeatedly takes center stage, hampering governments' ability to respond to major economic and social problems in a timely manner, or even causing government dysfunction," Luo wrote.

He further stated that the principle of "all men are equal before the law" has become a castle in the air, and that the despotism and rule of men with big capital in Western countries is dominating the democratic systems.

"The chaos in the West strongly contrasts the order in China. The socialist system has revealed great advantages in comparison with capitalism," he wrote.
The more detailed piece is in Chinese at the People's Daily: 西方国家民主权利和公民自由连续退步(人民观察)

There are a lot of criticisms to level at Western governments and Western elites. Their "operating system" is in the midst of a critical failure and they refuse to change course, doubling down on their failed policies. However, the difference between China and the West in regard to the current economic and political situation is much simpler at heart. China is still experiencing rapid credit growth. Thanks to a high savings rate, China could force feed trillions of dollars of credit into its economy. The long-term trend in Western credit growth ended in 2008. Depending on your measure, the Western/developed global financial system has been in deflation since 2011 at the latest, 2007 at the earliest.

Any system looks good when credit growth is high and or rising.

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