Following the death of Mao Zedong, former president and founding father of the People’s Republic of China, more than 40 years ago, his successor, Deng Xiaoping, instituted economic reforms that looked less like classic communism and more like capitalism. It didn’t happen all at once, but gradually. The result was that millions of Chinese were lifted out of poverty.
Now comes current President Xi Jinping, who is conducting a war on private enterprise by reversing the economic successes China has enjoyed since reforms were instituted.
President Xi has been working quietly to undermine China’s economy. The Journal says he has generated “more than 100 regulatory actions, government directives and policy changes since last year.” His aim, it says, is to break the market dominance of companies, including e-commerce behemoth Alibaba Group Holding Lt., among others.
During a meeting last month, Xi signaled plans to go even further, emphasizing a goal of “common prosperity.”
In the cases of China and the United States—when our government is run by Democrats—ideology and party control trumps policy success. Some people prefer power to positive outcomes. It’s all about control.
The policies of communists like Lenin, Stalin, and Mao have caused millions of deaths, widespread poverty, and loss of individual freedom. The policies of John F. Kennedy (who cut taxes and was anti-communist), Ronald Reagan and, yes, Donald Trump, lifted many “boats,” encouraging initiative and hard work and thus spreading prosperity around.
In the United States, the prosperity unleashed by lower taxes and fewer regulations has proven to increase employment, raise wages, and boost individual prosperity for those willing to work and take minimal risks, such as moving to states that provide better opportunities. Now Democrats are trying to sink the country in more debt, raise taxes, re-impose regulations, all in the name of “equity,” “fairness,” and taxing the rich so they will pay their “fair share,” whatever that is.
Why do people never seem to learn these economic and political lessons? Perhaps it is because history is rarely studied, or if it is, it is re-written to reflect the ideology of the teachers, politicians, and dictators.