Who's Driving this Bus?

We recently had a long discussion about capitalism and socialism. The youthful representative presented the idea that they both wanted the same thing-to provide for the people- with two major differences. Socialism ends up not providing, and capitalism ends up only providing for the few.

It made me think of a conversation I had with a Chinese investment banker who had originally worked for the Central Bank of the People's Republic and then came to work for a French bank.

As we strolled down Tiananmen Square, shadowed by state security agents who followed us everywhere despite the fact that it was 2007, I asked him what he thought Mao would think of modern China in its new capitalist version. He paused for a moment and then said, "Mao would have been surprised by the methodology, but in the end modern China was achieving what Mao had striven for."

I looked around me as I stood in line to file past Mao's preserved corpse; to the west the parliamentary building, to the east the Chinese National Museum, and to the north the Forbidden City. Old China and Modern China. Walk in any direction and you will come to the first ring road, then the second, the third...they are up to the 9th. Each one appears to replicate what was inside the previous ring, until you reach the countryside.

It is bleak. Essentially a desert, although man-made. The air is terribly polluted. The water supplies are rapidly being depleted. And there is a massive gap between the rich and poor.

So capitalism as an economic approach is bringing China into the 21st century, where socialism/communism didn't. The constant is totalitarianism as a political system.

To be fair the political elite in China is very concerned about the plight of the masses-they have to be. Social stability is a prerequisite for them to remain in power.

Theoretically the political elite in a democracy is put in place by the masses who presume their politicians will then institute programs for the benefit of those who voted for them.

Except once they get elected and start to implement policies the electorate recently has decided to voice their displeasure.

Its interesting how the totalitarians are worried about social unrest, while the western democracies response to the financial crisis seems to be inviting it.