Posted on 03/29/2006 7:32:56 PM PST by buglemanster
If you can't face facts there isn't anyway to debate with you.
Put it this way, 1 year ago, the number of CELL PHONE SUBSCRIBERS (not cellphones!) was 230 million. This year, it exceeded 300 million and closing in on 400 million. The CCP is only what, 60 million members, so your assertion that their economy benefits only the CCP is false and you really can't be an official in China without being a CCP member.
Granted, that still leaves 800 million people and a lot of it are in those factories that you're talking about. However, the number of middle class in China IS growing and cellphone subscribers are one of the easiest indicators (and more importantly, the growth of the cellphone subscribers).
A cellphone in China costs the consumer $20 USD. A cellphone in the US is sometimes FREE dependent on whether you subscribe to a plan or not.
See for yourself:
http://www.forbes.com/home/feeds/afx/2005/05/24/afx2053116.html
Don't forget Princelings, PLA officers, ex-officers, hangers-ons, and affiliates. That is a huge 'multiplier' of just the party base.
And if you are a "business owner" in Shanghai, or Tianjin or Beijing...or anywhere in the major cities on Mainland China...then you owe the party for the privilege of being allowed to stay in business. Ever wonder why they had to put in a special provision in their "constitution" to protect foreigner's investment?
But not the super-duper phones like mine. Or like Blackberries, etc.
Asia is not a nation -- it's a continent consisting of over half the world's population.
Yes. I must admit, I'm a little puzzled about the entire thing -- if we were say France and endebted to China in US$, then it would be a problem, but we are the US and we are endebted to them in our own currency. They just hold IOUs with no gold standard to back them, they are also at our mercy if we decide to devalue our money (after the yuan is freed from the rate of 8.14 to the dollar)
"Asia is not a nation -- it's a continent consisting of over half the world's population."
And where did I say it was a nation? Its surprising to me that there are that many illegals from Asia considering the travel difficulties.
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