[sparklite2]

True. But incomplete. As a kid, I was raised with images of children starving in China. The Iron Rice Bowl, guaranteed employment and cradle-to-grave security of the communists brought the food problem under control. Capitalism had little to do with that.

[AnotherUnixGeek]

True. But incomplete. As a kid, I was raised with images of children starving in China. The Iron Rice Bowl, guaranteed employment and cradle-to-grave security of the communists brought the food problem under control. Capitalism had little to do with that

I'm sorry, but this flies in the face of reality. The Green Revolution, Western technology transfer and the work of great men like Norman Borlaug were the reasons for this miracle, not Communist policies which were often a huge part of the problem - Mao's "Great Leap Forward" lunacy saw tens of millions of people starving to death as grain rotted in warehouses. In fact, one of the reasons for China's current prosperity is Deng Xiaoping's decision to get rid of the "Iron Rice Bowl" central planning nonsense.