Opportunity vs Confuscianism

HorsesAss.Org» Blog Archive » Federal Reserve shitting bricks

@41 TBO The Blatantly Obvious says:

But, SJ, does not this all lead to a non-existent middle class, and a growing wealth divide from the formerly middle but now growing lower class and the corporate ownership that uses cheap overseas labor, and then pockets the wealth into overseas accounts?

A great question and I am afraid I know the answer. Our system has been blessed by the gift from Jefferson of Democracy combined with an economic system based on Adam Smith. The result is capitalism with an incentive to grow a middle class.

That combination is intrinsic to neither democracy not capitalism. So the danger to our system is that globalism will be dominated by fascist societies .. e.g. China, where there is no pressure to grwo the middel class, indeed maybe the opposite pressure.

For most of the 2th century our system benefited from the equation of fascism with dictatorships. Planned economies. like thoser of N Korea, Germany, and the USSR are not comeptitive with ecpnomies that benefit from competition.

NOW we are faced with something very new ..though described well by Lenin. The danger to us is NOT Stalin or Kim, it is the corporation.

Look at the structure of most large corporations .. American or Chinese. They are very similar. Governance is by an oligarchy, often one that is intetwiend across corporations. The oligarchy's self interest does include welfare of the masses ... because selling stuff is what generates cash flow, salaries and power. BUT, there is no obvious incentive to encourage a middles class. Efficiency equates to consumption but consumption can be quite profitable to the oligarchy without their endangering their own status.

Tradtional Confucianist society fits this mold rather well. Confucius described a system that endured for 2000 years based on an oligarchy with limited room for upward mobility. I think the system evolving in China is Confucianist State Corporatism ... Chinese fascism.

The question is whether Chinese fascism is more efficient than Jeffersonian Capitalism? Can we compete? I think we can but only if we insiste on Jeffersonian principles including:


Free education, basic needs, and health care.
Limits on corporate power, based on the concept of maximizing opportunity.

Banning of corporations from the government process. Corporations are not persons.

"Sounds like a recipe for self induced global collapse. "


Perhaps unfortunately, this is not clear. Confucianism fell when faced with the superior power of European science and Imperialism. It seems to me that the latter has now failed and the former is unoversal. It is not at all obvious that a Confuscian system, wityh an oligarchy of say 10% of society, could not work quite well.

The plebes would, of course, have to be happy. BUT how much does that take in a scoasety raised to believe in class privilige?

This is exactly my biggest concern about Clintonism. They and Bush seem to equate privileged with class as long as their is some pathway to cross classes .. as in China. Chelsea went to private school while Hillary put ZERO effort into repairing issues with the DC oublic schools. Her health care plan relies on a regressive tax system that would limit the opportunity of ordinary people to make enough money ot be upwardly mobile.

Do I know that BHO would do better? No. I like some of what he says. He does talk about free college in return for universal service (a very non confucian idea!). He also seems aware that we must not have two schools systems .. a charity system for poor kids and a much better one for the oligarchy. He also pushes meritocracy over race preference . Obama when he talks of taxes seems to also think a lot about the need for upeard incentives in the lower middle class .... soemthing Bill Clinton did help with but Hillary seems not to address So, he give me more hope than she does or McCain does.