主题：关于拉美化：“中国模式”有多独特 -- 土拨鼠yuanap

In Hong Kong and Taiwan, organized crime has already seeped into legitimate business that their existence doesn't threaten lives of average folks any more. In the US, old Italian mafia also went largely semi-legit and business-oriented, in another word, their work might not be legal, but as an average joe, you usually don't have to worry about being killed or maimed as a result of their criminal activities, for average Americans, latino or black or even Asian Americans street gangs are far bigger security menaces than five families in New York.

China, on the other hand, has large amount of criminal organizations that might win collaboration from corrupt government officials, yet still couldn't really adopt even an semblance of business practice, basically, in China, as an average joe, you really have to worry about crossing leader of even some of the more established underground figures, they don't deserve the title "mobster", the best they could be compared to are gang-bangers roaming on LA streets.

That being said, Chinese government at least has the authority to completely eliminate a criminal organization if it really wants to, something can't be said about other more democracy oriented governments (democracy vs authoritarian government, which one is better? It depends, it was very safe for an average joe to live in Nazi Germany, something can't be said about America or China or pretty much all other countries in 21st century. But if you do find yourself at the wrong end of government power, it's much better to live in current China than, say, China in 1970.)

yard stick. I'm sure Chinese leadership would love to be a position where 2% to 3% growth would be enough to ensure full employment and social harmony. China HAS to have 8%+ growth because otherwise there'd be social unrest and political challenge to the government. You really think it's good to be forced to do whatever the government can, even at the expense of social and environmental cost, to growth GDP? It's NOT. And that's why I think India's optimism regarding their population growth is ridiculous, that's why I believe China MUST keep its one Child policy for decades to come and that's why I think and KNOW, that people in Brazil, a country most Chinese HKCs would dismiss as irrelevant, live far better live in people in China on average, yeah, there are serious crime problem, and there are squalor, but don't tell me Chinese crime isn't a problem and living conditions of migrant workers are better than squalor. Bottom line is, if you want to to exploited as low cost labor, grow your population as much as you can, otherwise, don't sneer at low growth in Japan or Taiwan.

BTW, Britain has been "declining" for decades or even generations, how many Chinese would rather have British passport?

Quality is more important than quantity. Historically, Chinese dynasty fell because the government couldn't ensure basic living standard for the people, not because they couldn't grow the economy.

And one more thing, most people I know who came from such "backward", worthless, according to Chinese HKC, European countries such as Spain, Portugal or even recent superstar Greece, don't give a damn about American green card, something even people from the most developed parts of China can't say about. That''s the true indicator of development.