Reason On China's Black Market Wenzhou

Reason magazine has an interesting article on the Chinese city of Wenzhou, long known for its entrepreneurial initiatives.  When Deng Xiaoping wanted to replicate the Hong Kong reality in oher ares of China, Wenzhou was one of the areas he picked.  The writer does posit Wenzhou as a black market city and I would reply that what we call black market may to the rest of the world be common sense.

A couple of interesting points most people may not note...  one garment maker asks "why bother exporting when one cannot keep up with domestic demand."  Just so...  this domestic demand should be kept in mind when people think the Chinese are stuck dealing with USA.

Another point is immigrants from Wenzhou have landed in Italy, revitalizing the garment centers they live in.  Back to cheap management...  Chinese managers are in Italy, a country in economic distress.  Some talk of these people not quite following regulations or paying taxes, but then see what happens when tax exemptions are taken (if not really given?)  IN USA we offer these to big companies and the big companies do well by them.

Wenzhou does do quite a bit of export business, and Wenzhou is wealthy... here again, USA trades with the rich parts of China, not the poor parts.

Wenzhou sounds very much like San Francisco 1880 or New York 1810...  yes China is headed to difficulties, but so did those other towns in their time.  Indeed, Wenzhou looks like Hong Kong 1880, and in 30 years it will look like Hong Kong today.  (Commenters again compare less government to Somalia, instead of Hong Kong.  It is such a common trope that I believe it must be a talking point given to the trolls.)

I've been reading history of the reformation by Will Durant.  Pretty amazing stuff.... it is so clear that the wars of religion were really about real estate and money flows, much like wars today, and I guess ever were.  The reformation had Roman Catholics talking faith and works, the Lutherans talking faith alone, the Anglicans talking by the book, and all claiming to be the true Catholic Church and all at the same time condemning protestants like Zwingli and Calvin  (predestination is pretty strange...)

Anyway, their wars were settled by real estate quiet title action.  They made a treaty and divided up lands.

The conflicts forming in the US are so much like the Reformation.  The Federal government is the Roman Church, and the occupy wall street and the tea party each purport to be the one true religion.  The Occupy Wall Street say by welfare alone, and the tea party says by warfare alone, and the Feds say by welfare and warfare.  Nobody is arguing for freedom, as they have it now in China.

Our decline is inexorable, ll the news regarding government actions taken, mean nothing and will go nowhere but further down until someone in power says "we will deregulate...."  It does not matter what it is.  Deregulate banking would be great (when regulations and subsidies and insurances are set up by government to protect you no matter what... you were never deregulated.)  Or insurance... or medicine... or education.  Or better yet, manufacturing...  until we do that, there is no economy upon which to base a recovery.

The powers that be will never do it.  There is a great model available, the Soviet Model.  A killer elite keeps the masses enslaved in welfare while the elite exports natural resources to keep the regime propped up.   You get the Soviet Lifestyle, they get the caviar and vodka...

Deregulation is the way out, but it is now a bad word.

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