China's 56 Years of Communist Rule

Drudge linked to this article, noting that China had marked its 56th year of communist rule yesterday. People often criticize capitalism for creating unequal income "distribution," and creating a gap between rich and poor. However, in capitalist systems, the poor have the ability to afford items that the poor in other countries simply cannot. We don't see people starving to death in the U.S., even when we claim that their income is "below the poverty line." Many people in the U.S. who are in "poverty" have televisions. The televisions might not be the $5000 high definition flat screen television that they'd like, but it allows them to watch the same programs as anyone else.

Interestingly enough, the article stated that a problem facing China is, "Increasing numbers of poverty-stricken farmers are protesting against widespread graft, industrial pollution and seizures of land for development. Analysts have warned that widening income disparities between the cities and countryside and rising unemployment could threaten social stability ... while city residents are buying their first cars and taking their first overseas vacations, farmers in the vast countryside still labor as they have for centuries."

Progress exists in a capitalist society where all can enjoy the freedom to use their labor and knowledge to help others -- and can make, and keep, their profits from doing so.