Why the CCP Can't Solve China's Economic Crisis

With a failing property sector, mounting debt crisis and deflation, China's economic issues can all be linked back to a lack of consumption. So in this video, we look at the root cause of these crises, and whether Xi has the political will to fix them.

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[time]

Xi saying western consumption leads to laziness is codeword for “but they’ll start complaining about their rights or improved working conditions”. Why China continues to refer to itself as a “communist” country is odd.

[vinesauceobscurities]

I'm curious what Xi's idea of an alternate system to "Western-styled consumption" is. If your export-driven economy is in the dumps, and you can't tap economic growth from what is still a potentially massive domestic market, what the hell kind of solution is he looking for?

[timross]

TLDR: If you don't pay workers enough, they stop buying stuff. If your people can't buy your stuff, your economy collapses.

[alumnia]

It’s not bad for an explanation but living here in China I can tell you, main issue is as much domestic consumption as wealth capture. That’s a taboo in such a country calling itself “communist”.

[rashidisw]

What this video didn't show you that CCP greatly restrict & limits Chinese citizen ability to transfer and/or withdraw their money from their own bank account, no limit on depositing the money tho.

With such restrictive financial liquidity, it is no wonder that those in mainland became even more selective on which they would spend their money on.

[Murray-wkhz]

Totalitarianism is very costly on a economy.

[danculea]

"Never interrupt your enemy when he is making a mistake." - Napoleon Bonaparte

[xCAFEFD]

Xi isn't wrong in part.
Western style consumption does cause "laziness" by comparison to the average overworked underpaid struggling to make ends meet chinese worker. Paying them what they're owed would let them know there's a life outside the factory. Maybe they'd even reach a level of happiness where they'd consider wanting to bring life into the world for other reasons than farm labor.

[SebastianLundh]

If I remember correctly, according to *official* statistics, the PRC is losing 4-5 million workers from the labor force annually, and according to the demographer YI Fuxian, who claims that China has 130 million fewer people than the official statistics say, the labor force is losing 8 million workers annually.

[zhixuanchen]

The excuse using trap of welfarism is pretty popular in Singapore too as the government continues to depress wages using cheaper foreign labour. Only difference is the economy is small and robust enough to pull through via her geographical advantage.

[knpark]

The biggest reason is that CCP is a small video game company in Iceland and it can't even manage an in-game economy of an mmorpg with an average 15k online acounts.



Wait, wrong CCP🤔

[angelic]

So, Winnie the Pooh is basically the boomer of boomer. Got it :3

[loot]

If they increase wages then made in China will end. Everything they've already done has lead to this problem and everything they could try to do to fix it will lead to alternate consequences.

[FreshSmog]

Not all people just laze around when they have sufficient wages to live a relatively comfortable life. They innovate, create, invest and generate value. There's a lot of potential lost in overworking and underpaying the populous.

[Chris-kidx]

One has to wonder: with the widespread 9-9-6 system in China (working from 9 am to 9 pm 6 days a week), do Chinese people even have time for being proper "consumers"? With the work culture this intense, there seems to be little room for things like having hobbies or leisure activities which are conducive to being a consumer. They might be lucky to "consume" a proper meal during the day, but not much more, I suspect.

[sai]

Failure to mention the role of China's collapsing demographics in slowing consumption and inhibiting growth in the property and other sectors was a huge oversight.

[hasanok]

book recommendations are always welcome! there should be more of them!

[mzo.]

Low consumption culture doesn't sound like a bad thing when you're not a slave to buying stuff for the sake of it

[tofunmifamuwagun]

I don’t think xi is wrong about the problems of western style consumption led economic growth, but I also don’t think he has the solution to the economic problems his country faces

[Thamian]

It's worth noting that the other, potentially far bigger issue with western style consumerism is that it encourages individualism/individual market decisions - I remember back in 2014 (?) when concerns about China's huge debt increase since 2008 first surfaced, the analysis was basically "to get out of this they need to boost consumption, but that'll require social reforms which will inevitably increase pressure for political liberalisation".

Given that the CCP has become even more authoritarian under Xi than his predecessors, I really can't see them taking that risk - a few uprisings would be bad, but manageable as long as the military and security services stay onside, but a full-scale shift towards liberal democracy? Nope, not even going to risk the prospect of that.