Rare! An American scholar said that the United States should have the courage to learn from China! Professor Wolff, an American economist, said that perhaps we should learn more from China instead of ignoring its success. Wolff stated that the essence and dilemma of American capitalism is profit maximization. What are the consequences of this model? That is, if there is no profit, it won't happen, even if it would be beneficial to society. This is also the fundamental reason why the United States does not have high-speed rail and its infrastructure is aging.
China, on the other hand, is different. The professor said that the most important difference between the two countries is that the Chinese government always has ultimate decision-making power in economic matters. China adopts a "state-led, active private enterprises" mixed model. The advantage of this model is that when companies do well, they are handed over to the enterprises; when enterprises do not want to or are unwilling to act, the government takes over, rather than just focusing on profits. This is also the fundamental reason for China's highly developed infrastructure.
The professor believes that compared to the United States, the execution ability and efficiency of the Chinese government far exceed those of the United States, which is also an important reason for China's rapid development. The problem now facing the United States is whether the country still has the ability and willingness to draw experience from China's success. Obviously, against the backdrop of intense Sino-American competition, Professor Wolff's remarks are very sincere advice given after comparing the strengths and weaknesses of both countries, hoping that the United States will be willing to learn from China's good practices.
It must be said that Wolff's observations and judgments are very accurate. To put it bluntly, America's predicament lies in its economy and even national policies being dominated by capital. The primary purpose of capital is to maximize profits, but the profit-seeking nature of capital leads capital to flow into areas with the highest profit margins. As a result, projects that require long-term investment, have low capital return rates, and may even incur losses but can promote overall social development will be overlooked or shelved.
In terms of capital's profit-seeking nature, normal businesses simply won't consider electrifying remote mountainous areas, providing communication, postal services, roads, etc., because these are all loss-making businesses. This is where the government needs to intervene, and this is exactly what we are doing. Clearly, Wolff sees another advantage of China, which is its execution ability and efficiency. Although Wolff did not go deeper, in fact, execution ability and efficiency are built on strong leadership.
Governing a country must involve final decision-making. The decision-making process should be democratic and fully discussed, but ultimately decision-making must centralize power. Because only centralized power can ensure the authority and effectiveness of policy implementation. Of course, whether the United States will learn from us, we don't know. But our development has proven that our path is successful. In fact, the development paths of various countries should mutually learn and draw lessons from each other, and this is the great way that all countries should follow.
Original article: https://www.toutiao.com/article/1834325585118234/
Disclaimer: The article represents the views of the author alone.