Last week, the BBC reported China now has more than one million millionaires. With a total population of 1.3 billion, that means roughly 1 out of every 1,300 Chinese citizens is at least a millionaire.
According to the CIA World Factbook, China is a communist state.
In a communist state, the general idea is to put everyone on an even keel. Theoretically, under communism each person would have a job to benefit the group as a whole.
Under true communism, everyone is equal. Everyone makes the same amount of money, and if everyone is equal and making the same amount of money, theoretically there should be no jealousy or envy, and peace and harmony would prevail. Everything sounds better in theory doesn’t it?
Communism never happens as it’s supposed to.
Prior to the rise of communism in Russia, the vast majority of people lived in poverty. The fall of the Russian aristocracy and the rise of communism promised change and better lives for the Russian people. However, life under the Soviet Union was no different. They just swapped one dictator for another.
The same thing happened in Cuba. Fidel Castro overthrew a U.S. backed dictator in Cuba and promised better lives for his people. He didn’t follow through either. Castro assumed absolute power until a few years ago when he became ill and handed the country over to his brother. As for bettering the lives of his people, a 1955 Buick is considered a new car in Cuba.
The problem with communism is the communist.
Communism looks like a decent system on paper, but it never works out that way because greed is part of human nature. Greed is a survival instinct. I’ll prove it to you.
Imagine you’re starving in the middle of the desert. Miraculously, you stumble across a Caniac with a large sweet tea. There’s 4 other people with you that you don’t know. What are you going to do? Let the others eat all the delicious Cane’s and leave you with a cup of sauce to lick?
No, you’re going to be greedy and get what you need to survive.
Greed is why communism fails. You have a country in which the majority of the population is poor while the communist leaders are living in luxury. The people lose faith in the system — which causes the system to collapse.
With a million millionaires living in China, the hundreds of millions who live in poverty are going to notice the brand new Bentleys and Ferraris rolling through Beijing — and they are going to want one, too.
From an American perspective, they have an oppressive government. They also have a very rich elite. If one out of every 1,300 is a millionaire, the other 1,299 are not — a sure sign of disaster.
Communism will fail in China just as it has failed elsewhere. Last year Fidel Castro said, “The Cuban model doesn’t even work for us anymore.” He later withdrew that statement.
The fact of the matter is that when a population is comprised of mostly lower class or poverty stricken people who are controlled by a government that tells them they can’t ever be as rich as the man in the Bentley and they have to farm for the rest of their lives, it will lead to rebellion.
The current system of China calling themselves communist while a small minority of their population lives lavishly will not last. The masses will wise up. There may not be a complete overthrow of the government, but reform is coming. That is a certainty.
Parker Cramer is a 20-year-old animal sciences junior from Houston, Texas. Follow him on Twitter @TDR_pcramer.
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Contact Parker Cramer at [email protected]