How Communist China and Russia ended up with Billionaires

How Communist Countries Ended Up With Billionaires

Communism began as an idea about sharing. In the early 1900s, leaders in Russia and later China said the government should own the factories, farms, and businesses so that wealth would be shared fairly. In practice, a small group of Communist Party leaders held all the power. People who criticized them were jailed or worse.

The old system stopped working well. Factories made poor goods, and people were often poor.

China's leaders changed course after Mao died in 1976. Deng Xiaoping allowed private businesses starting in 1978, and the economy grew fast. The Communist Party stayed in charge, and in 1989 the army crushed protesters in Tiananmen Square. Later, the Party even let business owners join, and China now has many billionaires.

Russia's path was different. The Soviet Union fell apart in 1991. In the 1990s, the government sold huge companies to a few well-connected men, often for very little money. They became billionaires, called oligarchs.

When Vladimir Putin took power in 2000, he made a deal with them: keep your money, but stay out of politics and stay loyal. Mikhail Khodorkovsky, one of Russia's richest men, spoke out against Putin and went to prison. The oligarchs who stayed loyal kept getting richer.

In both countries, the government gave up sharing the wealth but kept the control. Business owners can get rich as long as they support the leaders. Those who speak out can lose their money, their jobs, or their freedom.

A new definition of the government of these countries would have to be "A centralized, dominant-party state that represses dissent and lets business owners prosper only while they stay loyal, with the government steering favored industries."

The Wrong Threat

Kimberley Strassel warns that Democratic Socialists are working to capture the Democratic Party, and she blames schools for not teaching young Americans about socialism. I agree schools should teach the differences among capitalism, socialism, and fascism, as she says. But her lesson plan has a hole in it.

She defines socialism as government ownership of the economy. That is not how Russia and China run today. Both dropped the utopian promise of shared wealth and brought billionaires into the governing elite. Owners keep their fortunes as long as they stay loyal, favored industries get protection and contracts, and critics are punished. Jack Ma largely vanished from public view after criticizing Chinese regulators. Mikhail Khodorkovsky went to prison after challenging Putin, while oligarchs who backed him prospered. Dissent is repressed, and minorities like the Uyghurs are persecuted. Call it "New Communism" or state-directed capitalism. Students should learn about it, and Strassel doesn't mention it.

She is right to scrutinize the DSA manifesto's call to abolish the Electoral College and the Senate. But by her own definition, look at what her party has done. The Trump administration took a 10% stake in Intel. The government's stake is passive, but it came only after Trump backed off his attacks on Intel's CEO once the CEO professed his allegiance to the United States. In the Nippon Steel deal, the government took a golden share in U.S. Steel with veto power over plant closures, offshoring, a headquarters move, and acquisitions of rivals. Nvidia and AMD agreed to pay the government 15% of their revenue from some China sales in exchange for export licenses. Washington also pressures law firms, universities, and media outlets that criticize it. Government rescued firms in 2008, and some will call these deals more of the same. But a bailout saved failing companies, and the government then stepped back. These deals use government leverage to extract stakes and concessions from companies and their CEOs, and loyalty seems to be part of the price.

Meanwhile many billionaires appear to have concluded that this system I call New Communism suits them, as long as they are inside the governing elite. The Republican Party and institutions like Heritage seem to be pushing to make our Republic more like the strong executive one-party Russia-China states I call New Communism.

Democratic Socialists, whatever you think of their policies, are fighting for votes in contested elections under a free press. The Russia-China model works by making elections and a free press meaningless. Strassel treats politicians who want to restrain billionaires as the threat and says little about billionaires who want to merge with the state. I suspect those billionaires find her warnings about Democratic Socialists useful.

The Rise of Democatic Socialism https://imprimis.hillsdale.edu/the-rise-of-democastic-socialism/

Republicans Embrace New Communism

Republicans pretend to fight communism while copying all the features of Chinese and Russian governments.

What you learned in school about communism hasn't been true for decades. And that's exactly the problem with "fighting communism" today.

Look at the New communism taking shape in China. The Party didn't abolish billionaires. It captured them.

Favored companies get state backing and sometimes state ownership. In exchange, their billionaires stay loyal, and the Party keeps power. Old-school communism hated the rich. New Communism recruits them.

Now watch what "fighting communism" looks like here. A one-party push to hobble rival parties using state power. That's the one-party state, imported.

A dramatically stronger executive, a total reversal of the GOP's own small-government tradition. That's strong central control, imported.

Shrinking tolerance for press criticism, protests, and dissent from students, teachers, and public figures. That's no criticism of the state, imported.

Government taking direct ownership stakes in favored companies. That's state-and-capital fusion, imported.

Musk and other billionaires funding campaigns and sitting inside the government they fund. That's the billionaire ruling class, imported. The ruling class in Russia and China expanded to include their billionaires.

And now, crackdowns on minority religions, gays, trans, and ethnic groups. That echo Moscow's and Beijing's own playbooks.

Communist states now love their billionaires. And it seems many American billionaires have decided communism is their preferred government, as long as they are part of the ruling elite.

They say they're fighting communism. Look closer, and they're not fighting it. They're building it, one imported feature at a time.

Real communism doesn't arrive with red flags. It arrives with someone insisting they're the ones fighting it.

We have not gotten to One-Party authoritarian state rule yet, but the Republican politicians are pushing us there.

ALOO PARATHA

Indian Breakfast

Aloo Paratha are Indian Breakfast flatbreads made with whole wheat flour, boiled potatoes, spices & herbs. Flavorful and delicious. These are most commonly topped with butter, yoghurt, or chutney and served alongside Pickle and Yogurt.


https://www.indianhealthyrecipes.com/aloo-paratha/

Mediterranean Three Bean Salad

Great as is or as a starting point. Mediterranean Three Bean Salad (Ready in 15-Minutes)
Mediterranean Three Bean Salad Recipe

Limey Ham and Chicken Pinto Beans with Greens Soup

Ingredients Yield: 4 servings

3 tablespoons EV olive oil

1 onion, diced

1 large carrot, diced

2 cans sturdy greens, such as kale, broccoli rabe, mustard greens or collard greens

1 can diced tomatoes

1 teaspoon ground cumin, plus more to taste

¼ teaspoon red-pepper flakes, plus more to taste

⅓ pound ham

⅓ pound chicken

3 cloves garlic, minced

1 tablespoon finely grated fresh ginger

1 teaspoon kosher salt, plus more to taste

1 quart turkey stock

1 bag pinto beans prepared

½ cup chopped fresh, soft herbs, such as ptarragon, chives or a combination

¼ cup mixed Italion seasonings and dry herbs

lemon juice, to taste

Lemony White Bean Soup with Greens

Ingredients
Yield:4 servings
3 tablespoons olive oil
1 large onion, diced
1 large carrot, diced
1 bunch sturdy greens, such as kale, broccoli rabe, mustard greens or collard greens
1 tablespoon tomato paste
¾ teaspoon ground cumin, plus more to taste
⅛ teaspoon red-pepper flakes, plus more to taste
½ pound ground turkey
3 garlic cloves, minced
1 tablespoon finely grated fresh ginger
1 teaspoon kosher salt, plus more to taste
1 quart chicken stock
2 (15-ounce) cans white beans, drained and rinsed
1 cup chopped fresh, soft herbs, such as parsley, mint, dill, basil, tarragon, chives or a combination
Fresh lemon juice, to taste
#recipe