
Chinese parliament holds 83 Billionaires (2013) - Tsagadai
https://next.ft.com/content/4568598e-8731-11e2-9dd7-00144feabdc0
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tim333
I see a similar phenomenon in Vietnam where I am. If you ban market capitalism
but the country still needs housing, jobs and the like then the contracts to
build that tend to go to the politicians and their friends.

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simonh
Indeed. I get more and more tired of the lazy stream of anti-capitalist
sentiment leaking into HN as though all the worlds problems stem from
capitalism.

I've spent a fair chunk of my career working in the Middle east or with Middle
eastern companies and my wife is Chinese so we have strong connections over
there as well. Both have highly centralised, statist systems with heavily
restrictions on their economic markets. If you haven't actually been there and
lived under non-capitalist systems you have absolutely no idea just how
utterly corrupting and venal they can get. It's suffocating, and it's
insidious tentacles work their way into every facet of life.

It's true that there is corruption in the west. Big corporations do have too
much influence on politics. There are problems with the way wealth is becoming
concentrated. But the issues we face pale into comparison to the problem in
countries that don't have free markets. In the west we have the 1%, but in
non-capitalist states it's more like the 0.1%. It's the difference between
systems run according to the rule of law which have some corruption, versus
systems run by corruption which have some laws. Capitalism is built on the
principles of property rights and economic freedom. It turns out taking those
away from people isn't a good thing after all.

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JDDunn9
Corruption is mostly tied to poverty, not economic systems.

I currently live in the Middle East, and I don't see the connection you are
claiming. I see poor Indians being brought in to build skyscrapers in Dubai
(one of the most capitalist areas of the world) and Qatar, living in shipping
containers, having their passports taken by their employers (trapping them in
the country); religious laws that protect rapists over their victims. The
major sources of corruption here are not linked to the economic systems, but
to greed and religion.

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marincounty
It's greed. Capitalism only works if you have a strong set of checks and
balances. You need everyone watching everyone else.

The United States kinda works. It only kinda works because crooks, blatant
they be, in the end, get caught. The corrupt politican will eventually get
caught. The corrupt building inspector will eventually get caught. The Doctor
who performs unnessary surgeries eventually gets caught.

I don't believe we have the best system, but I do believe we are the best at
squashing corruption.

All the wanna be capitalistic countries need to cure corruption before being
capitalists. You can't have both. I have always found corruption despicipable.
Even thinking about it now infuriates me. I live among very rich individuals.
So many of them stepped on others in order to get their wad. All are in
denial. And they wonder why their kids look at them with such contempt.

Yes--America has its share of wormy, corrupt, in denial, weasels. We just seem
to have less than other countries?

I don't know what the future will bring. I have seen some people do some
despicipable things in order to get ahead. I didn't find The Social Network
cool. I saw a vile, little man, do anything in order to get ahead. Yes--my
generation had Wallstreet. Most of us didn't find it cool. I'm not saying my
generation were saints, but we didn't do it all for the paper.

(I got off track with that last paragraph, and expect a lashing from
Millenials.)

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akie
Mirror:
[http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:foI8v8a...](http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:foI8v8alIe4J:www.ft.com/cms/s/0/4568598e-8731-11e2-9dd7-00144feabdc0.html+&cd=1&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us)

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baby
I can't seem to access the article, so no upvote, but if this is indeed true
well... such a shame.

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fabrigm
Me neither

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vzhang
Google News link (no pay wall) - [http://goo.gl/1ha6Kv](http://goo.gl/1ha6Kv)

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tristanj
Mods/submitter, can we add a (2013) to this? Post is dated March 7, 2013.
Thanks!

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dang
At your service.

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jacquesm
How does this compare to Russia and India?

